Travel Contest - Have You Been Here (GARDEN CITY AMUSEMENT PARK)

The festive season is here again after the long wait since January. Definitely majority of workers and children will be on holidays to have some fun this December but in my own case, I’m still working But, I can’t let that spoil my Christmas plans. There is this place I had always wanted to check out with my nephews and niece this Christmas is called Garden City amusement Park is a beautiful place to be. I’ll be sharing with you some of my favorite moments there today. Feel free to click on the link to see the directions.

Before going ahead, let me use the opportunity to invite @us-andrew, @queenella1 and @blessingogah-1 to join this contest…

Let’s dive in to the business of the day!

It was around 9am my nephews and niece called me to wish me a merry Christmas and a happy new year. I knew that wasn’t the reason for the call. As if I knew, the next thing that came after that was “uncle, you promised to take us to amusement parks on Christmas Day”. These days children, they never forget. Memories as sharp as two edge sword. Even after using the excuse of work, they still refuse to accept “no” as an answer. I had to send some money down for them and told them, I’ll catch up with them once I’m done with work.

I got there thinking the place was free entry considering the fact that people are coming to spend there… they required I had to pay gate fee first. I was upset but I couldn’t express myself at the gate because of some pretty ladies that were behind me. Let them not think, I’m broke, I’ve to behave like Elon musk!!

Well, I finally entered the place and the place was really lovely. It was looking like all those Disney island. At first, I was thinking I’ll just get there and sit down there with my big sis and her husband while we watch the children do there stuff, I was surprised when I saw adults also playing the Mary go round and some of the play toys!

I was happy about that. The fact that adults were allowed to also join in the fun stuff, it made me appreciate the place. You see ladies shouting and panting even more than their children whenever they enter one of the ride. When the ride is done, the children will now be looking confused, staring at their parents wondering who will console each other, this one mummy is this scared!! But it’s actually exciting for the adults. A way of getting in touch of your inner child, free from stress, free from all the distractions and worries. Just fun!! fun!! fun!!

Besides the ice cream, sweet, candy, soft drinks and the rest of them, they have a spot for adults, where you can chill with your alcoholic beverage while you watch your children play around. There you can play table tennis, snookers and listen cool music to cool off your nerves while you sip the wine!!

The place is not really as big as the Port-Harcourt pleasure park but i salute the brain behind the place because of how he judiciously used the space well and everything fit in perfectly.

• For the adults:

For the board games, you will see snooker games, table tennis, football with miniature goal posts played between 5 people, some puzzle of some sort, chessboard , Ludo games, card games. This were the few I could remember..

• Then for the kids:

The children literally own everywhere, you can be playing a game with someone, they will just cry and disturb the whole universe that they want to play table tennis, something, they have never played before in their lives. They are know longer satisfied with their own toys again but fun stuff for the kids are the toy cars, play station games, Mary go round, Giant toy horses that goes in a circular motion too, artificial swimming pool, tug of war, bounce castle, giant toy houses, clowns, climbing artificial walls and a whole lot of other stuff that I don’t really know there names.

Well, as fun as the place is, I will say the prices there are reasonably fair. From the recreational activities I saw there, trust me, if they had not taken gate tickets, I don’t think the place would have contain the crowd because at some point, people had to stand in queue to wait there turn. The gate fee is #500, the beer I bought was #800, popcorn was of different prices from #800-#1000, salmosa #1000, shawarma #3000, ice cream of different sizes between #500 - #2500. Those were the stuff I bought.

Then for the fun stuff, table tennis, snooker and all those board games were free but the Mary go round, toy cars and some other stuff, one ride alone was #2500 per kid. But if you have up to 5 children, you can negotiate slightly with the management, if they could cut down a little on the cost. Bounce castle and few stuff was free for the kids.

My recommendation is that they really did a good job on managing the crowd and judging from the way they built the entrance, I’ll say that the security is tight. You just can’t sneak in and sneak out easily, that way safety of the children is guaranteed.

I also that I love the fact that they also considered adults while mounting those fun machines. A lot of adults might be scared of their weight but the machine is strong enough to withstand the pressure. This way, adults are also having fun while they visit.

The extras they added like the clowns, the mini bars for the adults, artificial swimming pools for the kid and the settings of the place is really a nice concept. It was impressive how they judiciously use the space.

But,

I think they need a far more bigger space for that place. I arrived there at night after I had closed from work and the place was still crowded and I was here imagining, if I’d come during the day. The place would have been so jammed up since it was Christmas Day.

I understand because after the festivities, the places is now cool and calm. No much crowd again but I believe is best they prepare for every holiday periods like Easter, Christmas and the new year season.

I will be sharing some of photos I took that day. If I’d seen the contest earlier, I would have taken a whole lot more!!

(My sis and her 3kids)

(My sister and me)

(My sis and her first daughter)

Cheers