Universal Studios Singapore

Went to Universal Studio Singapore (located on Sentosa island off Singapore) yesterday. Once in, it immediately hits you as a smaller version of its LA parent. Normally tickets cost around S$60-70ish depending on whether it is school holidays. But family packages are available for just a dollar more each than the same number of individual tickets. What the...? You say. Well by way of compensation, you do get $50 in gift vouchers which can be use in pretty much any store in the park, which is easily able to cover lunch. There is also a free app (iOS only) which provides maps and details of the attractions as well as real time updates on ride wait times. 

There were quite a few people around by the time we got there at 10:30 and trying to get a pic at the globe outside without unwanted extras proved to be a challenge. (Ok ok so I cheated and took this shot in the evening).

Once inside, we waited 20 minutes to get into our first attraction (Shrek 4D, with the same effects as Honey I shrank the kids that we saw in LA more than 10 years ago, with the addition of 3D effects and hydraulic seats). After that a unanimous decision was made to get express passes (for an extra S$30) which allowed us to bypass the normal queues (take that, you great unwashed!). The only catch was that it can only be used once per ride, which seemed fair enough.

Quality of the rides were mostly so so. The real standouts were the 2 Battlestar Galactica roller coasters (you get to ride as either human or Cylon). Fortunately as some of the clan weren't game on these rides it meant the rest of us got to go twice (woo hoo!). The Cylon ride was undoubtedly the more exciting ride with spirals and a vicious corkscrew at the end. And all this while dangling off a ski lift type chair over 5 floors off the ground. 

The other excellent ride was the new (?) Transformers 3D ride. In fact these rides were so popular that wait times were constantly at around an hour or more. Without the passes we could have spent a fair chunk of the day languishing in queues. Try that in 95+% humidity and see how long it takes for you to reach for the wallet.

Misnamed ride of the day was the Accelerator. Which sounds great until you see what it is - huge circus style slow waltzing tubs which you sit inside. Feeling ... dizzy .... already...... Needless to say we did not get on this. Unfortunately though, the Jurassic Park water adventure was closed.

The Waterworld Show, based on the movie, was good although the cast did spend 20 minutes pre soaking the front row audience. Here we encountered another example of that Singapore trait, 'kia su' (fear of losing or coming second best). We were a bit late and were let in with the second wave for the show, man I swear I've never seen little old ladies and women move so fast, all the time egging their kids on with the words of encouragement 'faster, faster!'

Lunch was at (for the location) a reasonably priced 50's style burger joint (complete with non functional jukeboxes). I couldn't resist the delightfully Singaporean named Shiok burger (shiok being Singlish for 'great!' as in good, a bastardisation of the word 'shock'). Rather than go into details I took a picture of the ad. True to its name, it was actually pretty good.

We left at around 7pm and encountered our first real queue of the day, waiting 25 minutes in line to get on the monorail back to the main island. No express passes here unfortunately. 

And the best ride of the day? Without doubt (for me) it was the cab ride into Sentosa in the morning. We met this old Malay cabbie who regaled us with pictures of his granddaughter and told us his family story (I assume it was all true). Best line of the ride - "If I die first, my wife will be happy, but I will be even happier". Aaaaah, Singapore.