Genting Theme Park, Genting Highlands – Malaysia

Long queues are a common sight at hotel lobbies, and don't expect good customer services.

Apart from the casino, Genting also houses an outdoor and indoor theme parks as well as a wet park. Its First World Plaza is the place to go for shopping and dining. There are also few hotels at the resort, ranging from budget to five star hotels – Genting (5 star), Highlands (5 star), Resort (4 star), First World (3 star) and Theme Park (3 star).

The furnishing of most hotels are pretty old and worn out. In fact, most of the rooms require renovations if they are to keep up with times (don't be misled by the photographs of the hotel rooms shown on the websites!), hotel rooms are also unheated and can get chilly at night, especially during rainy days.

Theme Parks 

For families with children visiting Genting Highlands can be lots of fun. There is a wide selection of outdoor and indoor theme parks. For water lovers, there's a choice between an indoor splash pool with warm water, or an outdoor water park.

The outdoor theme park features more than 20 classic rides suitable for the entire family, such as the double loop Corkscrew, Rolling Thunder Mine Train, Cyclone and Flying Dragon. Other more gentle rides such as the monorail, mini train, Tea Cup and Flying Jumbo are suitable for small children.

The sparkling, new First World Plaza indoor theme park is the home for six theme areas from around the world each featuring unique rides France (Champs Elysee), England (London), Italy (Venice), America (Times Square and Universal Walk), Switzerland (Swiss Alps) and Malaysia (Genting Walk).

The First World Plaza also boasts the Genting Sky Venture, the only free fall skydiving simulator in Asia.

Opening Hours Outdoor Park: Weekdays – 10am to 6pm , Weekends – 8am to 8pm

Indoor Park and First World Plaza rides: Daily 8am to 12midnight.

More information about ticketing can be found at the Genting Highlands website, there are often discount promotions for purchasing the Theme park passes online.

Casinos 

The casinos in Genting Highlands offer a host of exciting international games, among the popular of which are: Roulette, Baccarat, Blackjack and Carribean Stud Poker. There are also countless of jackpot machines, , but many if most require signing up with Genting’s WorldCard system if you want to withdraw any winnings.

Entry requirements: 21 years of age (irrespective of nationality and race) and a non-Muslim (if you are a Malaysian citizen)

Dress code: Long sleeve Batik Shirt or long sleeve shirt with tie

Theme Park hotel 

Being one of the pioneer hotels in Genting Highlands with over 20 yrs of history, you can expect Theme Park Hotel to be pretty rundown. Although renovations had been carried out a couple of times, but still the Theme Park Hotel doesn’t meet anything near to nice. The Family Suite in the Theme Park Hotel is probably the best value for money.

For more savings, try booking the rooms via Genting Highlands website where extra discounts are often offered. The good thing about Theme Park Hotel is that it is located right next to the outdoor theme park but it is quite a distance from the coach depot which is located next to First World Hotel. For those who frequent the casinos, Theme Park hotel is also the furthest from it.

First World Hotel 

With more than 6,100 "well-furnished" rooms, First World hotel is recognised as the largest hotel in the world by The Guinness World Records. What is not listed in the record book is the size of the rooms; TINY is the only word to describe them. The rooms are not sound proof and it can get quite noisy due to the proximity of theme parks and shopping areas. However all these are tolerable if you are not planning to spend too much time in the room. Read more about Malaysian business and tourism

There’s 2 different “towers” in First World Hotel, the OLD tower and the NEW tower. Always insist on getting the rooms in the NEW tower. Although the rooms are still quite small, but the differences between the OLD and NEW tower is world apart! ( For Singaporeans : Never book through an agent in Singapore as they will issue rooms to the old tower. If you already have a Genting green world card, just call the Singapore hotline and booked thru there, ask for the NEW tower. )

Adjoining the hotel lies First World Plaza with approximately half a million square feet of shopping, food outlets and entertainment space. Among the facilities at the Plaza are The Starworld Casino, an indoor theme park, theater hall, restaurants, shops, internet cafes and food courts.

Resort Hotel Genting Higlands 

Resort Hotel has 838-rooms which adjoin the Genting Hotel. The rooms are very run down, at best 3 star grade. There’s no mini bar or any complimentary drinking water offered.

From the comments: By Lang on May 7, 2008 Resort hotel recently underwent a makeover.. the rooms are much better now..and toilet spacious and clean..they even installed nice shower heads

Genting Hotel 

The only 5 star rating hotel at Genting Highlands, but don't be fooled by the official ratings. Most visitors will be disappointed by the state of the room in general considering that you are paying for a 5 star room price. Although there’s a heated swimming pool, you won't find any swimmers due to the "cleanliness" of it.

Awana Genting Highlands Golf & Country Resort 

Getting to the central Genting entertainment area was a hassle, having to wait and queue for a bus to get to the cable car only to queue some more. Getting back to the hotel was at an non-negotiable price by taxi. It was the same price I had paid to get to Awana from KL city-centre. Probably would have been smarter to take the taxi back to KL rather than back to Awana.

The night I spent there cost more than most of the hotels up in Genting highlands. It was not the ideal golf resort it made itself out to be. The decor resembled and old ski lodge from the 1980′s. As a matter of fact it did smell much like the an old bookstore…. it had a musky feel to it all.

Hotel Seri Malaysia Genting Highlands 

Located in Gohtong Jaya, Hotel Seri Malaysia Genting Highlands is a little bit out of the way from the actions in Genting Highlands but it offers tranquility within its quiet and cool surrounding. There’s shuttle service to go to the peak of Genting Highlands and the Skyway station is also close by.

Hotel Gohtong Jaya 

Another small hotel located in Gohtong Jaya, away from the hustle and bustle of where the action is at the peak of Genting Higlands.

Genting Skyway 

Genting Skyway connects Genting Highlands with the skyway station in Gohtong Jaya town. Covering a distance of 3.8km, it is South East Asia longest skyway system and also the world’s fastest skyway (at the maximum speed of 6 metres per second, the 3.38 kilometres journey up the mountain peak takes only 11 minutes).

Passengers will disembark at the smart and impressive Genting Skyway Station at Gohtong Jaya. Bus and car parking facilities are readily available. The ultra-efficient station will allow hotel and luggage check-in procedures to be completed at the station itself. Visitors need only sit back and enjoy a leisurely ride up to the holiday resort without having to go through further hassles of checking-in formalities while at hotels. 

Fare: RM4.00 one way, RM7.00 return