Lugged my backpack, all the while wearing a goofy grin. Before leaving the house I looked at the sky for the nth time, desperately hoping that the foreboding clouds wouldn’t give way to rain – not today at least. I’ve always been excited at the prospect of going out of town; that time, however, my enthusiasm was tinged with child-like delight. “Yehey,” I said to myself, “I’m going to Enchanted Kingdom!”

This is such a cliché, but it really amazes me how time flies so fast. I was really surprised to realize that 10 years had passed since I’ve been there, but I was even more so when I found out that Mark, the photographer I was with for the assignment, had never visited Enchanted Kingdom before!

After more than an hour of crawling through heavy traffic at the South Luzon Tollway, we finally arrived in EK at noon. The façade of a magical city welcomes us as we drive by the main entrance, the long lines of visitors waiting to get in, the children running around on some adrenaline rush and that’s still outside the gates!

We had wrist stubs for unlimited ride passes, wizard money to spend for food and drinks, and loads of adrenaline to get started on our theme park adventure. Because the lines stretched a mile long at the food carts, we decided to go on a ride to cool off from the heat. First stop: Rialto. This is one of the most popular landmarks of the theme park, and I think it’s also one of the first to be established (it was already in EK when I was there a decade ago, and it was also my first ride!). Rialto is a simulator theater that combines sight, sound and movement, and it’s located in the park zone called Brooklyn Place, aptly named because it’s like a replica of the streets of Brooklyn way back in the 1920s. The real attraction is that the mind plays tricks on you because it’s just the seats that are rocking not just forward, back and left to right, but inclined up and down! And when the film showing at Rialto was over, the line at the food stalls thankfully slowed down to a trickle, so we helped ourselves to lunch.

Mark wanted to get on a fast ride immediately, but since we just had our meal, I talked him into going for a slower pace. Second stop: Grand Carousel. Thankfully he was good-natured about it and didn’t roll his eyes. The carousel is at the zone of EK called Victoria Park just fronting the main entrance. Out of the six park zones, this is my favorite. Victoria Park is inspired by the elegance of Queen Victoria’s rule, and the streets and buildings try to echo the splendor and charm of that fantasy realm. After all, how many little girls didn’t imagine themselves a princess or a fairy at one point in their lives? It was literally like stepping into another world, of fantasy and of childhood memories.

There was no stopping Mark from tagging me on an adrenaline ride when we fi nished riding
the carousel. Next stop: Anchors Away. It is situated at the park zone of EK famous for containing the most number of rides, the Midway Boardwalk. Here, the inspiration comes from Coney Island, also known as “America’s Playground” in the 1930s, and everything about it suggests vibrant colors and carefree strolls. Anchors Away took my breath away – literally. Every time the anchor swings downward, my breath stubbornly remained in my lungs and refused to be exhaled properly. The same was not true for my voice, however. I screamed and screamed, but it didn’t appear to matter a lot, because all the people on that ride were doing the same thing. Mark, meanwhile, tried the balancing act of screaming his head off while taking pictures.

Our muscles were still shaking from the depletion of energy after Anchors Away, so we opted to ride on something utterly calming for a change. Next stop: Wheel of Fate. If Victoria Park is my favorite zone, Wheel of Fate is my absolute favorite ride. The Ferris wheel, as most of us know it, is also in the Midway Boardwalk. The fi rst of its kind, created by an engineer named Ferris, thus the name. Being suspended in mid-air while on it is like putting reality on hold. For a few minutes, it seems like I can forget my worries and concerns, and just savor life from a different perspective. For me at least, there aren’t a lot of sights that are as captivating as an aerial view from the top of a Ferris wheel. I can see how each detail appears to be minute and trivial, but actually contributes to the picturesque scene unfolding before me. The Wheel of Fate offers a different sight when you ride it at day time or in the evenings. It is animatedly clear during daytime, but at night when darkness blanketed the air, the evening lights serenaded the sky like a refl ection of the stars.

We were hopping from one ride to another that I almost didn’t notice it was getting dark already. But before calling it a day, we went to one of our last stopovers: Rio Grande Rapids. This ride is at the Portabello, the park zone themed like the place in Panama, which is known for its natural wonders. Rio Grande mimics the fl ow of a fast fl owing river, so the rubber raft, where five or six passengers ride, shifts every which way during the entire ride. Mark and I were busily making sure our things didn’t get wet, so I wasn’t paying much attention to the course of the ride. But the advisory was right: all of us did get wet, although I think Mark was downright soaked by the time we got off.

No one can go back to his childhood, but it’s always refreshing to recapture the feelings I had when I was a child, each time we stepped into Enchanted Kingdom.

We were ready to head back to Manila, but not before we witnessed a spectacle that EK is gradually becoming well-known for too, which is their fireworks display. It’s always something to behold when the sky bursts with a myriad colors. In cities where one hardly gets to see any stars from all the smog, I think fireworks breathed life into an otherwise barren night sky. The display dances all the while the Enchanted Kingdom theme plays on and it felt like the first time I had ever seen it, exhilarating as the explosions blossomed in time to the music.

A day at Enchanted Kingdom brought me back fond memories of a time when cotton candy was a luxury and I looked forward to the Christmas party at school because I got to dress up. No one can go back to his childhood, but it’s always refreshing to recapture the feelings I had when I was a child, each time we stepped into Enchanted Kingdom.

Enchanted Kingdom is open daily except during rainy season, they take Mondays and Tuesdays off. But you can get to go back if your visit is rained out. Conditions apply so check out their website at www.enchantedkingdom.com.ph to make sure how that works.