During our visit to the Philippines from Dec. 23rd thru Jan. 10, 2018, one of the things on our must do list was to zipline somewhere in the country. We thought it was going to be during our visit to Palawan, but we ran out of time. After celebrating 2018, we had a free day on Jan. 2nd, so I Yelp'd zipline adventures close to our barangay and what popped up was Sandbox. Even in a foreign country, the Yelp app was useful as Filipino Yelpers gave positive reviews. The quantity of reviews was lacking because I believe Yelp isn't widely used in the Philippines, but hopefully me being the 4th review will be of assistance to others.
Sandbox was going to be experienced by my nephew, my brother-in-law, my cousin, my kids, and myself. We were all excited about finally ziplining in the Philippines. Sandbox is located in Pampanga and close to Tarlac, specifically Porac Access Road, Alviera, Porac. You know you're getting close to Sandbox once you come upon new home construction and development. We parked in a dirt parking lot and could see from a distance everything that Sandbox offers. All of us were excited as we walked towards the entrance of the park. We could see the many outdoor attractions and couldn't wait until we tried them all. As you walk towards the entrance, there are small businesses where you can grab snacks, drinks, or eat lunch/dinner. Admission to Sandbox is affordable, ranging from a high of $15 (American dollars) per person to a low of $9. There were 4 packages you can choose from, which include items you can do for each package. We chose the least expensive package, Package C ($9), which included the Sandbox entrance fee, the Giant Swing, Zipline, and Free Fall.
The reason I gave Sandbox 3 stars was because the one thing that we wanted to do, which was the Zipline, was not operating. C'mon people, we flew 16 hours and this Filipino giant endured a cramped and uncomfortable flight from the United States to zipline in the Philippines, but to no avail. The Zipline was down the day we visited due to some inspection. Not sure if it truly was down, but I did see a cluster of Filipinos gathering around the zipline with clipboards. Bummer. We still decided to try out Sandbox because there were other attractions that looked fun. My daughter and I experienced the Giant Swing together and had a blast. The swing is a two-person ride where employees manually lift the seats to a good height and they release you to where you stomach goes into your throat. Next we did the Free Fall, which looks intimidating from a distance. You're clipped onto a rope via the harness you're wearing and then you step off a ledge. The kids were really nervous about this attraction and showed their nervousness with audible sounds of distress as they floated down to the ground. Since the Zipline was down, we got to substitute another attraction, which was the Rappel Wall. As we were waiting our turn to scale down the wall, another guest decided it was too high for her, so she decided not to do it. That display of fear added some anxiety to the kids, but they all handled the wall like Bosses. Besides the attractions, there are some good photo opportunities, but you're not going to spend a long time here at the Sandbox.
We had a good time at the Sandbox, but just know that it won't be an all day affair. One thing I forgot to mention is that the Sandbox employees were friendly and provided really good customer service. For the price, it truly was affordable fun. We would have had a greater time and I would have given a more glowing review if the Zipline was operational. With the minimal amount of attractions, there shouldn't be any reason for the attractions to be down especially the Zipline that Americans like us were hoping to try in the Philippines. Oh well, maybe next time. read more