Yesterday we took the kids to Dream World, an amusement park that is probably Bangkok's closest thing to Disney World. With a fairy tale-themed entrance, the Disney influence is immediately felt right when you walk up to the place.
The rides are pretty typical of the ones you'll find at any other amusement park or carnival throughout the world, most were designed to whip people around and turn their stomachs inside out.
From the expression on Max's face here, I don't think he was enjoying this particular ride (called "The Spider.")
They even ripped off Disney by naming an attraction "Space Mountain" and calling their haunted house "The Haunted Mansion." It wasn't too scary, just a big dark place with a lot of noises and things jumping out at every turn. You can't even see what they are, unless you have a camera with a flash:
The big drawing card at Dream World is a section called "Snow World" which is a big refrigerated building complete with a hill for sledding. For a Michigan family that's been feeling a bit homesick during the holidays, it was a welcome escape. The locals seemed to enjoy it to, and I'm assuming that many of them have never seen real snow before (technically, this stuff wasn't real either, but it was close enough). One of the funnier stories I've heard here is from my wife's Thai teacher, who thinks she knows what snow is because she's seen the frost build up in her ice box.
Coats and boots were provided, although we just had shorts on underneath, so it was still pretty cold. After six months of sunny skies and stifling humidty, it felt pretty nice for about 20 minutes.
The night wound down with an electrical parade featuring a colorful cast of characters that (surprise) is pretty close to the one that marches down Main Street every evening at Disney World. The music was a techno version of "Jingle Bells" though.
All and all it was a fun time. The kids had a blast and every time we can do something to put a grin on their faces, it's all worth it.
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