(Itinerary, Review & Tips) How We Spent 2 Days 1 Night in Genting Highlands

Last week, Traworld’s marketing team went to Genting Highlands and spent 2 days and 1 night, so that you don’t have to. What was our transport mode? Which rides did we try? What food did we eat? Was it worth it? All will be answered in this 2D1N itinerary + review blog post. So read on to find out but WARNING! Be ready to be bombarded with tons of pictures!

Day 1

We spent day 1 at Genting Highlands' outdoor and indoor theme parks. Since the Skytropolis Indoor Theme Park opens from 2pm - 9pm, we visited the Genting SkyWorlds Theme Park which opens from 11am - 6pm. The theme park utilises a 🚫💸cashless system for in-park purchases, be it at souvenir stores or restaurants. So make sure to have your 💳credit/debit cards and 📱e-wallets ready.

Visitors are also encouraged to download the Genting SkyWorlds app. Through it, you can arrange for VQ (Virtual Queue) to speed up the queue process for each ride, plan an itinerary, check the waiting time for each ride, buy Photo+ Pass and many more.

KL to Genting Highlands (8:30am - 9:10am)

We went to Genting Highlands on a weekday during Ramadan, so the traffic was smooth like butter. Upon reaching, we decided to park our car at Awana SkyCentral car park and board the Awana SkyWay cable car.

Awana SkyWay to Genting SkyWorlds (9:10am - 10:15am)

We took the most basic Standard Gondola which costs only RM10 for one way. You can purchase the ticket online to avoid the queue and scan the QR code upon entry. It’s so easy! We were so lucky to have the entire car to 😌ourselves. In fact, many cars were empty! This is the perk of going on a weekday and during Ramadan

The cable car journey took us just 10 mins, but we got lost looking for the exit to Genting SkyWorlds. Signages are available but still, it was a bit confusing.

Upon reaching the main entrance of Genting SkyWorlds, we met up with our lovely guide. She took us through the VIP gate and gave us a briefing on Genting SkyWorlds.

Studio Plaza (10:30am - 11am)

At 10:30am, we were surprised by a 2 mins flash mob right before the entrance. This is the perk of coming before 10:30am.

After the performance, the auto gate opened for visitors to scan their tickets’ QR codes and fingerprints to enter the outdoor theme park (must scan both). The Genting SkyWorlds ticket can be purchased on Traworld’s website with instant confirmation. It also comes with a Rainy Day guarantee. Basically, this is how it works. If the rides are stopped due to bad weather between 11am - 2:59pm during your visit, you’ll be offered a free return visit. On the other hand, if it happens between 3pm - 4:59pm, you’ll get a 50% discount on your return visit. Both offers are valid for 12 months.

Actually, the main gate opening is just a pre-opening because visitors cannot go beyond the Studio Plaza before 11am. At 10:55am, an opening performance took place in front of the fountain. The duration is about 5 mins, and after that, you can officially enter the theme park to enjoy the rides! There are 9 themed worlds in Genting SkyWorlds which are, Andromeda Base, Central Park, Unnamed Bison, Epic, Ice Age, Liberty Lane, Rio, Robots Rivet Town, and Studio Plaza.

Rio (11:10am - 12pm)

Our first stop was Rio, a Brazilian-themed town featuring rides and attractions based on the famous animated film Rio! With the colourful buildings and samba 🎶music filling the street, you’ll feel as if you’ve teleported to Santa Teresa in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Samba Glider

We tried the Samba Glider, and just like many other rides in Genting SkyWorlds where you’ll be “moving away” for some time, you are 🚫👜not allowed to bring your bag in. We were stopped at the entrance of the Samba Glider, and the staff told us to rent a locker. but we found it expensive. So we decided to take turns looking after the bags, with one of us taking care of them each time someone went for a ride. After all, all we had were 💪😏manpower.

Pro-tip: There is a bench in front of the locker area near the drinking fountain.

Loose articles like glasses, slippers, caps and handphones are not allowed on the ride. But no worries, because they will give you a box to temporarily store your items. Thanks to the weekday + Ramadan season, each of us managed to have the whole ride to ourselves. 

Even though the thrill level is rated medium on the Genting SkyWorlds’ website, I was 🙈closing both of my eyes 70% of the time. Actually, it was only scarier at the beginning of the ride. I think I could keep my eyes open for a few more rounds. I also found the duration of the ride to be too short. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable ride, and I sat on a front-facing seat. I wonder if it would be even scarier in a back-facing seat.

