HIP Amusement Park Rocked with African Pride at Yuletide 

By Bennett Oghifo 

The highly popular High Impact Planet (HIP) presented families a rare opportunity of fun-filled holidays last December, with non-stop shows like the Praise Blast and African Night, among others.

High Impact Planet is a fast-growing Resort located about 10 minutes’ drive from Isheri in Lagos, directly opposite the Mountain Top University, off the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

An interesting component of the activities laid out at the park is that there is something for everybody and for all age bracket, said the Managing Director, Prince Adeyoloye Lipede, during a press conference on the success of the end of year events and their plans for the future. The park, which is built on 1,855sqms has a huge residential facility for guests who may want to take a break from the toils of life and unwind for as long as they desire, enjoying the over 45 rides and games there to booth.

The guest house has five, four, three and two bedroom flats; studio and single rooms and they are all self-serviced apartments, meaning guests can cook their own meals.

Families can share the flats and it is also ideal for corporate organisations’ retreat, as well as an opportunity for people to get away from the chaos of city life wherever they may be, he said. There is complementary wifi for those who may want to keep in touch with the outside world. “We have many people from outside Nigeria coming here and they don’t need to bother about internet connection.”

The end of year events hosted to entertain guests at the park began on December 21 with the African Night, which was conceived to showcase African culture, designs and even food, said Lipede, who had with him the Deputy General Manager, Ufuoma Ogodo and the Team Lead, Digital Marketing, PR and Brand Management, Victoria Odimba.

“Those who are resident at the park had fun; there were some African artistes, karaoke, and on the 26th of December we had the maiden edition of Praise Blast, consisting of 19 performances. We had on the stage a living legend, Chief Ebenezer Obey, as well as the Daystar Choir of over 200 choristers that supported a popular female act.”

The Praise Blast had many A-list artistes performing and Ebenezer Obey, particularly took guests down memory lane with his evergreen hit songs. “We had over 10,000 people in attendance and we had fun without medical emergencies or hazards.

“We have decided to make the Praise Blast an annual event on the 26th of December; sponsorship is welcome.”

There was a group from South Africa and another group from Abuja, which set the crowd shrieking in ecstasy, among others. Before all that, the arena had the blessing of the General Overseer of RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adegboye, who personally visited to bless the park.

The park is not for a particular age bracket. There was something for everyone, which was the reason the park managers threw in hits from the past, known as the old school. “We all dressed like in the old days and it was fun, trying to relive the past years.”

As a major treat, they had a Filipino band from Philippines that played every night from the 21st of December to January 2, this year. Every guest from within an outside had something to look forward to daily. “Something new is introduced in the Resort every quarter, either an indoor game or an outdoor ride.”

They all performed on the magnificent collapsible stage that is the biggest in Africa and the Middle East. It is about 46 metres long by 14 metres high and it is made in Germany. “We used it in Dubai and we thought that it would be better to use it in Nigeria. As it is, we have created a permanent arena for concerts. After our concert on the 26th, a church and a company have indicated interest in making use of our stage. We are ready to partner with whoever is interested in using our space and facilities.”

The special events continued on the last Friday of the year with DJ Spinnof performing until about 4 AM on Saturday. As a show of goodwill, guests were shuttled to Berger Bus Stop, Ojota from the park after the gig.

December 18, 2016 was their first anniversary and the gigs were their special way of thanking their patrons. There are more activities lined up for the year, he said and that apart from the presentations of the park’s managers, there would be activities by people who would want to use their facilities.

The Resort has huge parking space and security- full body scanner and ground patrol, reinforced with the presence of a manned police post and barracks. There are different sizes of halls and conference rooms, eateries within walking distance of all games and rides. The Resort’s managers have big plans for the future. “What we want to be if what Disney is to the world now. The funding is smooth, part loan, part venture capital. “We are able to sleep with our eyes closed.”

On the safety of the rides and games, he said, “All our rides and games are powered by generators and they all have personal UPS- we don’t have national electricity grid around here. We did not connect them to power grid because we do not want anyone to be on a ride and then there is power interruption. Even if a generator shuts down, the UPS will keep it going until the first responders/technicians get there. We also have well trained safety officers, who move round the rides and games. We have our maintenance team to check the ride every day and if we are not sure any ride is serviceable, we have our technical partners in the organisations we purchased the equipment from who will work with us to ensure our rides are always maintained and if we need to have them in the country we do so to ensure our rides are in top shape.”

The road to the Resort is challenging at the moment but there are plans to work it, in collaboration with other neighbours, but Lipede said it would be counterproductive to wait for them, which was the reason they placed hardcore on the road during the rainy season last year. “We have approached the government, but we cannot fold our arms and watch things deteriorate.”