Kidzania Singapore – Review of the revamped KidZania and yes the Dynamic Pricing is doing its job!

When Kidzania opened in Singapore the first time back in 2016, my first kid was just a baby. But even then, I marvelled at the concept. A make believe city where kids are able to role-play adult jobssuch as pilots, doctors, firemen, policemen, delivery persons, bakers, scientists etc. I wish there’s something like this for adults too! They would also get to earn a salary as per how it is in real life. Kidzania closed during the Covid pandemic, but I am glad to report that they have opened again at the exact same spot in Sentosa.

When I was invited to visit Kidzania together with my kids, I lost no time in saying yes. I’ll be frank, tickets are not cheap when compared to indoor playgrounds. KidZania Singapore employs a dynamic pricing system, meaning ticket prices can become more expensive if a larger crowd is expected.

After perusing the system, I’ve noticed that your best bet in getting a cheaper ticket would be to book well in advance. You can also use my promo codes below to get a 5%-8% discount! If you’re thinking of booking tickets on the day itself or the day before, you’re likely to be charged at the higher end of the range.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the crowd level was very manageable when I visited. I actually did some mental gymnastics, trying to predict if it would be better to visit on a weekend, or on a weekday. I had heard that weekdays might be crowded too with school groups. It so happens we visited on P6 Listening Comprehension Day (ie P1-P6 students have no school on that day).

The wait time at most of the jobs that my kids were interested in was minimal. The only one which we had to queue for 1/2 hour was for the pilot job, and that was in the morning. In the late afternoon, I noticed there was no queue at all, so it pays to do jobs with no queue first and come back to those with queues later on. I asked a couple of staff and they told me that the crowd level everyday is about the same as what we experienced. All in all, my kids managed to cover nearly all the activities available at KidZania. The ones that they didn’t cover were the ones that they chose not to do. They even repeated some activities!

Glad to know that the dynamic pricing system has worked in order to keep the crowd levels at KidZania comfortable. The last thing you want is to pay an exorbitant amount and yet still face hoards of people. It’s kind of like an “express pass” similar to what Disneyland and Universal Studios have, and everyone is on it.

My kids had the time of their lives at KidZania. Their 2 cousins had joined as well so the 4 of them just went wild. Three of them are of a similar age (7/8 yrs) so they were pretty independent and zoomed to the various activities on their own. Parents aren’t allowed to enter the job stations anyway so quite a number of times I lost sight of them as they moved around KidZania. It felt safe to let them roam on their own though, as KidZania is an enclosed space, and I was sure to bump into them every now and then.

My younger, at age 2, had to be accompanied all the time, naturally. Luckily my mother had come along to accompany her. Although the signs say that some jobs are not suitable for toddlers, she was allowed entry to all the jobs that she wanted to do. She also spent a fair bit of time playing at the toddler soft-play ball pit area.

There are over 60 role-playing jobs to choose from! I would say every job is fun, and is an opportunity for learning. Having been to KidZania now, I would say, go for the jobs that have no queues, so that you can cover more jobs. But if I had to play favourites, I think playing doctor and doing surgery at the hospital looked really fun and interesting for my kids. And so hilarious when they tried to change the diapers of the baby dolls, with legs twisted at odd angles. Let’s just say we won’t be asking them to help with diaper changing anytime soon.

The fireman and paramedic jobs also looked interesting because the kids get to ride in the respective vehicles. The firemen get to use water hoses to put out a fire while the paramedics get to perform first aid on a real person acting as an injured person. There’s even a gamer lab station where my son got paid to play computer games…..

The reason why the kids enjoyed KidZania so much wasn’t just because they could partake in all these interesting activities. There was also the concept of earning money, which appealed to them very much. At KidZania, money is referred to as Kidzos. Most activities will earn you Kidzos, while a select few require you to pay with Kidzos, or with actual money. It’s also possible to spend the Kidzos at the shop to redeem gifts. Don’t be surprised to find, just as it is in real life, that some kids are more focused on earning Kidzos, while others can’t wait to spend their Kidzos at the gift store!

KidZania is open from 10am – 6pm and I would recommend that you spend the entire day there to maximise the cost of the tickets. It’s possible to of course spend lesser time, but the place is so fun and exciting, it would be difficult to tear your kid away after say only a couple of hours. Also, even if there aren’t any queues, you still need to cater some time walking in between activities, plus a bit of down time to have lunch etc. Speaking of lunch, you may wish to spend SGD$12 for your kid to make a real pizza for lunch, which was what we did. The pizzas are not bad too! Or you could just pay for a ready to order pizza, where there are more flavours to choose from.

There’s also a Kopifellas inside KidZania, which was my favourite pitstop. It costs only $2.50 for a teh, which is almost comparable to their other outlets outside. It’s the cheapest place to refuel at KidZania and I only wish I had time to sip my teh without having to chaperone any kids.

KidZania is definitely worth visiting. Yes it costs an average of $100 per child, and adults have to pay to get in as well. Compared to other indoor playgrounds, this seems exorbitant. However, if you were to compare this to the cost of one enrichment class, which could average around $70-$100, it doesn’t seem so bad.

The thing is, KidZania is so much more than an indoor playground. I would consider it similar to an enrichment centre where kids get to learn a little bit more about the adult world via the fun role-play activities. They get to exercise their independence and planning skills as well. If you’re willing to blow $100 per enrichment class, why not this? Oh and did I mention there’s even a robotics lab where the kids can try to code and make the mechanical cars move? I’ve personally paid $50 for a trial lesson at a robotics/coding school for the exact same activity that lasted just 1 hour!

Use my promo codes below to get a discount on KidZania Singapore tickets!

Buy directly from KidZania website – 5% discount
Promo code: 365DAYS2PLAY (valid until 24 Oct 2024)