Tagaytay, Taal Volcano and Enchanted Kingdom Weekend Escapade

Travel Period: September 02 - 05, 2011
Destination: Tagaytay, Taal Volcano and Enchanted Kingdom


The Cast

Initially, only three of us (me, Maricel and her mom) had booked a promo fare from Cebu Pacific and one of our friend (Richellle Joy)  wants to tag along on our trip and we patiently wait for months for another promo fare, luckily AirPhil Express just offered a promo and without hesitation we immediately booked a flight bound to Manila. Then we informed our college friend named Febie who currently live in Manila to tag along with us on our plan trip to Baguio. Well, another luck had come up, Cebu Pacific had another promo fare, this time its "Libre Balik" promo where you purchase a regular one way ticket and your return ticket will be free. She then booked her three friends from Davao and a friend from Cebu. When the day came, Maricel's mom could not make it to the trip because she worries that no one will be feeding her pigs, it would die starving. Hehe. I think its also a blessing in disguise because we were worried of what activities or preferences would her mother wants during the trip and to mention that we will be having an adventurous rides in Enchanted Kingdom.
Below are the cast of the trip:

Left to Right: Me, Paul, Febie, Perlie, Nyme, Maricel, Richelle Joy, April, and Peter

Backup Plan
Days are passing, I constantly check the weather updates in PAG-ASA and unfornately, heavy rains is still occurring in Luzon area, so we canceled our plan to go to Baguio, this time we decided to try Tagaytay. We were on different flights, I and Maricel arrived at NAIA Terminal 3 around 12 midnight of Friday and went to Makati for our accommodation since the rest of them had already checked-in in a budget room. And spent the rest of the time sleeping before embarking to an adventurous day.

Travel To Tagaytay
We woke up around 7AM, prepared ourselves, checked-out, took our breakfast and proceeded to MRT Magallanes bound to MRT Taft, paid 10pesos for the ride. We alighted at Taft and proceeded to Saulog bus terminal where buses bound to southern part of Luzon like Tagaytay are stationed. We paid 78pesos for the bus ride, it traverses the Coastal road, pass Cavite and reached Tagaytay after 2 hours of travel. We then took a ride on a trike to Picnic Grove which cost 20pesos each.

Roundabout in Tagaytay

Tagaytay Picnic Grove
We paid a 50pesos entrance fee and immediately explored the place. We decided to have lunch then and while waiting for the food to be serve, we took some pictures of the overloooking view of Taal Volcano. After taking our lunch, another photo ops in the area and a lady approached us and offered a package tour for Taal Volcano. After some deliberation, we decided to take the tour even with my discouraging inputs about trekking the crater because its not ideal to trek the volcano past noon, the best time to trek it is in the morning. But they are interested and want to take the challenge to conquer Taal Volcano by foot and then off to go.

Taal Volcano 
The package was worth 2300pesos including transportation, we traversed the winding road down to Talisay, Batangas and after some minutes we arrived at a particular house situated beside the lake. We boarded to an outrigger boat that will take us to Taal Volcano. Upon reaching at the foot of Taal Volcano, we paid 50pesos each for entrance fee and 500pesos for our guide. The locals are persistent on offering a horse ride which cost 450pesos but we decided to trek it by foot and take the challenge. We don't waste our time and immediately started the trek. Had some few stops and encouraging the rest that the volcano rim is already at reach within few minutes. After almost 30 minutes of trekking, we finally reached the rim of the volcano with an astounding view of the crater lake. Of course, picture taking time to document our achievement we just had.

Back To The Metro 1
After spending some time at the Taal Volcano, we decided to went down the trail and back to Metro Manila. This time, we took the Tagaytay - Balibago route, then Balibago to Metro Manila because of the traffic we experienced traversing Cavite going to Tagaytay. There are jeepneys plying to Balibago terminal from city market of Tagaytay, I forgot to mention that this is my second trip to Taal Volcano, the first one was just last March 2011 with my co-workers so I'm familiar with the routes to take. We took a jeepney to Balibago which cost 40pesos and alighted at the terminal. Took our dinner at a fast food chain and then took a bus bound to Metro Manila. Time to rest for the next adventure of the day after, that will be rides in Enchanted Kingdom! 

Enchanted Kingdom, Take Two
We woke up around 6:30AM and immediately prepared, checked-out and take-out a food for breakfast. This time, we went to MRT Kamuning because Febie's bf name Paul will be tagging along with us on our EK trip. We boarded the bus and off to Enchanted Kingdom, the bus ride just cost 64pesos and we alighted a Walmart in Sta. Rosa. We took a trike to EK cost 9pesos each and bought a regular ticket at the EK counter cost 500pesos. Lots of picture here, there and everywhere, take photos on every opportunity, maybe, the only time we have no photos was on the Rio Grande Rapids and Log Jam ride because we don't want our point and shoot cameras to be wet from the splashing waters.

Rides, Rides, and Rides
First stop is Rialto Theather, followed with Flying Fiesta, Roller Skater, Anchors Away and then took our lunch. After our lunch, we decided to get wet and took the Rio Grande Rapids and Log Jam. Exciting experience we had on every rides, this time we will take the Space Shuttle Max and one thing to say during the ride - lots of screams. Hehe. Me and Maricel decided to take the roller coaster ride again for the 2nd time and felt another thrill on the ride we just had. Next stop was Up, Up and Away followed with Dodgem. Then, Rio Grande and Log Jam for the second time. Finally, we took the Wheel of Fate and had our dinner while waiting for the fireworks display. A day in Enchanted Kingdom with full of funny, thrilling and adventurous moments, another thrilling experience in our life and it will be remembered for the rest of our life.

Back To The Metro 2
We then took a bus in Balibago bound to Metro Manila. Upon reaching the metropolis, we prepared immediately since me and Maricel have our early first flight back to Davao by the next day. Took a cab to NAIA Terminal 3, took a power nap and boarded the plane. Back to my hometown with full of memories of the adventures we just had on a weekend. :D

Thank you and God bless us all!