This is Part 2 of my post about our Family Staycation, where I'm going to document our Manila Ocean Park experience. 

If you want to see my review of Hotel H2O, you can read Part 1 of my post HERE.

MANILA OCEAN PARK

We spent the afternoon at Manila Ocean Park. We had Deep Sea Rush tickets which included 6 MOP attractions (a ticket costs 580php if you buy at the ticket booth, but only 550php when you book at the hotel):

• Oceanarium
• Back of the House
• Jellies Exhibit
• Sea Lion Show
• Sharks and Rays Dry Encounter
• Symphony Evening Show

The hotel gave us a list of the exhibits and their corresponding schedules, so we were able to plan our day. I think you can also get a list from the ticket booth, but I've listed the schedules here too :)

It's easy to get around since there are directional signs all over, so you won't get lost. Here is the map of the place...

Click to enlarge

Our first visit was to the Jellies Exhibit, where you enter a dark room and there are a variety of Jellyfish behind the glass. They looked like they were glowing in the dark.

Jellies Exhibit Schedule:

Weekdays: 10:00 am to 7:00 pm

Weekends & Holidays: 9:00 am to 7:00 pm

We visited the Oceanarium next, and we loved it! The kids where pointing at all the fish and saying "fish! fish!" every time. It's fun to see excitement and wonder in their eyes.

This is the highlight of our visit since you get to see a lot of different sea creatures here.

Oceanarium Schedule:

Weekdays: 10:00 am to 8:00 pm

Weekends & Holidays: 9:00 am to 8:00 pm

First, you are welcomed by an outdoorsy aquarium with big and small fish, star fish, and crocodiles...

You cross the bridge to enter a room of little aquariums full of more fish and sea creatures... Though there weren't seahorses, and Kiel was asking me where they are. Maybe MOP should consider putting seahorses next time :)

We saw a lot of fish and sea animals. In this photo there are Rock fish, Clown fish a.k.a. Nemo, Nautilus, Lion Fish, and Sea Garden eels. There are tons more kinds of fish, but I won't spoil you too much with their pictures :)

Next, you enter a room of large aquariums with the sharks and swordfish...

This is our favorite part, the big dome in the oceanarium, as if you were under the sea too...

Those are stingrays overhead...

Next we went to the Back of the House, which was disappointing because no one really toured us to what was supposed to be a view of how MOP takes care of their marine life and maintains the place. We just passed by the "back of the house" literally. So I have no pictures to show here...

To make up for such disappointment, we went to Trails of Antarctica (Penguin Exhibit & Snow Village) next. This attraction was not included in our tickets, so we paid for the entrance fee separately, which was 200php/person.

Trails to Antarctica (Penguin Exhibit & Snow Village) Schedule:
Weekdays: 11:00am to 8:00pm
Weekends: 10:00am to 8:00pm

There were only a few penguins, but the kids enjoyed seeing them live anyway, and you can pay separately if you want to feed them. Penguin feeding is 300php for 2 persons, 100php per additional person, comes with free 6R photo.

We enjoyed our freezing time inside the snow village too. They give out jackets, but it's better if you have your own, and a scarf would be helpful too, since it's really cold! The kids wore their jackets plus the jackets from MOP, double layers, because it's that cold.

Next, we waited for the Sea Lion show to start. We watched the 3:00PM show, so it was hot. Good thing we had our own water bottles and fan. There were also roaming vendors selling popcorn and drinks.

Daily Show Schedule: 11:00 am, 3:00 pm & 5:00 pm

After that, we rested back at our hotel room. We woke up just in time to watch the Symphony Evening Show, which shows every night at 6:30PM. I recommend you seat at the top back, because some of the water effects splashes and reaches the seats. We got a little wet where we were seated.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to try the Sharks and Rays dry encounter because they had a sudden change in schedule because they were having a video shoot. Besides, you aren't allowed to take pictures there too.

Other helpful information (Park Guidelines):

• KIDS 2 FEET BELOW are FREE OF CHARGE. (My one year old got in free, since we carried her, they did not check her height, but she is a little bit taller that 2 feet)
• MOP will not be liable for any lost or stolen tickets. MOP will not be liable to any injury due to negligence.
• As a gesture to other Park goers, guests are requested not to have obscenities or lewd gestures during the staging of the shows. Likewise, No running, horseplaying, pushing, dunking, shoulder riding or other inappropriate behaviour shall be allowed.
• Children under 10 years old must be supervised by their parents.
• NO REFUND POLICY shall apply. However a CHANGE SCHEDULE shall be entertained. Occasionally, during severe weather conditions, shows may need to be delayed or suspended. MOP reserves the right to NO REFUND POLICY. However, guests can use their attraction tickets on another day or show schedule. They may also exchange a show ticket with another attraction.

Overall, we enjoyed our stay there, it was a one-of-a-kind experience and the kids loved it too. My son wouldn't want to leave the next morning when I told him we had to go home, he insisted that was his house now with the fish!

Interested in spending your staycation and family field trip here too?

