Ball Pit Manila: My Top 10 Tips to Maximize Your Experience

I've previously shared about Ball Pit Manila,  a pop out installation adult ball pit play park that just opened in Urban Avenue in Makati. 

If you just want to be like a kid and purely play, these tips are not for you.   If you want to do more than that, then read on.

10. Arrive at least 10 minutes before your scheduled time

There's a paid parking at the back of Campos Rueda Building itself.  But, Ball Pit Manila is located on the second floor so you will need some time to take the plight of stairs.  And, you will also need some time to settle in for removing your shoes, wearing socks and organizing your things by your table space.  They don't have lockers by the way so stuffs are just left out like that. 

9. Bring fresh socks - meaning worn only when you get to the venue

"Bring fresh socks - meaning worn only when you get to the venue" is a reminder on bold that you'll receive on your booking request.  Sometimes, we're too excited that we forget this.  Just like in the case of my family, I gave everyone a notice of this in advance.  When we got to Ball Pit Manila, I was surprised that everyone forgot about this and wore the socks upon leaving the house.  So too bad for our cute socks, they had to buy the plain black socks from Ball Pint Manila for 50 php.  My big brother had a feet size of 12 so the socks didn't fit for him.

8. Book wisely!

The Ball Pit has a maximum capacity of 20 persons.  But if you want to jump around, dive and take awesome photographs without butts popping out on the background, you want to have as less people in the same pit as possible.  Therefore, when you book through their website, pick the slot with more available slots (less people).   Better if you book near your intended date so less people will add in.  Although they allow walk-ins, slots aren't ensured especially since sometimes they are fully booked for an event.

7. Visit During Day Time

If you want to take great photos and videos especially with action shots, go on a day time because natural light will radiate from the window just by the ball pit.  There are open as early as 10 am.  Moreover, the after-work hours of 5 pm to 10 pm are the time when the pit is busy.

6. Bring a Camera

Bring your own camera because for sure you want to take tons of photographs and videos.  At night, phones are not as recommendable especially if you're picky with graininess like me.  Go pros with monopod stick are allowed inside the ball pit. 

5. Come in groups

Ball Fight!

As they say, the more the merrier.  It's best to come in groups.  The bigger the better.  During our visit, we were a family of 6.  The another group of 10 and 5.  If possible, be in a group of 20 and occupy the pit.  That way it's fun and you have the luxury of comfort.  You can play any game you want without being worried if you're hitting the wrong person or invading a photograph space of another group.  Moreover, it's a different experience for a different group so it's a great idea to visit with a variety of people.

4. Be creative

For the first half of your hour, you have enough time to play around.  If you want to take good photos then use the rest of your time to be creative.

3.  Wear contrasting colors

As the balls are white, wearing contrasting colored clothes will make you stand out more.

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It's not a good idea to wear white and light gray.  Go for red and dark shades like black and blue. 

2. Allocate more than an hour

Not only does your payment comes with a free choice of coffee or iced tea, they also have card games available.  They also offer unlimited coffee or iced tea for only 60 php.

1. Enjoy and have fun!

The experience wouldn't be so wholesome if you didn't act like a kid and play around silly.  It's so much fun to just lay there and let the balls massage you.  Try it and you'll be amazed at how it can de-stress you.

Hope these tips will help you!  Enjoy Ball Pit Manila! =)

Pet Express Doggie Run 2016: Chinese Sharpeis on the Run (SM Mall of Asia)

It's been 5 years since our first Pet Express Run (shared it way back in 2011).  I'm quite glad that I have an entry of our first one because time really flies by so fast and I didn't realize it was 5 years already.  Joining Pet Express Run 2016 was actually the family's idea.

Starting Line

I was kind of surprised that they initiated it because my family does not run at all.  They don't even wake up early.  But since they wanted to, of course I'm all in for it.  We registered 3 dog Kits and 2 extra human kits.

Moral Support?

At home, we have more dogs than humans.  Too bad we couldn't bring all 7 Chinese Sharpeis.  We brought Kiwi (running 1.5k with me), Mochi (running 3k with my brother) and Siopao (running 1.5k with my sister).   My mom was also registered at 1.5k.  And, my other sister who was registered just to take our photo ran 3k. 

