By now, you probably know that I love theme park. I find it fun to be visited either with your love ones. I've visited Dufan for times, Jungleland (the review is here), I know I still have Trans Studio on the list, but let's head to the one that happens to be in my favorite province.
Jawa Timur Park is this big group that has a lot of amusement park to offer. Jatim Park 2 is a very sophisticated zoo (for Indonesian standard), and they are building Jatim Park 3 right now, probably something to do with dinosaurs. Jatim Park 1 is a theme park in the city of Batu, East Java. For a start, Batu is located in the mountain and famous to be a very cold city. In the morning I was there, they literally had fog everywhere we all needed to cram up inside the car with air conditioner off to make ourselves warm.
The ticket was Rp 100.000 for Jatim Park 1 only, but the sales will probably offer you the all in one package with the body museum of Bagong, which add another Rp 75.000. Me and my friends were there for the fun, so we skipped the body museum and went straight to the park.
When you arrived, you'll be welcome by these mini fountain everywhere, which I didn't know whether there is a specific purpose of it or simply an aesthetic, because I found it disturbing to be honest. One moment I was having fun with my friend running around the open space, the next thing I knew I found my shoes all damped inside a mini puddle.
Having five new coasters was what they promoted the whole way to the park, so me and my friend decided to hunt the whole five coaster down.
The Spinning Coaster was our first ride. The height is not very frightening to be honest, what's unique is actually their seat. Instead of a train shaped seat, they made a back to back two chairs, which will turn around the whole ride. So there is no such a thing as being in the front, because you will taste it all. I found it fun, the trick they use is that almost falling feeling that you got when you are on the edge of the trail and about to take the turn in a fast speed.
Our second coaster was the one with dragon on it and as its name (I couldn't quiet catch it). It's not much of a big deal. It's not to high, only goes one way around for three times, but enough to make me laugh a bit.
But this Volcano Coaster, is a joke. The moment we all stepped into the train, we were all in an anticipation of a very scary ride since the last group before us were screaming. But the ride failed to make us scream even one bit. The moment we stopped we just shared some glance with each other and laughed out of disappointment. It's for children.
Then we had the Superman Coaster, which was probably the most fun of them all. It's not too high, but the speed and the sudden turn managed to make me scream and got dizzy. The fact that we were served by the beautiful scenery of Batu right before we had the first jump was amazing. Like the quiet before the storm. This one was fun for me.
One of the coaster was under maintenance so we couldn't ride it, and the last coaster is made for kids and we were not allowed to take it. So there we tried only three out of five.
The swinger didn't work, which was too bad. Other ride are involving a 360 degree spinning, which was not our kind of plate, so we left them be (maybe we are just cowards).
In the middle of the ride area, they also have this amazingly creative aquarium, consists of several fishes collection, displayed in many creative way possible, like an aquarium using a used washing machine and fridge. That place managed to make me shook my head in amazement.
The thing about Jatim Park is that they don't just offer you some fun, but also try to educate you in one way or another. That's why before reaching the rides part, all visitors must walk through their science fair, which involve some fun fact concerning chemistry, biology, physics, and history.
Me and my friend took off from Malang at seven and reached Batu thirty minutes later, still managed to visit the city hall of Batu to have a breakfast and a quick photos around (I was craving for Pecel). The time we reached Jatim Park 1, probably around eight and not so many people were around, we were early. So yeah, that's my first tips if you decided to visit the place, come early. Most of the group came after eleven I observed, and by that moment, me and my friend were already exhausted and hungry. The place is open at eight.
So my friend took me to this open view restaurant called Pupuk Bawang (I still don't understand the relevance of the name since the view offered was a field full of celery instead of onion). If you decided to visit this place, take the outside chair. That's the main selling point. The food was alright, served in a very big plate with a enough portion, the waiters were polite, and the view was amazing! I wondered how it'd look like at night. The citylight must be beautiful to see.
Like I said, Batu is a cold place for a tropical person like me, so even though I spent the entire day running around and taking scary rides, not a single sweat was running in my body even though I was wearing black. My second tips, bring a cardigan or a jacket, for you tropical skinned people, in case it gets a little too chilly outside.
