We love cultural parks. Even if they can be a little cheesy, they offer rich insight into the art, music, food, clothing, crafts and customs of a country all in one place. We find them to be truly eye-opening and educational for our kids. We have found Thailand to be a country that does a great job at sharing the vast beauty of their culture. While we were visiting Phuket we learned about one of the island’s main attractions, Phuket FantaSea, a nighttime cultural theme park.
From the moment we arrived we found everything to be big, grand and absolutely beautiful.
In the center of the park is the Palace of Elephants. Adorned with 999 glorious elephant statues, this magnificent reconstruction of the ancient Sukhothai era palace serves as a 3000 seat state-of-the-art theater.
We started out our evening with dinner at one of their two buffet restaurants. We chose to eat at The Golden Kinnaree (a kinnaree is a mystical half-bird, half-angel), where we feasted on a vast array of Thai dishes from all over the country depicting the grandeur of the ancient Kingdom. There are plenty of vegetarian dishes to choose from, as well as other international selections to try. It is a great way for kids to try out all different kinds of cuisines. You can also choose to eat at the new Suriyamas Seafood Buffet Restaurant, an enchanting five star dining hall set up like a royal Thai palace.
After dinner we walked through Festival Village to browse the shops and visit with the artists creating their handmade goods and sharing craft demonstrations. 
There is action all around with live street performers, bands and night festivities. We stopped by the Viva Bangkok Stage Theater to watch their lively performance filled with rich culture and extravagant visual and audio effects.
There are plenty of animal interactions in the park. Elephant rides run all night outside of the Palace of the Elephants. It’s awesome to watch these big, beautiful creatures sauntering through the square, transporting you back in time. 
The Tiger Jungle Adventures area is a “Theatrical Safari” that explores the Kingdom of Kamala. It houses beautiful white tigers, exotic birds and other local animals.
(This tiger has quite a connection with the girls!)
We love animals and are not big fans of seeing them held captive in such tight quarters. As parents, we took the moment as a teaching opportunity to share with our kids our views and how we strive to love and respect all animals. There are a lot of beautiful animals at FantaSea and I was assured by the park that they are treated with love and respect.
The “Fantasy of a Kingdom” show is the park’s main attraction. It is performed nightly in the Palace of the Elephants Theater at 9pm. But before we headed over there, our girls excitedly pulled us into The Similan Entertainment Center, a glow-in-the-dark arcade that celebrates the marine life in the Similan Islands. They had a blast playing all the classic games and winning prizes.
Touted as the Number 1 show in Thailand, the award-winning Las Vegas-style production of “Fantasy of a Kingdom” really does amaze! The story tells of the Legend of Kamala, an enchanted, bountiful, mythical Kingdom, buried beneath Kamala Bay. The song and dance, mixed with magic and mystery, is reminiscent of Cirque du Soleil. It’s truly a impressive performance with acrobats, stunts, special effects, and pyrotechnics wrapped into the colorful beauty of Thai culture, culminating in one of grandest finales with over 30 elephants walking out onto the gigantic stage. (I wish they let us take pictures so I could show you all the beauty, but alas, it’s against the rules. You’ll just have to go see it for yourself! 😉)
Our night at FantaSea was one of the highlights of our trip. It was educational, entertaining and a blast for both the kids and the adults. Phuket’s most popular nighttime attraction is located on Kamala Beach, 5.6 miles (9 km) from Patong. Open all year round, every day except Thursday, from 5:30pm-11:30pm.
