the government declared today a holiday in light of the barangay elections. Tomas of the british contingent declared he was taking the family to Imperial Palace and would we want to join? sure. ideas for LP to enjoy things out of the house are always welcome.
we left after LP's noon nap and arrived there after 1:30pm. no traffic to mactan and amazingly, the familia buffet was empty except for 3 other tables of 2-4 persons
Familia Buffet
- Imperial guards will bug you if you don't go via the lobby to "check in" to buy your day's pass--whether its just to go for the buffet or for a day pass that allows you access to the waterparkbit. we'd been to IP before and we had walked round the left side from the carpark and had walked to the chinese restaurant without issue, so obviously the rules have changed since then
- restaurant staff can get really anal about what kind of pass you have (buffet or day pass) and can barely function without any proof of payment. granted we were cheeky about not following the rules about paying for the pass first, we had sat down to eat and had to wait until our payments were sorted as the staff could not function to organize our ordered drinks without the right stubs. gag.
+ our waitress was good and smart about offering to process the payment at the upstairs lobby herself, as i'd said sorry but i wasn't going to abandon my eating LP right then. she was attentive and smiled like she meant it
- the quality of the food is only so-so, and not worth the asking price of Php1,500 (or Php2,000 if you were to use the waterpark). seriously. the food was only ok. the sushi was ok but not banri or mizu qualilty, and we love our japanese food. the crispy pata was bland (someone seriously forgot the salt--and i am not a salty person!). but the cherry-topped cheesecake wasn't cloying and BBB enjoyed the cheese selection. for the price and the distance, i would have happily detoured to shangrila for their Tides buffet, or stayed in my neighborhood and went up to marco polo for the Cafe Marco buffet.
+/- they had a high chair for LP. but the proportions were really weird. the front bar was parallel to the floor and was about 6 inches wide, making LP's attempt to reach the table and food a bit difficult/awkward. it did not have a strap to make sure LP did not jump out
Waterpark
+ the waterpark is great for all ages and sizes. they had shallower pools and the giant pipe rides to suit everyone
+ the life guards are attentive and will call your attention if you are doing the wrong thing or using a feature that is not for your age/weight
+ the day pass ticket includes use of a towel, and the security set up is either a valid ID or Php500. fine by me, and i always carry a valid ID. they said such a system was necessary since they lost quite a lot of towels to souvenir-taking thieving guests
+ they had restaurant staff offering drinks in the water areas but they were polite and not pushy.
i can't recall any negative issues about the waterpark bit and people were certainly enjoying themselves (including our Little Person). is it worth the Php2,000 for the day pass (inclusive of buffet, towel access, waterpark use, & 20% dinner buffet discount)? for the experience, i'd say yes, especially for water lovers like BBB and LP. however, if there were an option for just waterpark access, i would take that. maribago blue water resort is a hop and skip away and their food is better, so i can imagine resort hopping for lunch.
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