As much as time, health, and budget permit, we try to give the kids experiences which are fun, safe, and educational. The main reason why Hotel Kimberly Tagaytay appealed to me was because of the hotel’s in-house activities which seemed to be perfect new experiences for my two young, energetic kids. So when we found a weekend when time, health, and budget were all in check for a trip to Tagaytay… gooo na! Road trip, woohoo! The kids had a blast, and the Princess is already asking us when we can go back!
After a smooth and early check-in, these greeted us while we were going up to our room.
I already blogged about the hotel facilities and amenities here, but what will really be treasured memories are the experiences we had that weekend. We really wanted them to play outdoors (which they don’t normally do on a day-to-day basis), which was why we didn’t spend much time in the hotel’s game room. Here are six activities we really enjoyed doing at Hotel Kimberly:
1. Feeding the Farm Animals at the Petting Zoo
My daughter had already gone to zoos and farms on field trips and one trip with her cousins before, so this was not a new experience for her. But that didn’t stop her from having a blast feeding the animals, and actually giving us trivia bits about them that she learned in school! But it was the Baby Ball’s first time to see farm animals close up, and we thought he’d get scared. We shouldn’t have worried, as you’ll see in the photos.
You can opt to feed the sheep and the rabbits. Unlike some zoos or farms, you don’t have to buy the food to feed to the animals. The farmhand is there ready to assist and provide you with as much food as you want to feed during feeding time. Manong also enthusiastically tells the kids about the animals.
Did I mention I was worried the Baby Ball wouldn’t like the animals? Well, he balked at the feeding, but look what he did to this poor little turkey who was minding its own business on the field.
He chased the poor little guy all over the place. And he almost caught him too!
2. Roasting Marshmallows at the Bonfire
Hotel Kimberly has marshmallow-roasting and movie watching on weekend nights. The marshmallow-roasting was held in the open area near the petting zoo. This was a first for all of us. They had these bigger-than-usual marshmallows on even bigger-than-usual sticks. I don’t even think I can even call them sticks kasi I imagine BBQ-like sticks. They’re more like patpat na, thick and about a yard or so long, I guess for safety reasons so you don’t have to go too close to the fire.
I don’t really like marshmallows, but I had a revelation: Ang sarap pala ng toasted and medyo burnt na marshmallows! Sorry #halatangfirsttimer, hehe. The Princess naman preferred the unroasted ones, so she did enjoy roasting marshmallows but gave them all to her father and me, and just asked the hotel staff for more and ate them like that. The Baby Ball didn’t like marshmallows either way, and the hubby liked them whatever way.
Just go to the area when it’s time for the bonfire, and the hotel staff will hand you sticks with marshmallows and assist you in the roasting. They’re also ready with lots of marshmallows for your next rounds.
3. Enjoying Movie Nights and Popcorn
After having our fill of marshmallow roasting, it was time for the movie. The movie is located in the playground area near the parking lot. We saw them setting up there in the late afternoon, and the Princess was excited since Zootopia is her current fave movie (she loves the songs too!).
The movie had actually already started, then it started to drizzle! (Booo.). The weather was uncooperative, but the staff were quick to transfer the movie indoors to one of the hotel’s function rooms. Yey! The Princess still had her movie nights with free popcorn!
The Baby Ball doesn’t appreciate long movies yet, so after a bit of running around in the lobby, he just played in the room and watched Disney Junior on TV instead, while the hubby got some work done.
4. Taking Pictures at the Lobby
My last post already has lots of lobby pictures. This time, let’s play: “Where’s the Baby Ball?”
5. Playing at the Playground
I think I mentioned in my Kidzoona post that my daughter doesn’t enjoy slides much. The Baby Ball repeatedly enjoyed the lower slides, while the Princess finally overcame her fear of high slides, and mustered up the courage to try the long spiral slide down! It helped too that it was not a fast descent. Horaay! I’m so glad she felt proud of herself after, and even went on to do several more slides down.
The playground and obstacle course spaces are really open, and the grass is well-kept, without sharp rocks or objects nearby which can hurt excited and scurrying kids.
Which brings me to the last of the six activities…
6. Flying A Kite on the Grounds
When I saw the pictures of Hotel Kimberly’s playground and petting zoo grounds online, I immediately made a mental note to pack the Princess’ kite given to her as a gift sometime back. I hoped for strong winds and open space so we could finally use it, and we did!
So, these are the things we did at Hotel Kimberly. We had so much fun and can’t wait to do them all again!
Since I love me a good and hearty breakfast, up next is the breakfast buffet at Café at K!
Wow what an informative and truly nice blog on your stay. I hope you all come back again soon. Thank you very much!
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