The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Amusement parks in the city are struggling to come up with new attractions to survive the competition posed by shopping malls that have play centers for toddlers.
Less people visited Taman Mini Indonesia Indah during Idul Fitri this year compared to last year, forcing the management of the park in East Jakarta to reconsider the amusement value of its attractions.
Management spokesman J. Purnawidjaja Alibasa said Monday visitors numbers during the weeklong Idul Fitri holiday had dropped from 343,357 last year to 315,126 this year.
On the busiest days -- Wednesday, the second day of Idul Fitri, and Sunday -- 68,000 people passed through the park's gates.
Last year, there were 104,423 visitors on the busiest day, also a Sunday.
""Idul Fitri fell on a weekday this year, so people could plan outings for any day of the week,"" Purnawidjaja said.
The park has 10,000 visitors a day on average on Saturdays and Sundays.
In 1997, Taman Mini had 7.23 million visitors, in 1998 -- a year of political and economic crisis -- 4.61 million visitors and in 2005, 4.1 million.
The management is aware that changes need to be made. It is building a Chinese Cultural Park in the southeastern part of the property to appeal to the Chinese-Indonesian community.
""The people with big money are mostly Chinese-Indonesians, so why not build a place for them? Most of our visitors are from middle- to lower-class families,"" Purnawidjaja said.
The new attraction is being built in cooperation with the Chinese Indonesian Society (PMSTI), which had started lobbying the government for the purpose in 2002.
""It's high time we made our presence felt,"" PMSTI chairman Tedi Yusuf said in a separate interview.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the Chinese Cultural Park was held in April 2005. Though construction will not finish until next year, the center will open to the public on Nov. 12.
""We hope everything is finished by April,"" Tedi said.
Ice World Recreational Park in Ancol Bay City, North Jakarta, which opened last December, has become the main attraction in the area.
During the holiday, Ice World, which features a 50-meter-long ice slide and dozens of ice carvings of children's movie characters, had about 2,500 visitors a day.
The chilly temperature did not seem to faze the 48 orphans who spent Monday at the fun park, thanks to East Jakarta residents who raised money for the trip.
Rasyidin, 50, a teacher who had volunteered to accompany the children to the park, shivered and hugged himself in the cold.
""I am freezing ... even though I'm wearing three layers of clothing.""
The temperature was -10 degrees Celsius.
But there were no complaints from the children, who took pictures of each other with the carvings and attempted to squeeze themselves into an ice mosque that has a maximum capacity of seven.
Rasyidin said the Rp 50,000 entrance fee was too high.
""But the management gave us a 40 percent discount.
