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| Anshuman |
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| Ramoji's Overpopulated City |
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Remember those days, when the whole family used to take off to a remote part of the city for picnic. You would carry food, bedsheets, Frisbee, bats and tennis balls, and all of the 10-15 people who used to go along had massive fun. But times they are a changing. Picnic spots have eroded and in their places the idea of family outing has become a visit to numerous resorts, waterparks, concept parks, etc. Death of that simple visit to the open area outside the city then.
Anyway, I digress, as an outing before my parents and my sister left the city I planned a trip to Ramoji Film City. A themed entertainment park on the outskirts of the city (20+ Kms from the Panjagutta - Hyderabad). Ramoji Film City is currently in the Guinness Book of World Record as the largest film studio complex and by sheer expanse on which the film city is built, it seems every bit true.
We hired a cab to Ramoji Film City and reached around 8:45 am which is just before the opening time for Ticket Counters in Ramoji Film City. And as we got down from the cab the scene around was terrifying. I had heard that it is always pretty crowded, but it being a weekend the whole place was brimming with people. The ticket counter lines were running in hundreds. After waiting almost for an hour for tickets, we finally shifted to the entrance line for one of the four or five entrance gates available. However, the entrance lines were massive. The entrance gates opened at 10:00 and by that time the crowds were already restless and wanted to get in at the earliest. However, each gate only allows a single person to pass at a time. There was so much pushing and jostling that I was scared to my bones thinking that there is going to be a crush. Further to this, the people who were passing through the entrance were being kept at the area just beyond the entrance doors and were not being let out. We somehow managed to get through the entrance and into the open area.
If the entrance was a royal pain, then what happened next was absolutely chaotic. A bus takes the visitors from the entrance to the drop off point where the actual tour starts. But there were so many people that Ramoji Film City's buses were not enough, there was no queue no order, the moment a bus would come in, it would fill in before it would even slow down to a stop. There was so much chaos that we were in half mind to return back home.
The worst thing of all this experience there was absolutely no administration done by the RFC, except for the people on ticket counter and one security personal at each turnstile. We decided to take this up with the admin people and they after a lot of hesitation allowed us to take our cab to the intermediate drop off point.
From drop off point we were given a short guided tour (the sorts, where you blink and miss stuff). The place was impressive but we had been so tired by the experience up to that point that we hardly were in any mood to enjoy the sights.
The place was okay, but they need to rethink of their operations and administration, and they need to do it fast. The staff was unapologetic, unconcerned and worst of all ill-equipped both in numbers and process to get all the visitors in smoothly and give them a good experience at the film city. I would never ever recommend it on a weekend, probably it is better on weekdays when there should not be that many people. Also instead of going early morning, you should probably go around noon.
Another option you should explore, is to get a ticket from one of the RFC run travel agents, who would get you the tickets and their bus service takes you directly to to the drop off point thus saving you the pain of getting into the lengthy ticket counter and entrance queues.
I think they can be given another Guinness, that of the theme park that harasses their customers most.
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| Ramoji Film City |
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Hyderabad-Vijayawada Highway
Koheda, Hayatnagar
Hyderabad
Andhra Pradesh.
Ph: +91-8415 246555, 246333
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