The park, the attractions, the rides, the drive, the IMAGICA is simply iMAGICAL :)
Well thats too much of flattery, kudos to all the attendants out there for uttering ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE to register it in ones mind :) No wonder I wonder "where do they get these guys from" (recall the dialog from the Dark Knight Series).
Well today, I am here not to criticize but appreciate Mr. Manmohan Shetty (Rs. 1650 Cr/- ONLY ;-( ) for building India's finest, cleanest (of course its 12 days old so far; we were few of the guinea pigs), craziest, well planned amusement/theme park. Its not just a park, it is infact an extravagant experience.
Summers as I love and you know; is where we make most of the hay. So with my team @RethinkingWeb we headed to Adlabs Imagica, Khopoli on Monday 29th Apr 2013.
As planned we were 9 of them, eventually due to certain unavoidable circumstance one of our colleagues couldn't catch up. We started at 9:30 AM from office for a once in a lifetime experience bulleted for you here:
- The Route
- How Google Navigation Screwed us
- The Grand Entry
- Pre-Lunch Attractions
- Lunch
- Post Lunch Water Fun
- Killer Rides
- Evening Chill
- Back Home
The Route to Adlabs Imagica :
From Thane to Khopoli, we were planning to traverse through Mumbra, the Old Mumbai Pune Express way, however as we had to pick up a colleague we took the route via Airoli.
Its a lovely drive of approximatey 70 kms and at this point in time most of the people are enjoying their vacations hence the roads were pretty clear.
Google Maps are reliable otherwise, but honestly if we would have relied on Navigation, we would had landed up in Film City, Goregaon. You can blindly follow the route as I suggest and not repeat the same mistake :
- Thane -> Kalwa Naka - > Airoli -> Turbhe -> Vashi Bridge -> Palm Beach Road ->
- Mumbai Pune Express Way -> Take the exit at Khalapur Exit
- Pay the toll and Exit :)
- You willl see enough hoardings explaining the route ahead
What we did is that we took the first exit on the highway (as per navigation) and turned to reach the spot via NH 47 which is the Old Mumbai Pune express way.
The drive was smooth there too, though we spent approximately 45 mins more to reach our destination. On our way we stopped at a dhaba for a short break.
We traveled along the Old Mumbai Pune Highway for 30-40 kms and reached Khopoli (Shivaji Chowk) and took a right towards our destination.
The sun was shining bright and everyone thought whether we would enjoy in this scorching heat. Hoping for the best we reached and parked our cars. The entrance was grand. Its made to easily accommodate 15000 people at a time. We could see few huge rides from the exteriors of the park and a lot of work under construction.
The Grand Entry
We traveled along the Old Mumbai Pune Highway for 30-40 kms and reached Khopoli (Shivaji Chowk) and took a right towards our destination.
The sun was shining bright and everyone thought whether we would enjoy in this scorching heat. Hoping for the best we reached and parked our cars. The entrance was grand. Its made to easily accommodate 15000 people at a time. We could see few huge rides from the exteriors of the park and a lot of work under construction.
The Grand Entry
The ticket counters are also equipped with well mannered staff and they were trained well to greet people buying tickets and explaining the safety instructions.
We bought 8 tickets @ Rs. 1200/- each which included only the entry to the park with unlimited visits to rides and attractions. A thorough security check is done before you enter the park.
Its a wonderland created once you enter. You will be seeing a hundred things once you enter and I am sure its a fun ride ahead.
Now the most important part in visiting the park is planning on to how to schedule the activities and which to prioritize accordingly.
We had a look at few monuments placed on the way before someone suggested us to visit the attractions first in the following chronology:
The order was perfectly set and it is important to follow the order else the level of expectation goes for a toss.
i For India - A theater set to show different locations across India on a large screen with elevated viewers' seats making the experience different (feels like viewing from the top in a heli). The seats are elevated to approximately 30 feet above the ground level so that you are in face with the jumbo screen. Video shot by folks from Adlabs in a helicopter that traversed to the remotest place across India. From Kanyakumari to Ladakh, East to West, the video showed all major monuments, temples, beaches, valleys and many beautiful locations. Approximately a 20 min show highlighting the beauties of India. A must watch and it certainly pushes us to visit these places. In short, they zipped India.
From waiting in the queue to the pre-show and the finale, it took us 40 mins. I believe at a time 200 people can experience the show. We headed towards Prince of Waters from here.
Prince of Waters is a 360 degree movie experience. A short film of a 'villain - turns - hero - saves mermaid' is projected on a dome screen that you can experience. The highlights of the show would be the colors used, the crisp animations and the Dolby Stereo. Wonderful execution in short.
