Living the FantaSea

From Stuff.co.nz, published 13 February 2008:

Sixteen decorated elephants parading together on one theatre stage is all part of FantaSea, a spectacular night’s entertainment in Phuket.

Thailand’s national animal, a vehicle of war in olden times and still a beast of burden in the logging industry, is better known today in the tourism and showbiz industries.

Elephant rides figure in most visitors’ itineraries, and they’re also on show at places such as the Maesa Camp near Chang Mai in the north where the jumbos frolic with each other in a river, play soccer and paint pictures with their trunks.

March 13 is annually proclaimed Elephant Day throughout Thailand, with the huge pachyderms and their human admirers celebrating in various ways together.

They say that elephants never forget, but at FantaSea it is the visitors who will never forget the spectacle of the jumbos, eight of them standing in line tail to trunk on their hind legs, and performing with their mahouts and a cast of hundreds of dancers, singers, magicians, acrobats and comedians, lavishly and colourfully clad with gold, silver and reds.

Although the FantaSea story is based on Thai history and culture, it’s billed as Las Vegas-style entertainment. Has Las Vegas ever presented a show with 16 elephants on stage together?

The theme park opened in February 1999, built at a cost of more than 3,500 million baht (about $NZ150 million).

Theme of the stage show is Thailand’s Myths, Mysteries and Magic, with breathtaking special effects and state-of-the art technology.

Apart from the elephants, the spectacle is dramatic and comical in turn.

It includes an aerial ballet performed by girl dancers on wires high above the audience, and the adventures of volunteers from the crowd taking part, and occasionally disappearing (temporarily) in deft tricks of illusion.

Leading figure in the cultural show’s storyline is the young ruler of Kamala Bay (where the FantaSea park is located) who mounts the stage aboard a heavenly elephant, ready to spring magical surprises on his guests as they join in the fun and festivities of a Royal Gala, to quote the program.

FantaSea’s creator, Kittikorn Kewpaisal, describes it as “a living tapestry of Thai history and culture, all woven together in one magical creation designed to share the extraordinary wealth of our heritage for all the world to experience”.

Photographs of the many VIPs who have visited FantaSea, from presidents to ambassadors to show-business stars, line the corridors of the vast 3,000-seat theatre, the Palace of the Elephants, where the FantaSea show is staged.

But the family night out at the multi-award-winning Phuket FantaSea is a lot more than just the 75-minute show spectacular.

It all begins 3½ hours earlier when the gates open at 5.30pm, and early arrivals swarm around the ultimate cultural theme park, which has many of the elements of a fun-fair.

There are open-air stage shows, street parades, musicians, tiger and bird-life enclosures and carnival games plus shops, boutiques and stalls selling everything from souvenirs and handicrafts to fashion-house dresses and jewellery.

Guests from the occidental world can visit a photographic studio and have the family photographed taken wearing traditional Thai costumes.

Elephant rides are available around the square outside the palace, and feeding times are also popular.

Another highlight is an (optional) buffet dinner of Thai and international cuisine served up in the cavernous, 4,000-seat Golden Kinnaree Restaurant – a kinnaree (depicted in statues outside the building) being a mythical creature from Thai history, half-bird and half-woman, of legendary beauty and graciousness.

Alternative restaurants, snack-bars and a beer garden are elsewhere around the park, which closes at 11.30pm.

Cameras of all kinds are banned from the FantaSea stage performance; they must be handed in to a special desk for retrieval after the show.

FantaSea is in the same ownership as another popular Thai tourist attraction, Safari World at Minburi just north of Bangkok, with a wide range of Asian and African animals on show in their natural habitat.

IF YOU GO

FantaSea is located at Kathu on Kamala Bay on the west coast of Phuket. It is open nightly from 5.30pm, with dinner from 6pm and the stage show from 9pm except on Thursdays unless its a public holiday. Additional shows may be arranged at 5pm and/or 7pm on special dates.

Admission is 1,500 baht show only for adults and children; 1,800 baht show with return minibus transfers from resorts and hotels; show with dinner 1,900 baht for adults and 1,700 baht for children; and show, dinner and transfers $2,200 baht for adults and 2,000 baht for children.

Details and bookings: www.phuket-fantasea.com

Safari World details: www.safariworld.com

Thailand holidays: www.tourismthailand.org

* The writer was a guest of Phuket FantaSea Co Ltd, flying between Sydney and Phuket by Jetstar (www.jetstar.com), the only airline operating nonstop between eastern Australia and Phuket.