Around South East Asia: Part Ten

In which I explored the USS

12.12.2022: Tour Day 6

Universal Studios Singapore

Experience Southeast Asia’s first and only Universal Studios theme park based on your favorite blockbuster films and television series. Get an adrenaline rush on cutting-edge rides. Also, get ready to strike a pose with the animation stars. I am not going in the order of how I completed the rides but in order of the flow of the zones and rides. Each zone had restaurants and shopping outlets related to the themes. There is also a single rider provision in which you can escape the queue and do maximum rides. Well, this option works on most of the rides, and also depends on your luck. This is for filling the empty seats since people prefer to take rides in groups.

Hollywood

It is the main entrance area of the park. Its only attraction, a Broadway-style theatre, is accompanied by a variety of shopping locations such as US Stores, Hello Kitty Store, Minion Mart, etc. The zone is filled with Hollywood-inspired architecture and palm trees, including a replica of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

New York

It has sidewalks and iconic landmarks replicating the cityscape of post-modern New York City. The neighborhood’s neon lights, and street facades add to most Hollywood blockbuster movies’ urban fun and real-time movie production. It includes:

Lights! Camera! Action! Hosted by Steven Spielberg

A show that features special effects that mimic a major hurricane. I got into the show at 6pm. There was no waiting time. The audience was divided into three levels, the ones at ground level had to bear with the water that the huge ship splashed on arrival. Here we witnessed how special effects are added onto movie scenes, fireworks, storms are created, etc.

Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase

A suspended dark ride themed to the Sesame Street franchise. This is a kids ride but parents were also allowed, and so it was open for all. It was going round and round and meeting the characters.

Sci-Fi City

It is modeled after how cities and metropolises appear in the future. It is complete with advanced space-age technology and everyday life’s comforts. It includes:

Battlestar Galactica: HUMAN   

A sit-down roller coaster with no inversions. The trains are modeled after the Colonial Mark II Viper used by the Human faction as seen in the Battlestar Galactica series. It's a four-seater per section ride, taking twists and sharp turns.

Battlestar Galactica: CYLON

An inverted roller coaster that was designed for a more thrilling experience, with inversions. The trains are modeled after the Cylon Heavy Raider used by the Cylon faction as seen in the Battlestar Galactica series. It's like you are hanging out like some fruit on the tree. It was quite a speedy ride and at the end swirling into a real cyclone.

Transformers: The Ride

It is a 4-D Dark Ride Motion Simulator ride that uses the same ride-vehicle technology as The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man. It has giant wrap-around screens that sport photo-realistic 3D-HD video imagery, along with additional 4-D effects that further enhance the ride experience. The waiting time was longest here 11:30 to 12:45, I was with Uma and Padmaja. We were traversing from one room to another, and another till we finally enjoyed the ride.

Accelerator

A whirling twirling ride that spins guests around, kind of cup and saucer version but with more speed. I did it with Tanvi and Apurva at 1:30pm. There was a big queue here and yes, an express queue as well which added to the delay.

The Ancient Egypt

It is a zone based on the Mummy film series. It is decorated with elaborate Egyptian buildings and antiquities discovered during the 1930s Golden Age of Egyptian Exploration. It includes:

Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride

A combination dark ride and roller coaster that is built within an indoor space. This ride was inspired and developed from The Mummy film from 1999. I did not take this ride.

Treasure Hunters

A leisure car ride that drives around an abandoned Egyptian excavation site. The ride vehicles had the look of vintage jeeps. Animatronic animals within the attraction include hippos, some vultures, many cobras, a cheetah, and Nile crocodiles. Since there was a 40 min waiting time, I skipped the same.

We had lunch at 2pm at the Oasis Spice Cafe, which is an Egyptian-themed cafeteria serving specialties from various north African and Middle Eastern cultures. 

We had to redeem the coupons here. I had Veg Biryani and orange juice with Tanvi and family.

The Lost World

Jurassic Park and Waterworld are two of the themed areas, of which the Waterworld was closed. Jurassic Park: Relive the thrill of the cult blockbuster Jurassic Park movies. I met the group, and we were here from 2:30 to 4pm. The rides include:

Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure

A river rapids ride that features a white-water raft system where riders on circular rafts are sent down a rapid with animatronic dinosaurs. Single rider helped to bypass the queue, Tanvi, Chaitali, Apurva and I went for this ride. We were in different rafts. I already had the experience of Rajasaurus in Imagica in which we slide at the waterfall and the water splashes, and we get drenched. Here it was more of it. With every push the raft got, a little bit of water kept splashing on us. We passed through different dinos, with a speaker describing those. There was a waterfall even here and we got drenched. Post that we got back to the starting point.

Canopy Flyer

Riders board the rollercoaster suspended on a track, which holds two guests front-facing, and two back-facing. As the car moves up the lift hill, the theme music from Jurassic Park plays via nearby speakers. The cars go up a high distance in the air and travel around the Jurassic Park-area, including a 360-degree turn over Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure, before returning to the station. I and Chaitali went for this ride, with single rider. I saw a few people doing the Amber Rock Climb Challenge.

Dino-Soarin'

An aerial carousel-styled fly around ride that spins around, with riders being able to control the vertical height of their pteranodon-styled ride vehicle. Apurva and Tanvi went for this, took time in the long queue.

Far Far Away

It is based on The Kingdom of Far Far Away from the DreamWorks Animation film Shrek. It includes all of your favorite characters and locations.

Shrek 4-D Adventure

A 3-D stereoscopic show with physical effects like moving chairs. A part of the movie was showcased. I attended the 5pm show with Riddhi Kalas and her daughter Hetvi and mother-in-law Pratibha.

Puss in Boots' Giant Journey

A Zamperla suspended roller coaster based on the Puss in Boots spin-off franchise. The exterior entrance is themed to the ruins of a large castle, overgrown in ivy. In the queue, Puss and Kitty Softpaws introduce riders to the attraction's story, which involves them stealing eggs from a giant goose to save an orphanage. The nine guests per ride-vehicle experience the story throughout the rollercoaster via the vehicle's speaker system, and by passing several life-size statues of Puss, Kitty, a giant goose, and its children. A single rider helped bypass the queue.

Enchanted Airways

A junior roller coaster that passes through the area, with trains modeled after Dragon from Shrek. Throughout the ride, guests encounter statues of fairy tale characters and environments from the Shrek franchise as well. The queue is located within a medieval-style tent. Since there was no single rider benefit. We had to stand for a long time. I did the ride with Sarita More and Anuraddha Aaji.

Done with all the rides of USS, everyone had gathered at a meeting point. The homemade snacks munching was on. At 7pm, we queued up for the Monorail Resort World Station and boarded the metro which would take us to the next show. 

I was wondering where this monorail is, coming from and going to with passengers.

Wings of Time

A fitting end to our day out at Sentosa, this spectacular light water show about friendship and courage is staged nightly. Be wowed by spellbinding laser, fire and water effects set to a majestic soundtrack, complete with a jaw dropping fireworks display. We reached the stage before 7:30pm and had a washroom break. The show from 7:30 to 8pm was awe-inspiring. Post that we had dinner at the Good Old Days restaurant at 8:30pm. Then we headed to the hotel, the final night in the room. We had to complete our luggage packing for we had to check out from the hotel in the morning. Today the luggage trolley came into the room and got loaded with the same. Tomorrow is the last day in the lion city.

Read next: Around South East Asia: Part Eleven