Mid-Autumn Festival at Gardens by the Bay
From now till 22 September 2013, Gardens by the Bay transforms into a Mid-Autumn Festival Wonderland every night. Beautiful lantern displays, colourful flower arrangements and cultural performances fill the park to mark the festivities. Let’s have a tour around the Gardens and see what’s happening.
This Mid Autumn Festival is jointly organised with SPH (Chinese Newspapers Division), People’s Association and Gardens by the Bay.
The Welcome Arch at Dragonfly Bridge.
Flower Dome
The Flower Field at Flower Dome received several giant dragonflies and a log filled with mooncake (boxes and bags!)
The flower field is brimming with colours as usual – Check out all the clusters of Astilbes, Celosias and Chrysanthemums, arranged in bursting clusters.
Three drums at their own quiet corner.
An overview of the Flower Dome.
I also found the displays at the start and end of the Flower Dome rather interesting – some flowers dangling off vials of water.
A fragile alliance.
Reminder: The Flower Dome is a ticketed attraction. Everything from here on is free to visit.
Silver Garden
Perhaps it’s a good idea to visit the Gardens around the evening (6-7pm) so that after a tour of the two conservatories, Flower Dome and Cloud Forest, you can head straight to the Outdoor Gardens to view the lanterns.
Okay, this is not one of the lanterns, but I like how the Gardens by the Bay signature artwork is used for the lights around the park.
Highlights at the Silver Garden area include 12 Constellations, Sky Lanterns and some cultural booths showcasing crafts, along with a riddle stage.
Dragonfly Lake
The Dragonfly Lake is home to two large floating lanterns. One of them is a lovely display of a Dragon (made of 80,000 test tubes) adorned with lotus flowers and other delicate creatures.
Loy Krathong (a floating decorative candle) can also be bought and released here. It’s $10 each and all proceeds go to the President’s Challenge.
The next display is Birds and Insects Paradise, located along the path towards Bayfront MRT.
Along the way you will see the House of Knowledge, a majestic floating lantern display. You might want to backtrack onto the path to the boardwalk along the Dragonfly Lake, or move forward to the next entrance to the boardwalk.
The Meadow
The next series of displays are located near and at The Meadow.
Completely Unmissable: Jurassic Park. Even comes with dinosaur sound effects!
Around the Meadow are several displays in the World of Fairy Tales.
A brief intermission here: The Gardens was very crowded! But it’s very nice to see that families are out enjoying the night together. If you’d like a family perspective on this event, check out the trip logs from the Daddy bloggers of SengkangBabies and The Wacky Duo.
After exploring the World of Fairy Tales, you can enter the World of Food – okay it’s actually just called Food Street.
Within The Meadow itself are three cultural lantern displays (Malay, Chinese and Indian) as well as the event’s main stage where you can catch both traditional and modern cultural performances.
Supertree Grove
You won’t miss these gigantic illuminated masks along the way to the Supertree Grove.
The covered walkway along the Supertree area showcases cultural exhibitions, handicrafts and art.
A child participating in calligraphy.
There is a section dedicated to horse paintings, and a few booths where you’ll be able to buy some unique souvenirs.
Pandora 3D
Lastly, Pandora 3D is a special exhibit at the Supertree Grove. Created and produced by the Keppel Club as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility programmes, this exhibits aims to remind visitors about the importance of environmentalism.
As the name suggests, this is inspired by James Cameron’s AVATAR film. There’s even a Na’vi standing around the exhibit.
Visitors put on 3D glasses (of ChromaDepth variety) to explore Pandora – created entirely out of recycled materials.
There’s even Atokirina (the floating seeds from the film).
A Keppel Club staff member showed us how four water bottles were cut and combined to create the exotic-looking plants from Pandora.
This exhibit is free, but you may need to wait in line for about 15-20 minutes as only 30 visitors may enter at any time. It is a rather short experience, though.
Event Information
Mid-Autumn Festival @ The Gardens 2013
Date: Friday, 13 September – Sunday, 22 September
Time: 6PM – 11PM (Mon – Fri), 3PM – 11PM (Sat – Sun)
Location: The Meadow, Silver Garden, Dragonfly Lake, Supertree Grove (Pandora 3D), Flower Dome
Admission Charge: Free admission (except Flower Dome)
Visit the event page on Gardens by the Bay website for details on the 15% discount for conservatory admission.
OH! I really want to visit Pandora 3D!!! Too bad I just saw this update!!