Manila Ocean Park Sunday 2022 Experience

I remember going to Manila Ocean Park with my family when I was young and it was such a memorable experience for me. I’ve been meaning to bring Baby Q to Manila Ocean Park. I wanted to bring her at an age when she’ll be able to remember it and appreciate the experience.

 I bought the tickets online for P680 each. I read that it was cheaper to buy the tickets online, the only downside to buying it online is that you have to go on the exact date that you booked it. If you buy the tickets directly at Klook, you can use Klook discount vouchers if you have any. In my case, I bought it from Manila Ocean Park’s website (it was powered by Klook but it was still different from buying it directly from Klook).

We arrived at Manila Ocean Park before 10am, the park was set to open at 10am. Despite arriving early, the place was still packed which I expected since we went on a Sunday. We went directly inside, since I already printed our tickets.

Oceanarium
Our first stop was the Oceanarium. The area right after the Oceanarium entrance was very crowded, you have to wait for your turn before you can see the attractions up close. As we moved further in, it became slightly less crowded. It was kind of funny when kids see the clownfish, I heard a lot of other kids saying it was Nemo. Despite the crowd, you'll still be able to get decent shots without other people in it. People are quite courteous when they see other people taking pictures, they'll wait for their turns and will get out of the way for others to take pictures.

Trails to Antarctica
Our next stop was the Trails to Antarctica. My daughter was really looking forward to seeing the penguins up close. Unfortunately, the line was really long for this one. I wasn’t sure if you needed to pay to be able to see the penguins up close or if the payment was only for having your picture taken with the penguins. If I remember correctly, it costs P600 to get your picture taken. The line was long because only one hole was open for people to go up and see the penguins. There were a total of 3 holes but only 1 was open.

We settled on just watching the penguins through the glass where we could see a few penguins swimming. The glass was already a bit dirty so you won’t be able to clearly see the penguins but they were still visible.

Christmas Village and Super Toy Collection
There were photo op areas for those who like to take Instagrammable shots. These photo op areas were the Christmas Village and the Super Toy Collection.

Ballpit
If your kid is feeling energetic and need to release some energy, you can bring them to the ballpit area located in the Super Toy Collection.

World of Creepy Crawlies
Inside the World of Creepy Crawlies, you’ll find insects and reptiles. There are turtles, snakes, tarantulas and more.

Jellies Exhibit
My favorite was probably the Jellies Exhibit. It had ambient music playing while you can see the beautiful jellyfish swimming around in beautiful lights.

All Star Bird Show and Sea Lion Show
For the All Star Bird Show and Sea Lion Show, you have to arrive earlier than the scheduled time of the shows to get good seats. We arrived a few minutes late during the first scheduled and there were still a lot of seats left. Unfortunately, the seats that were left were all basked under the hot sun so we decided to come back at the next schedule. We arrived 30 minutes earlier than the scheduled time. The show started 3pm and we were seated quite far back. Unfortunately, despite being late in the afternoon, the sun still moved to our area. Some people actually left because the sun was really scorching hot. Luckily for us, we brought an umbrella. For those who were sitted right in front of the stage, they were not allowed to open their umbrellas during the sea lion show because they said that the umbrellas would scare away the sea lions.

My daughter really enjoyed the sea lion show, she kept laughing while the sea lions were clapping.

As for food, there were a lot of options. There were multiple areas selling food. If you have more budget, you can opt for Hotel H2O’s restaurants. There were also other restaurants inside Manila Ocean Park. For us, we opted to eat at the food courts. We tried 2 different food courts, the other one was located beyond the Trails to Antarctica where the food court had an al fresco dining area. The other one was inside the air conditioned area where there were more food stalls. Two of the food stalls were in Foodpanda, so you can opt to use a discount code on Foodpanda and pick it up at the food stall.

As for parking, we paid P170 for the parking and we spent around 6-7 hours inside Manila Ocean Park.

Kids below 2ft are free of charge when it comes to admission. The age won't matter as long as the child is below 2feet. If your kid is sensitive to noises, I won't recommend you bringing them on a busy day. There was one toddler who was walking with the same pace as us and she kept crying from the Oceanarium until we reached the Christmas Village. The parents were quite frustrated, I noticed that they tried buying her a toy and she still wouldn't stop crying.

Location
Manila Ocean Park is located at Quirino Grandstand, 666 Behind, Ermita, Manila, Metro Manila.

Book Online
I booked my ticket online because it was cheaper than the walk-in price. You can book your tickets at Klook and use the code BetterOnApp to get 5% off.