A Day out at Waterboom

Here in Jakarta we are spoilt for choice with at least 4 waterparks within driving distance for a family day out.
During the BIS Easter break, a small group of mums, with 16 children between us, aged from 2 to 11 years, decided to head for Waterboom in Cikarang. (This is not to be confused with the unrelated Waterbom in Pantai Indah Kapuk near the airport, which is also excellent, but the similarity in naming does make things a little confusing!)

Waterboom is easily reached using the toll road all the way to Lippo Cikarang, taking approximately an hour from Kemang. We arrived, en masse, just after 10am, although they do open from 9am if you are up for an early start. There was little traffic at this time, so we had a smooth journey. As with most attractions in Jakarta, weekends and public holidays can get pretty busy, so school holidays can be a great time to plan a visit. A coach party arrived at about the same time as us, but as BIS were the only school on holiday that week, with all the Indonesian and other International schools in session, it was still quiet. The coach party soon left and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Fantastic!

On arrival the children were all raring to go and once we had bought our tickets (a much quicker process it has to be said than the entry, plus bands, plus food voucher affair at Waterboom), and the obligatory sun protection application process had been completed, they were straight off and into the water. The mums found a group of tables beside the 'kiddie' pool and settled in for the day. On first impressions Waterboom is in need of a little TLC in comparison to the newer Waterbom and is also smaller, but this did not seem to dampen the children's enthusiasm and in no way affected their enjoyment of the park. A definate plus point is that Waterboom is landscaped to immitate a Balinese garden, with lots of trees and no big open spaces, meaning that there is a lot more shade, both in and around the pool. This also makes it a more relaxing and aesthetically pleasing environment in which to sit and watch the children. It also means it is easier to get your children out of the sun if you need to, especially if you are taking little ones who might need to nap. The kiddie area, comprises of a shallow (knee high on an adult) freeform pool with a large pirate ship in the centre and a separate, slow flowing lazy river circling the pool.The ship has a short slide and there are two other slides which also land in this pool; a short tunnel slide and a longer, not too steep, traditional style waterslide. Adults are not permitted to use any of these slides, even to take a young child down on their lap, but even the three year olds were able to manage the pirate ship on their own, with a little assistance from the older children. They were also allowed to come down the longer slide on the laps of the older children, obviously much more fun than on Mummy's lap anyway!

In addition to the kiddie pool there are three more slides, all landing in a second, larger, freeform pool and a second, faster flowing lazy river. These are out of view of the toddler pool, but the park is small enough that we were happy to let the older ones run between the kiddie area and these slides whilst we took it in turns to walk around and count heads. Large inflatable rings can be hired for rp20,000 for 2 hours and used on both of the lazy rivers, one of the big waterslides or just for messing around in the pools. There are a few members of staff hanging around the park to supervise, but I wouldn't say that the park is "lifeguarded" and would recommend that you do take full responsibility for your children yourselves.The older ones headed straight for the big slides and had enormous fun sliding down and running straight back up the stairs for another go, no queues! The littler ones amused themselves exploring the kiddie area and playing with the buckets and watering cans we had brought with us. Everyone enjoyed at least a couple of circuits on one or other of the lazy rivers. Other facilities, which we did not make use of are the 'Outbound' climbing frame, spa and fish therapy where you can have your feet nibbled by little fish!

As with many places, the policy is that you are not supposed to bring in your own food or drinks but purchase these items from the vendors inside the park. However, a number of our group did manage to smuggle in a few snacks which the children intermittantly came back to nibble at. As lunchtime approached, and the request for snacks became more frequent, we decided that we should probably find something a bit more substantial than rice crackers and ritz biscuits to sustain our children, who were by now expending huge amounts of energy in a good natured but full on boys vs girls battle in the kiddie area. Myself and two other mums set off in search of food. Initially we came across a more formal sit down restaurant. Our enquiries to the waiter as to whether he could "jalan jalan" to the pool area with some french fries was greeted with an amused (or should that be bemused?!) look so we headed off in search of something more casual. However, there were a number of diners inside the restuarant wearing business attire who were presumably there for the food and not to participate in the fun on the waterslides, so it might be worth a try. We soon found a stall selling, fries, chicken nuggets, ice creams and drinks. There was also another counter selling fried rice but we decided that fries for all was going to be the most popular and least complicated option. We were greeted with a huge grin by the vendor as he suggested we might like 3 portions of fries? We asked if he could manage 20! A look of mild panic entered his eyes but his grin remained fixed as he nodded and replied "Sepuluh? OK", whilst not sounding at all sure about the whole thing. After a quick phone call and check in the freezer by a collegue he confirmed this would be fine and that he would deliver our food to the pool. We returned to find the battle still in full swing, with several prisoners having now been captured and imprisioned on the pirate ship.

After about 40 minutes, the fries arrived, along with the first rumblings of thunder. Excellent timing as I'm not sure anything other than food would have persuaded the kids to get out of the pool. The fries were shared out and soon devoured. The portions were a little small, but possibly this was because we had ordered so many, and at only rp9,000 a go you couldn't really complain. By now the black clouds had rolled in and it became clear that the storm was not going to pass so we ushered 16 reluctant pirates into the changing rooms, spurred on only by the promise of an ice cream if they changed quickly, which they duly did (well, more or less!). We ended up leaving at around 1.30 because of the storm, probably only half an hour to an hour earlier than we would have anyway to miss the traffic home. But for these considerations we would all have been happy to stay longer.The journey home was quiet, with lots of sleepy but very happy children. They had a fantastic day out. I would not hesitate to recommend Waterboom as a fun filled family day out.