iFly Singapore

Being young parents, Justin and I are usually very encouraging of out-of-the-box activities within controlled environments. Meaning, we'd love for Mika and Josh to try awesome stuff, but we would never risk their safety (okay, maybe just a little bit, hehe!) We want them to get over a lot of the usual fears while they're still young, so they're not afraid to venture out or try new things when they're older. 

One of the main reasons I was looking forward to Singapore was for them to try iFly Singapore, which is the nearest iFly in Asia. This branch is located in Sentosa Island (which in itself holds a lot of awesome activities that we never got to try!)

What exactly is Ifly? The wording on their website pretty much describes it - "Experience the thrill of skydiving without any danger. Take up the whole new sport of bodyflying with iFly Singapore, the world's first largest themed wind tunnel for indoor skydiving." ISN'T THAT AWESOME? I've always wanted to know how skydiving felt... without skydiving, hehe.

Photo taken from iFLy website

Ifly is located right at the exit to Sentosa Island, and it is HUGE! For some reason, I didn't expect it to be a building.

Kiddos excited for their Ifly Experience!

Josh STILL excited! (This would change as her entered the tube.)

Upon entering the building was the sign-up area and cashier. Videos showing how cool iFly is looped on the huge screens around the area. It was here also that they listed the criteria for being able to fly,  as well as the "flight times." Flying was done in groups, so there were time slots for everyone. We waited about 2 hours for our flight time. 

Here's the criteria to be able to fly. We honestly thought we were 100% qualified, though later on Just would hurt his shoulder when he flew down from the tunnel, which I'll explain towards the end of this entry. In other words, if you had any PAST injury, take that body part into serious consideration and refrain from using it to balance or when landing.

I checked all these requirements before we went to iFly, since I didn't want to make a mistake of exciting the kids only to find out that they were not eligible.

Important things to note here - be EARLY (you don't want to wait forever for the next flight time), bring hair ties if you're a girl, and wear comfortable clothes that won't flap around in the wind. Try not to wear earrings, bracelets, etc - this will be a hassle, though the facility provides lockers it's safer not to have any jewelry on. Try not to wear a skirt, since during the training they will ask you to get up on a table, and it's quite difficult with a skirt . (Trust me on this one because I was wearing a dress =P). You might flash the audience!

Waiting for our turn

The required lecture by licensed iFly instructors.

Upon welcoming us with a video, we entered a small room with movable cushioned tables. Our instructor taught our group the Do's and Donts very clearly. He explained the proper form as well, to maximize our "diving time." Each person was given only a few seconds inside the tunnel, and 2 rounds of that. This time was equivalent to us dropping a certain number of feet (I'm not sure if this is 1000 or 10,000) in real-life skydiving. Then he asked each of us to get up on the tables by two's, so that he can fix our flying forms. There is NO exception to this part - everyone has to get up on the tables.

We were then led to the room where the tunnel was. Beside the tunnel was a cafe, and seats where non-participating family members could watch. There were signs asking everyone not to take photos and videos, as this was their product actually - photos and videos of your group's experience. 

We then each suited up, and placed our bags and other items inside lockers. Each person wore glasses to protect the eyes, and a full body suit. Don't worry, they come in all sizes, no matter how sexzy you are, haha! Helmets and ear plugs were also provided, and rubber shoes for those that didn't have the appropriate footwear.

Here are some screen shots of our great experience. (We ended up buying the video, which was cheaper than buying each one of us photos.)

Mika's Jump

Mika flying high!

My turn!

Justin's turn. Yeah, he couldn't fly that high, haha.

To best describe the experience, we were all seated in line until our turn, watching the people from our group. Our instructor then stood inside, and we crossed our arms and fell-forward. He would catch us, then ask us to spread our arms and follow the form he taught us (arms slightly bent, feet spread out" so that the wind could catch us. Our instructor held us most of the time, and would let go for some key photos taken automatically by the tunnel, so it looked like we were flying by ourselves! Wind was increased for the bigger people (mwehehehehe) but very carefully since the instructor had to hold on to us. In this tunnel, you don't usually stay in one place, your really move towards the walls and slightly bump around!

The whole experience is very quick, so take the opportunity to relish every second, and follow everything the instructor says so that you would be able to fly. I didn't post a photo of Josh because he wasn't really able to fly very high, and was tearing up during both flights. Later on though he would think that what he did was awesome, so no problems.

I would SOOOOOO love to do iFly again. Mika looked like she had a good time too, since she flew really high on some parts. Personally it felt very natural to me as well, and it wasn't frightening at all. It actually felt RIGHT, and very relaxing! Like being underwater, for some reason. Sure, your face is flapping around, and to be honest your saliva flies right up  and you can't control it because of the strong wind. But it was really, really great.

Justin hurt his shoulder upon landing back on the exit to get off the tunnel. He used a shoulder with an old injury to grab on to the edge of the door, and the impact of using that arm to land his whole body was too much. He said it felt slightly dislocated after, and it would hurt him for about 3 days, though not in an extreme way. So when they ask you about previous injuries, etc, let them know honestly so that they can tell you what NOT to do.

We watched the advanced instructors do some neat tricks, and they could somersaults  and ninja kicks in the air, flips, etc. They could even climb up on the sides of the tunnel, 2 stories high! But that's for the more advanced users, of course.

Dad and kiddies in their iFly jumpsuits

Mommy and Daddy, happy with their jumps!

You are allowed to take photos like this after your jump, they have no problem with that =D

Mika reading the Flight Time Schedules

We returned all the equipment and waited for about 20 minutes for our video. I would strongly encourage getting the video so you could see for yourself how you did, since you can't really tell while flying, hehe.

The very, very tall tunnel

Certificates showing that we finished our flights!

Yeah, I'm definitely going to frame this!

We were handed Certificated while waiting for our video, with our names. THIS was unexpected and really cool for us, haha!

Here are the rates for iFly Singapore. Keep in mind that as of 2014, the rough estimate is P36 = SG$1

As you can see, it's quite expensive, about P12,300 for the 4 of us. I actually had second thoughts upon arriving in Singapore, because the P12,300 could go a long way for other activities in SG. However, after LOTS of thinking, I thought that this was an experience that was only available in SG, while we could do the other activities in other countries. So we went for it, I really don't regret it. The experience was SO worth it and I would readily do it again next time! My kids can look back at the time when Mom and Dad were super cool and forced them to do an indoor jump, haha.

iFly Singapore
43 Siloso Beach, Sentosa
Singapore
http://www.iflysingapore.com/main.html