Rio Centro Stage

After the Samba Glider ride, we walked around and stayed for a while at Rio for the Sounds of Rio performance at 12pm. There are 3 sessions per day. The 15 mins performance features dancing, skits, singing and characters from Rio like Blu, Jewel, Nigel and other birds.

There are also carnival game stalls where you can play games and win big plushies!

Epic (12pm - 12:35pm)

This place really gave us so much 🤩wow! We were very lucky that the weather was good, with a blue sky and white clouds. It looked like we'd really entered the world of the Epic animated film! Instagrammers are going to love this themed world in Genting SkyWorlds!

We didn't experience the Epic Voyage to Moonhaven because it was a water ride, and we weren’t ready to get 💦wet without protection (raincoats).

We were told that there would be a big drop and there was a possibility of us being splashed by the water. So we didn’t want to risk it.

Epic Hummingbird Flyers

We tried the Epic Hummingbird Flyers, and I don't know why the thrill level is rated as high. I felt like I was on my way to meet my 👵late grandma while riding the Samba Glider, but I didn't feel as close to the last day of my life with the Hummingbird Flyers. Also, it's pretty slow compared to the Samba Glider, and you can control the height of your ride (the one you are riding on) with a joystick. 

There is also a chance of 💧getting wet with this outdoor ride, but here’s the trick. Pay attention to the audio. They will announce when the Boggans (the stone cupids) will shoot water, and that’s when you control the joystick between the seats to raise your ride to the highest point to avoid the water. Alternatively, you can raise yourself to the highest position from the beginning, but doing this will drag the thrill level of this ride down to mild. 

Ice Age (12:35pm - 3:40pm)

This is the biggest themed world in Genting SkyWorlds featuring 4 rides, 3 food & beverage places, 2 shops and 1 mini theatre. Personally, I love this part of Genting SkyWorlds the most because it is simply otherworldly, especially under good weather. It felt so surreal to be here as if I was literally in Ice Age with Manny, Sid and Diego.

Acorn Adventure

We decided to try the only 🎢roller coaster ride available in Genting SkyWorlds currently (the Mad Ramp Peak is not operating yet) before we have our lunch. It is one of the highly thrilling rides in the outdoor theme park, and it clearly lives up to its name.

To describe it simply, there was no sudden drop, but it was fast. I felt like I had reached nirvana and was able to have 🍵tea with Buddha. I wasn't able to open my eyes during the ride, which was a bit of a shame because the scenery was very beautiful.

Sid's Rock 'N' Slide

We then stumbled upon Sid's Rock 'N' Slide and thought why not, since our stomachs were still vacant.

It wasn't a highly thrilling ride, but it was definitely uncomfortable. The log just kept spinning and spinning, making us feel 💫😵dizzy. My colleague said it felt like a mild version of Sunway Lagoon's Pirate Revenge. Upon stepping out of the ride, I felt as if I’d 🥴downed a glass of soju but managed to regain my footing quickly. 

Buck’s Place

Time for 😋🍴lunch! We chose Buck’s Place because it’s air-conditioned and has many different food options for us to choose from. They have both Eastern and Western choices. I felt like having the famous burger from Classic Burgers, so I went to tapao and brought it back to eat at Buck's Place. 

The whole restaurant was designed to look like a cave, which I found very interesting. We were accompanied by the Ice Age soundtrack playing in the background on repeat. This managed to annoy even my colleague, who is a fan of Ice Age.

We ordered wanton noodle soup at Buck's Place along with an RM5 bottle of mineral water. The wanton noodle soup tasted decent. As for the Truffle Aioli Chicken burger that I ordered, it was amazing. You guys HAVE TO TRY IT!

Ice Age: Expedition Thin Ice

This is the perfect after-lunch ride. It was fun, relaxing and required quite a walk too. The part that kind of surprised me was the lava tunnel where we felt a sudden mild heat. It added a more realistic experience to the ice cavern ride. Kids will surely enjoy this ride.

Andromeda Base (3:40pm - 3:50pm)

We weren’t ready to return our lunch to where it came from🤢🤮, so we avoided the rides at Andromeda Base but hey! We managed to survey and 📸snap some interesting photos for you! Check them out!

