Thistle Hotel, Hello Kitty and Little Big Club, Johor (27 March 2014)

I made plans to spend a night in Johor after our 2 days Singapore Trip because we do not want to overtire the kids with continuous travel. I guess when you stubbornly insist to drag a 5 year old and 2 two year olds around the country, you have to accept the fact that "roughing in" is just not an option if you value your own sanity :p

Anyway we chose Thistle Hotel based on its location and facilities. The reviews on Trip Advisor and Booking.com was also quite good, so we decided to give it a try.

Photo from Google.

We requested queen beds but it was not available and for us to get a room with a queen would mean upgrading to a more expensive room or waiting for another hour. We settled for this room in the end, just had to improvise with the bed arrangements :p The room is quite spacey and comfortable so I'm quite satisfied.

My one big problem is with the bathroom, which is easily clogged due to the small water drainage system. It is quite annoying and dangereous because it is kinda slippery especially with little kids around

There's an outdoor swimming pool available which is a plus point but please be informed that there's no baby pool so both mummy and daddy will need to dive in if you have more than one child with you.

Space is a must in my books and the room in Thistle meet this need sufficiently :) 

I rate our experience here 7/10.

There's plenty of food stalls and restaurant around if you choose not to opt for the hotel restaurant within walking distance available for breakfast/lunch and dinner.

 Thanks to Mr Google we found out there is a choice of Steamboat Vans/Stalls (pasar malam style) @ Dataran Bandaraya Johor which is right in front of our hotel. We tried the otak-otak (very tasty), tauhu bakar and seafood kuey teow. Price wise is reasonable but a bit more expensive than say your usual pasar malam price.

The best part of the night is trying out the "Giant Bubble" which is available at the dataran (Hehe you can see the hotel in this picture, it is that close ;p)

The kids LOVED it.

Hello Kitty and Little Big Club

We decided to drop by Hello Kitty and Little Big Club the next day before we leave for Klang. We initially wanted to visit the Melaka Zoo but decided againts it because my dad did not think exposing the kiddies to the hot sun 2 days in a row would be good for them. 

There's no new rides as compared to our last trip there in 2012 but the twins managed to participate in more games/rides so it was quite ok. To tell you the truth all 3 seems a bit bored or maybe they are just tired after 3 days of traveling.

Plan your visit : Hello Kitty and Little Big Club Information 

S.E.A Aquarium Singapore (26 March 2014)

 S.E.A Aquarium Map : Courtesy of Google

 Explaining to Ryan about the fishes and other specimens in the aquarium (like real :p)

Ok this is quite scary, the steps are transparent and fishes are also swimming overhead. Literally feels like you're surrounded with water :p

 Learning new information on sea life

Ranya dazzled by the Sharks in the "Shark Seas" aquarium

 People cleaning the shark tanks. Scary job he have there :p

 Ryan is exhausted from a full day of sightseeing but his eyes totally light up when he entered the Aquarium.  Glad that we made the decision to come :)

A short video of the Sharks 

We've been to 3 different aquarium before this. The Aquaria-KLCC, Blue Coral Aquarium-KL Tower and Ocean Park-Hong Kong and I have to say  out of the 4, so far the SEA Aquarium is the best. Size wise it is HUGE, but what attracted me the most is the variety of fishes displayed and how it is displayed. Worth every penny I tell you, especially if you have little shark fans like mine :)

Do check out their websites for more ticketing info : Sea Aquarium Singapore

Universal Studios Singapore (26 March 2014)

Our trip to USS is a fun one. The park is equally divided to entertain both young kids and adults. The park is not huge, so you'll need around a day to enjoy the rides and attractions (even with little children). The characters such as Woody Woodpecker, Betty Boop, Puss in Boots etc walks around freely which is a total "photo opp" opportunity but for my twins who have recently developed a fear for "mascots" it's a bit of a nightmare for their parents ;p 

 Photo from Google

First Stop : Hollywood/ New York 

  
 
The Audrey Hepburn Star, baby 

 

Can you tell me how to get? how to get to Sesame Street :)

We managed to catch the Sesame Street show, where Elmo, Bert, Ernie and Grover performed a short sing and dance session in front of the Library. Errr I think seeing Elmo in life sized kinda scare the twins because they started crying when the characters started dancing. Hahaha I was a bit annoyed because they watch Elmo practically everyday but when he's standing in front of them they ended up screaming their lungs out. Thank god I took videos which they enjoyed later :p

Elmo and Bert singing Hokey Pokey

With Cookie, Big Bird and Oscar

SCI-FI City

This attraction is for older children/adults with only one ride suitable for little munchkins. 

We mostly enjoyed the gift shops and just took photos with the Transformers cars and robots

 Miss Ranya running around

 Ryan wanted a photo with Bumblebee

Ancient Egypt

The Lost World

 Venturing into the dangerous Lost World with my little explorer (like real)

 Our bird eye view (or is it Pterodactyl view?) from above our ride :)

Far Far Away

Madagascar

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to USS. The kids had fun and so did the parents :) halal food is not an issue in the park as there is at least 4 to 5 restaurants offering it, just check in the "park guide" and the halal sign posted on the front door. I don't mind arranging for another visit in 2-3 years when the kiddies are a bit older. 

Do check it out : Universal Studios,Singapore