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Sunday, 18 October 2020

Crowne & Jewel of Changi Airport

The girls in my family usually have a trip or staycation every year to hang out and be our strong, opinionated selves without any judgment 🤭

Since we can't travel this year, we decided to book a staycation at the airport and feel like tourists in our own home country. 

I booked the Stay, Shop, Play Room Package at Crowne Plaza Changi Airport from the IHG website because it's cheaper than other websites and you get to enjoy benefits like late check out. 

Don't forget to sign up for FREE as an IHG Rewards Club member so that you can get extra privileges for every booking (I think it's double points and free 1 night stay for every 2 nights booking before end of the year, but do confirm it with IHG Rewards Club). Hotels under the IHG group also include Regent, Intercontinental and Holiday Inn. 


[STAYCATION at CROWNE PLAZA]

Crowne Plaza Changi Airport

We arrived at 2pm, earlier than the 3pm usual check-in time to try our luck in case the room was ready. If it wasn't, we can always have lunch at the nearby T3 or Jewel while we waited. Fortunately for us, we could head to the room!

Walking to the room on the Club Floor

We had booked the Pool Terrace Room, which was located on Level 3 where the pool is.

Pool Terrace Room with twin beds
Specially requested for a baby cot
Bathroom with a bathtub!
Ample toiletries
(other toiletries such as cotton buds and toothbrushes are found in the drawer not pictured here) 
Left: Bathrobes are available;
Right: there are plugs like this in every part of the room, more than enough to charge our devices. Just bring a wire!
The girls lazing in bed, in their matching dresses ❤️

The best thing about the Pool Terrace Room is the direct, unlimited access to the pool of course! 

The glass door to the pool;
We liked that we could still supervise the kids swimming while we were in the room chatting. 
The lounge chairs and table outside belong exclusively to each room for our use

We decided to head to the pool immediately since it was early and there was no one in the pool at all! 

The pool was relatively big and about 1.2m deep
My girl wasted no time jumping into the pool
Loving the water
The boy is always more cautious, preferring to descend slowly and carefully
The littlest girl and I
The littlest girl is a natural swimmer like the eldest girl and I. She is not afraid of dunking her head into the water and can float independently on her own (with arm floats)! Soon she will be able to swim without floats! 😊

The Pool Terrace Room is also a club room but as the club is currently closed, the hotel has offered 2 alternatives instead: 1) afternoon tea and a bottle of wine delivered to your room and 2) evening cocktails at the Azur restaurant between 6-8pm. 

Our afternoon tea looks so good! 
Left: the afternoon tea doesn't just look good, it tastes good as well!;
Right: You get to choose between red or white wine. 
Very pretty and very tasty!
Love the tarts, they were so good! 😋

We went to Jewel for dinner but it was so crowded that we decided to pack our dinner to the hotel room instead. 

So thankful for Jewel, which gives you almost the same magical feeling as travelling overseas
So beautiful! ❤️

By the time we finished buying our dinner, we had missed the evening cocktails at Azur restaurant! So sad! 😞

The next morning, we had breakfast at the Azur restaurant. 

Clockwise from left: Scan the QR Code to order from the online menu;
Poached eggs, pancakes and croissant;
Laksa! 
Various dim sum, scrambled eggs, etc

We ordered so much that the whole table was filled with food! There were hits and misses but was decent overall (though I preferred the Line at Shangri-La). 

Our package came with a possibility of extended check-out at 4pm if available and as we stayed during the off-peak period in October, our room was available for late check-out (honestly, no one else booked the Pool Terrace Room when we were there)! 

Matching family t-shirts!

Overall, we had a very relaxing staycation! Looking forward to our next staycation as a family (in December to celebrate mum's birthday 🤭)! 


[JEWEL]

Our staycation package actually included 2 adult and 1 child tickets to Jewel's Canopy Park. However, as the tickets are valid till end of December, we decided to utilise the tickets at a separate time so that we can spend more time in the hotel itself.

Instead, I will share our previous experience when the hubby and I brought the kids to Canopy Park and Changi Experience Studio before Circuit Breaker even started! 

At Jewel before Circuit Breaker

CANOPY PARK

The first thing that the kids wanted to do was head to the relatively smaller kids playground in Canopy Park that we didn't have to pay extra (you need to pay extra for the Manulife Skynets). 

Climbing up and sliding down the super big yellow slide
This strange looking structure is also a slide!
The kids also played at a field next to the playground
Love this friendly robot that went around giving out free bottles of water and sweets

We explored the rest of the Canopy Park where there were many photo opportunities. 

Cute parrot love birds
Chameleon and a super large blue bird
Hear no evil, speak no evil and see no evil
This is a real duck in the pond!
Although it kept so still that the family thought it was fake 😅
Pretty pink elephant fountain; two of my favourite things put together 😍

We decided to visit Changi Experience Studio instead of letting the kids play at the Manulife Sky Nets as the former was more suitable for everyone in our group. 


CHANGI EXPERIENCE STUDIO

Each person will receive a board at the counter after you have purchased your tickets. The board allows you to interact with the various exhibits and play games! 

Very cool interactive board
Using the board to find out more about Changi Airport
Using the board to find out about different countries in the world

At the heart of the Studio is a large arena filled with many stationery bicycles. The goal is to pedal as fast as you can in your groups to power your car or plane (depending on which group you belong to) and see who wins. The aim of this is probably to get your heart pumping and legs moving! 

Amazing runway
(If you can't pedal with legs, there's also the hands version. Very inclusive!) 

There is also an area where visitors get to play interactive games using the board! 

The boy and I love this game where we had to put the luggage on the correct conveyor belt. Super fun! 
This game requires you to push the airport trolley left and right to pick up stray trolleys in the airport and collect them all! Kids love this game! 

There were games for everyone in the family! The hubby liked a game where the player has to use the board to manoeuvre a butterfly through the obstacle course without hitting anything while the mum-in-law played the "what's not supposed to be in your luggage" game. We spent a surprisingly long amount of time playing all the games! 

The family also took on the Smile Challenge. Guess who won? 😉

Taking on the Smile Challenge
Who won? Me of course!
I achieved 98.84% high score (Number 1 of the day) without even really trying 😄😁

At the end of the Studio was an arena with an interactive light and music show. 

Steps for guests to sit and enjoy the show
Interactive lights and effects! 
More opportunities to interact with the display

When you think that it was time to go, head to the Finale for a show on the story of Changi Airport. 

Finale
The screen is curved, which gives you the feel of a mini omni theatre
History and evolution of Changi Airport

Our package for 2A2C also included a complimentary photo, which can be taken at the self-activated photo booth within the Studio itself. 

Our photo keepsake! 

We also bought some nice souvenirs at the gift shop! 😊

Ending our day at Jewel with afternoon tea at Fun Toast ☺️

Until the day that we can go to Changi Airport to board an aeroplane to another country, we will just have to settle with going to Changi Airport for a short stay and act like a tourist in our own country! 😁


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This post is part of my Family Staycations collection in my Fun in Singapore Guide!

   


Click each staycation destination below to read about our staycation experience:

        
        
        



You can also stay up-to-date with our staycation experiences on Instagram via the hashtag #mpmstaycations