Southeast Asia is home to some of the region’s most recognizable theme parks, from Universal Studios Singapore to Sunway Lagoon in Malaysia.
But when comparing the theme parks themselves rather than the wider resorts or entertainment complexes they are part of, one of the region’s largest is located on Viet nam’s Phu Quoc Island.
VinWonders Phu Quoc covers about 50 hectares, making it Viet nam’s largest theme park. Its operator describes it as a 50 hectare park divided into six themed areas, with more than 100 games and attractions.
That puts the park ahead of several major theme parks elsewhere in Southeast Asia when comparing their published site areas.
A 50 Hectare Theme Park
VinWonders Phu Quoc opened in 2020 as part of the larger Phu Quoc United Center on the island’s northern coast. An earlier official brochure gave the park’s area as 46.7 hectares, while its current official website describes it as a 50 hectare theme park.
The park is divided into six major areas:
- European Avenue
- Fantasy World
- Mysterious Viking Village
- The Sea Shell
- Adventure World
- Typhoon World.
These areas are built around 12 themes inspired by civilizations, legends and fairy tales from Viet nam and other parts of the world.
The park also includes The Sea Shell, home to a large aquarium, and Typhoon World, a 4.5 hectare water park. According to VinWonders, Typhoon World is the largest water park in Southeast Asia.
How It Compares With Malaysia?
Malaysia has several large theme parks, including Sunway Lagoon in Selangor.
Sunway Lagoon occupies 88 acres, equivalent to about 35.6 hectares. Its official website describes it as a multi park destination containing more than 90 attractions across seven experiences:
- Water Park
- Amusement Park
- Wildlife Park
- XPark
- Sunway Lost Lagoon
- Scream Park
- Captain Quack Land
Its total site area is therefore roughly 14 hectares smaller than the current published area of VinWonders Phu Quoc.
LEGOLAND Malaysia Resort in Johor is another major regional attraction. Tourism Malaysia states that the resort covers 76 acres, or approximately 30.8 hectares. The resort combines LEGOLAND Theme Park, LEGOLAND Water Park and SEA LIFE Malaysia, along with a hotel.
However, its 76 acre figure refers to the resort rather than only the individual theme park, making direct comparisons more complicated.
What About Singapore?
Singapore’s Universal Studios Singapore is another major Southeast Asian theme park, but it operates on a considerably smaller footprint than the parks above.
Universal Studios Singapore covers about 20 hectares within the 49 hectare Resorts World Sentosa complex. Opened in 2010, it has seven themed zones and was the first Universal Studios theme park in Southeast Asia.
The 49 hectare figure refers to the entire Resorts World Sentosa complex, which also includes hotels and other attractions. For this comparison, only the 20 hectare Universal Studios Singapore site is counted.
The same issue applies to Malaysia’s LEGOLAND Malaysia Resort and Vietnam’s Phu Quoc United Center. Their surrounding resorts and entertainment facilities should not automatically be counted as part of the theme park itself.
Thailand’s Long-Running Giant
Thailand’s Siam Amazing Park in Bangkok also has a substantial footprint.
The park’s official history states that Siam Park was established in 1980 on an area of more than 300 rai. Thailand’s traditional land measurement means 300 rai is equivalent to approximately 48 hectares.
That makes Siam Amazing Park close to VinWonders Phu Quoc in total land area. The Bangkok park combines amusement rides and water attractions and has operated for more than four decades, making it one of the region’s longest established large scale amusement parks.
Indonesia’s Own Contender
Dunia Fantasi, commonly known as Dufan, is one of Indonesia’s best known theme parks. Opened in 1985, the park covers about 21 hectares within the much larger Ancol recreation area in Jakarta.
PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol has described Dufan as Indonesia’s biggest and most complete theme park.
Dufan features several themed areas, including Indonesia, Europe, Asia, America, Greece and Dunia Kartun (Cartoon World). The park occupies about 21 hectares, separate from the much larger Ancol recreation area.
In 2020, Jakarta authorities approved a 35 hectare expansion area for Dufan in East Ancol, although this refers to the planned expansion rather than the park’s existing size. At its current footprint, Dufan remains smaller than VinWonders Phu Quoc, Sunway Lagoon and Siam Amazing Park.
Viet Nam’s Large Scale Theme Park
Using the published areas of major Southeast Asian theme parks, VinWonders Phu Quoc’s roughly 50 hectares places it at the top of this comparison.
Its scale is particularly notable because the park opened only in 2020, while Siam Amazing Park dates back to 1980 and Sunway Lagoon opened in 1993.
The result is a large scale theme park on a relatively small island, forming one of the centerpiece attractions of Phu Quoc’s broader tourism and entertainment development.