Kiwi taking a U-Turn

I guess each of our dogs chose the masters and Kiwi and I are super close.  She's 8 years old and she's been obedient and loyal towards me since we got her.  She's very smart.  She can do tons of tricks: shake hands, wave, high five, down, crawl, come, stay, lay down,  play dead, roll over, come in, go home, dance, and wiggle.

Kiwi is almost 8 years old but she's still very active.  Since Kiwi is a very good girl, she always watched my pace and never go ahead of me.  But, today was very special because I told her to go and run as freely and happily as she wanted.  She was so competitive!  Since the idea of the family was spontaneous,  I was the one who isn't fit and can't keep up. =(

Kiwi wondering what's the hold up

At the U-Turn slot, there's a water station but the water distribution couldn't keep up with the number of dog owners.  It took awhile before I got a cup of water for Kiwi.

But turns out, she wasn't thirsty.  She just wanted to go and keep up with all the other dogs.

I think I was way ahead of the family.  A lot of people weren't there to run but to leisurely stroll along with their dogs and the family was among them. 

As we were near the finish line, we spotted the family.

After we passed the finish line, there were already so many dog owners there.

We couldn't resist taking a quick snap.

A lot of people where getting their selfies.  But there's a Marshall there to clear the way.

We almost missed the medal because of the crowd.  And, Kiwi got her very first finisher medal.  Yey!  I bet she'd want to show it off to Lychee because she was smelling Lychee's medal way back in 2011.   

She got some pat too. 

Glad they thought of including a shower.  They didn't have that before.  I didn't let Kiwi shower because I thought the family car might get wet.  Then I found out Mochi had a shower.

Got some water for Kiwi but she didn't want them again.  So I got her 1.5k loot bag and my human treats given in plastic bags.  When we got home, I compared all our loot bags and noticed that the 3k loot bag has a bonus small sack of dog food and dog frame.  

A lot of people were lining for freebies so we lined up to see what they're getting.  Frontline gave some umbrella at first but ran out and became calendars.  Bayer gave some magic towel and fan.   At first, holistic recipe gave ecobags which ran out and became caps. The ecobags were really useful because the loot bag and human treats were given only in plastic bags. 

We opted not to line up for the rest.  Our bibs also had a tab for souvenir photo but there were only 2 booths for all the runners.  The queue was so long. 

Kiwi lining up for us

Kiwi wanted to ride the stroller too

Kiwi getting acquainted

The family with Mochi, Kiwi and Siopao (censored for privacy)

The family didn't have the patience to line up for the freebies.  They were still sleepy so we were about to go after our dogs  got enough rest.  We didn't intend to wait for the raffle when suddenly my little sister got called as she won an Aquazorb from Frontline.

What Improved
In comparison to the Pet Express 2011 (their very first run), they've implemented a lot of improvements.
1. Better singlet and bandana - The material and design is better and didn't increase the registration price.
2. Doggie shower - Dogs loved this!
3. More sponsors and booths - There is noticeably more sponsors and booths now.
4. Human treats - Cool that humans have treats too!

What Could to Be Improved
1. Parking - The parking slots near the starting line were all reserved only for the event organizers.  There was no sign or designation on where participants should park.  We were actually late finding a parking slot and walking our dogs from the parking slot to the starting point.
2. Loot bags - I'd prefer it like in the 2011 where all the loots are already placed in an ecobag so you don't need to claim an ecobag and then transfer your loot there.
3. Raffle needs to speed up - By the time the raffle was called out, the crowd has already dispersed.  I guess the raffle was quick before because they only had 1 big raffle prize (we won a PS3 before). Now there were multiple prizes from the sponsors like a Christmas raffle, it took longer so they could speed it up a bit as many already got home.
4. Lack of Photographers - With a lot of runners both humans and dogs, Strider-My Run Time could have allocated more photographers.  As I've checked, they only had a total of 546 shots.  With some runners having two shots...

Overall, the Pet Express Doggie Run 2016 is a huge success because surely there's non other like it.  It's always fun to run with a companion and as they say, a dog is a man's best friend.  The family had so much fun!  They want to join again!