Monday, 28 July 2014

KidZania Singapore Construction Update

There is significant progress in the construction of the new Family Entertainment Center in Palawan Beach, Sentosa. One of the signature attractions there will be the world renown kids learning and entertainment center KidZania.


Nice banner!


KidZania is located at Palawan Beach on Sentosa Island, just beside the Transportation Hub at Beach Station


Basically, KidZania is a family entertainment and education based attraction that allows children to take on various jobs to earn a virtual currency. It is meant to give children a taste of adult life in a fun, immersive and somewhat realistic way (at least for kids). You can find out more at the KidZania Singapore site. As of today, the nearest KidZania outlet is in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.


You can see that the attraction will be ready by the fourth quarter of this year. We will not have to wait much longer

However, I think it is more than just Kidzania that is coming. For one, the construction summary above clearly shows that there is also an F&B floor within the complex. However, what is most compelling to me is the huge atrium area with a ceiling of almost 10 meters high. Of course, anyone who has visited Kidzania will know that the place mainly has low ceilings (to make kids feel taller), so I think there is actually another attraction coming to this family complex.

Given the relatively large space, here are some possibilities:
  1. The largest indoor playground in Singapore, possibly operated by ExplorerKid
  2. A small indoor theme park similar to Sanrio Puroland (Hello Kitty) in Tokyo, Japan
  3. An indoor expansion of Sentosa's Kids Club, Port of Lost Wonder
  4. Just an atrium for events
I honestly hope there are other major attractions in this complex in addition to KidZania as it really occupies a large area (about 3 times of I-Fly Singapore) and there is already not much room left in Sentosa for new attractions. Also, I really think that Sentosa needs a nice, compact indoor theme park to balance its' lineup of predominantly outdoor attractions.


Look at the vast height of the main atrium. It is a waste if they do not put some interesting attraction here.

This certainly looks like some monorail or LRT track. I have no idea what it is (maybe a ride?) It is located deeper in the construction site and only visible at the coach loading area.

Other Construction Work in Sentosa


In addition to the Family Entertainment Center, there is also a small kiosk under construction near the bus loading area at Beach Station. I personally hope it will be selling some cold drinks of some sort (perhaps Gong Cha or KOI) as the beach area is usually very hot.

Is there a typo error here? The permit is issued 13 Jan 2014 yet the construction is expected to complete within the same 1st quarter of 2014. Anyway, it is now 3rd quarter of 2014 and the construction is still incomplete


The other major construction work going on at Sentosa Island is the new Cable Car system, slated to open in the Spring of next year. You can find out more at my previous post here. Also, look out here to see a new airplane nose jutting out of the Kidzania building as part of the new construction update!


Please do share with me what you think about the new attractions coming to Sentosa Island. If you know what else is in store for the Family Entertainment Center, please let us know too.