Universal Studios Singapore

Posted on 19. Jan, 2012 by Poi in Blog, Singapore

The next stop on our whirlwind tour of Singapore was Sentosa Island. I’ll admit I knew nothing about this place before arriving in Singapore, other than the fact it was home to Universal Studios Singapore, which is of course why Kirsty was so desperate to go.

The only problem, it was raining… Unfortunately when you’re only in a country for four days (that sounds like a terribly short time but I did go into Spain for five minutes once…) you don’t have a lot of time to spare.  That means if you plan something and the weather is shit, you still have to go!

She can't help herself...

I really wanted to give the street luge they have on the island a go but the rain just wasn’t stopping, so I was dragged away towards Universal Studios and hopefully some dry entertainment.

There’s a lot going on in Universal Studio’s and obviously a lot of it’s aimed at kids, however there are plenty of things to keep the big kids entertained as well, so here’s my highlights for the grown ups (I’m by no means putting myself in that category)

Battlestar Galactica: HUMAN
This ride along with it’s partner, cyclone, are the real rollercoasters of the park. We ended up on this one first and enjoyed it a lot.  Straight after exiting we ran round the other side to jump on it’s partner and compare the two…

Battlestar Galactica: CYLON
Well, this one is the better of the two by far, in an upright position with your feet dangling below you set off in tandem with the ‘Human’ but the ride is much more thrilling. Big dips and loops seem a lot more fun when your not sitting normally!

Transformers: The Ride

Transformers: The Ride
We were lucky enough to visit the park the day before this ride opened, I say lucky because they were giving a short test run and of course we jumped at the chance.  It’s hard to describe this ride other than saying it’s awesome and like nothing I have been on before.  The 3D animation is insane and put together with the movement of the car it’s hard to remember you’re on a ride. You genuinely feel as though you’re flying round the streets and at one point as we fell from the roof of a building I honestly felt I was going to smash into the ground. I can’t do it justice at all in writing so make sure if you get the chance you check it out for yourself. Amazing.

Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride
I fully expected this ride to be complete pants but I was pleasantly surprised.  High speed loops through the darkness, sudden stops and unexpected backwards sections make this probably my second favourite ride in the park.

Lights! Camera! Action! Hosted by Steven Spielberg
At the time of visiting this was the only real attraction in the New York section of the park other than having your picture taken with a ‘celebrity’ or as a remember just some women in a sexy outfit – just as good. Basically you’re in a warehouse and shown how, what looks like a real life dramatic scene, can be created using special effects. It’s interesting to see how it’s done but after the transformers ride it just doesn’t quite meet the standard anymore.

Waterworld
To be honest this is really cheesy and pretty outdated but like all these shows the staff are really (do I mean overly?) enthusiastic and there are plenty of stunts and explosions to keep you entertained without wasting half your day. Worth a watch.

Waterworld Show

Our trip to Universal Studios Singapore fell midweek when the weather was pretty terrible – the bonus? The park wasn’t very busy and judging by the snaking lengths of some of the barriers it wouldn’t surprise me to be waiting an hour on a peak day for many of the attractions. The worst we experienced was half an hour for a ride that was literally open for the first time ever – not bad eh?

The whole park is set out well. It has different themes for different area’s that form a natural circle for you to follow.  The park isn’t too big either which means unlike a lot of these parks you don’t spend half the day walking between attractions.

Our verdict?  Well worth a visit providing you’re not one of those freaks that hates fun? I mean rides…

Also did I mention how good Transformers: The Ride is??

Tags: Blog, Singapore