Digitista MediaWave: Fan and Fun in Universal Studios

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Fan and Fun in Universal Studios

HELLO WORLD:

Explore Singapore - Day 2, Part 1

Hong Kong and Singapore have been rivals in economy, in regional operations location, and in tourism. So when Hong Kong got Disneyland a few years ago, I just thought HK got the upper hand. =) 'But Singapore did not take this sitting down and fought back big time with the opening of Universal Studios early this year! =) And as always, it's us, customers who benefit from this healthy competition. =)

Alas, Universal Studios! =)

The world is in my hands!

So after touring HK Disneyland in 2008, it's SG Universal Studios this time around!

Day 2 - Our call time is at 9:15 am so my room mate and I made it a point that we take the breakfast at the hotel at 6:30 am and then gear up for the tour afterwards. So, we were definitely on time, and as we walk towards the bus assigned to us, Bus 3, we were already surprised without even arriving at Universal Studios yet as we will be riding a double deck bus! Haha, we can be surprised and made happy that easily. =)

Anyway, it was about 20 to 30 minute ride. Our guide gave our tickets so as the 15 SGD meal stub and 5 SGD retail stub. And when we arrive at the place, the first thing we did is take photos with the Universal Studios globe ad the backdrop!

Click! Click! Click! We were just so excited to take our photos in every fascinating corner that we saw. My companions and I take the counter clockwise route so we first hit the Hollywood street! And being a big fan of popcorn movies, one of the biggest surprises in the tour for me is the Lights Camera Action studio! There was a short spiel by film great Steven Spielberg but the the biggest highlight is a showcase of a disaster movie shot in a studio!

Neil and Henry are lucky to have me as their photographer! They got a good shot in the studio and I didn't! Grrr... Hehehe

We then moved to the Sci-Fi City but the Battlestar Galactica is not yet open so we end up trying the kiddie ride The Accelerator. And all I can say is, I'm not young enough to do this kind of ride anymore. =)

After walking a few meters, we then saw the gates of Ancient Egypt, the theme park for the movie "The Mummy"! And as usual, it's photo taking once more! =) We deposited our bags at the locker room and lined of the Revenge of the Mummy Ride. We lined up for about 30 minutes and then experienced the ride of our life! =) We bumped to a wall, turn around, and then ride in cyclones in dark. I cannot help but think if we are already spirits inside the ride! =D And then in our most awkward facial expressions, the studio camera betrayed us once more. And still, we bought the photo! =)

After the ride, we were all hungry then so we ran towards the Lost World and had lunch in Discovery Food Court which is in Jurassic Park setting, just like in the movie! I was amazed with the replica of the T-Rex skeleton and of course, had my photo taken there. =) I ordered a 3-piece wing chicken meal and big big coke!

That's the T-Rex in the movie! Wait, what movie, Jurassic Park or Night at the Museum? Hmmm... =)

Forgive me for the shot, I'm so hungry at this time and I just made a quick click and ate this meal at once! Yum! =D

After lunch, we then lined up at the Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure. And goodness, it's the longest line in any theme park I've visited. I think we waited for 1 1/2 to 2 hours so we spent a lot of time in the line. Anyway, we just realized that we will get wet in the ride, and unfortunately, we were not able to bring our ponchos. So we what we did was borrow the ponchos from our colleagues who were just soaked in water! =D Then the ride went on, with the dinosaur robotics at the side of the water, and some splash every now and then. That's until we entered a tunnel and experienced another surprise we cannot forget! =)

This is not the rapids! These are just kids enjoying the water in Jurassic Park.

We were running out of time, as we need to go back at the assembly area at 6 PM, so right after the ride, we proceeded to Far Far Away instead of the canopy ride. When we entered Shrek's castle, we all thought that it's just an ordinary film showing, but after the long preambles, we were lead to a bigger theater, the Shrek 4D Adventure. We then immediately took the best seats. Honestly, I'm not a Shrek movie fan, but this 4D show gave me one of the best, if not the best, cinema experiences of my life! Let me have a little spoiler because I can't help but share that cinematic experience. As we watch the film, we also experienced a thrilling horse ride, being sprinkled by a sneeze (yuck haha) and being touched by spiders! After that awesome cinematic experience, we bought souvenirs at the Fairy Godmother's Potion Shop. And as I was amazed with a drink in a magic potion container, I immediately bought one, not realizing that I bought a guava shake! And goodness, the drink I got very sour but I can't help but finish the drink since it's about 12 or 14 SGD I think!

We arrived in Far Far Away! =)

foydi versus puss in boots! And I got the magic potion (at the side of my waist) I bought from the Fairy Godmother's potion shop!

Well, anyway, that's not the end of the tour yet as we made sure that we'll be able to catch the Waterworld show. We first sat at the middle row not realizing that those who will sit there will get wet, not because of accidental splash but intentional bombs and beams of water! We were hit as we took our seats! So we decided to move to the last rows or we'll end up very wet again. =) Anyway, the show is another spectacular experience as we witness reenactments of the actual movie, death defying stunts and awesome explosions.