SIM FLIGHT KL, Subang Skypark

Location : SIM FLIGHT KL, Subang Skypark

Date of Visit : 17.08.2013, 8pm

Aircraft Simulator : Airbus A320, 30 min.

URL : www.simflightkl.com

My Husband had always told me that he had a dream of becoming a pilot, but sadly he didn't have the chance. So in conjunction of his upcoming birthday and the Hong Kong series now showing, I thought I'd let him be a pilot at least for once. Even if it's just a simulator, I guess it's the best I can do for now to let him experience how a pilot feels like in the cockpit...

The Environment 

SIM Flight KL is located at first floor in the Subang Skypark Terminal. The space is smaller than I expected as it was just about 3 small shop's width where the Airbus A320 simulator will be on the left, the middle section will be the waiting area and on the right they have the 737 Boeing flight simulator. They have another simulation on the computer and the counter where the pilot on duty there would practice to accumulate hours. 

The cockpit is dark, there are 2 pilot seats with buttons and controllers all over the place and about 4 seats behind the pilot for friends to tag along on your adventure. You will be surrounded by 180 degree visual exactly like how it'll be like in an actual cockpit. Although the seats and cockpit doesn't move but the visuals surrounding you will give you an illusion that it is actually moving. Well, I guess it's real enough since it made me a bit dizzy as we made sharp turns.

The Fun & Entertainment

You get to be the captain of the flight! Well... the pilot probably did more to avoid any crashing though... But hey~ you get to control the aircraft! We had the 30min simulation package where it's about 10min on briefing and 20min on flight. You can choose either to cruise or take-off & landing. My husband chose the take-off and landing option since he said it would be more challenging. As they fly, you can take photos and videos from behind then enjoy the ride along with the views. Experiencing how it feels like to be in a cockpit as well~ 

After the flight, you can take more photos in the cockpit~ they even have captain hats for you to wear for photos. I can't elaborate more on the pilot experience as I'm not the captain of the day :p But my husband says arms are a bit tired due to controlling the joystick but it was fun non the less. But as a person who tagged along in the cockpit, I think it's a nice experience~ To be in the cockpit, monitoring how the pilots control and communicate. To see different view~ from the front and not the side as always.

Summary 

If you really like pilot, you should give it a try just so you can experience it for at least once in a life time to be a pilot. It's probably the safest way for first timers to fly :p The Airbus cockpit is way more complicated than those usual small aircraft that people can fly with short courses. Again, remember to bring your camera to record your experience too! Preferably a DSLR with a good lens as it's really pretty dark inside and I don't think it's a good idea using flash in the cockpit while they're flying the airplane... @_@" 

It may be a bit high on price but hey, look out for their promotions on their website, Facebook and media like Groupon or Living Social. I got mine at RM120 from Groupon for a 30 min session :) 

Red Carpet, I-City

Location : Red Carpet, I-City Klang 

Date of Visit : 10.8.2013, 11am

Entrance Fee : RM72 (Malaysians with MyKad)

URL : www.I-City.my

Had always heard about wax museums where you can "meet" your favorite star and idols up close and when I knew that one is opening in I-City I was so excited and sworn to pay a visit. With luck, I so happen to come across their pre-opening sale at RM40 per adult entrance fee on their online ticket purchase page! Lucky~~~ 

The Environment

It's 2 storey high with the lower ground reception and most of the wax figures on the first floor. It has about 90~100 wax figures from categories like Historical, Political, Actors, Sports and a few "world's most". The figures are at actual height (or so they say) which makes us felt so tiny as all of them are surprisingly tall! You're free to take photo up close without any barriers with the figures. I was a bit disappointed when they said you can sing and dance with your favorite idol as I was imagining the figures could move, but nope, they don't. I guess what they meant was for YOU to move, talk and sing if you want around the figure while you take photo, so it'll look like as if you're dacing and talking to them... but of course, they have staff all around the museum to keep an eye on you so that no one gets to bring a finger or ears home for souvenir :p 

They have these foreigner as photographers here and there to snap your photo, but trust me, bring your own DSLR if you have one... Their photography skill is nearly 0... At the end of the museum you might see your photo already printed out by them and displayed on a rack. We've got one of our's printed out and since we're not fond of leaving our photo hanging around like that we bought it home at RM35 per piece. They said if you buy more photo you'll have discounts but again, they failed to find all our photo, so... we never knew any further about the discounts...

They have a small cafe at a corner of the museum, mainly just drinks and small snacks I think. Everything inside from drinks to souvenirs are to be paid using a top-up card which they will give you at entrance as a complimentary gift. They will have top-up counters where you may need them so don't worry if you didn't top-up before you enter. In-fact, I'd prefer to top-up if I really wanted something cause the balance amount in the card will not be refunded! Not sure about the minimum top-up by cash but with credit card, the minimum was RM50.

The Fun & Entertainment

Find your favorite star and take photo with them of course~ They have props for you to "interact" with the figures as well so your photo would look more lively. It's also rather fascinating to see how realistic can sculpted wax figures be. They don't put tags on the figures but you can always ask the staff around about the figures. Well, I guess since these wax figures are not as good as those in Madame Tussauds, you could have some fun guessing who they're suppose to be too :p

Summary

It's a fun place to go if you never been to any star wax museum before but at rather high price. But if you're not planning to visit other countries with such museum then I guess RM72 is always cheaper than air tickets~ We had fun taking photos and posing with our favorite idols... but if you've been to Madame Tussauds then Red Carpet might be disappointing to you as their sculpting skill might still no match for Madame Tussauds (judging from the fact that we had ask many times "Who is this?" and after a while only goes "ohhh.... it's him/her..." and realized some photos saw in their website was not in the museum but saw it on Madame Tussauds webpage... Well, I haven't got the luck to visit Madame Tussauds yet so... I'm still just guessing ^_^ Hehe~ 

Just in case you're still wondering who is  Madame Tussauds ->  http://www.madametussauds.com/hongkong/en/default.aspx