What to see at the Sanrio Hello Kitty Town in Malaysia

Back to back with Legoland, we visited the Sanrio Hello Kitty Town located at the Puteri Harbour Theme Park in Johor Bahru on a day trip from Singapore.

But if you've been to Sanrio Puroland in Japan, you may skip this.  Hello Kitty Town is very small compared to Puroland.  It's just probably the size of Puroland's cafeteria.  And as the name "Hello Kitty Town" implies, it's small and it's all about Hello Kitty (unlike in Puroland where each character has its own special section).

Anyway, with just an hour to spare, here's a glimpse of the Sanrio Hello Kitty Town:

Hello Kitty Cafe

You'll find this at the ground floor by the entrance of the Puteri Harbour Theme Park.  You may opt to   grab a quick snack here or the the Cinnamoroll Cafe inside the Hello Kitty Town.  

Check out the delectable Hello Kitty goodies!:)

The Hello Kitty Town is located at the second floor.  Here is the ultra cute entrance - 

For your kawaii (the Japanese for the word "cute") fix, make sure to visit the Hello Kitty House.  Here's the reception of the Hello Kitty House.  A bunch of school kids were on tour - everyone was having so much fun!  

Check out the White Family's cute piano.  Yes, White is the surname of Hello Kitty.  Hello Kitty's real name is Kitty White.

And look at the White Family's dining table.  Notice the Kitty-shaped backrest of the chairs?

Here is Hello Kitty's work desk and on the wall are some of her photos with family and friends.

Just to backtrack a little, here's a little trivia about Hello Kitty:   Kitty White was born and raised in the suburbs of London on November 1, 1974.

She has a twin sister named Mimmy (you know it's Mimmy if she wears a yellow ribbon on the right ear; Hello Kitty wears a red ribbon on the left ear).

The White Twins:  Hello Kitty and Mimmy

You're probably wondering why Hello Kitty is British, not Japanese.  According to the Sanrio history, at the time when Hello Kitty was created, Britain was considered very trendy in Japan, so they made her British.

As for her name,  Sanrio's motto is social communication so the creator wanted to reflect a greeting in her name. "Hi, Kitty" was considered as her name but they finally zeroed in on "Hello, Kitty".  Perhaps, that's why her friend's name is Dear Daniel, not simply Daniel.

BTW, do you know where Hello Kitty made her first appearance in Japan?  It was in a vinyl coin purse which featured her between a milk bottle and a goldfish bowl.  

First ever Hello Kitty item

Going back to the White Family house, here is Mimmy's bedroom.  Super cute!

And check out the toilet and bath which Mimmy and Hello Kitty share. 

The twins also have an adjoining walk-in closet.  Everything is kawaii! Haha...

And here is Hello Kitty's bedroom - 

And presenting the White Family's Kitchen -

Check out their plates and cups -

And stove!

And their kitchen appliances -

Everything is just kawaii!   

Other attractions inside the Hello Kitty Town are rides and activity rooms where kids can make Hello Kitty souvenirs (for an additional fee I think).

There are also scheduled appearances of Sanrio characters.  We were able to catch My Melody and Bad Badtz Maru.  

According to what I've read, the Black Wonder is the main attraction at the Hello Kitty Town.   It is described as a high tech, interactive game (using censors) where you will try to find Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel who have been kidnapped my Kuromi.  Unfortunately, we only had about an hour there and the next schedule for Black Wonder wasn't in sync with our remaining time.

Kuromi

As for shopping, there's no price advantage if you buy Sanrio items from the souvenir store.  But if you're looking for Little Twin Stars and My Melody stuff (which we don't have a lot locally, buy some and relive your childhood! Haha...).   I didn't shop anymore because when I went to Sanrio Puroland last April, I already bought a lot.  Haha...  

Last August, the headline "Hello Kitty is not a cat" rocked the world.  But Hello Kitty isn't  human either if that was what you concluded after reading the headline.  As Sanrio explained, Hello Kitty was created in the motif of a cat but she isn't a cat and not quite a human either.  In fact, Hello Kitty has a pet cat named Charmmy Kitty, a white Persian cat.  Unlike Hello Kitty, Charmmy Kitty is depicted on all fours so she's definitely a cat.

Charmmy Kitty - Hello Kitty's pet cat

And just in case you're wondering why Hello Kitty doesn't have a mouth, it was done on purpose.   It signifies that she speaks from the heart and she isn't bound to any particular language.  She's considered a symbol of friendship and Sanrio hopes she will encourage friendship across the world.  

This year was a special year for Sanrio as Hello Kitty turned 40 years old on November 1.  You know how much she is worth today?  According to Wikipedia, she's worth USD7 Billion a year - and that is without advertising!   Whoa...

