Fun Ranch or Active Fun?

We often look for fun places to bring our kids for some family time together. So far, our default places have been either Active Fun in the Fort or Fun Ranch in Tiendesitas.

I personally prefer Active Fun because it's newer and hence, looks a lot cleaner. There are also more shops which I enjoy going to nearby. There's a Mothercare just in the ground floor and now that I like doing yoga in Urban Ashram, I am imagining (hasn't actually happened!) that I will have my yoga practice while the children play at Active Fun downstairs.

The real test of which is better is end user rating. And Ava actually prefers Fun Ranch. I cringe when I give her the option between Fun Ranch and Active Fun. Since then, I have stopped giving her a choice and just announce, "Bring socks because we're going to Active Fun! Yay!" She's pretty cool with Active Fun anyway. She stops being cool about Active Fun when it was a choice between the two.

Why?

I tried probing and basically the gist is Fun Ranch is bigger so she has more things to do. Yes, this is despite her getting a huge friction burn on her below because of the slide. It's all part of it, I guess. She also likes feeding the rabbits at the zoo nearby. But the real reason I think is she gets to play the fishing game. It's really just fish with magnets and the plastic fishing rod with magnets. It's one of those projects I'm thinking of recreating here at home since she likes it so much.

I'm not too fond of Fun Ranch because it looks so dirty. That's really my main concern. Plus it's such a big problem when it rains or drizzles because it's a walk through semi-covered then uncovered and sometimes slippery paths to the car. I must give them credit though, it's very nice that they include a free grown-up ticket for children 3 and below. Active Fun charges another P125 for an adult to go in with young children but parents couldn't possibly let a child younger than 3 all by himself. He will literally get trampled on by the bigger kids! Fun Ranch is much lighter on the pocket.

My top tips for enjoying these activity areas:

1. Bring socks for your child and yaya (or you if you're feeling energetic). It saves a lot of money in the long run as the socks they sell are practically disposable. They unravel after the first wash. I usually include a pair of socks in my yaya's uniform kit so that we come prepared.

2. Bring something to do while you wait. I've tried going in the play area with Ava and it was really really tiring. I could do it for about 30 minutes but maybe not a whole hour. But the kids like it when they know you're just there watching them. Ava likes waving from odd areas.

3. Avoid going on weekends - when everyone seems to have the same idea as you. We've gone on 2 weekends and each time I promised myself I wasn't going to do that again. We left super drained and mentally tired. It was not a good weekend activity.

4. Keep in mind that this is fun for our kids. I honestly am so bored being there and can think of many other places I'd rather be. But I keep repeating how I'm being here for my kids and try to be as excited as they are. And I think of all the times I made them wait while my meeting went on and on or dragged them around doing errands. Those times weren't fun for them too so it's a give and take. Sometimes, I throw in pretending to be Elasto-girl from The Incredibles just to make it more fun and Ava pretends to be Violet.

5. Bring some water and handy snacks and of course a change of clothes - the kids are extremely hunger and sweaty after. The food choices in both places aren't all that healthy.

Oh and maybe avoid planning another activity after.  They'll probably be tired and cranky and you'll want to go straight home after! I treated Ava to an unlimited play time in Active Fun when I had a meeting that would run long. She actually opted out of Active Fun after 3 hours. She fell asleep in the car on the way home and woke up the next day.

I'm making a list of fun activities to do around town.  It's time we got to know Manila all over again through our children's eyes. Up next on our list are the Farm in Sta. Elena, doing the Viaje del Sol, maybe even a trip to Baguio.  Closer to home, we plan on visiting the National Museum. They may be too young for the Old Manila Walks though.

Plays and fairs are fun activities too.  We took Ava to watch Horton Hears Who? in Repertory and we came back this year for the Wizard of Oz. She loved both so I'm taking her to more plays these coming months like The King and I. We missed the Book Fair this September - bummer! Maybe a trip to the Negros Fair in Rockwell will be a fun field trip this weekend.

Let me know if you have other ideas where we can take our kids! And stay tuned for more ideas.