For booking information and ticket purchases:

Address: Luneta, Manila, Philippines 1000 (Behind the Quirino Grandstand)

HOTEL H2O
Website: https://www.hotelh2o.com/
Tel. #: (02) 238 6100
Reservation: reservation@hotelh2o.com
Hotel Inquiry: inquiry@hotelh2o.com
Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HotelH2OPH

MANILA OCEAN PARK
Website: https://www.manilaoceanpark.com/
Tel. #: (02) 567 7777
Email: inquiry@manilaoceanpark.com
Like on Facebook: Manila Ocean Park (Official)

Our wedding anniversary falls on April 30, the day before Labor day, so it's a good reason to go on a family vacation. This year, the date fell on a Thursday, so it meant a long weekend for us.

We would always look forward to taking staycations with the family. Last year, we went to Crosswinds in Tagaytay. You can read bout that here. 

This year, we spent our anniversary at Hotel H2O and also to visit Manila Ocean Park (MOP). As if purposely hitting two birds with one stone, we chose to go there for a staycation as well as to have our family field trip, since the hotel is conveniently located at Manila Ocean Park.

HOTEL H2O

We left early morning, because we plan to go around MOP in the afternoon. We got there at around 11:30AM, and even though the standard check-in is 2PM and checkout is at 12noon, we were given a room after just about 15 minutes of waiting. 

We didn't mind the wait, after all we were too early. We looked around a bit, and the lobby and lounge were spacious and very classy. You'd feel relaxed already.

This is the view of the Manila Ocean Park area from the hotel window.

The view of the lounge in the morning...

The view of the lounge and meeting room at night.

We booked an Aqua Room, the hotel's signature room - unique to the hotel in the country.

We booked for a room with tickets, so our stay didn't include the buffet breakfast. You can choose to get MOP tickets when you book for your stay at the hotel. It's about 30 pesos less than buying at the ticket booth, and it saves you time too. 

Room Features:

• Queen-size bed with cotton linens
• Cabinet with safe
• Chiller
• 37-inch LCD television
• Work desk with high-speed Internet access
• Marble bath
• And the best feature yet: A life-sized aquarium of various fish, running the length and breadth of the 25-square-metre room's main wall (hotelh2o.com)

Here are images of our room.

Complimentary goodies...

The kids love the aquarium window :)

Hotel Amenities:

• Club Lounge
• Gym/Fitness Center (My husband loved the Gym!)
• Spa
• Meeting Room
• Swimming Pool (near the Sharks and Rays Encounter at MOP, which we unfortunately did not get to try because we were tired already)

After we've put down our luggage in the room, we went out to lunch at North Park just below the hotel.

Other food establishments nearby include: Green Bean Coffee, Pancake House, Gerry's Grill, Makan Makan Asian Food Village (where the buffet breakfast is held), Quix food court, White Moon bar, Pinoy Delights among many others (see the list of food choices here)

The following morning, my little girl and I took a little stroll around the premises while we waited for our McDonalds breakfast delivery...

This is a nice view of the corridor near the bay...

Picture by the Jeepney display :)

Beautiful view of Manila Bay in the early morning :)

Other helpful information:

• Published rates are much higher than current rates. If you try booking online, the Aqua Room is about 5,000++ nett, while published rates on the website states that it's about 10,000++. So inquire first via call or email.
• Additional adult (more than 2), requires an additional mattress, which costs 1000php. 
• If buffet breakfast is not included in your booking, you can still opt to get this separately at about 600php per person. But if that's too costly for you, you can order for delivery, like what we did, haha! 
• The nearby food establishments do not open until 10AM.

MANILA OCEAN PARK

We spent the afternoon at Manila Ocean Park. We had Deep Sea Rush tickets which included 6 MOP attractions (a ticket costs 580php if you buy at the ticket booth, but only 550php when you book at the hotel):

• Oceanarium
• Back of the House
• Jellies Exhibit
• Sea Lion Show
• Sharks and Rays Dry Encounter
• Symphony Evening Show

You can read PART 2 of our experience (all about Manila Ocean Park) HERE. 

I made another post about our MOP trip because I want to document lots of pictures :) You'll love them too...

Overall, we enjoyed our stay there, it was a one-of-a-kind experience and the kids loved it too. My son wouldn't want to leave the next morning when I told him we had to go home, he insisted that was his house now with the fish!

Interested in spending your staycation and family field trip here too?

For booking information and ticket purchases:

Address: Luneta, Manila, Philippines 1000 (Behind the Quirino Grandstand)

HOTEL H2O
Website: https://www.hotelh2o.com/
Tel. #: (02) 238 6100
Reservation: reservation@hotelh2o.com
Hotel Inquiry: inquiry@hotelh2o.com
Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HotelH2OPH

MANILA OCEAN PARK
Website: https://www.manilaoceanpark.com/
Tel. #: (02) 567 7777
Email: inquiry@manilaoceanpark.com
Like on Facebook: Manila Ocean Park (Official)