The Magic Lives Forever!

Have you heard of the Enchanted Kingdom? What comes into your mind when you hear the word Enchanted Kingdom? Have you been to Enchanted Kingdom? Do you know where it can be found? Do you think there are fairies, elves, giants in this place?

Have you had an experience before that you wished and you dreamt of visiting a very special place and your wish was granted! the best part is you get to go to that place all expense paid. Wow! How cool right! This is exactly what happened to us, me and hubby.

1998, a very good year!

Hubby was detailed as a purchaser from the Company that he used to work before. As part of his job he needs to acquire stuff for the company and one of them were rolls of film needed on job sites plus developing photos from the camera as well. Imagine during this time smart phones were not invented yet and having a camera is a luxury. It is very expensive to own one. Hubby always develops the rolls of film at a photo company named Kodak here at our city. A local Chinese business man franchised the company. He became a regular customer of Kodak. To promote the business the owner hosted a raffle. The raffle was a trip to Enchanted Kingdom for four. One raffle ticket entitles the holder to win this trip for three other additional persons you wish to bring if you you will be one of the lucky winner. There will be ten lucky winners for the draw. Hubby did not tell me that he has a lot of raffle entries already because he always go there. Then one day, upon his arrival home from work he said, Mama, I have something to tell you, with all the dram and sad face, making a drama that he was going to tell me a sad news which I was of course so bothered. I kept on bugging him to spill it out but then he blurted out, Surprise! We won the Enchanted Kingdom trip for four! Wow! I was jumping up and down and fell on my knees because months before I was really dreaming and wishing of going to this place and now it came true. Imagine how happy I was guys. There was a certain date for the travel. The announcement was 1998 but the travel itself would be the following year, 1999. So, we thought of who will go with us because we can still bring two other companions. The first thought was my sister, Ada. She was single that time, she is really hard working and I wanted her to have a break and enjoy. Me and my sister are close so I wanted to share to her my happiness as well. So we still lack another one but since the trip was not due for I think two or three months more so we have plenty of time to decide who the other one would be. We asked hubby's brother but since he was married it would be unfair for his wife because she too wants to go as well. So, we just left the subject since we were not in a hurry to decide yet.

Our other Lucky companion

We have a neighbor his name is Jason. He is a teenager. He frequently visits us and loves hanging out with us at home. He was like basically part of the family. One day, he stopped going to our house and we were wondering why but since we were busy at work, both hubby and I worked so we did not pay attention to it. We then learned that Jason tried committing suicide. He drank a poison, He used the rat killer and drank some of it luckily he was found right away by his mom and was immediately brought to the hospital to be treated and no major harm has done to him for the doctors were able to take out all the poison in his system. He did this because he was battling some personal issues. Jason is a woman trapped inside a man's body and he doesn't know how to tell his mom. Well, me and hubby knew about it that's why he felt so open in the house because he can he himself or herself for that matter. He /she can display and openly show her female side to us but his mom is so strict and he was worried that she will not understand him or accept him. So, he was battling with personal identity, like an identity crisis and he felt like it was the end for him that's why he tried committing suicide. So, this was the reason why we chose him to be the other lucky companion so he can have fun and forget his worries and troubles. When we told him, he was so happy and hugged both of us. He was also very excited. We were now complete for the trip.

About Enchanted Kingdom

Enchanted Kingdom, is a theme park in the Philippines. It is located in Santa Rosa, Laguna. It has a land area of 25 hectares (62 acres). The park is managed and operated by Enchanted Kingdom Inc. Enchanted Kingdom is a member of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. The theme park opened October 19, 1995. Founded by Cynthia and Mario Mamon, Enchanted Kingdom is the very first amusement park that includes a rollercoaster. The Filipino couple frequently visited theme parks around Asia in the early 90s, as they found the inspiration to start one of their own. (source: wikipedia). This was like a mini Disneyland here in the Philippines during that time, so everybody really wants to go there, who wouldn't want to go here and experience this very happy place.

The most awaited day!

The day of our departure came, we had to meet at three o'clock in the morning since the travel would be a bit long. Here is a photo of us at the bus during before we leave. Pardon the not so clear photo. I took this from our photo album and remember this was taken 1998, twenty three years ago. Since this is a very special moment, I have one photo album just for all the adventures we had there all saved.

We arrived their an hour early the park opens at 9:00 am so we still have time to take some photos of the outside before entering the them park. This was our group photo, all forty of us lucky winners. We are at the middle holding the banner. You can see all of us are very happy and excited.

