TacoCat’s Travels #223 (Genting): Thrilling Rides into the Movies! 🎥

October 2023 · 12 min read

Hey Hive!

If you missed the last few posts, we're currently on our trip up into the mountains of Malaysia, specifically to Genting Highlands, where there's an integrated resort! I've heard about it a lot but never actually been, and Sean was excited to show me around since he used to go there with his family.

Last week, we started our day of fun at SkyWorlds Theme Park but first we got some Korean snacks for breakfast! We began walking around the park taking in all the different sections and checking out the available rides.

This theme park was supposed to be a deal with 20th Century Fox but they pulled out the last minute after some rides were built so most of it is based on movies but there are some random original ones as well.

There was a ride based on the movie Independence Day, one from Planet of the Apes in the sci-fi section.

And there was also a whole section built around the movie Robots, which was such a throwback!

There was a huge Ice Age area as well, that included a pretty cool-looking roller coaster that unfortunately was still under maintenance at the time.

To beat the heat, we went on the ride in the area based on the movie Epic which I remember I really enjoyed as well. It was an indoor boat ride so we could enjoy some air-conditioning because the sun was really warm.

There's a lot more to the theme park so let's get back to it!

12 September 2022. Monday.

After we took the boat ride it was back out into the sun and we noticed that one of the other thrill rides was indeed open and it was an overhead ride with 4 people sitting on a sort of paragliding thing on this track. Since it was quite warm and we'd be zooming around in the sun we agreed we'd wait a little before taking that one.

In the meantime we explored this area based on the movie Rio! I've never seen the movie so I just know it has these colourful birds in it.

There were a lot of colourful old-ish looking buildings in this area that I guess is supposed to mimick Rio de Janeiro because of the movie.

I'm not sure how accurate this is but it did look quite lovely.

There were even some colourful light strung up that made me think this place must look very pretty at night with all the streetlamps as well.

It was getting really warm so we were hankering for a cold drink and somewhere to rest. We were kinda regretting wearing our jackets out. Although since we were in the mountains the wind was still cool, but without the wind it was like we were in the city again.

We made our way back to the sci-fi area through this very blue tunnel, and marveled at how those people queuing for the Alpha Space ride could take the heat going up and down.

We wanted to get drinks here but I think they were closed at the time for some reason.

We ended up walking quite a ways trying some shade to rest in where it wouldn't be too crowded or too warm.

The sky was very blue and made for nice photos though at the very least.

Soon we found ourselves back at the New York area where there was the Museum of Natural History based on the Night at the Museum movies! This was probably the most recognisable one in the whole park and I think the only one Sean was familiar with. I remember watching those movies back when I was a kid.

There were a lot of other buildings here too that I think we couldn't really enter so they were mostly decorative, probably to hide the inner workings of the ride.

We checked the time for this and it was less than 20 minutes so we figured we'd take it since it was also an indoor ride.

Upon entering the first thing we see is of course the T-Rex skeleton which I believe was called Rexy.

There was quite a long waiting area with different themes and exhibits per section but the attention to detail was nice.

It felt good to walk through the empty waiting lines so I tried not to dawdle taking photos.

Eventually the line led us through to the maintenance office, I guess since the movie is about the night guard office after all.

It was really cool though they even had working monitors in there playing videos and sounds on loop.

There was also a storage area with a bunch of crates and occasionally there would be some sounds coming from within.

But there were some parts where it was eerily quiet like along this hallway which I think was the final stretch before we got to the ride itself.

I don't have photos from the actual ride since we have to keep our phones but it turns out it was a shooter kind of ride. The "gun" was a little weird to use though since the trigger was a ball on a string and you had to pull on it to fire. It was a little weird and Sean got a higher score since it took me a while to get the hang of it.

As always, we ended up in the gift shop after that and they had a lot of cool egyptian stuff here on display including some sphinxes in front of the famous Tablet of Ahkmenrah.

The actual merchandise that was on sale was just normal stuff like plushies, T-shirts and souvenirs though so we didn't buy anything of course.

When we exited the museum we were in front of this huge stage area with a screen showing the park through an overhead camera.

The mist near the water was actually quite refreshing and cool as it floated towards us.

We walked onward through the buildings and ended up in the colourful area where the carnival games were.

Turns out this area was bigger than we though and there were more shops here.

There was also a snack shop and what looks to be a fake movie theater. I don't think it was real since it looked pretty small. The outside was modeled after an old-school polaroid camera though which looks cool.

