Sofia's Singapore and Legoland Itinerary for a long weekend

Sofia turned 9 last year, you can read about her 9th birthday here, but the only thing she really asked for, was a Trip to Singapore and Legolond, so off to Singapore we went over the Halloween/ All Saints Day Holiday.

This was my birthday gift for Sofia. It's a good thing she loved the
boarding passes I gave her, since the trip came 2 weeks after her
birthday during her Sem Break.

We scored reasonably priced tickets (for a long weekend that is) via Cebu Pacific, so I opted not to buy any luggage (since I travel to Singapore a lot for work, and I can leave anything I would eventually need to bring home with Tim for safekeeping... So Sofia and I decided not only are we travelling only with matching backpacks, we also agreed to do the backpack challenge, where anyone of us who needed more space than the backpack to head home (leaving stuff with Tim included) would need to pay the other person a fine of SG$10! Yes, we come up with the weirdest rule that just scream break me! break me! Hahaha...

It seemed quite do-able since I told Sofia that she was 100% in charge of our itinerary, and her To DO list consisted mostly of Legoland and places where she wanted to eat. 

Backpack Challenge starts now!!! At the Miascor Lounge in T3

We took the after work and after school flight which normally arrives in Singapore at midnight. For stop on our list.

Late Dinner at Dimsum 126 (24 hr Dimsum Place)
Walking distance from Tim's old place.

We were still at the airport, and I already knew what we
wanted to order, since the menu numbering does not change
and I found it in my blog post you can read here.

The birthday girl was so excited.

 My own craving was satisfied for:

Lime with Plum juice, in their signature takeaway containers

The Yam Balls filled with BBQ Pork are the best, way better than they look.

Sofia is normally happy eating the hakaw and siomai.

Sof was excited to sleep beside her Ninong, she slept in
her Legoland Outfit because we said we would leave the
house at 9:00am.

 Day 1 Off to our Legoland Day Trip
Very Important Tip: Do not go during the Deepavali Weekend - getting a bus from Queen St. takes hours, instead of the usual less than 5 mins to board a waiting us, and clearing JB immigration takes 2 hours, not to mention the lines are like a zoo (imagine Cherry Blossom Season at the Kansai Airport), and we didn't even know it was Deepavali! (hahaha, super fail!)

Now I know why Legoland Hotel rates were much more expensive than usual so we opted to do a day trip instead and stay in the hotel at another time (so see you LL Hotel in March!).

We were starving! So we ate all the snacks we brought while we were in line, then we snacked again at KFC at JB Central, then we cabbed to Legoland and again ate lunch again at Shilin Taiwanese Snacks before entering the parks which was the only place that was really part of our itinerary. 

 

 

 

This is Sofia's way of telling us to eat faster. Hahaha.

We finally made it to Legoland around 2PM I think, the normal time we usually arrive when we just go upon waking up. So it was still ok, plus the park closes 3 hours later due to Brick or Treat (more on that in a bit!)

Sofia you didn't get the color scheme memo! Even the photo-bomber did! 

 

Our first stop was the LegoLand Waterpark, since it closed at the regular time.  So yes, Sofia loves it so much, she actually stayed until closing.

More on LLWP in a separate post.

Sof loved the Water Park so much, she was starving when we got out, so we had an early dinner first at Old Town White Coffee before entering the main park for Brick or Treat.  Uhmmmm, super big mistake.
Very Important Tip: If you are visiting Legoland for a particular event, make sure that as soon as you arrive, you ask the entrance or customer service desk for the details on what you need to participate - which you will not find on any fine print. We found out the hard way, that you need a special flyer to join Brick or Treat, and when we arrived at 7:30pm they had already ran out! (I was sooo dead! I promised Fi the Brick or Treat event in place of staying at the Legoland Hotel so I literally had to beg nice looking people who looked like they a had a lot of kids to see if they had an extra flyer and Thank God, the first one we asked had one)

More on Brick or Treat on a separate post

Just before leaving, my daughter asked Ninong Tim to buy
her Lego for her birthday present. Uhmmmm, goodbye
Backpack challenge. Sofia was already paying me her
SG$10 but I said, just wait, because if I also buy something,
we can call it quits!

 

Thank you LL, Sofia had so much fun, she was asleep as soon as we stepped
into our transfer.

 Tip: It's more economical to take the bus, but if you decide to do both parks in a day, it's definitely worth the money to arrange for a car pick-up that will take you directly to you door in Singapore on for the trip back.

Day 1 Late Dinner: 
McDonald's Delivery. We need our McWings fix.

 

We ordered the Double Cereal Ebi Burger to try (I guess inspired by the
popular Cereal Prawn dish) but it's really not something I'll order again.

Day 2 Sofia's To Eat List

Raisin Bread for Breakfast from Guru Nice

We knew that we already had 2 tiring days, so we planned accordingly for Day 2 starting with a late brunch, when everyone work up. So for breakfast, we just bought food down stairs and fended for ourselves. Fortunately, Sof really liked the Raisin Bread from the bakery, we even bought 5 or 6 bags to bring home!

