Kai!, KidZania Kuala Lumpur... again!

(Daddy says Kai!)

That's 'Hi!' in KidZania-speak by the way and yes, we were back at KidZania Kuala Lumpur for a second round of job-hunting 2 weekends ago. KidZania is a massive indoor family edutainment centre, which is essentially one huge real-life functioning city where kids will be able to work and experience various types of jobs in a kids-centric city. Our family had been invited by KidZania KL down for a visit back in June this year and both Ash & Ayd absolutely adored it!

They have been clamouring to head back ever since so this time around, their buddies joined in the mayhem as well.

An entourage of 8 adults and 8 kids made the road trip up to Petaling Jaya and quite frankly, it was a breeze. Like our last trip, we stayed at The Royale Bintang The Curve hotel, which is just situated diagonally opposite KidZania, and an overhead bridge away. You can read our review about the hotel HERE.

When travelling with a large group of kids, the location of the hotel obviously ranks among one of the most important factors. So besides Royale Bintang The Curve hotel being ridiculously close to KidZania, the hotel is also smack in the centre of three major shopping malls (four, if you include IKEA) which saves us the hassle of looking for food when it comes to meal times.

Well, it didn't save me from worrying that the wifey will go all card-swiping crazy at the shops but that's a different story altogether.

For now, the kids were all pumped up for the one location that mattered most.

I wouldn't go through the mechanics of KidZania in this blog post as I had already done so in my previous postings back in June. For a detailed write-up and review on KidZania KL, kindly click HERE for Part 1 and HERE for Part 2. If you have toddlers aged 3 & below and are wondering if there are any suitable activities for them in KidZania, I have the answer for that as well in the Part 2 of my review.

For starters, KidZania is a real-life kid-sized city where kids can choose from nearly 90 career-based activities from 60 establishments, earn money (kidZos), pay for goods and services, and even manage an ATM card - just like we adults do in real life!

Kids are given a starting 50 kidZos cheque every time he/she visits KidZania so at least the child doesn't start off penniless. And just like an actual bank, kids will also be able to open their very own savings account and bank their hard-earned kidZos in. What's even cooler was the boys even got their own ATM cards, which they can use to withdraw from the 2 ATM machines in KidZania.

During our last visit, the boys had discovered that the long hours put in at work, coupled with the wages that they had received, were barely enough to purchase something decent from the KidZania Department Store - only KidZos accepted, no cash - which left them a tad disappointed. One of the main reasons was that a lot of time was spent queuing for the more popular jobs - the pilot and firefighter jobs each required at least 1.5 to 2 hours wait!

So they got smarter this time around. The moment we arrived, they zoomed in on the jobs that had almost zero queues so that they could cover more jobs (and earn more money) in the 5-hour time slot. And the first job they took on was that of a newscaster at the TV Studio.

Ash & Benji snagged the news anchor roles, and they were made to rehearse their lines before going live on air.

While Ayd auditioned for the weatherman's role. Personally, I don't think you can find such a cute weatherman anywhere else. Heh.

When the camera finally rolled, I found it extremely interesting to watch a bunch of kids report the news and weather. And to top it off, parents can purchase the news recording in the form of a video CD for RM10. Definitely a must-buy for keepsake memories. That, or for their future wedding montage video.

The TV studio is definitely an excellent place to earn those KidZos because not only can one choose to work in front of the camera, kids can opt to work as a TV crew as well. And that was what the 3 boys did after that. The no-need-to-queue scenario certainly helped.

So just like that, the boys earned their first pay-checks of the day!

They then dabbled in various jobs after that; ranging from dentists, painters, laptop engineers, to postmen. Job-hopping has never been this fun!

The girls, on the other hand, targeted the more girly stuff like being a manicurist, hairstylist and dancer. But the whole gang did meet up briefly and applied for the same job - to deliver newspapers.

The entire group was packed off to deliver newspapers to 3 places within KidZania. So armed with a map, they had to navigate and locate the 3 places to complete their job. And every time a delivery was made, they had to ask the person to sign so as to acknowledge receipt of the newspaper.

It certainly made them work as a team and they completed that last job of the day rather splendidly. Good enough to warrant an ice cream treat from me!

As their work day came to an end, the kids headed off to the Department Store in KidZania to splash their cash. And they managed to find something to buy for 100 KidZos each. Well, it wasn't exactly the remote-controlled car that they were eyeing as they did not have enough money. But it did make them realise that they had to put in many hours of work before they can receive the payout that they desire. And that is the one lesson that I am glad that the KidZania experience had taught them.

With the kids having had their fun, it was time for the adults to splash the cash next - this time at the malls surrounding our hotel. But that's not to say the kids had used up their fun quota. In fact, it was just the beginning... and I am pretty certain they were all looking forward to the next leg of our road trip - Melaka & LEGOLAND!

I know I was. :D



Useful Information

Location: 
Curve NX (18 Jalan PJU 7/5, Mutiara Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya) Click HERE to view MAP.

Operating Hours: 
Mondays to Fridays - 10am to 5pm
Saturdays, Sundays, Malaysian Public & School Holidays - 10am to 3pm (1st Session) & 4pm to 9pm (2nd Session)

Pricing:
Baby (0-1 years): FREE | Toddler (2-3 years): RM 35.00
Kid (4-17 years & Malaysian): RM 55.00 | Kid ( 4-17 years & International): RM 75.00
Adult (18 - 59 years & Malaysian): RM 35.00 | Adult (18-59 years & International): RM 50.00
Senior (above 60 years): RM 30.00
CLICK HERE to buy tickets online.
*It's highly advisable to purchase your tickets before you arrive as there is a daily quota for admissions and the queue to purchase the tickets over the counter can get agonisingly long.

For more information, please visit http://www.kidzania.com.my/ or http://www.facebook.com/KidZaniaKualaLumpur.