Cape Town Fun Parks

Bugz Family Playpark is one of the top things to do for kids in Cape Town. If you need to entertain 2- to 10-year-old kids, march them straight here. This fun family attraction is the largest play park in the Western Cape, offering an enormous outdoor playground and a wonderful indoor play area. The colourful variety of pedal cars, jumping castles, rowing boats, swing horses, mini-tractor rides and a choo-choo train is certain to tire out little pipsqueaks in no time. Older and more adventurous scamps can giddy up on the ponies or zoom up the tracks on quad bikes. On sunny days they can even go slip sliding down the inflatable waterslide. Most of the rides are kid-powered – giving small folk plenty of exercise in a fun and natural way. Bugz has two large sandpits with colourful jungle gyms, slides, swings and numerous play apparatus to crawl under or climb over. There are also delightful playhouses, a tree house and even a castle, and if there are no parties in progress, kids are free to romp around here to their heart’s content. (Bugz is also a popular birthday party venue.) Need to know? Open every day except on Christmas Day. Ticket sales close at 16:30, but rides stay open until 17:00. Token rides are only open on weekends, school holidays and public holidays. From May until mid-September, limited or no-token rides will be available. In the event of rainy weather in summer, limited or no-token rides may be available. If it happens to rain, rides will not operate for the day, but there is a great indoor section where the fun continues. www.bugzplaypark.co.za +27 (0) 21 988 8836 party@bugz.co.za

Conveniently situated in Canal Walk Century City, the MTN Sciencentre is one of the Mother City’s top edutainment spots and South Africa's first world-class interactive science centre. Kids young and old can have heaps of fun while learning about the mysteries of scientific discoveries and technological innovations. Over 280 exhibits are all interactive and many involve quite physical participation. There’s also a camera obscura, computer rooms, laboratories, an auditorium and exhibition hall. This is definitely an awesome spot to bring the whole family or leave the kids while shopping! The MTN Sciencentre's events programme is usually jam-packed and worth keeping your eyeballs on. 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy so all star gazers and aspirant astronomers will have loads of cosmic edutainment! A registered non-profit organization (031-701-NPO), all MTN Sciencentre entry fees directly support exhibits and educational programmes. Need to know? Opening times: Sunday to Thursday - 9am – 6pm, Friday & Saturday - 9am – 9pm. Open all public holidays except Christmas Day. Entrance fee: Under 3 - FREE, Youth (3-18) - R28, Adult - R22, Pensioners- R10, Poly Deal - R86 (2 adults & 2 children or 1 adult & 3 children) Additional Youth on Poly Deal - R24. Tickets are valid for the whole day and you can exit and re-enter as many times as you like on the day.

Planet Kids is a large indoor and outdoor play and activity centre featuring exciting custom-made play equipment. Situated just behind False Bay railway station, Planet Kids is easily accessible either by foot, car or train. The venue also hosts great kids’ birthday parties and workshop programs during school holidays. Planet Kids is eco-friendly and the first inclusive indoor play and activity centre in South Africa to cater and care for children with disabilities as well. Check out www.planetkids.co.za for more info.

Ratanga Junction, the 'Wildest Place in Africa', opened in 1998 and has been enthralling visitors ever since. Located at Century City in Cape Town, Ratanga offers more than 30 attractions ranging from kiddie and family rides to thrill rides guaranteed to satisfy the most avid adrenaline junkies.One of the most challenging rides is “The Cobra”, a suspended looping coaster which catapults riders from a height of 32m along 780m of track at up to four times the force of gravity and at speeds of close to 100km per hour. Adding to the thrill of the ride is the suspension of riders beneath the track, feet flying free. The ride is not for the faint hearted.Then there is the Slingshot, an ultimate thrill ride. This skycoaster combines elements from skydiving and bungie-jumping. Flying three abreast, riders are strapped into a full body harness which supports them in a prone position. They are then hoisted 10 storeys into the air to the top of the tower with nothing between them and the ground. The flight suits are connected to flight cables and on pulling their own rip cord, riders plunge in a 30m free fall at 80 to 90 km/h towards the ground before swinging upwards in a 180 degree arc and then straight down again.The white-knuckle thrills and spills, of which there are many, are just one element offered by Ratanga Junction. The other attractions are designed to entertain children, families, and those who prefer to take their thrills in more manageable doses. Visitors can also enjoy a variety of live entertainment which changes from season to season and eat at one of the many eateries around the beautifully landscaped park. If you’re looking for a great place to spend the whole day with friends, colleagues or family this is the place to be! The ride park operates seasonally during Western Cape school holidays however the function facilities are open year round for groups of 60 or more.Ratanga Junction also offers a large and unique variety of opportunities for corporate team building, incentive functions and events. Private function venues are available to accommodate groups of between 60 to 250 people and banqueting for up to 750, catering for product launches, corporate functions and other special events for up to 1 100 people seated and up to 7 000 people standing. Ratanga can host almost any function you can dream of from 60 to 7 000 guests.