KidZania Manila

If I’m not mistaken, I have first heard of KidZania when I enrolled my lil girl to Air Asia’s SkyRider Club. Part of the welcome kit are discount coupons to KidZania Kuala Lumpur. Being the curious me, I googled what KidZania is and discovered that it’s a child-sized replica of a real city where kids can play/ work in airports, banks, restaurants etc and earn KidZos (their currency) for them to spend at the gift shop or at other activities inside the “city”.

I liked it! I like that it’s not just a playground but it’s meant to teach kids the values of hardwork – they have to earn KidZos to be able to purchase stuff; independence – they are the master of their lives inside the center as parents/ adults are not allowed to enter it; and acquiring a new skill/s as they are exposed to real jobs and they’ll get to have a feel of the real world while in a play setting so that the fun component is still there.

So I was really hoping to bring the lil girl in KL or in other cities where there is KidZania. But now, I don’t have to bring her far or even wait that long, there will be a KidZania Manila by 2015! That’s just a couple of months away…and just a few kms away from our place!!!

Play Innovations, a subsidiary of ABS-CBN is building a 8,000sqm complex in Global City, Taguig which is set to open early 2015.

Filipino kids will now have a chance to go to an edutainment (education + entertainment) facility. I know you’d probably be asking about the prices. There’s nothing final yet but as Ms. Maricel Pangilinan-Arenas, Governor of Kidzania, said it will be somewhere in between Mind Museum and theme parks, so that’s very reasonable. And they would offer special rates for public school tours and the like.

Exciting times especially since the lil girl can experience being a pilot or a flight attendant in Cebu Pacific’s aviation academy. That alone is already a pull for our family to come and visit.

Here are some shots from the Plane Ceremony announcing KidZania Manila’s partnership with Cebu Pacific Air.