Whoosh…a snowball goes flying past. It smacks a young girl in the shoulder. She giggles and throws back a handful of snow, only to hit the wrong person. It’s not her fault though; since everybody is wrapped up in identical red coats, gloves, and red-and-blue boots provided by the staff at VGP Snow Kingdom, it gets a little difficult to tell each other apart. A friend of mine, however, has such huge feet, that after 15 minutes of searching for boots, the support staff give up and sheepishly hand him two plastic bags to wrap around his feet. And, of course, he is laughed at, and some people even mistake him as part of the attraction. The temperature inside is — 6 degrees, which turns our noses pink, making us look much like Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.
VGP’s latest addition, Snow Kingdom, is a 14,000 sq ft area filled with snow. It does feel like you are part of Frozen as you glide past a cheerful snowman, an igloo, penguins, snow huts and the imposing façade of a snow castle. Squeals of delight echo from the ice slides — people perched atop colourful tubes spin and slide down a 23-ft slide. There’s even a smaller 12-ft version for children.
At regular intervals, little sprays of snow fall around us. “We use three different technologies, combining air and water, to make the ice and snow fall. This space uses up 150-200 tonnes of snow. Around 5,000 tonnes of water go into it,” says Raja Jupidi, director, Snow Kingdom. Given the large crowd that’s walking in to find respite from the awful heat, the snow has to be ploughed away every week to maintain hygiene. “Since it’s holiday season, per day we’ve been receiving around 1500 footfalls. We can accommodate 400 people in a session,” he adds.
There are sculptures, sled rides and even a snow dance floor and basketball court to keep you occupied during the 45-minute session. Judging by the number of people awaiting their turn by the wall of ice, mountain climbing seems to be popular. Some just take the first step to get one dramatic selfie, while others go further and strap on their safety harnesses, ready to brave the climb.
VGP Snow Kingdom is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m and is priced at Rs. 250 per person.
