With a variety of fun and interesting activities for kids and adults, Lost World of Tambun in Ipoh, Malaysia makes for a great getaway for the whole family.
We just came back from our trip to Ipoh, Malaysia and here's one theme park we visited which I'm really excited to share about - Lost World of Tambun! We had so much fun at this huge theme park that comes with a water park, amusement rides, zoo and hot springs - it's really a gem!
Judging from the DMs and reactions I got from my IGS on the theme park, not many people seem to know about it (or that Ipoh has so many fun and beautiful places to explore for both kids and adults 😉). So here's the first attraction I'm sharing from our Ipoh trip and I'll be sharing more places of interest in Ipoh for kids and adults in time, but first, here's our review of Lost World of Tambun and 10 things to know if you're planning to visit!
1) What are the highlights of Lost World of Tambun?
The park is huge with an excellent mix of attractions that include amusement rides, water slides and playgrounds, zoo (which includes a petting zoo) and an adventure park. Here's what to expect at the various highlights of Lost World of Tambun:
Amusement Park
There are a total of seven rides/attractions at the amusement park zone, with most of them being pretty mild. Here are some of the rides:
Lupe's Adventure (above). This rollercoaster is pretty fast and exciting but no loops, so it's not too scary for younger ones!
Stormrider. A pirate ship ride (below), and while it doesn't swing very high, my hubs and girls said its exciting to sit at the ends - I could only sit in the centre as I get nauseous on pirate ship rides!
Dragon Flights. I enjoyed this carousel swing the most as the swing goes quite high making you feel as if your legs are gonna touch the structures at the side.
It's really refreshing to go for these rides with Ipoh's limestone hills in the background.
Do note that there is minimum height requirement of at least 110cm for riders for most rides and children need to be accompanied by an adult of at least 18 years old. All the rides are included with your entry ticket save for Haunted Chambers which you need to pay RM10 per pax.
Water Park
The water park boasts of a wave pool, water slides and playgrounds, and an adventure river.
The waves at the Jungle Wave Pool is quite mild and is really nice for chilling with a view of limestone hills in the background. Take note that the pool has a maximum depth of 180cm at the far end and children must be accompanied by an adult 18 years old and above. Life vests and tubes are not provided, but you can rent a tube at RM20 for a day, which you can use at the wave pool and adventure river.
I don't have a pic of the adventure river which is supposedly Malaysia’s longest man-made adventure river, but I thought the river would have been a lot more enjoyable if we had tubes as it's rather shallow so it wasn't conducive for swimming - we ended up wading in the adventure river for the whole stretch.
We didn't want to rent tubes as you would need to take care of the tubes for the entire day and it seems really cumbersome to bring the tubes all over the park. There's a Dragon’s Lair, a cinematic 4D water tunnel, in the river but it wasn't operating when we were at the river, so all we saw were some dragon statues at the river.
The water slides we went on - Cliff Racer and Tube Raiders - were quite mild compared to some of the water slides we had been on at Adventure Cove and Wild Wild Wet in Singapore, but they are still pretty fun. You can either go solo or in pairs. Riders need to be at least 110cm in height.
And of course there are water playgrounds that are suitable for the younger ones.
There are a number of hot springs pools at the park. One of them has a steam cave which I really liked (below). If you like hot springs or do not like cold pools, you'll definitely want to spend some time dipping in their hot springs pools.
Adventure Park
The adventure park in the theme park has activities like kayaking and wall climbing but there are separate charges for these activities.
My girls went for the zip line which cost RM20 per pax, very reasonable (largely because of the favourable SGD-Ringgit exchange rate) as zip lines can be quite costly in Singapore. There's no minimum height for zip lining but riders must be at least 30kg in weight.
We had actually wanted to try the 13 High Rope Course at the adventure park but you can't book it on the spot. A staff told us we need to book in advance with their office via email or phone call.
So we called their office number hoping to book for the next day but alas, our calls either went unanswered, the staff wasn't able to help us or we were diverted till our call was eventually hung up. Frustrating to say the least but later we saw a sign at the entrance of the park that says you need a minimum of 4 pax to book the High Rope Course, so I believe they prioritise group or company bookings, and not individual bookings. If you really want to go for the high rope course, do email them to enquire in advance. There is a height requirement of 120cm-210cm and you must be above 12 years old to attempt the obstacle course.
Zoo
The park doesn't have a dedicated zone for a zoo but its animal enclosures are scattered across the park. For instance, there is a zone with hippos, hyenas, sun bears and flamingoes at one end of the the theme park near the Adventure Park.
