My flickr friends have been advocating a visit to I-City for quite some time. A couple of years ago, a group of them went, but unfortunately, I had a prior engagement at the time and had to give it a miss. A couple of days ago, I came across a photo of the place and showed it to Anita, and she and the boys went all excited. So, came the weekend, we asked if my sister, Julia, wanted to take here family along, and she agreed. So, off we went last Saturday evening, all packed into my minivan.
As it was right in the middle of the school holidays, the place was really packed. We decided to go there early, got our parking ticket, but was told by the attendant that food inside the area was rather expensive. W then decided to turn back and went for dinner at Sekinchan Ikan Bakar. What. Should have done was got ourselves the best parking spot, visit one of the many restaurants in the compound, waiting for the sunset.
But once we arrived late and got settled in, we were mesmerised by the symphony of light on offer. The children were in awe of what on offer, Irfan of course had my LX-3 on the ready and started snapping away as well as posing for photos. The venue was huge, and with the children on tow, it was not possible to visit the whole park that evening. By the time we orientat ourselves, the place was already jam packed with visitors. We decided to just stay at one general area and enjoy the lights. In the end, we spend more than an hour, until the children were tired. Irfan was excited with the camera and did not want go home.
The photos I had on this blog did not do justice however with what on show. The were also welding going on all around as a monorail system was being installeed around the park. That would be a nice way to travel around the venue, while enjoying the lights at a different vantage points. There was also a giant screen - it was showing Star Sports that evening for people to congregate at. Parking was situated all around the park, with the attraction being smack in the middle. The central area was also lined up with shops and restaurant - there was a KFC joint there as well as 7-Eleven. we did not have the chance to venture to a small staging area as well as a cold tent - apparently with snow. Maybe we give that a go on another day.
The evening we went out was one of those perfect storm for crowds. The weather have been hot and sunny all day, but was breezy at the same time, so the muggy evening was very bearable. Then, there was the two-weeks school holidays, and that evening sat right in the middle of that - a Saturday at that as well. We were expecting a big crowd to be quite honest.
All in all, it was a great night out for the family. Parking was aplenty, although rather disorganised - more on that later. There were plenty of area to venture into, and I suggest that rather than try to get through everywhere, you should just concentrate on one area - the big field in the middle of park would be a good bet. And the most important advice would be, do not come without a camera!
Saturday, October 26, 2013 at 9:37PM 
I-City, U-turn
Well, as with all things in life, it would never 100% perfect. One hope that these inadequacy when pointed out were taken in stride. But I doubt if any of the people running the i-City attraction do read this blog. But I sure hope those planning to give it visit does, so as to better inform them on what to expect.
First of all, be prepare for a hike. Unless you were super early, or you were actually a VIP, during a crowded night, there would be some walking and climbing involved. Unfortunately at some of area, there were no railings or even proper steps. Some of the climb can be stee and should it rained, could be slippery. Maybe proper set of steps were needed towards the open car park area during peak times. So, if you were with children, or the elderly, take extra caution. Also imagine the muck you would be stepping into should there be heavy downpour ...... most of the area you would be stepping into were still barren.
The lack of signage was also typical of any of these local attraction. So far, only those around the Tasik Perdana and Sunway Lagoon have maps. Could actually follow. There wer no leaflets, nor clear signage pointing towards any of the attraction. If there rare some, they did a real nice job of hiding them away from us.
The above point were made worst with the lack of staff member to give any meaningful assistance to the visitors. The parking arrangement was best described as haphazard. After paying the RM10 parking fee, there were no instructions to follow, except "Jalan Terus", which ended up in a queue, and worse still, people cutting queue. A set of big sign posts - preferable in bright neon colours to blend in with the attraction - would be welcomed. Failing that, some attendants who knew how to direct traffic would be nice. I ended up confused in the end, finally finding a spot in the middle of a big open space. Luckily I parked near thee trace as those deeper were triple, if not quadruple-parked, plus some clown blocking the entrance. When we exited, we had cars driving from the opposite direction on our lane! And it was a double carriageway.
Talking about attendant, instead of sign posts warning us which area we can enter and what we should not touch, we had rude security guards, whistle in mouth blaring away to keep off list and to stay away from certain area. A sign would be great.
One thing peculiar about 1Malaysia, was the ongoing development. We do not like to maintain stuffs, but love to maintain - after all, most of the lucrative projects were for building not maintaining stuffs. Those were left for non-cronies. Same goes here. As I mentioned earlier, the venue was expending, and they were in the middle of building a monorail system to transport visitors around the park - which I was sure would not have any signposts lat as to where to alight from. They were practically welding the place while the public we're lingering around, complete with cranes and other heavy machinery. God forbid would there be mishap, then we would be entertained with finger-pointing, botch inquiry or two, followed by invitation for MACC to step in to investigate before a Minister or two announce on TV3 that work should be suspended - for a defined period of time of course. the had all day when the place was empty to carry out these works. Why when it was crowded?
I was sure these complaints would have been familiar to the management. I hope steps we're taken to remedy these as trust me, they had an attraction worth harping on about. A bit more management savvy, and they would have a sure win. If they organize the parking and the routing were better thought of, I wouldn't mind paying an extra RM5 of the entrance fee.