Our first trip to malaysia.

Today, the brand new Lego Land Water Park opened up in Malaysia, and our family was invited out for the media preview this past weekend. To make the most of our trip, we decided to do an entire weekend in Malaysia because we've never been there before. So we booked a hotel room, so we could kick back, relax, as so we could visit Little Big Club in Malaysia as well.


Lego Land provided us with complimentary transportation (via Coach bus) to and from the water park. We took the bus to the park from Singapore on Saturday morning, but then we had our hotel book us a car service back to Singapore on Sunday. The entire bus trip took about an hour and a half, as you have to get on and off the bus TWICE at the boarder check-points. While getting a bus service is much cheaper than booking a car or taxi service to and from Malaysia, both AJ and I agreed that it's worth spending the money on a private taxi or car service, just to be able to stay in the car at the check points, and have your driver do the handing over of passports, green cards, etc. Our hotel (Traders by Shangri-La) booked our return car service for us, at about RM$290 (approx. S$100), but the company they booked our car through is called Discovery Overland Holidays. They had free Wi-Fi in our car as well:)



Lego Land Water Park

First of all, Malaysia is HOT (maybe even hotter than Singapore), and Lego Land is no exception! You have to walk a bit from the drop-off point at Lego Land, so don't bring a lot to carry, and I would highly recommend bringing a stroller for little ones (especially if they fall asleep). We had SO much fun at the new water park! There's more than 20 water-based rides, and most are pretty "tame", so it's great for the whole family. They have a special area for little kids, where Linna spent a lot of time going down little water slides, and playing on the Duplo pieces in the water. We also loved the "Build a Raft" lazy river, where you float in a tube while the kids build onto the tube with the big Lego pieces floating in the river.

Getting on the bus to take us to Malaysia.

(Lego Land Water Park's area for little ones.)

Wave pool at Lego Land Water Park.

Lego Land Water Park - So colorful!

Our cabana at Lego Land Water Park.

We also decided to shell out the S$50 (approx.) to rent a cabana for the day. Like I said, Lego Land is SO hot, and our cabana came with a fan, shelter (obviously), chilled water and soda, two free Lego Land beach towels, lounge chairs, seats, and cabana service. Again, WELL worth the money, as you don't have to wait in the hot, long line for food, and Linna was able to take a nap in peace in our "cooler", private area. I don't think we would do this water park again without getting the cabana for the day, so if you go get one while you can! AJ and I took turns going on water slides while Linna napped. Both the rides I went on were pretty "tame", but AJ said the rides he went on (the red, blue, and yellow slides off to the left - up high) were pretty fast. All of us enjoyed the wave pool too, as it was right near our cabana, and it was another one of Linna's favorites.

We left the park at about 3:30 p.m. to get to the hotel, and we had to take a taxi because we missed our hotel shuttle by about 10 minutes. No big deal, as our taxi only cost about S$6 (RM$20). We were happy to get settled into our hotel after a hot day!

Our Hotel: Traders by Shangri-La at Puteri Harbour

(Our family at the Traders pool.)

So thankful that we chose this hotel! It made our entire trip extremely convenient, and since it's a Shangri-La we knew it was going to be nice (we are BIG Shangri-La fans). Since Traders is a step under the Shangri-La, our Deluxe Harbour View room was priced very reasonably (about S$175). Seems a bit expensive, but it included free shuttle service to and from Lego Land, a breakfast buffet (which was incredible), it has a great infinity pool, and Little Big Club (where we were going on Sunday) was attached to our hotel.

Our room was very nice, and you can tell this hotel is new. The service we experienced was exceptional, and we seriously had no complaints. We enjoyed the buffet dinner on Saturday evening, which included food from all over the world! They had fresh homemade pasta that was made to order, Indian food (my fav), stews, salad, fresh fruits and juices, sushi, soup (loved the curry laksa), meats, deserts, and lots more! Linna of course loved the deserts, and we really appreciated how the hotel restaurant employees remembered Linna's name when we'd walk into the restaurant. Some of them would even sing songs with her while AJ and I went up to get food.

Mama Saigh and Linna at the infinity pool at our hotel.)

Happiest girl in the world at the Traders Hotel dinner buffet at the Harbour Cafe.

The hotel offers babysitting service for just RM$25 (about S$8) an hour for up to two children over the age of one. We had booked a babysitter for Saturday night at 9 p.m. when we thought Linna would be sleeping, but she had a really tough time going to bed so we ended up canceling:( So much for our date night at the Sky Bar. Oh well, we enjoyed a quiet night in the room with our little bug, got some rest, and headed up to the Sky Bar pool after breakfast on Sunday morning. The infinity pool was SO much fun! They had a smaller pool for little ones, and a jacuzzi too. We just loved our experience at this hotel, and would stay again if we go back to Puteri Harbour (Malaysia).

Little Big Club and Hello Kitty Land

(So proud of my girl who got right up there - front and center. Even though she marched to the beat of her own drum, she loved her dance class with Angelina Ballerina!)

Linna in Hello Kitty's bed.

Linna in Hello Kitty's tub.

I had no idea that Barney, Bob the Builder, Angelina Ballerina, and Thomas the Train lived in Malaysia (haha), so when I found out about Little Big Club I made sure to plan a visit. Little Big Club is located in the same building as our hotel (Traders), which is why we chose to stay at Traders. You could spend an entire day at Little Big Club, as there are three levels of all of kinds of rides, meet & greets with characters, dance lessons with Angelina Ballerina, and a food cafe all in one air-conditioned building!

(Linna meeting Angelina Ballerina for the first time.)

We visited the Hello Kitty level, where they had a musical performance, and Linna got to step inside Hello Kitty's amazing house (I would move in there if I could). There's hands-on arts & crafts for the kids, a tea cup ride, live shows, and it's seriously every little girl's fantasy! We aren't big Hello Kitty fans, but this level was really cute and fun.

The second level has a ton of rides, indoor play areas, and it's pretty much dedicated to Angelina Ballerina's dance studio, Barney & Friends re-created TV set, Bob the Builder's play land, and Pingu the Penguin's house at the North Pole with lots of free arcade games. The third level is entirely devoted to Thomas the Train, and we got to go on a train ride, bus ride, and had a late lunch at the cafe before heading back to Singapore. We only spent 2-3 hours at Little Big Club, but we could have spent much more time there! We were so bummed because our car service was booked at 3 p.m. to get us back to Singapore, and the Barney & Friends live show started at 3 p.m., so we missed out on meeting Barney, as we had to get back... and Linna fell asleep:) However, we enjoyed our time that we did spend at Little Big Town!

(Meeting Pingu the Penguin at Little Big Club.)

(Papa Saigh and Linna on the Teacup ride at Hello Kitty Land at The Little Big Club.)

Overall, we had an amazing and relaxing time during our first trip to Malaysia. It was mostly for Linna, but I didn't feel like this was a "kid" trip, as we all had a really good time as a family. I definitely think we made the right decision to stay overnight at Traders, so we didn't feel "rushed" to get back to Singapore in one day. We're looking at other spots to visit in Malaysia (there's so many beautiful tropical islands off the coast of Malaysia), so if you have any recommendations, let us know!