Bukit Gambang Resort City & Water Park

For our first family vacation this year, we made plans to tour the northern states of Malaysia - Perak, Kedah and maybe Perlis. However it all changed when my uncle called inviting me to come to his son’s wedding in Kemaman. Although I didn’t plan on going at first since Kemaman is quite far away, I felt obliged to go since he personally invited me. If it was a mass invite on Whatsapp or Facebook, I’d give it a pass. But then he personally called me and I’m indebted to him for so many things he helped me with over the years. I didn’t have the heart to let him down.





So there goes our northern tour. We had to make some changes to our plan and do an eastern state tour instead. There’s not much fun for us to take the kids to in the east coast except for the beaches and perhaps Bukit Gambang Water Park which where we decided to take the kids to. Compared to Sunway Lagoon, Bukit Gambang’s entrance fee is much-much lower so on paper it sounded like a good deal for us. We looked at the resort’s website for ticket price and also an a few e-commerce site like Lazada and 11street. Turns out 11street offers a pretty good and cheaper combo deal then the official site. We book a 2 days 1 night stay at the Caribbean Bay resort with breakfast and water park entrance for 4 for only 383 ringgit which is way cheaper than the original price of RM308 without water park entrance.



We didn’t leave until after 12:00PM that Saturday afternoon. My wife had unscheduled visit to the dentist to fix her braces an hour earlier. Somehow the braces wires were loose and were painfully poking the inside of her cheek. The dentist didn’t show up until 11:00AM, the audacity. Anyway the 3 hours journey along the Karak highway into LPT was smooth. We arrived in Gambang around 3:30PM and stopped for prayer break and lunch at one of the restaurants just outside the park. Protip: fill yourself up at the restaurant outside because the food inside the resort and water park will be typically expensive as always.

We took our own sweet time because we were made to understand that the water park would not be closing until 9:30PM that night. My wife specifically asked her friend who’ve been there before and that’s what she said. To our surprise, it was the Safari Park that closes at 9:30PM. The Water Park closes at 6:00, about an hour left after we finished checking in that afternoon. Since we’ll be on a rush to my cousin’s wedding in Kemaman the next morning, we had no choice but to go to the Water Park that afternoon anyhow. We rushed inside and tried almost every thing in the park in that short amount of time that we had.



Bukit Gambang Resort City’s Water Park has a quarter of the rides and attractions of Sunway Lagoon. However priced at a quarter of the price of Sunway Lagoon tickets, I cannot really complain much. There’s a few pools including a wave pool and a few slides and that’s it. They were nothing as fun and extravagant as Sunway Lagoon. You can go in one twirling slide with just your body, the rest you’ll need to rent the tubes to use it which is a real bummer. I was not about to rent a day’s worth of tube for just an hour worth of play. The wave pool and lagoon is about half the size of Sunway Lagoon’s and we get to experience about 15 minutes of waves towards the end. Although the sign says the water park is closed at 6:00PM, by 5:30PM they siren was already blown and everybody practically had to get out of the park. That ended our short-lived stay at the water park.



There were two eateries inside the water park- the Coco Delight and Penguin Express. They sell local foods at Coco Delight and western food at the Penguin Express kiosk. The food price was not that expensive to be honest, nothing crazy expensive like Sunway Lagoon. If you buy from 11street like I did, there’s a water park plus lunch combo as well which would save you a few ringgit. There’s lockers and cabanas (huts) to rent in the middle of the park. Plenty of locker space but the huts are pretty limited and seemed to be always occupied.

I know it was partially our fault for not checking and confirming in advance the water park operation hours but still it sucks to pay for something and not really fully enjoy it. Our stay at the Caribbean Bay Suite was quite pleasant though. It has two rooms with two bedrooms with one bathrooms each, just nice for all five of us. For the price we pay, it’s quite worth it. The next morning we had breakfast at their café downstairs. They were nice enough not charge anything for 7 years old Hana (because she probably don’t each much). The food was okay, ample mix of local and western delicacies. After breakfast we quickly made our way to Kemaman, breaking a few speed traps along the way.



It was also in Gambang Water Park that I learned the lesson about iPhone 7’s water resistance. In our haste to enter the park, I totally forgot to bring along my GoPro and my wife forgot to keep her iPhone 7 in the bag. In the end we brought along the iPhone for a dip in the pools. Later that evening we were alarmed to find the home button acting erratically. When I press once, the button acts like I’ve pressed it a couple of times. After much research, I can only conclude that the iPhone is showing signs of water damage. I quickly turned off the phone and let it to dry overnight. Gradually after a prolonged exposure to the heat and the sun, the iPhone started to operate normally again. What a scare. The lesson here is, the iPhone 7 is only certified IP67 which mean it’s only splash, water and dust resistant, not totally waterproof. Bear that in mind whenever you plan to bring your water-resistant phone for a swim. Heck I wouldn’t bring my waterproof phone for a swim even if I can. There’s always so many ways you can damage the phone while in the water.

Would I recommend Bukit Gambang Resort City and their Water Park? Sure if you don’t have much budget or expectations. Their water park is the poor man’s version of Sunway Lagoon. Just be sure to come early to enjoy the water park or safari park (choose one). The dress code is pretty relaxed too, I wouldn’t expect otherwise for a park in this conservative east coast state.

Bukit Gambang Resort City combo on 11street