Berjaya Times Square: KL's Giant Mall with an Indoor Roller Coaster

What Berjaya Times Square Actually Is

Berjaya Times Square is a colossal mixed-use development on Jalan Imbi, occupying over 7.5 million square feet of built-up space across retail, hotel, and entertainment floors. It consistently ranks among the largest shopping malls in the world by total floor area, though the sheer scale works against it in places: some upper floors carry a noticeably lower footfall than the busy lower levels, and parts of the building feel underutilized depending on when you visit.

That said, the mall serves several distinct visitor profiles extremely well. Families come for the indoor theme park. Collectors and hobbyists come for the concentrated anime, manga, and trading card shops on specific floors. Budget shoppers come for the mid-range and value fashion retailers that populate the bulk of the retail space. Each of these groups will have a genuinely good visit; anyone expecting a luxury mall experience on par with Pavilion or Suria KLCC will find the atmosphere more functional than aspirational.

Berjaya Times Square sits a short walk from the core of Bukit Bintang, KL's most retail-dense neighborhood. The Monorail station at Imbi is directly connected via a covered walkway, making arrival convenient even in the middle of an afternoon downpour.

The Indoor Theme Park: Berjaya Times Square Theme Park

The headline draw for families is the Berjaya Times Square Theme Park, an indoor amusement park occupying floors 5 to 8 of the building. It is one of the few indoor theme parks in Malaysia with a full-size roller coaster, the **Supersonic Odyssey**, which loops through the mall's interior atrium. Watching the coaster rip overhead while you stand on a shopping floor below is a genuinely arresting sight the first time you encounter it.

The park is divided into two zones: Galaxy Station, which houses the coaster and more intense rides for older children and teenagers, and Fantasy Garden, which contains gentler rides and attractions designed for younger kids. There is also a 4D motion theatre and a handful of carnival-style games. The rides are not on par with dedicated outdoor theme parks, and teenagers who have visited major regional parks may find the selection modest. For children roughly aged 4 to 12, however, the park offers a well-contained, air-conditioned afternoon that avoids the exhaustion of a full outdoor park.

Weekday mornings are the best time to visit the theme park. By Saturday afternoon, queue times for the coaster and the more popular rides stretch considerably, and the air quality inside the enclosed space becomes noticeably warmer and louder. If you are visiting with young children and want a relaxed experience, a Tuesday or Wednesday morning arrival around 10 AM is the optimal window.

The Anime and Hobby Trading Zone

One of the more specific draws of Berjaya Times Square is its concentration of anime merchandise, manga, Gunpla model kits, trading cards, and hobby goods. Floors in the upper section of the mall house multiple dedicated retailers and independent stalls selling everything from official licensed figures to vintage Japanese game cartridges. The selection rivals dedicated hobby districts in other Asian cities, and the competitive pricing between adjacent shops makes it worth browsing across several stores before buying.

This section of the mall draws a noticeably younger crowd, many of them local KL residents rather than tourists. Weekend afternoons see the hobby floors become genuinely packed, with collectors examining sealed card packs and negotiating on figures. If this is your primary reason for visiting, a weekday afternoon gives you space to browse without the press of the weekend crowd.

General Shopping: What to Expect

The retail floors outside the theme park and hobby zone are predominantly mid-range fashion, accessories, and lifestyle goods. Anchor tenants and well-known Malaysian and regional chains dominate the lower floors. There is a supermarket in the building for everyday goods, and a food court that offers an affordable spread of local and regional dishes. The food court is worth knowing about: it is substantially cheaper than the mall's restaurant-level dining, and quality at many of the stalls is solid.

For travelers already familiar with Kuala Lumpur's mall landscape, Berjaya Times Square occupies a different tier from nearby options. It is not the place for luxury brands or curated concept stores. It is the place for affordable clothing, practical goods, and the specific hobby and entertainment categories it does well.

If high-end retail is what you're after, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur is a ten-minute walk north and offers a significantly different retail environment. For a full picture of KL's mall options, the Kuala Lumpur shopping malls guide covers the key comparisons.

Getting There and Moving Around the Building

The Imbi Monorail station connects directly to Berjaya Times Square via an elevated covered walkway, making it the most straightforward arrival option. The walk from the station platform to the mall entrance takes under five minutes and stays sheltered the entire way, which matters significantly during KL's afternoon rain season.

Driving to the mall is possible, with multi-level parking available inside the building. However, parking on weekends and public holidays can be slow to exit given the volume of vehicles. If you are combining the visit with other stops in Bukit Bintang, the Monorail remains the more practical choice.

The building is fully air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible, with lifts reaching all retail floors and the theme park levels. Stroller access is straightforward throughout the common areas, and the theme park's Fantasy Garden zone accommodates families with pushchairs without difficulty.

Time of Day and Crowd Patterns

Berjaya Times Square opens at 10 AM daily. The lower retail floors become active quickly, but the building does not reach peak density until early afternoon on weekdays and from around noon on weekends. If you are visiting purely for shopping on the lower floors, arriving between 10 and 11 AM gives you the most comfortable experience.

Evening visits, particularly between 6 and 9 PM on weekends, bring a different energy to the food and entertainment floors. The cinema multiplex sees long queues at popular showtimes, and the food court becomes lively with a mix of families and groups of teenagers. It is noisier and more crowded but also more atmospherically active, if that is what you are looking for.

Berjaya Times Square is also a convenient base before or after visiting nearby attractions. Jalan Alor, KL's most well-known outdoor food street, is a short walk away and makes for a natural dinner pairing with an afternoon at the mall.

Who Should Skip Berjaya Times Square

Travelers on tight itineraries who are prioritizing cultural landmarks, outdoor neighborhoods, or culinary exploration will find Berjaya Times Square a poor use of limited time. The mall offers little that is architecturally or historically distinctive, and KL has more compelling alternatives for almost every category except the indoor theme park and the hobby trading floors.

Visitors expecting the polished, internationally curated retail experience of Singapore's Orchard Road malls will be disappointed. The building is aging in sections, and some floors have noticeable vacancies. This is not a deal-breaker for the right visitor, but it is worth calibrating expectations before arrival.