This is perhaps the highlight of our Singapore adventures, the Universal Studios. It was our first time to visit the park, and I found it a satisfying experience.
Since I already have 2 tickets included in our Festive Hotel package, my friend and I needed only to buy 2 more tickets. We were pleasantly surprised when we got a 25% (or was it 20%?) discount using our Mastercard credit card. We were in Singapore during the Great Singapore Sale and Mastercard was one of the major sponsors of the event. On top of that, we were given a SGD 10 voucher for buying souvenirs inside the park. So, it was a double yay for us.
We arrived at the Universal Studios just before 10 am, and people were just starting to enter the park. The first section you'd come across is the Hollywood section where you can find the Universal Studios flagship store. The Hollywood Boulevard experience is an amalgamation of shops and eateries, and...nothing else. Well, except for photo opportunities, but it is nothing more than a very small strip with Hollywood-inspired buildings and surroundings. It think it'd take an average person no more than 50 steps, or less, to walk through the entire strip.
Next stop is Madagascar. It's literally for kids. And sad to say, the carousel there looks cheap. It is one of two rides there. The other one is the Crate Adventure where you ride a flat boat of some sorts and float into the water with little action or excitement, except for the last part where you will be forced to "wish" you should have brought an umbrella or a raincoat. There's a little splash, but it does not mean, though, that you'll need protection from getting soaked.
Then, there's Far Far Away. Kids will start shouting, "Disneyland" when they see the castle. Nope, it's not the Disney castle but it's the castle Far, Far Away from the movie, Shrek. There are 4 attractions here: a junior roller coaster (adults can ride here but it was just a short and mildly exciting ride), an interactive live show called Donkey LIVE featuring the cast of Shrek headed by Donkey himself, a Magic Potion spin, the Universal Studios equivalent of the teacup spin (for kids only), and the Shrek 4d adventure which you should not miss. It is the longest and most fun 4d I've ever experienced. The one in Cebu is just a couple of minutes and seems to have skimped on the effects, but not Shrek 4d. It's super, super fun and exciting! I was happiest in this attraction. You'll go horse riding with the wind on your face and sometimes, you'll get water sprayed at you, or you'll feel being thrown in your seat. It's really fantastic.
The Lost World comes next. It is a combination of Water World and Jurassic Park, and this section has 5 attractions. There's a rock-climbing experience, which I didn't even notice was there. Probably because there's a separate fee for that ride. There's also a Canopy Flyer where you'll be seated and hanging on a canopy circling the area. We waited for 30 minutes to ride this one but just when we're already near the start of the line, the ride had a glitch and had to be stopped for a considerable amount of time, with riders still strapped in their seats. They haven't started flying out yet but still, they could not get out of their seats. So, we weren't able to ride it, ever. There's another kiddie ride, like the flying airplane ride but instead of airplanes, kids get to ride on pterodactyls. Again, the aesthetics of this ride looks cheap, almost like, "pang-perya." But hey, if you have kids, make them ride this one, and all the kiddie rides because there are so few of those.
We now come to the two highlights of the Lost World section, the Jurassic Park Rapids and the Water World live show. The Water World live show is an elaborate short play based on the movie, the Water World starring Kevin Costner. I've never seen the movie but the short live show was fun, with lots of water stunts, action and props. It was really, really exciting. Before the live show, there was a short audience interaction with lots of water being thrown around at people. The seating area is much like the ones in a dolphin show, with colored areas stating the level of wetness you'll likely get when you seat there. Surprisingly, a lot of people sat down on the lowest aisles with 100% probability of getting wet. We were seated just above the wet zone where it's relatively safe.
The last ride we've tried is the Jurassic Park Rapids adventure. The lines here are insufferably long. It was starting to get hot and really humid. Near the start of the line, there's two vending machine, not for refreshments, but for plastic disposable raincoats for SGD 2 a pop. In this ride, the probability of getting wet is 100%; it just varies how much you're going to get wet. The ride itself is really great but you'll get wet. My tips for this ride are:
- All your things will get wet, including you, so before riding, get your things stowed at the lockers (free for the first 60 minutes) and get a raincoat.
- If you don't want to buy a SGD plastic raincoat, ask the staff at the exit of the ride to hand you a discarded plastic raincoat. I've noticed that people were just throwing away their raincoats after the ride at a huge trash bin for that purpose, never to be used again. Not us. We kept out plastic raincoats since it was expensive and there's a logo of Universal Studios. Hey, we're Pinoys, we're [almost] all like that.
