Baby Coven learned to walk at 14 months so we decided it's time for our 2nd family trip! This time with the maternal grandparents, aunt and uncle-to-be.

 

With our Batam plans thrown out due to security threats, we decided on a return to KSL and Legoland plus a maiden visit to the Puteri Harbour theme parks.

 

 

The demise of websites like deals.sg and ensogo meant we had to now email the different agencies to enquire about the packages available. And as fate would have it, the agency that replied the quickest was Exclusive Tours, which was also the one we went with on for our last KSL trip.

 

So despite the service lapses that we endured during the last trip, we signed up with them again hoping for a better experience this time round. And the result of our naivety? A vacation that started off as a nightmare.

 

8 am. We gathered bright and early, 4 adults+2 elderly+1 baby, at the meeting point Newton Circus car park. There was already a convoy of three 40-seater coaches and several minivans.

 

We were told to show our booking slip to the staff-on-duty to collect our tickets and hotel vouchers. But there was no staff in sight! Only a few groups sporting WTS (another local travel agency) stickers.

 

So we calmly took out the booking slip and called the emergency number listed. And the person on the line said it’s a wrong number! We called the agency desk line; no answer. We called the emergency number again: still wrong number. We checked the meeting place: it was correct.

 

Then we not-so-calmly scurried around asking every bus and van driver but none of them are associated with the agency. Close to the departure time of 8.30 am, one driver suggested that we check inside the food centre.

 

So I scampered over and on seeing a WTS staff, asked her if they saw any Exclusive Tours personnel. Then she replied, yes, they (Exclusive Tours) had booked the package with us (WTS).

 

So thankfully we got our tickets in time and were soon on the road to Tuas checkpoint, albeit filled with annoyance:

 

(1) why were we told to wait at the carpark when the person-in-charge was waiting inside the food centre?

(2) why weren't we told to look for a WTS staff instead of an Exclusive Tours staff?

(3) why is the emergency hotline a wrong number? What if there is a real emergency?

 

After clearing both customs, we reached Legoland at ~10 am.

 

 

Although the itinerary was fixed, we were initially hesitant on going to the theme parks on the first and last day because we would have our luggage in tow. But the staff who handed our booking assured us that we can leave them on the coach while we visited the theme parks.

 

So our second shock came when we were told to bring along everything down as a different bus would be used when returning! Despite pleading with the guide, we were told to deposit our luggage (2 large suitcases + 2 big travel bags) in the lockers @ Legoland.

 

And for that, we went on a wild goose chase. Big lockers outside Legoland were all in use; hotel didn’t allow us to enter; water park personnel told us to go back to Legoland and check with Guest Services; Guest Services told us to make payment first at Mini Market. So after half an hour and paying a handsome RM80, we finally checked into our baggages at Guest Services.

 

And while we were there, we rented a single stroller for Coven but someone’s not too happy being belted so we ended up using it as a trolley for our backpacks instead.

 

 

With Coven being ineligible for almost all rides and moderately cranky from the hot weather, we took an cursory trek of the theme park.

 

 

Coven was so besotted with the water fountains that he kept walking back on his own.

 

 

There was a Star Wars exhibition but we pretty much zipped past them as none of us had watched the movies.

 

 

The theme park is all dressed up for Halloween!

 

Mama look what's that?!

BIG BIG spider!

No air-con!

 

We stopped for lunch at Pizza Mania and got a RM99 family combo: 1xlarge pizza+ 4x(soup+drinks+dessert) and a RM32 adult combo: 1xpasta+soup+drink.

 

Got air-con!

 

After lunch, we continued our trek, alternating between the rides and air-conditioned venues.

 

 

The 4D movie was a disappointment like the last time. The effects of water and wind were pretty much localised in some sections so you either get the full blast of it or you don’t. This time, we picked the dry seats so the only effects we got were falling suds as snow.

 

 

Coven had his share of fun @ Duplo Playtown wandering around the labyrinth of animal play structures.

