Well, just yesterday, me and wifey went for a complimentary day-trip to Thailand’s one and only supposedly-super groovy Dream World. I guess, it wasn’t exactly 100% free as Miss Su had to go anyway with her schoolkids to keep check of the numbers on ‘our’ bus, just one of like 13, packed out with Junior High Girls.

If you’ve never been or even heard of Dream World, well it’s Thailand’s most well-known funpark, located in Pathumthani near Future Park Rangsit, on the road to Nakhorn Nayok and the Cambodian border. After a two hour journey from Suphanburi, we ended up arriving at the place at 9:30 in the morning and since it was a Sunday, the entrance was virtually flooded with folk waiting to get in. To greet yous at Dream World, there are guys on stilts, uni-cycles and attendants blowing up balloon-dogs for the kids.

I hadn’t been to Dream World for something like 6 years, but the place hasn’t really changed that much, same old amusement rides offering not so scary rides. What has changed though, is the landscape. The gardens are really beautiful, laid out with the nicest array of flowers south of Chiang Mai. For lovers, there is the ‘Sweetheart’ garden with pinky shaped-heart things to have your photo taken under and romantic benches to cuddle yer darling on. If that doesn’t take your fancy, then there is even Dreamworld’s equivalent of Lopburi’s Sunflower fields, where you can have your pic taken surrounded by such flowers and lie to friends and family that you have just been up north.

An added attraction of late, courtesy of Thai Airways, is Dream World’s very own ‘Wonders of the World’ and the ones they have chosen to adopt for they mini town are different from the 7 Winners of late. There is a mini Eiffel Tower, Angkor Wat, Egyptian Pyramid and even a Statue of Liberty. I didn’t think the set-up was that amazing though, ok enough, but not exactly worth writing home about.

In the center of Dream World is a big lake, but for some weird reason known only to the management there, the cost of a ride in one of their paddle boats etc… is excluded from the ‘all-in-one’ tickets. So, what about the rides on offer? Well, by far the most popular are the Viking, Hurricane, Hanging Coaster, Space Coaster and Raptor. But be rest-assured, the waiting queues yesterday were really long, an average of 20+ minutes each. The queues were obviously made even longer as at least 3 other major rides were out of action due to repair. Besides the rides mentioned above, all the other stuff offered as part of the ‘all-in-one’ ticket price were for old-age pensioners or toddlers, nothing thrilling.

Dream World’s favourite and most famous attraction is beyond a doubt its ‘Snow Town’ (another half an hour wait, getting in and out). Snow Town is Thailand’s one and only attraction were the temperature inside is below zero. Unfortunately, there isn’t any snow falling from the roof, but there is plenty of shaved-ice on the ground to chuck in your friend’s face. We all know that Thais just love taking photos at every opportunity and for the background inside is a huge snowman, reindeer, polar bear, and a squad of stuffed penguins. There is also a Slider, where you can get yourself an inflated rubber ring and shoot down the slope. Again, the average ‘one-in-all’ ticket doesn’t allow you to get inside Snow Town without having to fork over another 130baht.

At the end of the day, I wasn’t really that impressed by the service offered at Dream World. Over the past six years, since my last visit, there were even fewer rides on offer due to repair, nothing new had been brought in and the place still lacks decent restaurants. In fact, in regards to food, there is only a KFC, Subway, a handful of stalls selling edibles on rice and rows and rows of stalls knocking off basic hotdogs etc… Nothing really to fill your stomach. Since my last outing, I did notice a lot more game stalls, where for 40-100 baht you could win a teddy bear in some kinda dart game. In fact, at Dreamworld, there is plenty to spend your money on besides the price of the ‘all-in-one’ tickets. I would say that the best thing about Dream World is the gardens.

Personally, I don’t think Dream World is cheap by Thai standards. The basic entrance fee is 120baht which includes nothing extra. An ‘all-in-one’ ticket costs 330 baht which includes most rides but ceratinly not the Go-karts, boats and Snow Town (130 Baht), the latter of which is a must-see if you go to Dreamworld. So really, the basic cost for a day out at Dream World is 460 Baht per person. And don’t forget that if you go on a weekend, then unless you stay from morning til late there is practically no way that you are going to be able to enjoy all the rides and attractions (because of queues).

So if you wanna go to Dream World by car, the place is located just off the Rangsit-Ongkharat Road (Kilometer 7), Pathumthani province. For those without your own transport, your best bet is to get a taxi from Future Park Rangsit (about 30km past Don Muang airport). On leaving Dream World, you will have to take quite a long walk back to the main road to flag down a cab. Otherwise, be patient and wait for a cab at the entrance which has just brought folk to the park.