There was perfect weather throughout the day until evening came, when the World Pyro Olympics was about to start. Nevertheless, rain or shine, the Greatest Show on Earth had to go on. The first firing by Germany was pushed back to 8pm and China immediately followed at 8.30pm.
Although China was the better pyro-musical performance with a medley of romantic Chinese love songs ala Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, there was a lot of smoke that covered parts of the fireworks show (probably leftover smoke from Germany’s performance). The haze stood still as if big, dark clouds hovered over the VIP section. There was no wind like in MOA (maybe due to the heavy rain), so the smoke remained and covered a big part of the fireworks area.
The world-class fireworks show was a sight to behold — it made us feel like kids again, just watching in silence, with mesmerized smiles on our faces. Thanks to the organizers for making the World Pyro Olympics more accessible by setting it up in Bonifacio Global City!
You can enter the big entrances located along the roads in the Boni High Street area. I do hope they can put a ticket booth at all entrances though, because last Saturday, it was a bit of a hassle to walk to the ticket booth areas.
There are inflatable displays and slides for the kids.
The P1,500 VIP area is directly in front of the fireworks and it is located beside Serendra. There are only a few tents available, so when it rained, most of the tables and chairs got wet.
(Please share your experience, especially those who were in the VIP area.)
The National Anthems of the competing countries are played first before the actual fireworks performance.
This is the SVA Area where you have to pay P500 (with no food). Some people were disappointed because they were required to buy from Friday’s and other food concessionaires to get a table and a chair. I do hope that they change this policy for succeeding Saturdays.
(Please share your experience, especially those who were in the SVA area.)
The Best Vantage Point, I believe, is the P200 General Viewing Area. You could appreciate the entire fireworks show from there without feeling crowded. There, you could also buy inihaw and chichirya from the different food concessionaires. There were no chairs but you could probably bring your own.
The renowned Drum & Bugle of Makati City provided most of the entertainment from 2pm until 7pm. It would be nice if there would be a concert prior to the actual Pyro Olympics so that people would have a reason to stay before the fireworks show.
Most people stayed in Boni High Street because there was nothing to do inside.
It rained almost the entire night. Bonifacio Global City provided a huge space for the World Pyro Olympics (it can accommodate 50,000 people). Expect the crowd to get bigger as we approach December.
The traffic was flowing and managed very well. Plan to be in the Boni High Street area around 5pm.
(Please share your experiences, particularly where you parked and your strategy in going to the WPO area.)
NICO Lunig Event GmbH of Germany
Germany started with the usual display of Grand Fireworks to the tune of Hans Zimmer songs and Rock Music towards the end of the performance.
It was the world-class fireworks show we expected it to be. It was much wider because, this time, the performance was not limited anymore by the size of the barge.
This red shower of fireworks elicited a lot of oohs and ahhs from the crowd.
The fireworks performance was a bit busy, and I think the Hard Rock Music was a nice complement to it. The young people liked it a lot.
Glorious Entertainment Production Limited of China
China started by painting the Global City sky with Red Fireworks.
Most people liked it because it was very artistic and a bit romantic.
I decided to shoot it from one of the best views of the WPO — on top of Mag:net Cafe.
We were expecting to have the Great Wall of China Fireworks display but the rain ruined most of the fireworks, so they were not able to complete it.
The smoke was a bit distracting. I heard that it covered the view of the people in the VIP area and some of the smoke even went down to the crowd. They should really follow the 1 hour gap in between the performances. I do hope there will be wind next Saturday to move the smoke out.
Don’t miss Australia versus Canada on November 28, Saturday!
(First firing starts at 7pm and second firing starts at 8pm.)
Also, don’t forget to bring a jacket and an umbrella in case it rains again during the WPO!
Live an Awesome Life,
Anton Diaz
Founder, OurAwesomePlanet.com
Mobile: +63917-LOVEOAP (5683627)
Email: anton@diaz.ph
Add me in Twitter: antondiaz
Add me in Facebook: antondiaz
Add me in You Tube: antondiaz
Lovely pictures! Since you say you took these from the top of Mag:net High Street, I suppose the view there was quite good. Could you hear the music from Mag:net? 🙂
Wow… Nice pictures! They say traffic was really heavy at the Fort during that day. =\ We’ll try to catch the next one. 😀
http://littlemisswanderlust.blogspot.com
nice shots! i was in boni high street last night to meet a client for dinner, i forgot to bring my camera! haist!
The best view was really at the right side of the General Admission Area. From there, you can see the whole show. Some of the food concessionaires rented tables and chairs for their customers.
