We went for an impromptu staycation in Sentosa. There was a school excursion followed by a school closure the next day, and it was also our tingkat break day. Hence it was a good time.

It's been quite a busy past two weeks with Z falling ill, so after he got better, it was nice to go for a break of sorts (insofar as minding two kids can be called a break...).

After we checked in at 2-3pm, we went to the kids' club. The indoor playground had two sections, one for all ages and one for children 5 and above which has this three storey structure you can climb. Drop off is also possible for the older kids. There is also an arts and crafts room which H did first before joining Z and M at the indoor playground. There is also a section with board games which we didn't go.

As for the room they did up the room with balloons and gave a chocolate cake for M's birthday. There were also lots of kids' stuff like a sand toys beach set (like a bucket and spade, which we didn't use) and color pencils.

After that, we initially thought of going to the water play area, but since the kids had been tired out from the morning school excursion, I wanted to make them nap instead. It was a long process as they didn't really want to sleep, but they did finally fall asleep for a short and very late afternoon nap, which I think was better as I didn't want them to fall sick from over-tiredness.

Once the clock hit 6pm, we went for the dinner buffet. We thought it was a bit under-whelming for the pretty exorbitant price (we got it as part of the room package though), in that they didn't have the higher end stuff like sashimi/lobster, meat-carving stations etc. But for kids it was good variety, there was a kids station with a chocolate fondue, sprinkles, marshmallows, frog shaped kaya paus, nuggets, popcorn. There was also a noodle station, good for H, she also had candy floss and gelato ice cream (various flavors with sprinkles available). For Z, there was bottled Heinz baby food but we thought to let him have adult food, but in the end he didn't really eat the substantive food, mainly ate bread and drank his milk which we mixed his antibiotics in (he is better have to finish the whole course).

As usual, I did not have not much time to eat so I took about 1.5 servings in total, had the Indian food like paneer and curried vegetables, and a plate of fruits. Since Z was making a fuss, I brought him for a walk in the stroller and got some nice scenery by the sea. Saw a peacock too, he was interested but fortunately it did not attack him and just strolled by.

After the stroll, returned to have more food (mainly desserts), while M brought Z for his bath. I think H was misbehaving a bit as she spilled her Milo on herself, but after some chastising, I gave her some chocolate tart/cake and chocolate gelato, and fruits (they had white dragonfruit, honeydew, watermelon - no "atas" fruits like berries although you could get some limited amounts of strawberries and blueberries from the cheese platter side).

Somehow the kids, especially Z, could not sleep that early despite being tired (maybe it was their late nap?). So I think it was close to 11pm by the time I could get my shower and then start second shift of clearing work.

The next morning, woke up at 7 plus, we went for the breakfast buffet (part of package), which was the standard type of food. There was roti prata, noodle station, egg station (eggs benedict with bolognese), and some Chinese/asian food. They seated us at this part near the entrance so it was actually quite warm.

After breakfast, we went for the swimming pool amd water play area, which is the highlight. Luckily it was a bit cloudy otherwise it would have been very hot (as it were, I already got sunburnt). We brought both kids to the shallow pool first, they wore life vests. Z didn't move much, he splashed a bit though. There is a big adult pool which had some large floating cushions but we were only there for a while cos it was deep. I stayed on much longer with H who went to the water play area. Actually it's quite a small play area, but there are some quite high water slides which we didn't go.

After that, it was showers and a late lunch at the same restaurant where the buffets were served, for lunch they have an ala carte selection with kids menu. H had fish and chips (which is actually quite substantial it came with apple juice and quite a large lava cake/brownie thing with a generous side of berries) and Z ate the (complimentary) bread again with his milk. We shared a lobster roll (about $30), which was not bad. Managed to get a super late checkout at 4pm so we had enough time to pack up (but not enough time to nap). With that that was the end of the staycation.

Comparison between Shangri La Sentosa and the main Shangri La

The Sentosa Shangri La is actually quite small/compact, the rooms are all in this curved wing. So you are very near to the restaurants, kid's club (there is also table tennis, pool, and board games), and pool/water play area. It is a beach resort so only the corridors leading to the rooms (and the restaurants and kids club) are air conditioned, everything else is open air. It's also very close to the beach and the Nestopia (like a large outdoor playground with things to climb, unfortunately we did not go because of the odd opening hours from 2pm onwards which is too hot to go). There is also an outdoor movie night every night on the beach which was too uncomfortable/hot to bother trying with kids.

The main Shangri La is much larger and is a proper hotel with multiple wings, much more air conditioning and also a lot more food options. I found the quality of the food is also higher at the main Shangri La (at least, the Valley Wing - they had proper servings of berries for breakfast, and table service). They even have Stokke high chairs. The kids club is larger and even has a ball pit. But there would be more walking depending on where you stay as it is less compact than the Sentosa Shangri La.

So I would say that the determinative factor is whether you want a outdoors/ beach resort/water play type of holiday, or whether you want a more traditional high quality hotel feel.