Thursday 19 December 2013

Universal Studio Singapore

I have yet to step into Universal Studio Singapore (USS) although it is open for 3 years. The high ticket price is the main factor which deters me from visiting. When my sister's company offers a discounted rate of S$54 (u.p. $74) and includes a $5 meal voucher,  I decided to make a visit to USS. I went to Universal Studio Japan before and it is much more fun than Hong Kong Disneyland hence I decided to bring my parents along to USS.

We took the Sentosa express at VivoCity and alight at Waterfront station. The return ride is free as my sis ex-employer offer this staff benefit and she borrow the pass from her ex-colleague. By the time we reach the entrance of USS, it's only 10am. We do not have to queue to buy the ticket since we have the tickets and we head straight to the entrance gate. The USS staff manning the gate inform us that we have to get a hand stamp if we exit USS and return within the day. 
Ticket booth
Universal Studio Globe
Hollywood entrance

There was also no queue at the entrance gate and the staff do not check the personal belonging in our bags. Among the theme parks which I have went to, only Disneyland Hong Kong check the guest's bag to deter them from bring own food. I took a map and show guide which is available after entering the entrance gate. USS is the smallest among all the Universal Studio and divided into 7 areas namely Hollywood, New York, Sci-Fi City, Ancient Egypt, The Lost World, Far Far Away and Madagascar.
Popcorn kiosk
Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase
Xmas deco

I have done research before visiting USS and the most popular rides are Transformer and Revenge of the mummy. We start our first ride at Transformer and it's only 10min waiting time. The queue gets longer during the day.
Transformers the Ride

The Transformer ride is pretty similar to the The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride which I have taken in USJ as both are dark motion ride. The difference is Transformer is a 4D ride while Spiderman is a 3D ride. We have to board a ride vehicle which has 4 rows and can accommodate 12 riders. It's an exciting ride especially the part where I feel like being thrown off from a building.
Robotic gadgets
Transformer & us

The Battlestar Galactica has two rides: Human vs Cylon. Both are closed since July 2013 till now so I don't have a chance to ride them.
Battlestar Galactica

We did not took the Accelerator as we don't want to feel giddy and spinning after this ride.
Accelerator
Ancient Egypt

We saw people buying those big water bottles in USS and my sis saw the price list and told me that it range from S$15 - S$30. Wow, that's too expensive!
Drink kiosk

The 2nd ride which we took is Revenge of the Mummy. We have to leave our bags in the lockers provided. The locker is free for the first 45 min only. Well, if the queue is longer than 45 min then you have to pay to retrieve your belongings and charges are not cheap.

Revenge of the mummy is a 4 stories roller coaster ride in the dark. The roller coaster ride was exciting and the reverse section caught me by surprise.
Revenge of the Mummy
Entrance to the ride

We saw these characters after the ride and my dad was so keen to take photos with them.
Anubis
Warrior
Egyptian woman

After the mummy ride, we queue for the Treasure Hunters ride and queue has increased to 50min waiting time. It is a pretty boring ride but family friendly as there is no height restriction for kids. I find the Autopia ride at Hong Kong Disneyland much more interesting than this.
Treasure Hunter
Vintage car
Cobra
Cheetah
Scarab

We continue to the Jurassic Park zone. We were queueing half way for the Rapids Adventure ride until announcement of technical glitch. Hence we left and went to watch the WaterWorld show.
Jurassic park
Dino-Soarin

It's safer to sit at the back rows when watching the Water World show as those at the front will get drench. Some brave audience sat at the front came prepared by wearing a poncho! I have watched the same show back in USJ but it was in Japanese which I don't understand at all.
Water world

Pack with audience

After the show, we had lunch at Discovery Food Court. The meals are expensive which cost S$11 and we used our S$5 meal voucher to offset. We didn't order drinks as we bought our own water bottle and water cooler is available outside most toilets.
Ayam Penyat
Vegetarian noodle

We saw Velociraptorthe character meet after our lunch but too bad, it's returning back to it's own territory.
Velociraptor

We saw the rapid adventure is open again and went to queue for the ride. The waiting time was long at 60min and there is vending machine selling poncho for S$4. We came prepared and I bought the poncho in Watson for S$1.60 only.
Poncho vending machine

Probably we are not fated to take this ride as the staff ask us to alight after we just board the ride and they told us that there is technical glitch. We were given a priority pass but we didnt get to use it as the ride was closed for the whole day.
Rapid adventure
Drying pods
Far Far Away

We continued to Far Far Away and catch the Donkey LIVE performance. It was so boring and some audience tried to leave before end of the show but was stopped by the staff.
Donkey LIVE

We watched Shrek 4D adventure after Donkey LIVE. It's the most interesting show in USS. Then we rode the Enchanted Airways which is a junior roller coaster. It's not thrilling at all and the ride ended too fast.

We walked back to rapid adventure to check if the ride has resume but to our disappointment, it has not yet resume. We queued for the canopy flyer and waited for 55min. Well, all the rides are less than 5 min but it's the waiting time that kills.

As there is no queue at the merry go round, we took the ride to reminiscence our childhood.
King Julien's Beach Party-Go-Round

There was also no queue at Madagascar: A Crate Adventure. There was a part where there is a water flowing down from the top and we were worried that we will get wet. It turns out that the water will stop flowing when the boat went through it. Phew! 
Madagascar:  A Crate Adventure
The 4 main characters

We watched Light, Camera, Action! hosted by Steven Spielberg at New York Street. It is modelled after a hurricane scene in New York  Beware that the audience standing at the first two rows may get wet.
Bettlejuice

We had dinner at Mel's Drive in and the burger set S$11 comes with fries only. Cheese fries and onion rings requires additional S$1. Dining in USS is extremely expensive and it's no exception in other theme parks.
Fast food at Mel's Drive in

We watched the Christmas lighting show at New York street and there is foam snow falling after the show.
Christmas Lighting at night

As we still have the express pass underutilized, I asked my parents if they prefer watching Shrek 4D or taking Madagascar boat ride. In the end, we took the boat ride and did not utilise the pass since there was no queue at all.

It seems that there are no queues for the rides when USS open in the morning and at night. The queue is worst in the afternoon.
Miss Betty Boop

We took Sentosa express back to Vivocity and hubby came to fetch us.

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