Nothing says Winter Fun like Snow World!

For our quasi-Winter finale, here's Star City's Snow World!

Ok, I'll be very straight here and tell you upfront that I wasn't too comfortable about going back to Star City this year.  The huge, mass-based amusement park has always turned me off with its crowded areas, its dilapidated rides, and its disgruntled staff.

Well, its Snow World attraction had me changing my mind big time.  Compared to Ocean Park's Snow Village and MOA's Santa Snowville, Star City's Snow World pulled the concept of bringing Winter fun to tropical shores to the hilt!

Snow World is ginormous, and thoroughly planned and chiseled to great art direction!  The tour starts with a hallway decked with beautiful ice sculptures.  It then leads you to a blizzard area where snow blasters freeze your goony, smiling face in a second.  Kids can play snowball here.  You then course through an igloo-like tunnel made entirely out of ice blocks.  This then takes you to the tour's major highlight --the ice slide.  Here, you ride little rubber sleds down in rocket speed.  My boys totally loved it!

I also liked how organized the whole tour was.  From the entrance, you get parkas and mittens (Yes!  Finally, mittens!).  Your gadgets are carefully wrapped in plastic at the line.  You are taken to a containment room where you're briefed on snow safety.

One organizational turn off, however, was the 'No Pictures Allowed' rule.  Yeah, you know how I am with that rule.  You'd think they wrapped your gadgets in plastic for your own gadgets' protection (which is how they explained the crippling rule), but inside, I was nearly --seriously-- nabbed for whipping out my camphone to take a quick shot of my boys.  Alright, I know I broke the rule.  I'm criminal and all that.  But the way the staff stopped me was almost as if they were protecting something from being documented.  I'm thinking it must be the ice sculptures --just like how the Legofest fiercely protected their Lego sculptures.  Again, I can never understand that.

They did have an in-house photographer who took your pictures for Php100 a pop.  And I mean ONE photographer, in ONE sit-down nook.  My suggestion is this:  If they're going to be completely gung-ho about a phototaking prohibition and would want to maximize business with in-house photography, by all means, make it worth it.  Station one photographer per fun area (except the ice sculpture area if it will kill them).  That way, each family still gets to keep a memento of Snow World's WHOLE Winter experience, and Star City gets to pocket more moolah from the picture business. 
But hey... that's just me.

Even without a richer, tangible memory of Snow World, we did have fun.  The most awesome fun in all our snowy adventures the past 2 weeks!  Star City has earned a notch-up for me.  Good, good show!

Now... if only its staff would learn how to smile...