 

 

Despite swearing never to go on the Observation Tower after our previous experience, we went up again. No power cuts this time and the ascend/ descend was much smoother.

 

 

With our pick up time set at 4 pm (gather 15 mins earlier), we only managed to cover one-third of the park before we had to leave. So no miniland, no train ride, no shooting mummies, no boating school etc.

 

Upon checking into KSL hotel, we went to the connecting KSL mall for an early dinner since Coven didn't want to nap. In fact, he got very excited on seeing the huge bed, and started prancing around giving off shrieks of joy.

 

 

We were pretty impressed with the room as well despite reading some not-so-flattering reviews online. Room is clean with a view of the surrounding city; there’s wifi in the room although it keeps signing out automatically so we had to log in repeatedly (see Travel Tips at the end of post to learn how to overcome that).

 

 

Toilet is clean with a rain shower. Toiletries provided are of good quality. I thought the shampoo smells really nice (a bit like barley) so as a chemist, I couldn’t resist finding out the active ingredient. With a trained eye, I quickly spot the active component that makes the shampoo smell so good: ‘fragrance’.

 

 

Sadly, there wasn’t much to watch on TV which consists of Malaysian and Singaporean channels plus some Vision 4 cable channels which loops movies. No HBO, no star movies, no EPL for soccer fans.

 

Dinner @ D'Shanghai was really good and value-for-money! We had a mini feast of wanton mee, an assortment of tim-sum and dessert for ~RM150.

 

Fresh shrimp wanton mee @ RM11.90

The little drummer.

 

Coven became sleepy after dinner so we had to skip shopping, returning to our room to bathe him and put him to bed.

 

 

After Coven fell asleep, mama commenced her beauty regime, slapping on her face masks while papa went to the gym.

 

Gym opening hours: 8 am – 9 pm.

When Tower 1 meets Tower 2.

 

As always, no vacation is complete without a time-lapse shot.

 

 

 

|TRAVEL TIPS|

 

[Tour Package] Forget about booking with Exclusive Tours & Travels. They actually chain book their packages with WTS so just book directly with WTS.

 

[Tour Package] For WTS, different buses are deployed each time so you will not be allowed to keep your luggage on the coach when you enter the theme parks. Tip: Pack light! Although that’s always a challenge when travelling with a baby.

 

[Tour Package] Due to the semi-fixed bus pickup schedule, you will have only ~6 hours at each theme park. Timing is tight so do plan beforehand if you wish to make the most of the visit.

 

[Travelling with Baby] Do not feed baby food/snacks that they have not eaten before in case they develop an allergy reaction.

 

[Travelling with Baby] If your baby has a sensitive stomach, you may want to bring along some bottles of 'Singapore' or local water. For this trip, we brought a 2L bottle and boiled some each day to fill up our boy’s thermos.

 

[Hotel] If you have room preferences, do ask the agency to put up prior requests with the hotel although their default reply is: room request is subject to availability upon check-in. For this trip, we requested for a room with a king-sized bed (since baby sleeps in bed with us) and on a non-smoking level.

 

[Hotel] Soundproofing in rooms is poor so expect to hear conversations in the hallway, lift chimes and running water from toilets upstairs. Tip #1: request for a room further away from the lift lobby; Tip #2: close your toilet door especially when sleeping at night.

 

[Hotel] Request for city-facing (east-facing) rooms to catch the sunrise or moonrise.

 

[Wifi] The in-room wifi is set to log out automatically. To overcome that, click on ‘Keep Connection’ on the page loaded after logging in, and click ‘Change’. The connection should be changed from ‘OFF’ to ‘ON’.

 

 

[Drinking Water] If you need more water than the 2 complimentary bottles, the gym has a water dispenser where you can fetch both hot & cold water.

 

[TV] The Sharp Aquos TV in the room has a USB port. You may want to bring along a thumbdrive loaded with your favorite videos. Short of charger heads? Connect your device via usb for makeshift charging. Remember to remove your thumbdrive after that!