Mr. India - Now comes an attraction that's worth the mention. One of the best experiences @imagica. In short its an Amazing story narrated in a super amazing way. The thrill till the end was maintained. Mr. India is basically a simulator based movie experience. We were asked to sit in a Jeep like structure against a screen. The movie played and a funny looking robot gave some instructions which were funny. It played for approximately 15 mins. I would say that the simulation experience is unique and lovable.
We went twice to relish this experience.
Followed by Mr. India, we headed straight for lunch at The Imagica Capital. The food was extremely tasty and unexpectedly pocket friendly. We ate pasta n moghlai n thai n all cuisines available. Even though thinking of post-lunch attractions we thought not to have a heavy lunch however none of us could resist the food.
As I said it was a bright summer day, we were all exhausted by the heat.
Post-lunch we planned to dance in the rain. The sun was scorching heat at 3.00PM and we thought of beating the heat by stepping up at the Rain Dance Pad. We had loads of fun in water for around more than an hour. All drenched we set to move on towards the kick ass rides and games mentioned:
Of all the rides and games the ones mention-able are Gold Rush, Dare 2 Drop and Scream Machine. The thrill involved in these rides are impeccable.
We bought 8 tickets @ Rs. 1200/- each which included only the entry to the park with unlimited visits to rides and attractions. A thorough security check is done before you enter the park.
Its a wonderland created once you enter. You will be seeing a hundred things once you enter and I am sure its a fun ride ahead.
Now the most important part in visiting the park is planning on to how to schedule the activities and which to prioritize accordingly.
We had a look at few monuments placed on the way before someone suggested us to visit the attractions first in the following chronology:
- i for India
- Prince of Waters
- Mr. India
The order was perfectly set and it is important to follow the order else the level of expectation goes for a toss.
i For India - A theater set to show different locations across India on a large screen with elevated viewers' seats making the experience different (feels like viewing from the top in a heli). The seats are elevated to approximately 30 feet above the ground level so that you are in face with the jumbo screen. Video shot by folks from Adlabs in a helicopter that traversed to the remotest place across India. From Kanyakumari to Ladakh, East to West, the video showed all major monuments, temples, beaches, valleys and many beautiful locations. Approximately a 20 min show highlighting the beauties of India. A must watch and it certainly pushes us to visit these places. In short, they zipped India.
From waiting in the queue to the pre-show and the finale, it took us 40 mins. I believe at a time 200 people can experience the show. We headed towards Prince of Waters from here.
Prince of Waters is a 360 degree movie experience. A short film of a 'villain - turns - hero - saves mermaid' is projected on a dome screen that you can experience. The highlights of the show would be the colors used, the crisp animations and the Dolby Stereo. Wonderful execution in short.
Mr. India - Now comes an attraction that's worth the mention. One of the best experiences @imagica. In short its an Amazing story narrated in a super amazing way. The thrill till the end was maintained. Mr. India is basically a simulator based movie experience. We were asked to sit in a Jeep like structure against a screen. The movie played and a funny looking robot gave some instructions which were funny. It played for approximately 15 mins. I would say that the simulation experience is unique and lovable.
We went twice to relish this experience.
Followed by Mr. India, we headed straight for lunch at The Imagica Capital. The food was extremely tasty and unexpectedly pocket friendly. We ate pasta n moghlai n thai n all cuisines available. Even though thinking of post-lunch attractions we thought not to have a heavy lunch however none of us could resist the food.
As I said it was a bright summer day, we were all exhausted by the heat.
Post-lunch we planned to dance in the rain. The sun was scorching heat at 3.00PM and we thought of beating the heat by stepping up at the Rain Dance Pad. We had loads of fun in water for around more than an hour. All drenched we set to move on towards the kick ass rides and games mentioned:
- Gold Rush
- Dare 2 Drop
- Scream Machine
- Pirates Ahoy
- Lochness Drive
- Mambo Chai Cham
- Alibaba aur Chalis Chor and finally
- The Magic Carousel
Of all the rides and games the ones mention-able are Gold Rush, Dare 2 Drop and Scream Machine. The thrill involved in these rides are impeccable.
There were a lot of props put up near the Gold Rush Express. We had a blast clicking pictures there. I have attached a few with this post.
We went to the Red Bonnet Americana to take a break after the spine cracking experience of Scream Machine.
Loved all the rides and wished we could have a lot of time to go for few rides atleast 10 times each :)
Towards the end we went to the Magic Carousel which was one soothing experience. Soft music and we on horsebacks hanging from a pole, calms one down of all the hush hush happening.
All in all it was one of the most exciting experiences we had.
perfect palce to have fun Nature Trails
ReplyDeleteNice post with amazing pictures. Adlabs is an amusement park with various rides which includes sky walk which is very thrilling. Its an entertaining place to enjoy with family and friends . Check Adlabs Imagica ticket price for more details.
ReplyDelete