I visited Innovative film city along with my family on Christmas day. I had heard both positive and negative things about the place and thought that it was time to see for myself. Overall, it was a nice experience, a good outing and this is a place one can go once.
The film city is just before Bidadi, the wonderful Bangalore-Mysore highway is a pleasure to drive on and the connecting road from the highway toi the film city is also very good. Parking is a problem, there is no designated parking places, people park on the road and when that is filled in on vacant sites, which are muddy and rocky. IFC needs to have a proper parking place.
The entry fee is Rs.50/- and each of the attractions are priced separately. There is a VIP package where you can pay 699 and enjoy all the attractions. But this is very expensive, especially when you compare it to Ramoji Film City.
Be prepared for a long walk and everything you see is expensive. A lollipop costing Rs.70/- ! That tells you the story! Hardly 50% of the park is ready, but whatever is ready had been built to perfection. A lot of investment and planning has gone into the venture and this is appreciable. The facilities, especially restroom and food area are very well maintained. A five star for maintenance!
Now coming to the attractions:
Dino park : A must see not just for kids, but also adults who will enjoy the animatrones. Don’t miss the awesome T-Rex. Worth the Rs.50/- you pay.
Fossil museum : A waste. Not worth 50/- to go to see old bones and some computer terminals.
Mirror Maze : Enjoyable experience! this is real fun, you are sent into a dimly lit maze with mirrors and red lights and you have to make your way through. It is real fun, though small kids may get scared. Worth every rupee of the 50 you pay
Cartoon City : This is the best place for kids. There are only two rides Mars Wars and Shark Attack, both are great attack. Kids would especially love the water based shark attack. Each ride costs Rs.30/- and I guarantee kids would enjoy themselves.
Haunted Mansion : Definitely not for heart patients and not even for kids. The place is real eerie. At the entrance are many coffins and a moving headless horse rider. When you get inside it is so dark that anything that pops out will give you a scare. That is the only downside - it is a little too dark, I was more scared of faillin down that of the creepies! Check out the skeleton den, it is eerie. But the Rs.100/- entry ticket is slightly high.
Other places include:
Aqua Kingdom : the usual water park
Go-karting
Louis Tussaud’s wax museum: with wax works
Ripley’s Believe it or not : another museum - both the above are overpriced!
Minitature City and Mock Sets: We didn’t have time to even see what it was!
Funplex: Another fun place for kids, lot of video games!
All food items are expensive, be prepared to be liberal with your purse with the stalls. You can get popcorn, samosa, bhel puri all priced Rs.30/+ per plate. The Food Grub is a nice place. You have Pizza Corner, McDonald’s etc. Most importantly the place is clean. For Rs.50/- you can get a thali meal with 5 phulkas which is very filling.
Overall a good experience. But there are many attractions (eg : Snow park) still under construction. And the only downside is the pricing!
Summary : A must visit place atleast once. Adults would fret about the prices, but kids are going to enjoy!