Summer vacation to Imagicaa 2022
After 2 summer vacations spent in COVID lockdown, it was
time to reclaim the ‘high point of childhood ‘, and we did it in style by
spending 2 days in Imagica theme park, and 2 nights at the adjacent Novotel
Imagica.
Why Imagica?
I have had a huge fascination for the gorgeous theme parks
of the world, be it Disney land, or Lego land, or Singapore’s Sentosa Island
with Universal studios. And ever since Shreysht was born, I wanted to take him
to these theme parks, and fulfil my own curiosity.
And, Imagica is the
best option for a theme park in India, also, since my parents live in Pune, it
was a short 2 hour ride to the park (Imagica is in Khopoli, outskirts of
Mumbai, and an inter city drive from Pune) It has both a Theme park and a water
park. And even though we chose summer to go, they have lots of greenery and shade
places especially the water park, there are indoor rides, even some of the queues
are in air conditioned rooms, and it was very comfortable even in the Height of
May.
We went to Singapore when Shreysht was 3.5 years old, and he
enjoyed as much as a 3 three and half can, but now that he is six and half, he
had a much more exciting time, and we did too.
Why stay at Novotel Imagica ?
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If you are traveling from around the country (other
than Pune, Mumbai ) I would highly recommend you stay at Imagica Novotel. The
theme park and the water park, each take a day each to complete, and so doing
one of them on two consecutive days, with an overnight stay at a 4 star hotel
absolutely adjacent to the park is the best way to maximise your time and
experience of the theme parks.
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Even if you stay in pune/Mumbai, but are
traveling with kids to the park, and do not have your own vehicle to drive to
the theme park, I would say , stay overnight at the hotel. The theme park, and
the water park are both very extensive , tiring , funfilled days, which extract
every ounce of your enthusiasm, and none of us had the mental bandwidth, not to
mention physical capacity to drive back in city traffic to any home. With the
Novotel, we could go back to our room, regresh and rejuvenate, and then head
down to an extensive dinner buffet.
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The stay at the imagica, comes with attractive
options for the theme park entries, as well as a breakfast buffet. They also
have free stay for children under 10, and special rates for senior citizens.
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A cheaper option would be other hotels near by,
or an air bnb style option near the Theme park, but to really indulge in the
immersive experience , we chose the Novotel. And not just one night, but we
chose 2 nights, so that we were rested after both days of the theme park.
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ONE MAJOR TIP – check in is at 2 pm, and check
out at 11 am. For some reason, we thought we have to check in before going to
the park! You do not need to do that, you can bring your bags in early, head to
the park at 10:30 am and check- in later. Or you can checkout and then head to
the other park.
More about the Imagica park
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There is the Imagica theme park with 35
attractions, the water park with 14 rides , and a snow world that has a
different entry and charges. The theme park has special rates on Tuesdays, and
the water park has special rates on Wednesdays , so if you plan to visit both
then a Tuesday +Wednesday would be the most value for money.
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There is a height cut off on most rides , one of
3 feet 1 inch , and 4 feet 4 inch. If you have a child and two parents, then
there is a special entry where the second parent does not have to stand in the
line a second time.
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On extremely busy days you can upgrade your
tickets to beat the lines. But we made the mistake of taking these upgrades on
a day it was not busy. You can upgrade at any time during your visit to theme
park, these upgrade shops are outside every popular ride, and you can decide if
you want to upgrade if the lines are especially long any time of the day. Even
if you have the upgrade pass, you get to do the rides only once using the pass,
that means the second time you do the ride, you still have to stand in the long
queue. The upgrade does not mean unlimited access.
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The indoor rides shut down by 5 pm, so it is best
to start the morning with these rides, namely all the indoor shows (motion box
theatre, cinema 360, I for India, Mr India , detective bow wow show ) , and
also the indoor rides (our favourites were Ali baba and Rajasaurus ) . The
outdoor rides are open till 6:30. Ask the attendants, when the ride will close.
Also, start with the furthest rides from the entrance first, before the crowds
come.
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Four scary rides for thrill seakers – the Nitro
, the scream machine, the dare to drop, and deep space, all need a height
requirement of 4.4 feet. But, if you have a high on thrill child, then Gold
rush and Rajasaurus have height cut off of 3 feet 1 inch and provide ample
screams aswell.
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You get the pictures for Rs 300 it is online
pictures. Which makes it convenient to get the entire set.
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Water park – as mentioned earlier, we mis-timed
our entry, and went to the park after checkin, at 2:30 pm, and were told the
park would close at 5 pm. Thankfully for us, the park was crowded that day, on
crowded days, they keep the park open till 6:30. They have lockers to keep
bags, no towels are provided, so carry your own, dry fit wear or swim suits are
a must, carry a waterproof ziplock for your phone if you want to take it into
the park, there are shoe racks to keep your slippers outside the rides so
please don’t try and walk bare foot around the park.
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Food and water was surprisingly allowed inside
the park! This is a blessing if you have young children, water is easily
fillable in the many drinking water kiosks, even the snacks available in the
park are at MRP and not at a hiked price! The restaurants and eateries are all
very affordable. We liked the pizza place near the wave pool and rain dance
area in the Imagica water park for eating.
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A super
cool tip to win you some freebies – so at the entry you are given a raffle
ticket. Most people do not fill this raffle ticket, because they don’t have
apen, or they are in a hurry to get to the games, but fill this lucky draw
ticket and drop it in the souvenir store at the beginning. Every evening they
choose 3 winners from the theme park and 3 from the water park. There is a high
chance you will win. We did ! we got third prize on the day we went to water
park.
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Can you do both water park and theme park in the
same day… not recommended. Choose 2 days. Infact as we were allowed 2 days, we
asked specifically if we could go from one to the other. But there is a 5
minute bus travel (inhouse buses) from one to the other, you cannot wear wet
clothes from the water park to the theme park, and it truly does take a day to
do justice to any of them.
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The night parade , happens in the theme park
after 7 pm. Even if you went to the water park, you get free access into the
theme park for the parade, it has all the characters from the park, like Mr
India and even snow white and seven dwarfs, also some very talented acrobats. It
is definitely worth a watch.try and get a place near the pirate ship to get the
best views.
Final words
It is a real feat to make such a
theme park in India, and keep it running well. Yes the park opens late (10:30 )
and closes by 5 pm (indoor rides and water park )- 6:30 pm (outside rides ). But that is for the safety
checks, they do diligent safety checks of the rides, multiple times. They need
to check there aren’t anyone in the park after hours, they need to check the
rowdy crowds, the staff is courteous, helpful and we need to extend that
respect to them aswell. The park is really value for money, for all that it
offers, including lifetime memories.
