Thousands of families on Thursday packed the Fantasy World (Dufan) amusement park at Ancol Dreamland Park in North Jakarta to celebrate the New Year.

The families queued from the early morning for tickets to enter Dufan, which opens at 9 a.m. Mutiah, 28, and her children were among the early birds at the amusement park. They had traveled from their house in Bekasi in West Java to enjoy the rides at Dufan.

'€œWe left our house at 5 a.m. so we could arrive here the earliest and be the first people to get tickets. It'€™s good to use holidays like this for recreation with our children,'€ said the mother of two.

Ancol Dreamland Park developer PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol spokeswoman Metty Yan Harahap said the company expected to see 150,000 visitors on Thursday.

'€œDufan and the beach remain one of the most attractive recreational places to many Jakartans during the holidays,'€ Metty told The Jakarta Post over the phone on Thursday.

Metty continued that the park also had a special waste-cleaning event, in which visitors who picked up two kilograms of waste received a cash prize.

'€œWe have an event called Bersih-Bersih Sampah [waste-cleaning] in order to reduce the mess caused by litterbugs. We give Rp 10,000 [80 US cents] to anyone who picks up two kilograms of waste,'€ she said.

Jakartans also flocked to other favorite family recreation spots in the capital city, such as Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) cultural park in East Jakarta, causing a long-tailed traffic jam on the Jagorawi toll road.

TMII culture and tourism manager Suryandoro predicted that around 80,000 people would visit the park on Thursday, explaining that the park was holding many performances for its visitors, such as traditional dances from all over the archipelago under the theme Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity).

Ragunan Zoo in South Jakarta was also packed with tens of thousands of visitors. South Jakarta police chief Sr. Comr. RM Harsono said he and his officers had been overwhelmed by the number of visitors to the zoo, which had already reached 120,733 by midday.

Harsono predicted that the number of visitors to Ragunan would reach well over 150,000 by Thursday afternoon.

'€œMany families are taking advantage of their holiday by visiting Ragunan zoo. We have mobilized 363 police officers to maintain security and traffic in the area,'€ Harsono said as quoted by Antara news agency.

Large numbers of visitors also crowded the National Monument (Monas) park in Central Jakarta, causing heavy traffic congestion in the surrounding areas.

Many Jakartans opted to use their New Year holiday to travel to neighboring recreational areas, such as the Puncak resort area and the JungleLand Adventure Theme Park in Bogor in West Java. JungleLand chief marketing officer Atang Wiharna said that he expected up to 7,000 visitors on Thursday, most of them coming from the Greater Jakarta area.

The Ciawi toll road had been packed since Dec.30 with motorists travelling to and from Bogor. On Thursday morning, meanwhile, it was jammed with Jakartans travelling back home from their short getaway.

Other residents of Greater Jakarta spent their long-weekend at Anyer beach in Banten. Antara news agency reported that the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association'€™s (PHRI) Serang chapter recorded 100 percent occupation rates at hotels, villa and resorts at the Anyer beach area during the New Year'€™s Eve period.

Popular

Festive Indonesia celebrates 80th Independence Day

SoftBank to invest $2b in Intel to become top-10 shareholder

Religious Affairs Ministry vows crackdown on intolerance