Robots Rivet Town (3:50pm - 4:00pm)

We didn’t ride on the Bigweld's Zeppelins because we felt that it is similar to the Epic Hummingbird Flyers.

As for the Rivet Town Roller, it’s just too much 🥴spinning for me to handle, so I didn’t get on it.

Eagle Mountain (3:55pm - 4:05pm)

The Mad Ramp Peak (Mat Rempit, got it?) was not open yet, so we just passed by and looked around this 🤠cowboy town.

Ice Age (4:05pm - 4:40pm)

Suddenly, we felt like grabbing a bite so we went back to the Ice Age (umm...not literally, I mean the themed world, not the era). Well, we can’t help because we wanted to try some stuff at the Peaches’ Cocoa Concoctions. Plus, many food & beverage kiosks in Genting SkyWorlds were not open that day.

Peaches’ Cocoa Concoctions

I was itching to try the churros, so I asked the staff at the kiosk for a flavour recommendation, and she suggested the one with chocolate filling. The churros were crunchy, but they didn't taste as good as I expected. Perhaps it was because the churros were big, and there weren't any sprinkles or coating, making them a bit bland. On the other hand, the chocolate filling was just right, not too much, not too sweet, and not too messy to eat

The hot chocolate had a slightly different taste than usual. You'll have to try it to understand what I'm talking about. We brought the food inside Buck's Place to enjoy it again because it was surprisingly 🥵hot outside...yes, I know it's weird to see Genting Highlands this way. 

Liberty Lane (4:40pm - 4:55pm)

There is only 1 ride here, which is the Invasion of the Planet of the Apes. The annual ⛄snowfall event in December also takes place here at Liberty Lane. This themed world is made to look like San Francisco, with tall and colourful Art Deco-style buildings on the left and right. It looked like I’d just entered a Hollywood studio from the 1920s and I could almost hear Lana Del Rey singing next to my ear.

Invasion of the Planet of the Apes

If you’ve watched the Planet of the Apes, you’ll probably enjoy this ride more. Visitors will be recruited on a mission to find Caesar, the mutated chimp who has escaped. However, if you have not, no worries because you’ll first be given a briefing through a 📺television in a messy and abandoned lab. You’ll get into the storyline in no time.

Then, you’ll put on a pair of 3D glasses, hop on a hovercraft and be ready for an action-filled journey. You can carry your 👜bags with you on the ride, but you are required to put them down, similar to how it's required on a flight. Honestly, the ride wasn't too extreme, so I'm not sure why it is rated as high for its thrill level on Genting SkyWorld’s website.

Central Park (4:55pm - 6:00pm)

Central Park is not a themed world, but it is one of the biggest sections in Genting SkyWorlds.

SkyAvenue Gateway

Although there were many shops selling food and beverages here, unfortunately, not many were open when we visited. As a result, the area felt quite...dead. On the bright side, this made it a perfect spot for taking Instagram-worthy photos!

Independence Day

This was the ride that I had been waiting for! For this ride, 3D glasses were not required, but it still felt very real! The adventure took us through a futuristic Kuala Lumpur without Merdeka 118 and The Exchange 106.

We were first given a briefing on the alien situation, and the captain (who is actually Douglas Lim), appeared briefly on the screen. Then, we were recruited for a mission to outer space to defend Earth from an alien invasion! We had to ride on a super huge spaceship where the seats jerked (well, not a lot) and tilted, just like we would experience on an actual spaceship (not that I’ve ever tried one or know of any existing one). It didn't feel extremely scary, but we still had to hold onto the handles for reassurance.

Night at The Museum: Midnight Mayhem

We didn’t know what to expect from this ride. Upon entering the “Museum of Natural History,” we could instantly feel the vibe from the movie.

This is another 3D ride that required us to put on 3D glasses. Only 2 people could share a ride, and we were supposed to compete with each other to see who could shoot and stop more of the exhibits that came to life!

Throughout the journey, we were guided by the night guard (Joanne Kam Poh Poh), who appeared on a small screen on the ride as we shot 🔥fireballs at the Neanderthal and 🍭lollipops at the Terracotta army statues who were trying to cause trouble.

Skytropolis (6:00pm - 6:30pm)

Honestly, at this point, we were already 😩too tired to ride on anything else. So we just went around Skytropolis to see what it has to offer.

