Club Manila East, Taytay, Rizal
I tagged along with Rael and their non-sanctioned office outing to Club Manila East (meaning that they all paid their way, as opposed to the company shouldering the bill). We were all up bright and early on a Saturday morning for what was supposedly quick drive to the park, only to get lost in the twisting streets of Taytay. Here’s a tip: don’t rely on the map on their official website — the one on GOOGLE is much more accurate, and you can use it to augment the map provided on the official website.
When we finally got there it was complete chaos! Being the middle of summer, families and corporate outings were in full swing, so the entrance gate to the waterpark was packed. I was pretty thankful that we have prebooked out tickets, and it was just a matter of picking them up to enter the park. If you intend to go to CME as a fairly large group, you’d definitely be better off prebooking as well. Rates can be as low as PhP 310 per head (inclusive of use of a locker, the public showers, and one picnic table), or up to PhP 500 per head (for a cabana for five, which has its own shower and bath).
When we finally made it inside, the park was already nearing capacity. They had several large gazebos — almost the size of small open-side gymnasiums, hosting programmes and buffets tables for corporate outings. The smaller cabanas were bursting at the seams with large families, and the picnic tables were taken over by shrieking groups of teenagers. The pools were already filled with swimmers, floaters, and wannabe surfers, so if you wanted a relaxing time by yourself, you had to time your swim during lunch or around 3PM when everyone was out of the water for a bite to eat.
Food stalls can be found all over the park, in poolside tents and in the food court next to the park entrance. Club Manila East has several chains like Chowking and Jollibee, as well as its own fastfood restaurant, so your choices are not as limited as you’d think. Keep in mind that bringing in packed lunches to the water park is not allowed, and if you opt for that you’ll have to exit the park and eat in your car in the parking lot.
I love water parks as much as the next person, and apologize if I seem harsh but unfortunately CME fell short of the water park experience that I had been used to. It had all the prerequisites for a great park, but I think the crowds simply overwhelmed me, and I was not able to enjoy the experience to the full. Given a choice, I’d probably opted for the adrenaline rush of Splash Island, or the languid and relaxing Fontana.
