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News from the Seven Seas | The latest from the Philippines Largest Pirate Themed Water Park

Last Saturday, 11 May 2019, the CDO Bloggers were hosted by Seven Seas Waterpark in Barra, Opol, Misamis Oriental for our 2nd Quarter General Membership Meeting.

Heartfelt thanks to Engr. Elpie Paras, president and CEO of UC-1 Corporation which owns and operates the waterpark for hosting our GMM. And taking time out of his busy schedule on top of that for a group interview with our members who attended to update us on recent and upcoming developments.

“Our dream is to create a new tourist destination for Cagayan de Oro and Northern Mindanao to put them in the world tourism map,” Elpie disclosed. “We want Seven Seas to be a world class destination, that is the idea.”

“If we want to build something, is has to be up to par with other countries and that’s why we put in much detail in building our water park,” he added.
 
Among its most popular attractions is the Cyclone, the green and blue funnel which is one of the biggest slides in the country today with a 20-meter diameter ride (bigger than Clark’s). 
 
“We want our quality to be at par with other countries in safety standards and entertainment value.”

Great Expectations
 

“So far I believe we have succeeded,” Paras said. “Even Dahilayan is now a mature tourism destination and we expect Seven Seas to follow suit and  become a major tourist node in Mindanao. Today most guests come not only for Cagayan de Oro but also from many cities in Mindanao.”

He cited the very positive response to the recent foray of the Seven Seas marketing team in Davao recently to promote our two for P999 promo at SM.

“For four straight days recently we had long queues in Limketkai and had to close early because we ran out of tickets!”
 

Bloggers
 

He also cited how Bloggers are an important part of their marketing efforts and how totally sold UC-1 is to social media.

“All our promos are always in social media and we will continue to do so not only because it is very inexpensive but is also viral in nature. One of our videos taken by Project Lupad already has over 5 million likes.”
 

Tour Packages

 
In addition to Seven Seas, Paras said UC-1 is now marketing its other tourism products and destinations: Great White Water Rafting Tours in the Cagayan River and Dahilayan Adventure Park together with  Seven Seas. You can book your tour packages at this site.

“We are also encouraging companies to do their corporate team building here. This May 20 event with Concentrix will be good for 2,000 persons. That’s why they will have the whole park to themselves for the entire day and evening.”
 

Night Operations
 

Social media has been abuzz lately about how Seven Seas could soon be open during evenings.

“Since last year seniors and friends who do not like the heat of the sun have been requesting we open at night,” Paras admitted. “When we hosted a doctors’ convention recently we had to fast track  and re-outfit the park for night operations like installing more lights and safety features.”

“We are planning to open for night operations very soon but don’t have a definite date yet. However, it will definitely be after Concentrix Family Day on May 20 which will be the entire day and evening and serve as a dry run  for our future night operations. Hopefully we can do this before the  end of the month.”
 

The Dream

 
The pioneering entrepreneur who set up Cagayan de Oro’s first fast food burger shop, first Satellite TVRO (Television Receive Only), first cable TV network (among others) set up

Seven Seas as another venue for guests and tourists to complete their weekend in Northern Mindanao.

Billed as the first and largest Pirate themed water park in the Philippines, Seven Seas is also the

2nd biggest water park in the Philippines (after Clark) and can accommodate up to 2,000 visitors daily but already had crowds of up to 3,000 in 2018.

A project of UC-1 Corporation, the holding company of the Paras Group of Companies including Dahilayan, Parasat, et al., it is the biggest investment so far for Paras group in terms of peso investments and total area.
 

Safeguards & Safety
 

“You will notice we have many lifeguards around, nurses on duty all the time, a standby vehicle ready to transport to hospital. It’s very important we secure our guests safety.”
 

Maintenance Breaks
 

Although Seven Seas is open daily for two months this summer for the peak season, it was shut down in January for one month for maintenance and repair. This will  henceforth be conducted annually but announced in advance.

“We also conduct daily maintenance, mostly from 3AM to 10AM which is why we only operate from 10AM to 6PM,” Paras disclosed. “Some procedures are not good for guests since they involve harsh chemicals like acids and chlorine.”
 

Hijab for Muslim Women
 

In response to a member from Marawi’s query about the use of the hijab by Muslim women guests, Paras said they have had no problem with this so far since their suggested attire include full body dry fit suits.

“I have not seen anyone wearing hijab in the pools so far,” he added. “For rides we discourage the use of hijab since this could get entangled in the slides and cause accidents to the user.”

Paras said they also  discourage the use of cotton garments especially for the rides since cotton has a tendency to stick when wet and guests can find themselves stuck in the slides.

“We have suits for sale in our gift shop for guests who may not have bought the appropriate attire.”

There were more upcoming developments discussed but these will have to be kept under wraps for now at Engr. Paras’ request. Meantime, you can bring the family to enjoy Seven Seas while the summer lasts since June is just around the corner.

Huling Hirit Araw-Araw sa Seven Seas! Ahoy Mateys!

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