Amana Waterpark

It's still summer season in the Philippines. And the atmosphere is, well, extremely punishing. Time to have some getaway and chill somewhere!

And it's not simply to chill elsewhere but really to escape and have the best of the summer season! Have fun, discover a new destination and enjoy the weather. It's not necessarily a beach destination or a regular swimming pool escape, I've had enough of it, but really a unique place where amenities are imaginative!

So two weeks ago, I made tons of research activities across the web where to go. My search reduced to “waterpark with a wave pool”, and my searches brought me to several waterpark resort websites. But one destination really caught my attention because of its  unique fun facilities which is a bit new to me – AMANA WATERPARK in Bulacan.

The Jurassic water world theme in Amana waterpark

And yes! It was...

Last May 2, me and my travel buddy, Rowena Tagaan, went there! It was really the place I've been looking for to spice up my unbearable summer blues. Anaconda greeted us the moment we entered the place and not far from the garden, there was Batman yaaay!

This resort offers not only the wonders of themed swimming pools but also provides other amusement. Several life-sized figures of TV and movie-inspired characters such as the pack of Avengers, Justice League, Dragon ball, disney and other marvel characters can be found there.

Its themed pools are really fantastic, it will bring back the child in you! There are seven themed pools and two of these are indoor. Designs are according to themes: Madagascar, Avatar, Jurassic world, Fairy tale. 

Rowie and I kept moving around to try everything. We hopped in from one pool to another like kids then climbed the stairs, to trek the top of the wave pool. We went down again to pose for some mementos at the life-sized characters. 

The travel from Metro Manila to Sta.Maria, Bulacan is just less than an hour so it's not really stressful. 

How to get there?

From Farmer's market in Cubao, we boarded the Del Carmen bus for Sta. Maria, Bulacan, and since it was weekend, the road was not crammed with heavy traffic, the ride was very smooth and less than an hour later we reached Sta. Maria. We disembarked at Waltermart and hired a tricycle for Amana Water park. The travel took 20 minutes. Bus fare is only Php45.00 but the tricycle is a bit expensive, it's Php120.00 for a single ride!. 

Rowie with the Avengers! These figures are located in front of the Wave pool

For walk-in visitors, fees for cottage and entrance are collected separately. You will be directed by the staff the moment you get in the queue. For cottages, you will have varied options that suit your preferences. We chose the modern umbrella because we're only two and what a luck! The one given to us was just located in front of the wave pool.

Oh look at that! He looked like a real man :-D

Upon entering the place, we were greeted with elements of fun and excitement. Life-sized figures of movie-inspired characters are all over the place! Cool!! After taking our breakfast with the food we brought, we started exploring the area, checking each corner and trying to discover the most amusing stuff. There's a house of Shrek and slides at the twin pools.

This is one of the two indoor pools. The theme of this pool is Fairy tale!

I love the themed swimming pools! I’ve never been into a water park that offers a diverse design and style of a modern themed swimming pool. So I really enjoyed this getaway. 

Aside from these beautiful themed pools, Amana water park also offers visitors with several avenues to create photo memories but you should stretch your patience because every area of the life-sized film characters is fully packed and waiting for your turn takes a while.

Try to send a message to others by pulling an expression that you've been there for like ages to pose for pictures and you can't tolerate further delays. That's what we did. 

For people who love the adrenalin rush, there’s a zip line adventure that whisks riders up, up and away. The adventure provides a panoramic view of the water park. Cool!

The wave pool that produces a tsunami-like wave!

We got so scared plunging deeper because we did not have any floaters

so we just viewed the fun and thrill and took pictures

The wave pool produces a wave that measures up to 10 feet high and for a limited period of time, towards the afternoon or close to evening, it will present a tsunami-like wave that would really pull a different level of excitement among adventurous people. 