 

Day 2 Late Brunch

Dimsum at Taste Paradise.

I agree that this is one of the best dimsum places in Singapore, because they do all my favorites really well. You can read my post on that here. Or just make sure you order Carrot Cake, Deep Tried Taro Puff and Baked BBQ Pork Pastry.

 

 

Aside from my favorites, the usuals are ok too.

 

 

Day 2 Snack - Ben's Cookies
We weren't really hungry yet, so we just bought one. But it was so bitin, we went back the next day to come back for more.

 

Ben's Revisited. Buy 5 - Get 2 Free. No Brainer.

 

Day 2 - Visiting our old haunts

Ever since Sof was small, she has always loved watching the skaters in the Somerset Skate Park.

 

 

Sof wanted to eat Chicken Rice, and not just any Chicken Rice will do. She wanted to take away from our favorite Chicken Rice place on Killiney (also known as the extension of our kitchen).

Back in our hood.

Our favorite Chicken Rice Place. This is where we ate,
every time we arrived in Singapore from our trip,
before heading to Fair Price to restock our fridge.

The Chicken Rice Auntie is still the same, and she hasn't forgotten us!

This was our usual order. I can't believe it's
 just 30 cents more.

What we failed to forecast is that one order is not
enough for Sofia.

We should have ordered more chicken to take away. Note to self for next time.

I had to order Salted Egg Chicken Rice from the place
under Tim's, but it's no longer the same place we used to
love.

Day 3 - Sofia's Day in IKEA 
For her meatballs and wings fix, plus crossing her fingers that she is not too tall for the Smalland Playground. They said she was slightly above the allowed height, but they allowed her "for the last time"...

This is Sof running our of patience with her mom who loves photos.

This is Tim picking a fight with Sof to get some me time.
Hahahaha.

Aside from the above, Sofia also loves the make your own yogurt and soft serve Ice Cream. She will even treat you, as long as you let her make it. If I'm not mistaken the yogurt is a dollar, while the Ice Cream cone is half that.

Another highlight for Fi, taking the double deck public bus.

Day 3 - Shopping in Orchard Road
Namely Kinokuniya. Sofia can spend hours here, looking for books to buy, and sitting on the floor and reading them.

Day 3 - Pork Chop Rice for Dinner from DTF
Since we were starting to get tired, we decided that it would be better to order our dinner as Take Away, and eat at home instead.

Day 4 - Cereal Prawns for the Last Day in Singapore from KEK

Last on Sofia's list was to eat Cereal Prawns. While our list had Salted Egg Prawn on it, so Keng Eng Kee it was. You can read about KEK here.

Cereal Prawn Craving Satisfied for Fi!

Salted Egg Prawns for Ady and me

We thought our food might not be enough so we
ordered stuffed bean curds, sounds nice in principle,
but it's not as good as it looks or sounds.

Since we were in the area, Sof attempted to go to the Ikea Smalland playground "For Another Last Time..." the lady who thankfully was different, was nice enough to allow here to play.

And as usual, we can't leave without getting Ice Cream.

We have clearly given up on the backpack challenge (hahahaha)...
so off to Orchard we went, for Antoinette and more last minute shopping.

It doesn't matter if Sof is in her car, or on a bus,
she can sleep anywhere.

Day 4 - Antoinette Salted Egg Croissant (and Salted Egg Cheese Tarts - to Take Home)
You can read my post on Antoinette here and here.

Real Iced Chocolate is not to Sofia's liking.

For me, this is still the best, save for Salted Egg 

We managed our itinerary so well, doing everything Sofia wanted to do that we had to find somewhere to go for dinner that was close enough for Tim to join us, and to allow us to go back home before heading to the airport.

We decided to have dinner at Aston's Steakhouse for affordable steak. Aston's used to have a branch in Mapletree Business City, so when I worked in Singapore, it's the only place where you could have a nice lunch, without really breaking the bank.

My usual order is the steak with Black Pepper Sauce and 2 sides.
I chose mash and french fries since I was sharing with Fi.

That was a good trip. Thank you Singapore.

Sof had so much fun planning and taking charge of our itinerary that she asked if she can still make the decisions once we got back home and I had to tell her, you have to wait to turn 10, to have another birthday trip where you get to decide and do everything that you want to. Hahaha.

Day 4 Midnight Flight Back
I'm glad the Changi Playground in terminal 2 has no age/ height limit. Hahaha.

Iced Kopi. My daughter almost fainted when Ady told her
after she drank everything that she wasn't sure if it was
mine or a strangers. HAHAHAHA.

I'm glad you had a blast baby!!! Happy 9th.

I'm pretty sure you will ask me to do this again for your birthday next year... but I'll tell you a secret, you can help plan my Hong Kong birthday trip too... We have the roughly the same to eat list anyway. I trained you well, ,my little mini-me. just saying.