One of the major theme parks in Thailand is Dream World in Pathum Thani Province, just north of Bangkok. If you are on holiday in Thailand with your kids and are looking for an entertaining day out, then I would seriously consider Dream World. It is a bit out of the way but there is certainly a lot there to entertain kids and adults of all ages. However, if you are expecting something of the standard of Disney World, then you will surely be disappointed. It really depends a lot on what you have seen and experienced before. I have been to many theme parks on four continents and I would say that this one is good value for money. I took Nong Grace there last week. As she was only five I thought that there wouldn’t be much for her to do. But, that was far from the truth. She was kept busy literally all day exploring the park and going on some of the kiddie rides.
The highlight for Nong Grace was definitely Snow Town. Of course, for Europeans, this might not be such a big deal, but Nong Grace has never seen snow before and was really thrilled to play in the snow. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have appropriate clothes to enter Snow Town as you can borrow for free Wellington boots and a parka jacket. However, they don’t give you any gloves and I think the next time we go we might bring some along. Nong Grace wanted to throw some snow balls but her hands were so frozen. The temperature in this giant freezer was a very chilly -3 degrees Celsius. A drop in temperature of about thirty degrees. Really, the snow was more like frozen water and it wasn’t that easy to make snow balls. But, they did have fluffy flakes at Snow Town and you should have seen her face when it started to fall from above. It was a priceless picture moment seeing a child experience their first “snow” fall. For bigger kids there is also a sledge ride down an artificial hill. We spent about 40 minutes there and I think we were lucky that there weren’t that many people during our visit. I could imagine that there would be long queues for the sledging.
Some of the bigger rides include “Sky Coaster”, a rollercoaster where you are flying through the air, “Super Splash”, a boat ride where you will definitely get wet, “Grand Canyon”, where you go on a trip down some rapids, “Hurricane” which does somersaults and flips, and an old favourite “Viking”, which swings round and round. Most queues I saw for these only had a dozen or so people waiting. Most visitors seemed to be school kids. At weekends and holidays you will probably see more families. Other great rides include “Bump Boat” and the more traditional “Bumper Car”. There are even go karts. Nong Grace had plenty of gentler rides that she could play on. If you are bored with rides then there are more traditional fairground games where you can win teddy bears and other stuffed toys. Also for young families, there are plenty of photo opportunities in the Dream Garden and also Fantasy Land where you can see the Gingerbread House and the old lady who lived in a shoe. Nong Grace’s favourite building was the Giant House from the story Jack and the Beanstalk. Everything was extra big which included not only the chairs and table but also things like a box of matches and a spoon and fork.
When we first arrived at Dream World, we first took the cable car ride which gave a great bird’s eye view of the park. This took us more than halfway. We then went straight to nearby Snow Town which turned out to be a good idea as most people were still playing the rides. Afterwards, Nong Grace played on some of the gentler rides and also the Bump Boat. For lunch she wanted to eat at KFC. But there are also other food venues at the park. We spent the early part of the afternoon looking around that area. She tried the Haunted House but closed her eyes for the majority of the time. She also played a fishing game and won a small teddy bear. At 2.00 p.m. we went to watch an Animal Show. Nothing that unique as we had seen it all before many times, but she loved the performing dogs. Straight after this we had to go to the main arena to watch the Stunt Show at 2.30 p.m. At the weekend there are extra shows. It was worth watching but it was all in Thai. We then slowly walked back to the front gates, stopping here and there to take pictures. We had hoped to watch the Parade but it started to pour with rain.
Nong Grace had a great time and said she definitely wanted to go again. The park has a two price system; however, the foreigner’s ticket is actually better value for money if you play everything. The Thais have a choice of paying an entry fee of 150 baht and then pay for the rides as they go. These range from 20 baht to 80 baht. They can also buy a saver ticket for 365 baht which allows them to play everything once. There are several tickets for foreign tourists. The super value one is 450 baht and gives you unlimited rides on all the attractions. The price is the same for kids. I think that is good value for people who are planning on doing everything more than once. You buy your ticket from the Information Office instead of the normal ticket window. They speak excellent English and they will clearly tell you what is included or excluded for each kind of ticket. The park is open daily from 10 a.m. You can reach there by bus numbers 523 from northern bus terminal and 538 from the Victory Monument. You can also join tours to go there for about 1,000 baht each. Alternatively, take a taxi.
Click here to see pictures of Nong Grace at Dream World.
We would like to thank the Public Relations Department at Dream World for sending us a VIP Pass. We genuinely had a great day out and we will be going back again in the future. If you are a manager of a tourist attraction, then please feel free to contact us to arrange a site inspection. We are also interested in tours and homestays. However, we reserve the right to print negative reviews if we feel that the public won’t get good value for money.