P.S. I spotted another interesting place at the Puteri Harbour Theme Park although it's still closed.   Check these out -  

I heart Batman.  Exciting! :)

Top 5 Travel Tips when visiting Legoland Malaysia

If you love theme parks, you may want to check out Legoland in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.  My friends and I had a day trip to Johor Bahru by taking a bus ride from Singapore one weekend.

Here are some tips if you're planning to go there:

1.  If you plan to visit more than one theme park, buy combo tickets to save on fees.

There are 2 theme parks in Johor Bahru - Legoland (which has 2 sections -the Theme Park and the Water Park) and Puteri Harbour Theme Park (which houses the Sanrio Hello Kitty Town and The Little Big Club).   The Little Big Club features Barney, Bob the Builder, Angelina Ballerina, Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends and Pingu the Penguin.

You can choose from various combinations of tickets.  In our case, we opted to get the Combo of Legoland Theme Park + Hello Kitty Town + 2-way Private Bus Ride.

For the bus ride, though it's way cheaper to take public transportation, we've heard that the public buses make a lot of stops which would eat time.  Going through immigration when you cross the border also consumes time.  On our trip, the bus ride + immigration took about 2 hours per way.

Btw, just in case you've been to Sanrio Puroland in Japan, I recommend skipping the Sanrio Hello Kitty Town (more about the Hello Kitty Town soon).

2.  If you have kids, you may want to check in at the Legoland hotel.

Legoland Hotel

On a day tour, you've barely 3 to 4 hours to go around the theme park which isn't enough.  Since we were 3 single adults traveling, we were ok with just a day tour.

But I've married friends with kids who previously checked in at the hotel and they've raved about it.  According to them, inside the room, there's a treasure chest of Lego stuff and if you are able to uncover the passcode lock (clues are given to solve it), all the Lego stuff inside the chest are yours to take home.  How cool! :)

3. If you're on a day tour, take the train ride that goes around Legoland first to make sure you're able to scan the entire park.  That was our mistake - not taking the train ride.

With less than 4 hours including lunch break, we were only able to cover probably just half or third of it because we spent a lot of time in the Star Wars exhibit (which just opened a few months back).

Here are some highlights of our Legoland tour:

At the entrance were -

C3PO

R2D2

Darth Vader

Yes, they were all made of Lego.  And guess who attracted the most crowd when it comes to picture taking?  Darth Vader! 

Inside the exhibit where various settings from Star Wars.  

Naboo - Home to Queen Amidala

Did you know how many Lego bricks were used to build Naboo's royal palace?  More than 15,000 lego bricks.  Whoa....

You'll also see familiar scenes from Star Wars like this scene from Geonosis where Amidala, Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker battled 3 ferocious monsters.

Here's a close-up shot of Anakin in combat with one of the creatures.

Here are more scenes -

I think this was in Endor - home of the Ewoks.

I couldn't remember where this one was but could you spot Master Yoda and Darth Vader in the scene above?

Millenium Falcon

This is everyone's favorite starship - the Millennium Falcon.   Can you guess how many lego bricks were used to build this? More than 19,200 pieces!  And do you know how long it took the team to build it?  143 hours - that's almost 6 days straight!

And here's a close up shot of the right wing  - Han Solo and Chewbacca are behind the wheel! Such attention to detail.  :)   

I don't know how long we were inside the Star Wars exhibit but it was my priority because I am a Star Wars fan! Haha... 

The other section where we spent time was at the Miniland which features miniature versions of popular tourist spots around the world.   Here are some -

India's Taj Mahal

China's Forbidden City

Cambodia's Angkor Wat

Singapore's Fullerton

The Philippines' Bolinao fishing village

For the Philippines, Miniland featured a fishing village in Bolinao, Pangasinan.  I haven't been here though.  But check out the cute Pinoy setting  - our trademark colourful jeepney, a pink house with green roof and lots of people on the street!:)

Other attractions - there's this Robotics Lab we quickly checked out.  You won't miss it because of this huge Einstein Lego bust -

Here's the side view of Einstein -

Inside the lab, kids could learn how to make robots.

Check this out -

Around the park, you'll also see random Lego creations like this plumber so you won't miss the toilets. 

Legoland has also rides - but we skipped them.  We're also not fond of riding scary rides.  Haha... But they do have less scarier and fun rides suitable for kids.

4.  Shop for Lego stuff.   The prices are about 20% to 30% less expensive there compared to our local prices.  There are also some stuff that are marked down - you might stumble upon great finds.

5.  Come earlier than the agreed time for bus departures.   We were 5 minutes early but guess what?  Everyone was already there! :)  The bus left as soon as we boarded.

Enjoy Legoland!:)