Great shots, Anton! What was your opening and shutter speed? Hope I can shoot some nice ones of the Dec. 19 show…
watched it from the balcony in magnet cafe (got the idea from your previous post thanks for the heads up!) plus we got a mongolian bowl buffet that night!
i was at the vip area that night and paying P1500 was not worth it.
when i bought the SVA tickets at Jupiter, Makati, they informed us that SEATS WILL BE PROVIDED but they didn’t tell us that we had to purchase food from the concessionaires to get seats. the thing is, we already ate before we went to the special viewing area so it was hard forcing food into our mouths for the sake of getting seats. super disappointing na hindi nag-inform ng maayos ang organizers sa mga ticket buyers who expected seats and ended up being forced to purchase food para lang makaupo. had we known about this earlier, we would have bought VIP tickets. 🙁
We did not enjoy it as much as we did when it was being held in MOA. I think the viewing area in MOA is less obstructed and even those who cannot afford to buy tickets or eat from the restaurants could have a good view of the fireworks. We watched it from Serendra because of the rains as we do not want to get soaked while watching the fireworks display. We parked our car in Market!Market! and then walked to Boni High Street from there.
My hubs and I were planning on watching the Pyrolympics from our rooftop. We live near Antipolo and since our house has 5 floors, we can see the fireworks display from there! Hehe. We won’t hear the music though. :-/ But I guess that’s better than having to go through a lot of traffic. Hehehe.
We meant to watch last Saturday night, but we forgot. Hay. Will try to catch the next ones. =D
hope they could make the venue more senior-citizen-friendly.my parents who had arthritis did not enjoy the experience very much because of the fact they had to walk very far from the parking lot. and i agree it would be better if ticket booth could be found in every entrance gate.
Wheres the best spot/establishment to eat where you can still see the fireworks from the restaurant without paying the entrace fee?
Mag:net na lang… P200 general viewing area is the best area to see
the fireworks.
Anton
There is a disabled or for senior citizens section ang entrance is sa
VIP section. I saw it and you can I guess bring your car in and drop
your parents… Where are you guys watching VIP, SVA or GVA?
Anton
hello did they go back to the old line up where in australia and japan will fire at the same night? Hopefully the weather will be better next saturday. i think that the sva area’s also pretty worth the money 😉 specially if you’re in fridays 😀
The Press Release is Australia and Japan this Saturday. I'll confirm
this again with the organizers.
Anton
Yes please. In their website it’s Canada vs Australia. My partner and I are flying back home to watch this. I hope the weather will be fine. You have very nice photos Anton.
Yes, it is really a hassle when it rains. The organizers also made
sure that the best view is in the P200 General Viewing Area.
Why did you think it was not worth it? Because of the Food or because
of the view?
Thanks for sharing! Yes dapat you should have seats pa rin kahit hindi kumakain, it is a bit unfair to force you to order. Maybe just be upfront with this.
Anton
Hi Kulas,
That's really the best view! We will watch there nga one of these
days. I do hope kaunti lang yung makaalam.
Anton
Yes, you can hear the music loud and clear from Mag:Net. It was so
loud and I bet they can also hear it from Boni High Street except they
can only see the Fireworks na matataas.
Anton
I’m sorry but I think this is a such a worthless gathering. Oh yeah, thank you for supporting an industry that really serves no other purpose but to pollute our air and maybe dazzle you for what, 10 mins? In exchange of what? That much contaminants and GHGs in the air?
I know why it rained: the sky wept in despair.
this types of comments are sad…. it’s not even constructive…. i think before you can post comments about fireworks like this, you should first stop people from using cars and stop people from emitting smokes from factories then you can start bashing on other industries. The problem with this kinds of comments is that you’re forgetting the part where in people actually spend hours and hours to make fireworks shows like this not just designing the show but also making each fireworks shells which you probably have no idea how it works. You don’t even consider the art in it? well that’s just too harsh.. If fireworks caused that much pollution then me and my friends would be dead by now 😉 i’m pretty sure about that. try being more constructive next time 😉
for some reasons wpo is postponed… i think that that’s just lousy organizing…. 🙁
We were in GVA. We’re not very familiar with The Fort area so aside from your blog, I just relied on what I read from their website’s event guide section. Did not find any info regarding senior citizens there. Maybe the organizers could put this info up on their website in the future, or if there are any other closer drop-off points.
I actually talked to the guys there (hired by the organizers i guess) but ofcourse they had no say in the matter. next time sa magnet na lang din ako, or siguro sa general.