Wonder La

About Wonder La: Wonder La Amusement Park is currently the largest and safest amusement park in India, spanning over 82 acres of land. It is located near Bidadi, 28 kilometres from Bangalore. It has been promoted by V-Guard Group, based in Cochin, Kerala. It is the second theme park project from the group and has been operational since October 2005.

Transport: We hired cabs from Easy Cabs by calling 4343 4343. It took approximately 2:30 hrs to reach Wonder La from Marathahalli, Bangalore. We were 10 members so we had to hire 3 cabs. Each cab cost Rs. 700 for one way. There are other call taxi services also available like Meru (4422 4422), City Cab (4148 8888). These services are also good.
You can reduce this transportation cost by travelling with BMTC buses. For that you have to reach Kempgodwa Bus Stop or KR Market bus stop and catch any bus which is going towards Mysore Road ( 225). Get down at Wonder la gate on main road. From there you will get free bus service provided by Wonder la administration.

Details of the trip:


A trip to Wonder La is very refreshing and very suitable for a normal weekend. You need just have to spend one day to visit it. If you are like me, I mean afraid of those giant rides, don’t worry, I too enjoyed a lot like my trip mates, Abir (my husband), Shanmu, Austin, Vinoth, Mike, Balji, Mari, Hari and Manoj (Abir's friends).
We started for Wonder La at 10 A.M and reached there by at 12:30 P.M. The entry fee is Rs. 625.00 for adults, Rs. 470.00 for Kids and Rs 400.00 for senior Citizens. In weekdays the rates will be Rs. 495, Rs.390 and Rs. 330 respectively. You will be provided a booklet which contains a park map in it which will guide you through out this park. Timing are 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM in week days and 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM in weekends.
Weather was quite good. But according to Shanmu, Chennai’s weather is cooler and better than Bangalore. But Chennai feels hotter because Chennai is having central railway station at the centre of Chennai. Not clear? Here you go, the trains which are coming outside from Chennai are emitting heat which they gain outside from Chennai, in Chennai central station. So Chennai is absorbing all the heat from its neighbour cities and making them cool like Bangalore and itself getting hotter day by day. (Don’t believe in this junk story as Shanmu can say anything to win an argument and specially if it is regarding Chennai).
Leave this story as I am going to share lots of them throughout this post. I should not share this unnecessary stories but I can’t resist myself from sharing this with you as they added more fun to my trip. Like other amusement park Wonder La is full of rides among them (1) Wonderla Babma (2) Drop Zone (3) Mixer (4) Maverick (5) Y-Scream (6) Hurricane (7) Insanity can be marked as high thrill rides.
Other than these high thrilled rides there are also some easy rides and land attraction for light hearted people like (1) Crazy Wagon (2) Crazy cars (3) Dungeon Ride (3) Termite Coaster & Train (4) Pirate ship, (5) Toon Tango (6) Cine Magic (7) Friendly Fish (8) Shy Wheel & Tower (9) techno Jump (10) Wonder Plash (11) Net Walk and (12) Hang Glider.
As kid’s attraction there are (1) Mini Pirate Ship (2) Merry Ghost (3) Kiddies Wheel (4) Mini Express (5) Moon Walker (6) Jumping Frog (7) Flying Jumbo (8) Lion Swing (9) Funky Monkey (10) Carousel and (11) Convoy.
All the rides in Wonder La are unlimited in times. I mean you can ride all the rides as many times as you want. Crazy Wagon is a light thrilled ride. The most nervous member of our team Austin also enjoyed it. A wooden wagon is all about this ride and it moves through a cyclic path. This ride is suitable for warm up for the other rides.


The next ride I am going to tell about is Wonderla Bamba, it’s a high thrilled ride. But I enjoyed a lot. The secret of suppress fear is to shout and we shouted in our maximum pitch.



Another highly thrilled ride is Maverick. The three brave people, me, Vinoth and Balaji got in to the ride. Two big robotic hands holding a rectangular box and those hands are moving that box as its own wish without any pattern or rule. You might be thinking what this description is about. That is all about maverick and you will be sitting in that box somewhere. Anyways the seats are having safety holds in it.





There are other rides like crazy cars, Dungeon Ride and land attraction like net walk. Crazy Car is my favourite ride over there. It’s very funny to hit and get hit by other cars.

The experience in Dungeon Ride was little dramatic. A wagon like vehicle takes you through a dark, old and haunted house. There you will be finding lot of sounds and ghost like dolls, human skeletons around you. I am not much expert to describe that atmosphere in words. But it was a good experience. We were more shocked when we saw our picture was hanging at the exit. This picture can be bought also from the counter at exit which costs Rs. 100 for CD and Rs. 60 for a Wonder la framed printed picture.



