The Wonders at VinWonders

VinWonders is a must do when visiting Vietnam's Phu Quoc Island. With giant rollercoasters, numerous waterslides and a massive aquarium with penguins and mermaids and every kind of food from all over the world, its great for the young or the young at heart.

About VinWonders

VinWonders is a adventure park and one of the most popular attractions in Phu Quoc. It contains a theme park, water park and one of the world's largest aquariums holding almost a quarter of a million sea creatures.

It is also a well priced theme park with entry tickets around 1,040,000VND/$60AUD/$40USD per adult and this includes all rides, golf buggy transfers within the park and a free ice cream. So when you compare the price of this to other theme parks around the world, it is fantastic value.

Mr NQN and I arrive at Vinwonders at noon and it's a 5 minute drive away from our hotel, the Radisson Blu Phu Quoc (review here). We walk through the fall tree lined avenue called the European streetmosphere past the "Copenhagen Flea Market" vendors that offer everything from Korean head spa, foot massage, pizzas, handicrafts, souvenirs and traditional Vietnamese food.

The Layout

The theme park is laid out in a circular pattern with the Palace of Dreams as the centrepiece. It is divided into different worlds like Fantasy World, Western World, Typhoon World, Viking Village, Adventure World and the Sea Shell.

The Sea Shell

The Sea Shell was my favourite area. The aquarium is enormous with lots of different types of sea creatures (around a quarter of a million) over 3 floors laid out in a sea shell pattern. I loved walking around the aquarium and seeing all the sea creatures. Plus occasionally a diver or mermaid will pop up above you which was such a nice surprise!

There is also a king penguin area where they feed the penguins at 3pm. There is also an 11am and 2pm mermaid show which is really worth going to.

Adventure World

Is where you go to if you like the big rides like giant rollercoasters, drop rides and this is the area for adrenaline junkies. This isn't me or Mr NQN but it is very popular!

Typhoon World

Typhoon World is the water park. There are around 40 activities in this world along with lots of different slides and a wave pool. Unfortunately we didn't spend a lot of time there as we didn't bring our swimmers (damn!).

Viking Village

This had cute figurines but the main ride was closed.

Fantasy World

Fantasy World is great for kids and has a cute Thumbelina ride and a photo op with Alice's tea party.

Western World

This was probably the least exciting world. The shooting games look like fun but you do have to pay extra for these. The train ride wasn't super exciting.

The Rides

There are so many rides from adventurous like the Wrath of Zeus, Xibalba drop or Nemesis Spin to the sedate like the Thumbelina ride or my personal favourite, the Dragon's Spell. This is similar in style to Disneyland's Haunted Mansion in that it is a fun spooky ride where you sit in a seat that spins around. However this is an interactive ride where you don 3D glasses and shoot at creatures coming at you. I have no idea how but I got second place shooting (my tactic: shoot wildly like you don't know what you're doing because you don't haha).

Some rides are only available to kids but most are available to all adults. When we visited in late October there were no long queues and we would only have to wait a maximum of 5 minutes.

The Food

There is everything that you could want here from Vietnamese regional specialties, the Korean Lotteria chain, Greek and Indian restaurants, bingsu and kimbab and as well as street vendors selling everything from hot popcorn, skewers, bbq and slushies.

There are definitely healthier options available here rather than just junk food. As we had just eaten breakfast just before we arrived (next time I'll arrive hungry!), we didn't get particularly hungry until the afternoon. I wish we had come hungry because the food looked amazing and it was pretty well priced for a touristy theme park.

Towards the afternoon when the heat was sapping our strength, we had a mango bingsu with matcha ice cream at the Korean cafe on the European streetmosphere. I was very tempted to get some gimbab or mandu dumpling too.

And if you have always wanted to go to the Maldives to eat at an underwater restaurant you can do that here at the Deep Sea Restaurant. This is located within the aquarium at the Sea Shell just after the penguin enclosure.

There are two areas: the restaurant where you can dine right next to the display and there is only a set menu available for 800,000VND/$43AU/$30US per person. The other section is the Deep Sea cafe that is in the same room but not right next to the aquarium. Here you can get a range of drinks there as well as afternoon tea for 250,000VND/$14AU/$9.50US but the only catch is that the afternoon tea needs to be pre-ordered 2 hours ahead of time. We ordered an iced coffee and tea there and rested our feet.

Best Places to Take Photos at VinWonders

There are lots of spots to take photos at VinWonders. The Palace of Dreams is where many people get photos taken in front of. But a little tip: you can also walk up to the huge wooden doors and take some pics there too!

In Fantasy World, Alice's tea party also has a great photo set up.

At 5pm every day there is a Carnival parade with dancers and at 5:30pm there is a musical fountain show at the Palace of Dreams. At 6:45pm there is the "Once" show once night falls.

How Much Time Do I Need At VinWonders?

VinWonders opens from 9am-7:30pm. You want at least 6-8 hours there or the whole day if you also bring swimmers and go to the water park. We didn't know how long we needed and we had a restaurant booking at 6pm that night but ideally we would have stayed from 12pm-7:30pm when it closes so we could have seen the night show that is on at 6:45pm.

Tips for VinWonders

1 - The normal theme park tips apply like wear comfortable clothing and shoes and go on a weekday rather than a weekend for less crowds.

2 - If you buy the tickets from the VinWonders website, they will let you have one free date change whereas this isn't available from other resellers. As it was rainy season we wanted that option. For $60AUD per person we got entry to the park, buggy transfers and a free ice cream. There was supposed to be a 15% coupon code but that never worked.

3 - I definitely recommend purchasing the buggy access which you can do with the ticket or add on once you're there. Even if you love walking, by the end of the day you'll be grateful you did.

4 - Typhoon World is the water park within the theme park. Bring your swimmers if you want to go on these rides.

5 - If you want afternoon tea at the Deep Sea Cafe and Restaurant you will have to pre order it by 2 hours.

6 - Head to the sea shell (giant turtle) around 1pm to nab a seat for the 2pm mermaid show. It's a fantastic show and there is only two per day at 11am and 2pm. We got there at 1:45pm and there was standing room only.

I Wish They Had...

Wristbands for the buggy rides. Every time you want to get on one, you have to take out your ticket.

They handed out maps when you entered so that you could know where to go.

They had some cute merch like the Mickey and Minnie ears at Disneyland!

So tell me Dear Reader, would you visit VinWonders? What is your favourite theme park?

VinWonders

Khu Bãi Dài, Phu Quoc, Kien Giang 92512, Vietnam

Phone: +84 1900 6677

www.vinwonders.com/en/