YourSingapore (The Ultimate Singaporean Adventure) Part 2

For our second day in Singapore, we headed over to Universal Studios Singapore located at Resorts World Sentosa, one of the newest tourist attractions in Singapore, and already fast becoming a premier destination in the region. Tickets for a One-Day Non-Peak Pass cost around SGD$68 for adults and SGD$50 for children (4-12 years old). For more information, please click this link.

My ticket

The Studio guide

Before you get to enter the park, you would be greeted by the massive Universal Studios globe which is a staple in pretty much all other Universal Studios parks around the world. You CANNOT miss an opportunity for a photo. Doing so is like going on a trip to Paris without even having at least one photo of the Eiffel Tower. 

The massive globe

The first section of the park that would greet you upon entering would be Hollywood, which takes you back to the 1950s with classic cars, old-style burger diners, and quartet singers belting out classic rock songs. 

Universal Studios packed with people on a Sunday morning

A quartet singing rock songs from the 1950s.

The first attraction we actually checked out wasn't located in Hollywood, but rather at New York, which, well, resembles New York City. We went to see Lights, Camera, Action! Hosted by Steven Spielberg, which is basically a simulation of a major hurricane hitting New York City. You'll get to see what a hurricane is like from the inside of an empty warehouse of some sort, though if you're coming from a part of the world that gets hit by typhoons or hurricanes a lot, most of what you'd see here is already something that you've seen before. Note the word most. 

New York 

If you are a huge roller coaster fan, then the next section of the park is probably for you. Sci-Fi City is home to two roller coasters, the Cylon (blue track) and Human (red track). The blue track is clearly the scarier one--your feet are merely suspended in the air as you go through the different twists and rolls at top speeds. You might want to try the red track first to warm up. And in case you're wondering, I did NOT ride both of them.

The red and blue tracks 

If the two roller coasters aren't enough for you, then head on over to the next section of the park, Ancient Egypt. This is where the Revenge of the Mummy ride is located, an indoor roller coaster where you come face-to-face with mummies (duh) and other...creatures. Again, I decided to skip this ride, being the roller coaster-hater that I am. 

You can have your photos taken with these guys...

...and them too!

The next section, The Lost World, is where we got to try the Canopy Flyer, which gives you a bird's eye view of some sections of the park. From below, this ride seems pretty tame, since it looks as if the ride is just going at a pretty normal speed. When you're actually on it, it feels different! The ride completely threw me off guard! Plus, it didn't help that I was facing backwards and that our feet were suspended, just like the Cylon--I absolutely did not know what to expect. Never  going on that again. Argh.

The Canopy Flyer, just to give you an idea. Picture taken from the Resorts World Sentosa website.

Next, we went to the nearby amphitheater to watch WaterWorld, a live show that combines acrobatics, acting, explosions and stunts. It was a truly amazing show that'll leave your mouths open and probably soaked (especially if you're seated in front). Kudos to the actors who did all those scary stunts WITHOUT any safety harnesses. Heck, even Cirque du Soleil wouldn't do that. 

The crowd watching WaterWorld

The stunts are definitely worth watching

We had lunch at the Discovery Food Court also at The Lost World, where I got to try the ever-famous Hainanese Chicken Rice for around $5-$7. The Chicken Rice is the most popular item on the menu here, as there were barely any lines to the stalls that sell other dishes. It was really delicious--it is surely a must-try.

A must-try!

Next stop: Far Far Away, based on the fictional kingdom in the Shrek movie series. The first attraction we went to was the Shrek 4-D Adventure. Compared to other 4-D movie attractions I've been to, though (like Mickey's Philharmagic at Hong Kong Disneyland or the 4-D pirate movie at Sentosa, this fell short of my expectations. In my opinion, they probably need to add more special effects for variety. 

The entrance to Far Far Away

People walking down the street

For live entertainment, you might also want to check out Donkey LIVE, a short 20-30 minute song-and-dance show where the audience get to interact with Donkey by singing and dancing along with him and asking him questions. Random audience members may also get picked to answer questions from Donkey. 

The host, Raul

Donkey interacts with the audience

We then headed back to Sci-Fi City for the TRANSFORMERS The Ride: The Ultimate 3D Battle, which is easily my favorite ride in the park. One word to describe it: AWESOME! Everything just seems so realistic--it's like you're also taking part in a battle involving the transformers, though you're actually just on a car-ish ride with screens all around you. You will be amazed--do not dare miss out on this one!

We were still hungover from the awesomeness that is the Transformers ride when my classmates and I decided to head back to The Lost World for the Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure, which we had intentionally decided to skip earlier on in the day since we would surely get soaked. I wasn't even able to take any photos since we decided to rent a locker so that we could put our stuff in. For $3 you can buy a plastic raincoat to protect yourself--this doesn't mean that you will stay completely dry, though; you will get wet at some point, just at a lesser extent than those who choose to not buy a raincoat. 

The last ride we went to was Madagascar: A Crate Adventure, an indoor river boat ride at the Madagascar section of the park. This ride was actually quite boring, unless you're a kid, of course. If all of you in the group are adults, I suggest you skip this ride and check out the other attractions instead. 

You can buy turkey legs from this food stall at Hollywood for $13.

To wrap up the day, we watched the Hollywood Dreams Parade, which passes through Hollywood, New York, Sci-Fi City Ancient Egypt, and ends at The Lost World. This is the last main attraction before the park closes at 7pm (or a bit later if the parade doesn't start on time. We had a great view of the parade from New York. We didn't get to finish the parade, though--we had to leave by 7pm to join the rest of our classmates on the bus back to the city.

Some photos of the parade:

Just before the parade started

Universal Studios Singapore, being the first Universal Studios theme park in Southeast Asia, is certainly worth visiting. It would take you at least 1-2 days to explore the whole park, depending on whether you're actually going to try out every single ride or watch every show or not. Everyone will certainly enjoy the day--there is a good mix of rides and attractions that would appeal to people of all ages, and not just kids. The weather in Singapore, though, is hot and humid all year round, so be prepared to sweat as you walk through the place--it's best to bring a change of clothes just to make sure. 

Would I go back to Universal Studios the next time I visit Singapore? Hmm, I don't know. A lot of the attractions here are just meant to be visited and experienced once, because the thrill or excitement disappears once you've already tried it before--and I've been to a lot of  the more popular rides and attractions already. But who knows? Maybe there'll be new additions to the park the next time I'm in town--maybe they'll be enough to pull me back to the park again in the future.

Universal Studios Singapore is open daily from 10am-7pm. For more information, please do check out http://www.rwsentosa.com/Attractions/UniversalStudiosSingapore)