Don’t forget to meet cute Friendly Fishes. They swim in a small pool. Those colourfull fishes will help to remove your dry skin by eating them if you put your hand or legs in that pool. Try it. Hari enjoyed a lots playing with this fishes. But suddenly I reminded him remember that it is Saturday and fishes are non-veg which brought a sudden full-stop to his fun.

There is a small roller coaster too named Termite Coaster & Train which is not much thrilled like other roller coaster. It is very small, slow and childish too. But don’t miss it, take a ride for fun.

The funniest item in Wonder La is Cine Magic. They tried to make the viewers afraid and thrilled but it’s become a comedy movie. The concept is, you have sit in a hall like normal movie theatre and on the screen one movie will be running. The movie will try to make you feel that your chair is going down, sometimes in magma, sometimes in water etc and the chair also will move in sink.
Giant wheel is one of biggest attraction of Wonder La. It can be seen from the main road. The height is all about of the Giant Wheel. It’s a 13 storied tall tower and the wheel is situated on the top of that tower. Initially nobody of our team was ready to ride that wheel. But when we saw that the revolution of that wheel is 1rpm then all of us enjoyed the Giant Wheel together. Don’t forget to bring your camera because you will get a complete, wonderful top view of Wonder La from here.



There are many other rides which I am not describing here because I want you to go there and experience those surprises.
One more ride I want to describe is Insanity. It is another horrible ride among the high thrilling rides which is like an octopus but of four legs and each of those legs having four branches and each of those leg branches having two seats to rides. The robotic octopus moves its leg without any rules, regulation, or rhythm like maverick. If you can control your fear then it’s enjoyable and safe. Vinoth and I were so much excited to get into this ride and they were forcing all of us to go into this ride. But except Balaji no one was ready to accompany them. But during the ride you should have seen Vinoth. He closed his eyes and was praying to God to save him. Same was the situation with Balaji. Only I enjoyed this ride. After this ride Vinoth and Bajaji also decided not to give company to me in further rides.

Before going for lunch if you want to increase your hunger Net Walk is the best way to do that. In net walk you have to climb up on a metal structure which is connected by net of thick rope.
We had lunch at one of the restaurant, Greens which is specialist for pure veg., North Indian, South Indian, Chaats and Dosas. There are five more restaurants named (1) Chillies, special for Veg. and Non-Veg. Biriyani’s and Snacks (2) Waves, special for Veg. and Non-Veg. Biriyani’s and Continental (3) Chillies A/C restaurant, special for Veg., Non-Veg. , Chinese, Continental and South Indian (4) Fountain restaurant, special for Veg., Non-Veg. , Chinese and Biriyani’s (5) Parkview restaurant, special for veg., Non-Veg., South Indian, and breakfast.
Except those above described restaurant there are lot of coffee and snacks shop here and there scattered throughout the park.
After having lunch we went for Water Park which was simply awesome. Water Park remains open from 12PM till 6 PM. If you make your trip on a sunny and comparatively hotter day than normal Bangalore weather, definitely you will enjoy it. There is the facility of hot water also in case the temperature is low. Among the water attraction (1) Wave Pools (2) Play Pools (3) Rain Disco (4) Water Pendulum (5) Twisters (6) Banded Kraits (7) Uphill Racers (8) Fun Racers (9) Harakiri (10) Boomerang (11) Lazy River and (1) Wavy Fall (2) Vertical Fall are high thrilled water rides.
You can change before going to water park. If you haven’t taken any extra clothes, you can buy them from the souvenir shops also in an affordable rate.
In the Wave Pool you will get the feelings of real beach. They make some artificial waves which are as powerful as the real sea waves. During the timings of Water Park in a regular interval the waves are started and it continues for 30 minutes.
We have enjoyed Water Pendulum very much. Here the rider has to slide through a U shaped land space on a two sitter tube and water flow also will be there flowing with the rider. To me it was high thrilled.
One of the best rides in Water Park is Wonder Splash. In this ride a wagon will come very fast from a height and will go through the water to make splash. We all enjoyed this ride too much. Mike was fighting like kid with us to sit in the front row. But my suggestion is sit in the middle of 2nd or 3rd row to enjoy the splash most. The best part of this ride was our picture was taken by some camera kept somewhere in the way when the wagon was sliding from the top (and that’s the reason for Mike’s fight to sit in front).


Last but not least attraction was Musical Fountain & Laser Show. It starts at 6:50 P.M in an auditorium. Don’t miss this show. In this event, the fountain will dance in various light effects with rhythms of music. I can’t describe the laser show in words. It was out of the world. Hari has captured two wonderful videos of Musical Fountain



and Laser Show





We didn't even realize how fast the time flew and it was already 7:00 PM. In the morning itself Mari told he will join us for Wonder La as so many girls will be there to watch. But by this time he remember that he was so busy in enjoying that he forget to watch girls.. Poor fellow.. ;)
Tips: I would love to share some tips with you:1. Carry one extra set of clothes. Changing rooms and lockers are available over there. So it wont be any problem for you.
2. Don't miss the camera in water park as we did.

