Diary of an Internet Addict

(updated with more information!)

Hitting the refreshed Downtown East this time!

Downtown East, beloved of Singaporeans and affectionately known as “ntuc chalet”  has gone through several refreshments.

Started in 2012, the renovation is divided into 2 phases, the first of which is the opening of D’Resort sometime last year. D’resort absorbed the space previously used for Escape theme park. The rest of the chalets were closed for renovation slightly later.

The latest iteration focuses on a nature-inspired theme with blocks named Beach cove and Rainforest.

Gone are the 2-storey minimalistic blocks with spartan rooms, replaced by multi-storied buildings with pebbled paths and wooden and brown panels.

The price has gone up as well, now in upward range of $200+.

Beach Cove room – comes with an 2 queen beds option

What’s included

• Internet wi-fi
• Breakfast (non-halal)
• Welcome drink
• Tickets to Wild Wild Wet
• Toiletries : a mini bar of soap, shower cum shampoo gel

Dining

The main building hosts a couple of shops, the most useful would be Cheers, located on the 2nd floor –  for those late night snacks and last minute bbq stock up.

If you want more than a quick bite, E!Avenue is around 5 minutes away, around 10, if you use the sheltered walkway. E!Hub, a few minutes’ walk beyond,  offers a good variety of food as well.

Check out the full list of eateries here.

Activities

• Cycling – You can rent a bicycle from the kiosk on the first floor of the main building. It costs around $12 for 2 hours.
• Wild Wild Wet – Make use of your complimentary tickets and have a splashing time at Wild Wild Wet, a water park.
• Walk or Jog along the beach.
• Bowling at E!Hub

Thoughts

Though the check-in time was 3pm, it took a long while before we were served, almost an hour later.

I stayed in one of the Beach Cove rooms. This room opens up to the park behind, and to an extension, the beach.

While I welcome the aesthetic changes to the very tired chalets, I have two main gripes about the stay.

• Impossible hours for Wild Wild Wet – the waterpark opens 10am-7pm. By the time I checked in around 4pm, I would barely have time to enjoy the water park. Though the pass is valid until the day of check-out (check out is at 11am by the way), unless I stay for more than 2 nights, it is nearly impossible to enjoy it. Unless I intend to leave my overnight baggage lying around in the park for easy pickings.
• Hard to access E!Hub – It used to be, walking over to the nearest shop was just 10 min away. The whole area has a plethora of choices from food, to swimwear and convenience store such as Watsons. Now, that same number of minutes would probably get you to E!Avenue, where there’s only food tenants. To get anything, you will need to walk all the way out to E!Hub. You’ve got to take a while to walk out of the Resort, along Wild Wild Wet, through the E!Avenue and a bit more. Just thinking about it makes me groan.  The only good thing about the winding route is that the whole way is sheltered.

I do hope that they would invite the general stores such as Watson’s or even their home brand shop Unity as one of the stores at E!Avenue, so that I wouldn’t need to walk all the way out to E!Hub just for a toothbrush (Hey, it’s my golden standard).