This area is not huge but there are platforms where you can get a clear view of the animals.
Outside of this area and along the way, we also saw giraffes, zebras and ostriches.
There's also a cat play area called Catopia where you can interact with the cats in there. But you need to be absolutely dry before entering; so come before, not after, playing at the water park!
Petting Zoo
The petting zoo at the theme park is pretty big and you can get up close and personal with animals like guinea pigs, goats, capybaras and birds.
I highly recommend getting the animal feed kit so you can feed the animals. My girls had so much doing so!
The small pack of animal feed kit you see above costs RM20. There's a bigger pack at RM40 but my girls who got 1 small kit each took about an hour or so to finish feeding and exploring the petting zoo, so I think a small kit per child would suffice.
Some of the animals like the baby goats are really enthusiastic and they would come close to you as they expect food.
But some are rather uninterested like Mr Capybara here. So we didn't feed it. Haha!
Still, it was nice to observe the animals up close, like these maras.
You can also feed birds at Birds of Paradise at the petting zoo. They will fly enthusiastically to your outstretched arms!
We also fed porcupines...
and macaws.
There are other animals you can see at the petting zoo (but won't be able to feed) like this eagle...
and the snakes at the serpentarium.
We enjoyed the petting zoo experience very much! Just remember to wear repellant. We wore repellant but still got stung a few times by mozzies; it'd probably be worse if we didn't wear any!
Tiger Valley
Here you get to see the resident tiger and an animal show.
During our visit, there's only one show at 3pm daily (except Tuesday when the day park is close), so if you want to catch the show, do go by a bit earlier to grab a seat. They close the sitting area once it's full but you might still be able to catch a glimpse of the show from the sides.
At the time of writing, I saw from the Lost World of Tambun's website that they have two shows at 3pm and 4pm. I supposed they increase the timings during peak periods. So do check its website for the latest show times.
Tin Valley
Tin valley showcases the history of tin mining in Malaysia. There's not a lot to do here but the sights are lovely. Here's the lake enroute to Tin Valley.
There's an old teahouse where you can sit down for a cup of coffee and some toast.
You can take photos with these elephants.
And see huge arowanas.
You can also marvel at the magnificent needle rock of Tambun here. It's quite a sight.
There is also a daily tin mining show here (except Tuesday when the park is close). It was at 330pm when we visited but do check the theme park's website for latest showtimes.
Ipoh Street
Ipoh Street is a dining area in the park and is very instagrammable.
The area's air-conditioned and really worth a visit to take some pics.
We took a number of shots here. Such nostalgia!
There are also many nice murals here that's great for photo-taking!
2) What's at the Night Park?
The Night Park at Lost World of Tambun has selected attractions that are open at night - namely the hot springs pools, wave pool, petting zoo and an attraction called Luminous Forest.
The atmosphere at the hot springs pools is quite different at night with the coloured lights.
The petting zoo is open for interaction with nocturnal animals, and they have a different feed kit for the animals working the petting zoo at the night. We didn't visit the night park's petting zoo as we had already spent a lot of time there during the day. We thought of returning to the night park on another day but alas we were too tired to go exploring by then. If not, it would have been fun to see the nocturnal animals at the night petting zoo.
Luminous Forest at the night park is open 8pm-10pm.
Here, you go on a trail that lets you visit the mystical realm of Luminous Forest, home to the Malayana tribe.
Here you'll see lot of glowing flowers and magical creatures.
It's quite a fun trail to go on but it might not be suitable for older folks and younger children as there are a number of steps to climb, and some areas are rather dark, such that you really have to watch your step when climbing the steps.
The night park also has a flaming percussion show which is really exciting. The performance was at 9pm when we were there but at the time of writing, it has changed to 10pm. So do check the show schedule ahead if you wanna catch this.
You can enjoy the night park by staying until the theme park closes at 11pm. But you can also purchase tickets separately to enter the night park that starts at at 6pm (more on that later).
3) Is this place suitable for young children?
Yes, generally this theme park is great for younger children from preschool age onwards. I find the amusement rides, waterpark, animal enclosures and petting zoo are suitable for young kids. But do note the height requirements for the rides. That said, a family with older kids like ours (my girls are 12 and 14 years old), also enjoyed the park very much!
4) Is it crowded?
It's not crowded on the two weekdays we were there. The park seems to have a lot of company team building events but even so, Lost World of Tambun is generally quiet on weekdays with zero or very short queues for rides. Weekends are definitely more crowded as we noticed there were big groups waiting outside the theme park on a Saturday. So if you can, I'd suggest visiting on a weekday.
