Escape to new heights! Popular theme park to open in Cameron Highlands | Way of life

If you have visited any of the ESCAPE theme parks in Penang or Petaling Jaya, you might notice that it is quite unique when it comes to the activities available. The newest park planned to be built in Cameron Highlands will be even more unique and fun, the developers say.

Stretching over a 60-acre valley at an elevation of 220 meters, this will be Malaysia’s largest ESCAPE park. The park will also be the first of its kind in the region to offer an outdoor ski attraction, in an equatorial climate.

This doesn’t mean that you can start enjoying the snow in Malaysia, but rather that you will “ski” on a slope made of solid materials.

ESCAPE Cameron Highlands will be a nature-based adventure park built within the natural landscape of the Cameron Highlands that takes a low impact development approach in design and execution. The project will also proliferate the natural beauty of the Cameron Highlands by presenting a new tourist boost for one of the country’s most popular seaside resorts.

Speaking at the virtual ceremony, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Hajah Nancy Shukri said ESCAPE Cameron Highlands will be literally and figuratively a breath of fresh air when it comes to the tourism industry .

“This new destination offers something truly unique: reconnecting us with nature.

“The future of global tourism will be focused on family fun in the form of well-being. I predict exponential growth in the demand for nature-based tourism around the world. Malaysia will set itself apart from its regional neighbors by promoting clean, healthy and family-oriented tourism. We will capitalize on our abundant natural beauty to move in this new direction, ”she said.

“ESCAPE Cameron Highlands will do more than revitalize the Cameron Highlands as a major tourism hub. This timely development will kick off the revival of Malaysia’s national tourism industry, as a whole, which has been heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic since last year, ”she added.

Designed and built by world-renowned Malaysian-born theme park developer Sim Leisure Group, Phase 1 of the project is expected to take between 15-18 months for an initial investment of RM15 million. This investment is expected to exceed 100 million ringgit in subsequent phases, spanning the next 10 years.

With its retro-eco concept and unique appeal, ESCAPE Cameron Highlands is expected to attract 200,000 visitors in its first year and exceed one million visitors per year beyond its 5th year.

“Unlike other theme parks, ESCAPE adopts the phased development strategy to continually add the novelty factor by introducing new attractions every year. As such, the project will continually transform to evolve into something bigger and better, while retaining the flavor and philosophy for which the ESCAPE brand is known.

“As the brand introduces a new kind of entertainment in the industry, we do not build on our past or even current successes, but are constantly innovating, seeking new ideas and developing new attractions, to meet changing demands. This is the key to the ESCAPE evolution in chartering new levels of pleasure measured in our own metric of “smiles per hour”, while maintaining our philosophy of rediscovering the game of childhood and renewing with the natural environment, ”said Sim Choo Kheng, founder of Sim Leisure Group and ESCAPE Theme Parks.

ESCAPE Cameron Highlands combines the essence of the brand’s exclusive ‘retro-green’ entertainment genre with the natural topography and environment of Cameron Highlands. The theme park will take ESCAPE’s Gravityplay and Adventureplay games to new heights, capitalizing on the site’s 220m overall height difference, which was a primary selection factor for the project site.

In addition to ESCAPE’s iconic descents and adventure attractions, the park will feature the world’s first open-air ski facility in an equatorial setting, with a ski lift elevating visitors to the top and a 1 mile dry ski slope. , 2 km, which will take skiers through scenic routes, including local themed villages.

With its temperate climate, ESCAPE Cameron Highlands will be organized around five different European villages at different altitudes – starting with the Iberian village at the bottom, followed by the British, Balkan and Nordic villages, before finally culminating in the Alpine village at the Top.

“The design of these five themed villages was based on our expertise in the design and construction of themed facades in several theme parks around the world, including in Europe. These themed villages will also have accommodation and rental deals, in addition to hosting traditional European pastimes and activities, which will complement the ‘fun factor’ of ESCAPE’s Gravityplay and Adventureplay attractions, ”said Sim. .

Sustainability and maintaining a low carbon footprint are at the heart of ESCAPE. Unlike conventional amusement parks around the world, ESCAPE Cameron Highlands will preserve the natural habitat, setting the trend for the development of sustainable theme parks.

Targeting domestic and ASEAN tourists looking to escape the tropical heat for something truly different, ESCAPE Cameron Highlands will elevate the nation’s themed attraction industry to new heights, allowing visitors to remember sweet memories. childhood play memories in a natural environment, imagined by Sim himself. The idea for the ESCAPE theme park brand was conceived in 1998 when Sim relived his childhood on a visit to the Vietnamese village of Thu Duc, just outside of Saigon.

“We were hired to build and operate a theme park there. I saw how the children and adults in the village played the same way I did growing up in the “kampung” of Penang. I began to remember my childhood moments and refine those ideas in a theme park of my childhood mischief – a park that would promote self-directed, self-service play, addressing one more market. besides clever and demanding of consumers and thrill seekers.

“The ESCAPE concept in a few words advocates the rediscovery of childhood and reconnection with nature. It reintroduces the benefits of the game and the improvement of motor skills by introducing. the nostalgic activities of yesteryear in a contemporary but natural environment. We did it with ESCAPE Penang and ESCAPE Petaling Jaya, but I can guarantee it will be quite different from anything in ESCAPE Cameron Highlands, ”Sim adds.

ESCAPE Cameron Highlands is being built in collaboration with the site’s landowner, Hektar Muda Sdn. Bhd., Directed by Dato ‘Jimmy Doh.

“We are really excited and looking forward to this adventure with Sim Leisure Group. We are confident that ESCAPE Cameron Highlands is a key innovation in Malaysia’s leisure industry – a gamechanger that will stand out from other themed destinations in the country.

As the site’s landowner, and with a significant land reserve around ESCAPE Cameron Highlands, we have a long-term vision for Cameron Highlands, involving securing more operational partners to help us on this journey, while still being grounded by ESCAPE Cameron Highlands, ”says Doh.

Overall, the introduction of ESCAPE Cameron Highlands will literally and figuratively take the brand – and Malaysia’s leisure industry – to new heights. As such, the introduction of ESCAPE Cameron Highlands will pave the way for not only recovering the industry which has been hit hard in recent times, but also surpassing its former glory.

If you’re wondering if this project is going to make traffic to Cameron Higlands a nightmare, the developers assure you it won’t.

In fact, they expect the theme park to help with traffic.

Traffic jams in Cameron are often caused by cars searching for a parking space, Sim said, stopping traffic on the narrow highland roads.

ESCAPE plans to have a parking lot large enough so that this is not a problem, and maybe even help cope with the situation.

We really can’t wait to see how this project unfolds!