Within the ground of the Jurassic water world theme

The figure at my back looked like a real dinosaur! What do you think? :-D

Just like in a normal amusement park, the resort has several stations for food and refreshment. It has a souvenir’s shop and a small garden at the entrance area. The largest area among these themed swimming pools is the Jurassic water world which has its own ground and pavilions and lots of dinosaur elements complete with roaring sounds.

The following details are taken from the resort's website

Thumbs up for this waterpark:

• Themed swimming pools – very cool, modern, attractive and magnificent.
• TV/movie-inspired characters – Everyone seems could not be contented with these figures, the Avengers area most especially is always filled up and hard to spot a chance to take pictures. It's quite difficult to freely pose here unless you let others know you are already irritated standing and waiting for your turn!
• The pool area shower thing - Each swimming pool station has its own shower and each goes for a theme. Most of these pool showers are designed under marine life elements like octopus and dolphins.
• Cleanliness – The resort is well-maintained and everything is in order especially when it comes to waste management, collecting garbage and orderliness.
• Choices on cottages – Visitors can choose from modern umbrella to themed pavilions and open cottages which come on a separate theme, inspired by popular holiday destinations in the Philippines: Palawan, Tagaytay, Baler, Bohol, Baguio, Calatagan, Vigan, Batanes and Camiguin. 
• Adventure and amusement – Zip line adventure. Horseback riding. Then there's a Maxrider for tech savvy people.

Thumbs down for this waterpark:

As with everything in this world, well, nothing is perfect, Amana’s bad side is the shower/CR area. It has a very limited units/number of rooms, so limited that when it was our time to wash and change clothes, we found ourselves stuck in a line that seemed did not move! Arggh. 

It was almost 5:00 in the afternoon and we still need to catch a ride back to Manila so what we did was look for a vacant shower in the swimming pool area, washed ourselves in an open view with other visitors!

Well, if you are in a hurry and there’s no way a current situation can provide you comfort, do not be annoyed, just get things done, be practical and take a little adventure like taking a bath outdoor in front of the roving eyes of other people. Just think of the homeless who have nothing in their lives, not even a bathroom of their own, and yet endured everything.

So that was it! We washed our bodies, applied shampoo and soap, in an open shower, much to the amusement of other visitors haha! Our adventure did not end there, remember that there’s no available bathroom or enclosed space to change clothes? 

So we did a very practical action like real adventurers. There's a two-story house near our area with an open space on the ground, we moved closer to the wall of the kitchen, me and Rowie took turn holding a shawl to cover our bodies while taking off our wet swimwear attire. And we did it! We changed clothes and fixed ourselves even before one person could finish taking up shower.

Amana Waterpark’s policies are not overly strict. Unlike other resorts that require visitors to wear only swim wear, in Amana, visitors can freely wear something they find comfortable provided the attire has no metal embellishments. Visitors can freely bring food and water but soft drinks and liquors have corresponding corkage fees.

The Commute!

If you are a commuter from Metro Manila, the easiest way to reach Amana Waterpark is through a bus ride. Go to Farmer’s market in Cubao or Trinoma, look for a bus that has a route to Sta. Maria, Bulacan, tell the driver or conductor to drop you off at Waltermart in Sta. Maria. From there, you can ride a tricycle going to Amana Waterpark.

Travel time from Metro Manila to Sta. Maria, Bulacan is less than hour during light traffic. From Sta. Maria to Amana by tricycle, travel time is only 20 minutes.

How to Book your stay or tour?

They accept walk-in visitors but if you want to book in advance for your accommodation, you may visit their website HERE.

Zip line rates are the following: Php150.00 one way, Php250.00 two ways

Bus from Metro Manila to Sta. Maria (airconditioned) – Php 45.00

Tricycle ride from Waltermart in Sta. Maria to Amana – Php120.00 (single ride and good for 3 persons)

Amana Waterpark

Santisima St., Bagong Barrio, Pandi, Bulacan, Philippines

Email: amanawaterpark@yahoo.com

Website: www.amanawaterpark.ph