I've planned to go to Jungleland since their soft opening. But then I heard that the rides were not fully ready. So I waited a little while, until I waited for too long. It's located near my house, so I had this urge of obligation to visit the park no matter what, for the sake of my city's pride (I know it sounds stupid :P). And for my pleasure, they had this ticket discount (only 100k rupiahs for online order) and I thought, what are you waiting for?
I went there with my friend Aji. At first we were so chickened out by how the rides went. The first ride we saw was the one called Zee Force. I know it's unfair to compare all the rides with the ones in Dufan, but how am I suppose to explain how the rides go without the Dufan analogy? The one called Zee Force was like Kicir-Kicir of Dufan, with slight differences. Instead of windmill, it shaped like an airplanes. Each airplane had four seats. The planes went like 360 degrees, and there was this moment when they hold the planes upside down for a slight seconds. Even by looking at it, we both felt sick already, so we decided to leave that one for the good of all.
If when explaining the ride I need the Dufan analogy, I think this museum-kinda-like one was original. I'm glad they decided to emphasize on Dinosaurs. Kids love them, and so do I. They had the one called Prehistoric Research Facility. Well, even the name tempted me already.
Inside, they showed some real size Dinosaur mannequins complete with sound and movement censor (the dinos started to move their head and their eyes when somoene's close by). They made the hallways so damn dark and cold to make the feel of prehistoric time more real. And make the dinos even creepier. At the end of the road they showed some dried bugs (I am very sorry, but they didn't put any name nor explanation about the bugs shown, so they're all looked like cockroach to me. Cockroach with horns, cockroach with wings, etcetera, etcetera. So yes Jungleland, you need to make this museum-themed-thing completely right.)
But yes they have done a very good job with this view when you ride the train. They made a real-size Apatosaurus in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trees! I found the detail very beautiful.
Then we rode the wheel. Well it was like a usual wheel. Again, with comparison against Dufan's, I found this one wins something. The view. Dufan's offers a-city-by-the-sea kinda view. But this one offers this greenery views of hills and farm. I found this one more... refreshing for my eyes. Well overall, I found Jungleland wins one thing from Dufan. They get the fresher views with so many trees, and clean river streaming right in the center of the park
And since it was located in the hills, I found it has more acceptable and freshening air. I didn't feel too steamed up under the sun, since it was cloudy all day, (and good thing it wasn't raining at all). So yes, I enjoyed strolling around over and over again without feeling so sweaty.
Then we took the one called Wave Swinger. It was exactly like Ontang-Anting of Dufan's, again, with better views. (I am so biased, since I love to see hills and trees!!!). After this beginner ride, me and Aji were so hyped up, and decided to take the Megadrop. It was like Hysteria!! To be honest, I didn't have the gut to try Hysteria, but I decided to try this one since they didn't have so much ride, and we already skipped the Zee Force! If we skip this one too, we would skip almost every ride. So yes, I swallowed all the fear and tried that Megadrop thing... and it was WORTH IT!!!!
And to feel more crazy, we took the Disk'O ride. It was like Kora-Kora of Dufan's but instead of a boat, they put you in a circle plate with bike-shaped chairs and then spin the bloody plate while it swing up and down to the right then to the left (what a confusing explanation for such a confusing ride!). It was AWESOME!!!! I could still euphorically scream and laugh with my eyes opened. Then we took the ride next to it, called Discovery. And that ride probably put us into the discovery of the fact that we were so high of adrenaline until we decided to ride that bloody thing! It was the worst and amazing yet headache-ing two and a half minutes of my life! In this ride, I lost my ability to scream. I just sit helplessly with my eyes closed.
When we touched the solid ground, we realized we were too high to even walk and almost throw up. If you ask how the ride goes, well they put you in circling chair, then spin the bloody chair while swinging the whole chair so high until we felt disembodied with our own legs! Good thing I prayed before the ride.
After that bloody discovery, we decided to eat. We choose the fast food since we needed a certain choice in that high moment. We were to high, we couldn't tolerate tasteless foods. And after the meal, we got sober. Because we decided to just stroll around and took pictures, no more rides!! The KFC was located outside the playground, so we had to take the exit first. But it turned out that we could enter the playground again as long as we still keep the ticket card and got stamped on our hand before we left
Well, I bought that honey bee bandana, since you know, I love collecting themed bandana. I have the girrafe's ear-kinda-like bandana from Taman Safari Prigen. And I couldn't resist the urge to buy this one. I thought a theme park wouldn't complete without a matched bandana.
So yes, despite that miserable expression I posed in the picture above, I actually had so much fun at Jungleland. I feel a little bit braver already. The flood of adrenaline was enough to make me tired and go home happily. It was a fine short escape with the view I rarely enjoy anymore after living in Jakarta. And it wasn't too crowded too when I got there. It still needs improvement in some places, but so far they had this wild concept that make them slightly different from Dufan. Of course there were more rides than what I told you. They had bumper cars, roller coaster (which sadly was under maintenance when I was there), haunted house, and more! Don't forget to visit the video I made about Jungleland on youtube, the link is here :)
Can't wait for the next short escape!