- Don't wear socks, rubber shoes, sneakers, dress shoes, or expensive shoes. You'll likely to get them wet since half of the circular tube/floating device you'll be riding will be flooded with water.
- This is the best time to use your waterproof/underwater camera. Not a lot of people were able to get pictures while on this ride. I did manage to get some shots with my regular camera before the wetting began.
I don't know these people. I just took their photos.
Then, we were off to Ancient Egypt, inspired by the movie, The Mummy featuring Brendan Frasier and Rachel Weiss. This section is a marvel in itself. I think a lot of the expenses came into this area because the statues are gigantic, sky-high and the props look real and not plastic-y. However, the are only two attractions: one for kids called the Treasure Hunter, a very boring car ride through the dessert (I know because we rode this one much to the utter horror of the staff since we don't have a kid with us), and the frightening, The Mummy, the ride with probably the longest lines in this park. The staff are strict in this ride. Nothing is allowed to be brought inside because there's this big probability that you'd lose your belongings while on the ride. The only things allowed are prescription glasses, handkerchiefs and just about it. Why? This ride is like an indoor roller coaster ride with sharp turns, abrupt stops...and nerve-wracking falls, among others. Through-out the long lines, there are emergency exit points in case you realized you're not up to it. We forced my mother to ride, telling her its too late to back out since we're almost at the start of the line. She had no choice. Good thing that the ride seats 4 people since there are 4 of us and we were seated at the farthest section of the ride.
Treasure Hunting ride in the dessert, for kids and adults.
About the no-anything policy in the ride, I was able to sneak-in my camera which I strapped to my brassiere in front. I was wearing an empire waist dress and I was able to conceal it. So I had shots inside the building were we were lined-up. It was in near darkness and there I was, snapping photos with flash. Hahaha. When it was almost near our time to ride, I tied my camera again in the same place to the shock of the college-aged girls behind me. Teehee. Since I was wearing my prescription glasses, I was forced to hook it, too, inside my dress for fear of losing it. It's a Bulgari, so, I didn't want to lose it. Plus, I did not bring a spare one with me in Singapore.
Inside "The Mummy" ride.
Rub your hands, place your palm in the box, then wait for the light.
As for the ride, well, let's just say that I don't like riding the roller coaster or anything with g-force, unless it's an airplane as there wouldn't be a choice then. This ride, for my standards, is wicked. Even terrifying if you're easily spooked by darkness or easily startled by anything. I felt like I was being dragged around at great speed and then thrown out whenever the ride abruptly starts. There's a story in the ride, too. I was too scared to comprehend what was happening. There was some fire of some sorts, too.
The next section is the Sci-Fi which features the wicked Battlestar Galactica two-colored roller coaster rides. The red and the blue lines are separate coaster rides and there's a lot of twisting, upside-downs, turns, loops and near-miss. One takes you upside down, the other one doesn't but is faster. I didn't want to ride this one out, as with most people in the park. There was practically no lines for this one. I was too scared to even notice that there was another attraction, a space-inspired teacup ride for adults called the Accelator.
The last section is New York. There's not much going in here, except for photo opportunities, much like the Hollywood section next to it. However, there's Steven Spielberg's Lights, Camera, Action. It's shows how a sound stage recreates a category 5 hurricane in New York, inside a boat house, with splashing water, fire and a lot more. This one is very informative.
The last attraction of this park is of course, the fireworks display. It is not really spectacular. If I recall correctly, the fireworks is at 9 pm, and the rides around the lake are closed earlier, I think at 8 pm, to give way to the fireworks show.
Over-all, I think you can walk around the park for 15 minutes or less. Yes, it is that small. Yes, there are not a lot of attractions and rides, specially for kids. Yes, the food inside is expensive. And yes, a whole day in the park, from opening to closing, is a lot of time for such a small theme park. To kill off time, you can watch all the shows, like the Monster show, the Mel's Diners' sing and dance show, the Donkey Live, the Rockefeller Street Boys dance (they're Filipinos; are they the Streetboys dance group? They have a lot of screaming fans whenever they dance), and some others I forgot about. There was so much time to spend that we returned to our hotel around 1 pm to eat lunch at Ruyi, near the casino, and to rest and freshen-up for 2 hours or so in our room. There is hardly any lines at the rides so, take this opportunity when most people are already tired.
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