5) How much time to spend there?
You're unlikely to cover everything in the theme park within a day. I had read some reviews online that one day is not enough for the park, so I had planned to spend 2 days there. Essentially we spent 1.5 days at The Lost World of Tambun as we visited right after reaching Ipoh at noon. So I reckon you should budget at least 1.5 days if you want to explore the park at an unhurried pace.
What we did was spend the first half day on the dry activities, and on the second day, we went for the wet activities and repeated some of the dry activities like the amusement rides we liked.
6) What are the food choices there?
The main dining areas are at the Lost World Ipoh Street and the Kukuntalu Hawkers. Here's the menu for the Lost World Ipoh Street.
I guess the food is all right but generally theme park food is nothing to shout about. That said, my daughters did enjoy the chicken and mushroom dumplings very much!
7) Are lockers available?
A small locker costs RM25, medium, RM35 and a large, RM50. They can be reopened during your visit.
8) Should you stay near the theme park?
As we had planned to visit the theme park for 2 days and The Banjaran Hot Springs Retreat (post for another day) also in the area, we decided to stay at the Lost World Hotel right opposite the theme park for 4D3N. It was definitely convenient when we could just walk across the street back to our hotel when we played till late in the night.
Their family room is also very spacious and can comfortably sleep four - perfect for our family.
It has 2 single beds and 1 king bed.
There are also two toilets (only 1 has shower facilities).
Our 4D3N stay at the family room costs around RM2,100.
Other than for the availability of their family room that fits four and the fact that it's very close to the theme park, I also decided on Lost World Hotel because it includes daily breakfast, which is a lot easier than finding dining options given that there are few eateries within walking distance of the theme park.
The hotel also offers guests perks like 35% off standard day ticket prices, free night park access daily and 20% off spa services at the theme park, which we all utilised. With the discount, I find the spa services like facials and massages close to the trial prices you get in Singapore's spa centres. After discount, a 60-minute facial was RM200, while a full body 60-minute massage was around RM150. Our whole family went and the girls enjoyed their first facials, and hubs, finally got a good full body massage which he never has time for back home.
When I was searching for hotels near the theme park before our trip, I noticed there are many apartments listed in the area on Booking dot com and Agoda that were slightly cheaper than Lost World Hotel. But in the end, I decided on staying at Lost World Hotel for the dining convenience and guest perks.
If not for the theme park, we probably wouldn't stay in this area as there are not many eateries and much to do other than for the theme park, which is also why we moved to the more vibrant Old Town area of Ipoh after we were done visiting the theme park. Will share more about that in another post!
9) What to bring?
If you haven't discovered the wonders of wet shoes at water parks, please get them! After using wet shoes in Penang's Escape theme park and thereafter at the water parks in Singapore, I really can't imagine going around water parks bare feet or having to keep removing our slippers. If you're in Singapore, Decathlon is a good place to buy a cheap and good pair.
Bring repellant for use at the petting zoo and tissue paper for use in the toilets - there is no toilet paper which seems to be the case at many of the toilets we used outside hotels in Ipoh.
Oh and DO NOT bring food and water bottles - they have very stringent bag checks. Anyway, there isn't any water coolers, so you'll have to buy mineral water at RM4.50 a bottle in the park.
10) How much do tickets cost?
Standard rates are at RM135 for adults 13 years and above and RM128 for children 12 years and younger, and senior citizens 60 years and older. Their online ticket rate which you can buy from The Lost World of Tambun's website is only slightly cheaper. The tickets sold on Klook looked about the same the last I checked.
Re-entries are generally not allowed but a Lost World Hotel staff told us that only hotel guests are allowed re-entry to the park if you need to leave and return before 430pm. Just inform the theme park's staff when you're leaving so you can get a re-entry stamp.
Night park tickets are at RM95 for adults 13 years and above, and RM85 for children 12 years and younger, and senior citizens 60 years and older.
Again, as we stayed at the hotel, so we got discounts for day tickets and free night park tickets.
Lost World of Tambun is open Monday, Wednesday-Friday,11am-11pm and 10am-11pm on weekends, and school and public holidays. The day park is closed on Tuesday, except on Malaysian school and public holidays. The night park is open daily 6pm-11pm.
OK, that's all for The Lost World of Tambun! For videos, please see the IGS highlights and post on my IG page: VivianTeoWriter . I'll share more on the family-friendly places we visited in Ipoh soon!
Disclaimer: We paid for our holiday. As always, all opinions are ours.
©Vivian Teo. All content and photos are copyrighted to Vivian Teo unless otherwise specified.