I even saved our entrance ticket which is valid for three months upon purchase. This was in the summer time so there would be a lot of people going to the theme park. The owner made sure that we would have a great time so he scheduled our trip on weekdays to avoid long queue's on the rides. Usually during weekends the place is packed and they say one ride would take you an hour.

Spaceport

This was the first ride that we tried. This is the big roller coaster of course, this is what we came here for, everyone's dream to try and ride this giant adventure. This ride is spine-tingling, eye-popping 11-storey high space shuttle, a roller coaster with a new twist. It turns riders upside down 6 times, 3 times forward and 3 times backwards. Oh man! this really made us dizzy. My sister was the one greatly affected. After this ride she just stayed on the bus because she cannot control her dizziness anymore, She kept on throwing up. We said to ourselves, this ride we will never do ever again.... haha. So much for roller coaster anticipation. I left my sister when she was feeling a bit better she said I don't want to be a burden big sister, go ahead and enjoy the other attractions when I am okay I will follow you back. So, the roller coaster is not for all. Make sure you are not a faint hearted person or else you will despise this ride. While waiting for my sister to recover we tried the bump cars . We had so much fun because after the 5 minute ride we kept on going back again because there were only few people. It was just us over and over again. It felt so liberating driving and hitting each other just us inside the bump car rink.

Jungle Log Jam

Then this is what we loved the most. This ride is truly exciting. Good thing my sister was feeling better and she was able to have this ride with us. Before splashing dowon this ride you have to navigate through over 1,443 feet of winding water channels amid an archaeological dig before plunging over a 40-foot breathtaking drop on the exciting Log Jam. The water made my sister's dizziness go away and we kept on trying this ride for I think four times because the best part was when you feel like your soul is going to leave you before while plunging down. The descent is slow then will speed up so you will really be hanging while sitting in your small log boat. This ride I recommend for those who are not afraid of heights.

Anchors Away!

Then next, we tried the Anchors away ride. This is a big boat. Experience casting off on a pirate ship and sail over imaginary waves in pendulum motion. This ship can accommodate up to fifty (50) riders and from full stop, swings back and forth until it reaches a maximum angle of 70 degrees. This was one hell of a ride. You have to be brave if you dare try this ride but we loved it and kept coming back. We tried sitting in the middle then to the farthest part of the ship. To test how well you conquer your fear of heights, your fear of falling, your fear of being tossed high up in the air and how long you can scream your lungs out!

Wheel of Fate

After, testing all our bravery and our vocal chords from shouting. We then headed to this very big Ferris wheel. The Wheel of Fate ride which stands at 160 feet tall. It has 32 open-air gondolas providing a nice view of the theme park and the surrounding areas outside the park. A good way to just look at the theme park from the birds eye view. If you want to have a private moment with a special someone or just want to chill and do some chit chat on a private place with no one to interfere you. Or you just want to have the feel of fresh air then this is definitely the ride for you.

The Grand Carousel

The Grand Carousel is Enchanted Kingdom’s elegant centerpiece that greets guests upon their entry to the theme park. With its features of sixty (60) Victorian horses and two (2) Chariots inlaid with goddesses and cherubs, the ride takes guests back to the Victorian era. Everybody wants to be a kid again right? Who wouldn't want to ride on this grandiose carousel. We had so much fun riding on the horses.

We tried many other rides in the theme park as well. We tried the junior roller coaster which is what we love. Actually this ride is for the kids but since we dreaded the big one we just settled on this Junior roller coaster. It still has a thrill to it which we loved and no dizziness this time, that's for sure. Since there were no long queues we enjoyed this ride a lot as well.

We had some photos with the characters in the theme park like these funny clowns.

There were dancers as well. They were dancing to a Spanish Mexican dance. They all danced gracefully. You can see them in the afternoons when it is almost night time. We had fun having our photos with them.

There were still so much that we did inside the theme park but were not able to take photos on all of them. We really had a blast that even while writing this post brings back all those happy memories while we were there twenty three years ago. I am so happy that my wish was granted and I get to experience it for the very first time with my loved one's. I am so grateful to my Loving Heavenly Father who never fails to answer even my silent wishes and prayers. I am grateful that He always wants me to be happy by experiencing the deliciousness of life the awesomeness of having a loving father telling me that I am his beloved daughter and that He loves me so much.

I hope you had a blast as well while reading this post. Please do bear in mind that you too are loved and that Heavenly Father is mindful of you.

as always,

@lovejoie