Universal Studios Singapore (USS)–Part 2

I was done with scary rides for the day after what ought to have been at most an exciting Shrek kiddy rollercoaster.

Next door to Shrek-land was more kiddy Madagascar stuff:

I don’t recall what the rides at Madagascar were because the waiting times were still really long! But there was a carousel – on which there were 3 South Asian businessmen….

Look at the pictures above and below. What is it about a DSLR that captures better colour??

The Madagascar area provided a great view of Battlestar Galactica. We spent a long time just standing there looking at the two tracks – Human (upright) and Cylon (some parts upside down) rollercoasters. The Human track seemed rather doable (just don’t go on the Mummy first) as it didn’t seem that fast. The Cylon one was crazy though.

In the picture above, the people will soon have their heads to the ground and legs to the sky as they ride that look. And below, they should have just became upright. The rollercoaster extends a bit further into the background, so it’s bigger than it looks here.

The Egypt area is pretty big too! It’s low and flat..

The view across to New York and Hollywood:

We headed back to The Lost World to watch the Water World show. Apparently the show it’s based on is quite bad, but this show was really good!!

The entrance to the show ground.. and the set below

The amphitheatre was really big. The blue seats are areas where the audience will get wet, and the green seats areas where they may get wet. The guy below with the long tube-like thing – he and his colleagues warmed up the audience with some antics, mainly by pouring/splashing/spraying water on those in the blue zone. They got SOAKED even before the show began!

Some highlights of the show..

One of the bad guys – see the fire from his automatic shooting thing (i wish i knew the name)

The boy took quite a few goods shots – best of all is this fluke one:

It was quite exciting cos there were fights, actors diving into the water (cos they got punched in the face and fell backwards, etc), rope jumps, gunfire, fire, fireworks and more!

It was indeed very smoky towards the end..

We headed back the way we came from – and got a nice view of Madagascar.

And Egypt..

This is one of the rides, where you’re a “treasure hunter”. I dont really understand the rationale behind this ride as the “land rover” goes so slowly, and the “snakes”, “alligators” and “scarab beetles” are not in the least scary. Perhaps this is for the REAL kids. 

Of course, I took more pictures of Shrek-land.

 

The sky had darkened and threatened to rain (thankfully it didn’t). It lent a beautiful effect to the castle and fantasy-world image.

:)

Universal Studios Singapore (USS)–Part 1

Went to USS on a Tuesday, right after Labour Day last week (my, it’s only just last week!). Realised that

1. it’s really expensive, even at about $53 after a 20% Mastercard discount (there’s currently one for DBS too);
2. If it’s a hot day you’re dead, as there’re few places for respite from the heat (and that day was a hot one);
3. Even if it’s a weekday it’s still rather crowded, because there’re many tourists! Unless they were all out in force, visiting Singapore over the Labour Day weekend and extended their holiday a little.

The first view that greets you – pretty similar to USJ and i suspect other Universal Studios too.

Kungfu Panda! We also saw Shrek, the animals from Madagascar, Betty Boop and the Woodpecker over the course of the day.

Our first show: Monster Rock. It had a stupid premise – someone managed to reanimate the “classic monsters” and for a short time each day they perform for people. The most songs weren’t really rock (and they also did Wonder Girl’s ‘Nobody’), the monsters weren’t that interesting (Phantom of the Opera, Frankenstein and his Bride, Werewolf, Weregirl, some female Mummy and Dracula – i was expecting stuff like Incredible Hulk), and the artistes weren’t that good at singing or dancing.

I always like the New York part of Universal Studios..

Me perched snug between the lion’s paws! :)

Next stop was Sci Fi City, which is where the rollercoaster Battlestar Galactica was.

But we went to sit a kiddy ride (at my request) first – it spun around and was quite enjoyable:

Before I knew how scary the ride was, I was all eager to head to the Egypt section where the Mummy was:

The above two are the boy’s pictures – look at the beautiful colour you get from a DSLR! I thought it the top of the push-cart stall was rather cute:

Don’t you think this could actually pass off as Cairo? Perhaps at least in the movies? The lockers for this ride were really expensive – free for the first 30 minutes, but considering the queues (it said 15minutes on the outside, but I think we waited for at least 25min) that’s pretty useless. Thereafter it’s $3 per hour i think!

The Mummy rollercoaster ride was really scary. There’s this part with a sudden backwards movement, and the entire ride is in the dark, really fast, and extra scary because the safety barrier only reaches to your waist from the ground. I was screaming all the way with my eyes closed and had a sore throat after.

We took a walk around Jurassic Park (photo courtesy of the boy), but I was so traumatised after the ride I headed towards Shrek-land instead. (check out that kiddy ride above where you’re dangling from the air! Not scary meh!??)

I absolutely love the look of Shrek-land.

I was so enamoured by it that I took many many photos. The Shrek 4D film is quite enjoyable and worth a go, although they could have well done away with the uneventful “introduction” or shortened it.

Puss in Boots! They didn’t sell much merchandise of Puss – just a few keychains and one mug where he did his whole big simpering eyes look. Pity!

Shrek’s house – up in the upper left corner is his toilet.

Pretty DSLR colours below! *jealous*

We went to sit the Shrek “kiddy” rollercoaster at my request – USS had lots of thrilling rides so i thought we should get our money’s worth. Plus, looking at some of the teeny kids going for the ride, I thought, if they can, so can i!

It was still pretty scary though. I was screaming too, and needed my second lozenges of the day after the ride. The rollercoaster was cute though, with the head and tail of the Dragon.