13 October 2016
When I learned that Manila Ocean Park recently offered a Birthday Madness promo that entitles the birthday celebrant to free entrance to the park provided he/she comes with 3 paying companions, I immediately went to their
website to find out more details. There were two packages available: Sea Breeze Express (P750 for 11 attractions) and "Marine Voyage" (P990 for 13 attractions). Trails to Antarctica - The Penguin Exhibit and the Christmas Village are the only two added attractions for the Marine Voyage package.
We chose the Sea Breeze Express Package and went on my actual birthdate, although according to the rules, I could have gone anytime during my birth month. How I wish I could use the privilege over and over instead of just one time :) hahaha All you have to do is go to the ticket counter and present your valid credentials (I used my birth certificate) and buy your tickets for either package (Sea Breeze or Marine Voyage).
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| At the Ticket Booth |
Anyway, here are the attractions that were part of the package:
Anytime Attractions: This means you can go anytime at your discretion. You can do them in any order, but will be limited to one entry per attraction only.
Outdoor Shows: These are live shows that are held outside. They follow a strict schedule although you may choose when to come depending on your time. Although, I suspect that if there are educational field trips scheduled, management tries to encourage you to stick to the schedule that they allot for you. For instance, when we got our list of attractions, they encircled 3PM for the Sea Lion Show, 4:15PM for the All-Star Bird Show and 7:15PM for the Symphony Evening Show. We actually missed the 3PM show and wanted to go into the 5PM show but the line was too long because of the students on a field trip. So we weren't able to see that show.
Penguin Talk Show: This is the only indoor show at the moment. Supposedly opens at 10AM and Last Show is at 6:30PM. But there's a note that you have to visit the venue for the actual schedule. We weren't able to go to this one as well. When we got there around 6PM, they said that the show was done.
Given that this was the first time we're going to set foot at the Manila Ocean Park, we really didn't have any idea what to do first or how long it will take for us to fully appreciate each attraction. So, in the next posts, I'll give you an idea of what to see or do in each attraction and how long it took us to go around. Hopefully, you'll get to plan your trip better than we did this first time :)
At the entrance, you'll find this Guide Map and Wrist Band Checker. I suggest you take a picture of the Guide Map so you know where to go. They didn't give us a brochure or a map to help us get around the place. There are signs though, but in our case, where we're planning as we go along, it was kind of hard to plan ahead.
The Wrist Band Checker is there to let you know if you're qualified for that particular attraction. However, the wrist band checkers that we've tried where either broken or offline. They do give you a list of attractions that you're qualified for when you pay for your tickets, so don't lose that.
There's also this huge photo standee where you can take a souvenir photo of your Manila Ocean Park adventure.
Now on to the Oceanarium! :)
We are nearing the end of these posts about Manila Ocean Park. Our last attraction for the day was the Symphony Evening Show. It is a musical show featuring huge water fountains that shoot water straight up in the air, light displays on water and fire and fireworks.
By the time we arrived at the Birds of Prey Kingdom, it was already 5:00PM and most of the students on their field trip have gone home. That meant there were no more long lines at the entrance :) This attraction was actually the first thing you'll come across when you enter Manila Ocean Park so it's inevitable that people will start with this attraction. 
After 2 hours and a half of walking around and visiting 5 different attractions at the Manila Ocean Park, and after a 30 minute break, we headed to the All-Star Bird Show around 4:00
We only found out that we'd be going to the "Amazing Stories of Yexel's Museum" when we bought our tickets. Apparently, the Sharks and Rays Dry Encounter was not available and this was the replacement attraction. We weren't told why the Sharks and Rays Dry Encounter was not available and for how long. I haven't heard of this exhibit before so it was a pleasant experience when we got to see everything it had to offer. This exhibit showcases the toy collection of Yexel Sebastian, including his own life-sized reproductions of popular TV and Movie characters.
Our next stop happened to be the Trails to Antarctica, but technically, it wasn't on our list. However, we needed to pass through this hallway to get to the other side (took us 5 minutes). This hallway showcases the Penguin Exhibit and leads to the Snow Village. You'll actually see the hallway being divided into two lanes as you walk further.
The Back of the House is a "behind-the-scenes" look at how Manila Ocean Park operates. This is where you'll learn how animals are taken care of, how the water from the Manila Bay is filtered to make it suitable for marine operations. 
From the Oceanarium, you take the stairs to reach the 2/F to get to the Fish Spa. The Fish Spa is an attraction where you dip your feet into a pool of doctor fishes and leave them to feed off of the dead skin cells on your feet. The Fish Spa is only available with the Sea Breeze (P750 for 11 attractions) and Marine Voyage (P990 for 13 attractions) packages. 
So, the first attraction that we visited was the Oceanarium. The Oceanarium is one of the world's best public aquariums with over 14,000 marine creatures from the Philippines and South East Asia. It has several sections, including its main attraction - a 25 meter long, 220° curved walkway tunnel - where you can see marine creatures all around you (left, right and above) as you traverse the tunnel.