Infrastructure and Facility:  There are lot of facilities available inside like
1. Lost & found (if you lost somewhere from your group this facility will help you to get back to your trip mates)
2. First Aid
3. Toilets
4. Restaurant
5. Changing Rooms & Lockers
6. Telephone Booth
7. Baby Care
8. Dormitory
9. ATM Counter
10. Prayer Room
11. Souvenir Shop


Disclaimer: We went for this trip in Aug’2010. So the rates and timing might have changed by the time. Please check with cabs service providers and Wonderla admin about current timings and rates.
I have tried to provide as much information as I can  regarding Wonder La.  For any further clarification please feel free to contact me @ dutshilpi@gmail.com. You can also refer the link www.wonderla.com.

Tirupati Tirumala Devastanam

About Tirupati: Tirupati is a famous Hindu temple of Lord Vishnu in the form of Lord Venkateswara located in the hill town Tirumala, near Tirupati in the Chittor district of Andhra Pradesh, India. The temple is situated on Venkatadri, one of the seven hills of Tirumala, and hence is also known as the Temple of Seven Hills (Saptagiri in Sanskrit). The presiding deity of the temple, Lord Venkateswara, is also known by other names - Balaji, Govinda and Srinivasa. The temple is reportedly the richest and the most visited place of worship in the world. The temple is visited by about 100,000 to 200,000 pilgrims daily, while on special occasions and festivals, like the annual Brahmotsavam, the number of pilgrims shoots up to 500,000, making it the most visited holy place in the world.According to legend, the temple has a self-manifested murti (idol) of Lord Venkateswara, believed to have resided there for the entire Kali Yuga. In Sri Vaishnava tradition, the temple is considered one of the 108 Divya Desams.

Duration of the Trip: It is a 24 hrs trip from Bangalore. We started at 10 PM on Friday 2nd of July'10 and reach back to Bangalore on 10 PM on Saturday 3nd of July'10.

Transport: We took the package trip to Tirupati by ITDC. There are other Government bus services like KRSTC, APTDC which are also good. This package cost Rs.1400 (including the Rs. 300 as Shighra Darshan Fee of Tirupati temple). There is option to take the ticket manually also. But the queue for that is quite long and will waste a lots of time. Ticket values vary from Rs. 50-500. Ticket for the package tour can booked from the ITDC office near to Indira Nagar or www.RajeshTravels.in. 
The physical addresses of Rajesh Travels are as follows:
 

1) NO.19/4, T.S.P.Road,Kalasipalaya,
    Bangalore - 560 002.
    Ph. No: 080-26703402,080-25997885,080-26700077,080-41738717,080-42047050

2) No.30,Travelers Point,
    Opp.Axis Bank,Seshadri Road,
    Anand Rao Circle
    Bangalore - 560 009
    Ph. No:080-22206077,080-22912566, 080-41713760
 


Details of the Trip: We board our bus from Tin Factory bus stop at 10’o clock of Friday night. It reached Tirumala at about 4:30 AM in the next morning. Each family/ Group is provided a room to get refresh. For which 1 hr time was provide. Hotel was quite clean. We took bath and get ready. Then we started for breakfast which was arranged in a different hotel. Breakfast was totally south Indian style (Pongal, Idli, Vada, Sambar and chutney) but was hygienic, tasty and sufficient. After finishing the breakfast they took us to a temple which was told Lord Venkateswara’s wife’s temple. Ticket for that temple was Rs. 25/- and this we have to take by our own standing in a queue. After visiting the temple again we started and the bus dropped us in a local bus stop. From where they arranged us a different bus to go to the main temple. It took near about 20 minutes to reach near the main temple. The people who wanted to Mottai (Offering hairs to Lord Venkateswara) were dropped in a place in between for shaving the head and they were introduced to another guide for mundan. He charged 25 Rs. to take them to the mundan place. They gave 50 Rs. to the person who shaved the heads.After they are done they also joined us near in the place where we were dropped near to Temple at about 10:00 AM. Shoes, camera, mobile phone and other electronic gadgets (except watch) are not allowed inside the temple. So we keep our shoes and other items in a shop in the nearby shopping arcade and we all started for the main temple by walk. Inside the temple we had to stand in a long queue which was moving quite slowly. We finished our Darshan by 2:30 PM. Again we took a bus and came down to the place where we left our bus. After coming to the place and get into our bus we went for lunch which was served in the same hotel where the breakfast is served. After having lunch we started for Bangalore. In the way to Bangalore they have given one stop during evening to have some snacks. We reached Bangalore by 9PM same day.

Disclaimer: We went for this trip in July’2010. So the rates and timing might have changed by the time. Please check with travel agent about current timings and rates.I tried to provide as much as details is possible for the trip. For any further clarification please feel free to contact me @ dutshilpi@gmail.com. You can also refer to Tirupati Tirumala Devastanam official website.