There are two ways to enjoy the rides at Skytropolis: you can purchase a Skytropolis Indoor Theme Park ticket, which allows you to ride everything an unlimited number of times in a day, or you can pay per ride. Additionally, you can enter Skytropolis for free; the ticket is only necessary if you want to get on the rides👍😉.

SkyAvenue (6:30pm - 8:00pm)

We walked back to SkyAvenue to hunt for food but before that, we went up to the rooftop to catch a beautiful panoramic view of Genting SkyWorlds.

Rooftop

We should’ve come up earlier because then we would've been able to see the 🌄sun setting. The location of this rooftop is right above the High Line Rooftop Market in SkyAvenue. The morning view was simply 😍stunning too. We went back the next morning to check it out again. Unfortunately, it was so stunning that I forgot to 📸take any picture🥲.

Dinner

There are many restaurants to choose from at SkyAvenue. From high-class dining to food courts to famous chain restaurants, you name it. We had our dinner at MyeongDong Topokki, a famous Korean restaurant chain.

All of us ended up with back and leg pain so it was nice to finally sit down and enjoy our dinner. I guess age is really catching up with us, fast.

Hotel (8:00pm)

We finally got to retire for the day in our rooms, but before that, we had to collect our baggage from the car before proceeding to self-check-in.

There are many hotels in Genting Highlands which range from the luxurious Resorts World Awana to the fun & spacious Genting SkyWorlds Hotel. We ended up staying in the economical First World Hotel because we just wanted to crash for a night.

We started with self-check-in at one of the many kiosks. We booked 2 rooms, and 2 ICs were required for check-in. This means that 1 IC can only be used to check in for 1 room, and that person can’t help the other to check-in. Don’t forget to pick the 🚭non-smoking floor if you are against smoking. The machine will then dispense a card which you can use to enter your designated room.

It is a pretty decent hotel where many 🎰🎲casino visitors crash for a night. It's also a 3-star hotel, so we didn't expect much.

However, we have a small complaint about the bathroom. The lack of a place to hang or place our clothes was a bit inconvenient. Plus, the towel hook is outside the cubicle, making it hard for someone sensitive to the 🥶cold temperature (like me) to open the sliding door and retrieve the towel while having cold air blowing at me.

The hotel is going on an 🍃eco-friendly route where many plastics and packaging were removed, including small shampoo bottles and soap which were replaced with a 3 in 1 shampoo, soap, and conditioner stored in a single dispenser.

There is a small TV in the room, so we watched a movie before retiring to bed. I got to say that their bed and pillows were highly comfortable. We fell 😴💤asleep in no time.

Day 2

The checkout time is 11am, and we checked out at 11am sharp. 2 of us shared a room on level 4 (strange that it wasn't called level 3A😅), which was a bit of a disadvantage when we tried to take the lift to go down because it was always full! In the end, we decided to walk down using the emergency staircase with a few other guests.

The checkout process was super easy. We just had to insert the card at a check-out kiosk, and that’s it!

Brunch (11am - 12:30pm)

Sorry, we forgot to take a picture of our food because we were too hungry😅. We had our brunch at Zok Noodle House in SkyAvenue. There are all sorts of food in SkyAvenue. You don't have to worry about food at all!

Chin Swee Caves Temple (12:50am - 1:50pm)

We drove down to the Chin Swee Caves Temple after getting lost in the car park and trying to look for the exit.

It is a beautiful Chinese Buddhist temple on a highland with a very calm vibe. Even though it was a weekday, we weren't the ones there. There were also foreign and local tourists.

The majestic view of the green mountains was worthy of my jaw-dropping. I wasted no time in clicking my 📸camera’s shutter vigorously.

There is a path called Journey to Enlightenment. It leads to higher elevations, and you can only do it by hiking up the slopes and steps. Along the way, there are 10 Chamber of Hell exhibits where exhibits alongside their descriptions are on display for visitors to further understand Buddhism’s concept of hell and punishments.

Chin Swee Caves Temple Starbucks (1:50am - 2:30pm)

Yes, there is a Starbucks branch at the Chin Swee Caves Temple. We chatted over a cup of coffee each.

Genting Highlands to KL (2:30pm)

Originally, we wanted to visit the 🍓strawberry farm, but we were informed that it wasn’t the season, so we decided to go back to KL while the traffic was still good. It took us just 1 hour to reach KL