I'm not sure why they called this merch store the galaxy store and the first thing we thought of was Guardians of the Galaxy but there definitely was not any MCU merch in there.

We end up back at the sci-fi area and figured we probably explored the whole park by now since this was our third go here.

Just beside it was the Ice Age section and I didn't notice at the time but they actually recreated a pivotal scene from the first movie where Diego the sabertooth lion almost fell off the cliff à la Lion King.

Anyway, since the cool roller coaster in the Ice Age area was closed for maintenance at the time, we decided to go check out the show they were performing. It was indoors with air-conditioning and had seats for us to rest so we figured why not.

It was very kid-oriented and had a pretty simple story involving Manny the mammoth getting stuck in the ice or something.

Here's a short video of the dance they kept doing throughout the show. I think they tried to get the audience to do it too but only a few people were into it.

I think the show lasted about 15 minutes and after that we reluctantly left since there were air-conditioned seats. But we walked back to the Rio area and there was another performance!

We hung around for a while and the show was still going on even after we went to use the bathroom nearby.

This one was a little better than the Ice Age one I think since it was more flashy with actual human dancers. Although I didn't really get the context since I didn't watch the movie it was still pretty cool to watch and the music was good too.

Turns out that overhead ride that we saw earlier was from Rio so we went to the locker to deposit our stuff before going to the queue.

There were quite a few people in line but thankfully it wasn't too long, and the ride goes quite fast too. I think the whole ride is less than a minute.

It was pretty fast though and since it's overhead it's quite scary seeing all the people walking below us and I was scared my shoes would fall out too. I kept my phone safely in my pocket and zipped it so there was no chance of it flying out and thankfully it didn't.

It was a pretty thrilling ride and we ended up in the gift shop again after that.

Rio was a nice area and we discovered there was yet another Ice Age ride but it was a carousel. I guess the Ice Age place was the biggest and that's fair since it's one of the bigger franchises by Fox.

We go through the old streets of New York which also had some San Francisco stuff for some reason.

But we end up back near the entrance to the park where we saw this motorbike and carseat that I wanted to photograph when we came in.

It reminds me of Hagrid's bike from Harry Potter and it's a shame we couldn't get a picture of the two of us in it.

We saw a lot of people carrying these huge cones of fries and snacks that looked and smelled so tempting and turns out it was from this food kiosk in front of the Department of Public Works!

It's called Chips and Dips so they mainly have different types of fries with various dips. You could also add on different snacks like nuggets or onion rings though.

We bought a combo with soda since we wanted a cold drink.

I think we ended up getting curly chips with lemon curry mustard and we did not anticipate how much mustard they were going to give us because it was way too much!

The top was completely covered in the sauce and it was quite strong but not too unpleasant. I think I would've definitely preferred it on the side though since I could barely taste the fries because of all the mustard.

But it was indeed very filling at least so we were quite satisfied after that snack.

We did check out the Ice Age cafeteria to see what they had and it wasn't that appealing so we didn't get anything.

After that the only other ride we wanted to go on was the most thrilling one here that was available - the Alpha Space ride! It's the Tower of Terror but space themed.

The wait was about 30 minutes but since we just ate we figured we could wait and let our food digest. I was scared the rapid drops would make me throw up.

Sorry for the blur image but it did get quite dark in the waiting area at times but thankfully it was in some shelter. It wasn't completely air-conditioned though so it was quite warm.

We went through the single rider queue since we figured it didn't matter much and there were a lot of seats on the ride. But we waited quite a while even in the single rider queue.

Eventually though we got to the loading area and I was getting nervous hearing the ride go and the people screaming.

Once the door opened and I could see the ride my heart was pounding. We did actually end up seated together and once the ride was going it was absolutely terrifying! We were screaming every time it dropped and there was a drop that was quite long too, even below the base level. I remember bouncing in my seat and I was so scared my hands were clammy.

After that insane ride we were definitely done with this place though. It was still very warm so after that we promptly left and headed back towards the entrance.

It was very windy here for some reason but thankfully there was no one around so we could take our time to relax and look around in the shops here.

There was a lot of different merchandise in the studio emporium mostly original stuff as I didn't see anything from the movie franchises.

I think there was a whole other section of the store that had more of the movie stuff but it was mostly for kids.

There was also the candy store with overpriced and giant candy bars and chocolates. I wonder who actually buys these.

But that's all for our time in SkyWorlds Theme Park! If only more rides were open that time but it was pretty fun nonetheless. There's actually an indoor theme park as well that we'll check out next week!