2.5-hour queue for 15 minutes of fun: Visitors 'frozen' in long lines at Ice Magic

In tropical Singapore, we can only dream of snow. 

So, it's understandable that many Singaporeans were excited about Ice Magic: The Great Fantasy on Ice, a pop-up winter-themed playground that opened at Marina Bay last week.

But would you queue 1.5 hours for some wintry fun? In a TikTok video on Sunday (Dec 11), one woman shared how it wasn't worth the wait. 

Speaking to AsiaOne, the 23-year-old, who wanted to be known as Ng, said she visited the attraction on Saturday with two friends and her 10-year-old niece. 

"At first, we thought it would be fast since we bought the tickets online for the given time slot. But after queueing for around 30 minutes, we realised it was going to be a long wait," Ng recounted, adding that she had booked the 3pm to 7pm slot. 

It didn't help that there were crowd control issues. 

"I was kind of shocked and impressed at the same time as there wasn't any staff present to guide the guests on how to queue, but everyone naturally built a snake-like line," she said. 

Around the one-hour mark, Ng admitted that she and her companions began to regret visiting the attraction on a weekend. 

"Then again, we bought tickets online thinking that there would be a cap on how many people could buy tickets [and thought] the queue would not be too bad, at most 30 minutes," the young woman reasoned. 

Her group ended up waiting in line for 1.5hours before they could enter the building.

But their problems didn't stop there.

Once inside the chilly place, Ng and her companions attempted to get snow wear but were told there were no more boots, despite them seeing "many boots lying around". 

"The whole place was a mess," she told AsiaOne. 

Ng's group only managed to get on the snow slope after another hour-long wait, and she noted that other stations had similar queues.

In fact, they didn't even get to try out other activities such as ice bowling and curling as there were "too many people". 

"So all in all, we spent about 2.5 hours queueing for like say, at most, 15 minutes of fun," she said. 

They decided to leave without checking out the other activities.

In her TikTok video, Ng also cautioned that reviews showing an empty event space should be taken with a pinch of salt as those people were probably there during the media preview. 

"If I'm not wrong, it was just for that small group of people, so there wasn't this much crowd," she added. 

Other visitors also reported facing similar problems last weekend. 

In a TikTok video on Sunday, another woman shared snippets of the crowd that formed at the event. 

Apart from long queues, she and her family also had issues getting snow boots.

"Told my dad: 'Not all you see is what you get'," she remarked. 

However, it appears that not everyone had a bad time. 

One woman shared on Saturday that she still had fun despite the snaking queues. 

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@amyy.ang/video/7175469138586963201?_r=1&_t=8Y5ZPDchR1m&is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7175469138586963201[/embed]

Similar to Ng, she had queued around one hour to enter the building and waited for another 1.5 hours to ride down the snow slope. 

We're doing all we can to ease waiting times: Organiser

In response to AsiaOne's queries, a spokesperson from Ice Magic: The Great Fantasy on Ice shared they are aware that guests experienced long queues over the weekend, particularly for the 3pm entry time slot. 

"We would like to extend our sincere apologies for the extended wait time and any inconvenience caused. We are doing all we can to ease the long waiting times." 

From Dec 10, guests with a 3pm session ticket can visit anytime between 3pm and 7pm and stay for as long as they like till the attraction closes at 10pm. 

"This is to help stagger entry and ease the long queues in the afternoon," explained the spokesperson. 

Those who were not able to enter Ice Magic on Dec 10 due to long queues can also reschedule their visit for another day without any additional costs by emailing Sistic directly at feedback@sistic.com.sg. 

melissateo@asiaone.com

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