In Memories of….

I know I have been lagging in my update but I was too tired on Thursday after watching How To Train a Dragon 3D and on Friday we celebrated my dad’s birthday.

In Sci-Fi City, one may find the following attractions: Accelerator, Battlestar Galactica – Human and Battlestar Galactica – Cylon. Transformers will only be ready in year 2011.

Battlestar Galactica is an adaption from the Duelling Dragons in Universal Studio, Florida. It is currently the tallest duelling roller coaster in the world.

 The Cylon coaster (blue) is a suspended track with legs free with vertical loops , a Cobra roll, a zero-G roll and corkscrews. This coaster will also plunge into a 5-metre deep pit filled with artificial fog to give thrill seekers the sensation of a near miss with the ground.

The Human Viper Mark II is a seated roller coaster that zooms at 90km/h and propels one 14 storeys into the air.  This coaster does not have inversions. 

I did not get to try this pair of coasters on that day as there was no one who dared to take the coaster with me. I will give the Human coaster a try one day but I don’t think I will dare to give the Cylon coaster a try.

Accelerator is a whirling twirling attraction which spin guests around. I gave this a miss on that day as we have to cater time to queue for other attractions.

In this zone, you can find a pair of pretty robots on stilts. If you are lucky, you can catch them “pole dancing”.

This part is divided into 2 themes, Jurassic Park and Waterworld. However, Waterworld was not ready when I was there on Sunday.

Main attractions found here are Canopy Flyer, Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure, Waterworld, Amber Rock Climb and Dino-Soarin’.

The only ride I’ve taken in this zone is Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure. Here, up to 9 passengers may sit on a circular raft on relatively fast moving waters. Along the journey, one can see different dinosaurs ‘roaming around’. The highlight of this ride is when the raft is elavated to a height and plunge down from a Hydroelectric Plant. As the raft is circular, one is not able to predict if the seat he has chosen will make him wet. I was one of the unlucky ones who was totally drenched from this ride.

Besides New York city, this is the only zone without any charactor appearance. Imagine taking picture with a Tyrannosaurus?

Far Far Away is inspired by the animation Shrek, a 2001 American animated comedy film. I personally would call it a ‘rojak’ fairy-tale made up of Pinocchio, The Little Pigs and Puss in Boots. Attractions like Shrek’s swamp house and Far Far Away Castle can be seen here.

Here, you can find Shrek 4-D Adventure, Donkey Live Show, Enchanted Airways and Magic Potion Spin. As time restriction is a limiting factor during my visit, I only managed to go for Shrek 4-D Adventure and Donkey Live Show.

In Shrek 4-D Adventure, the storyline goes that Princess Fiona is held captive and Shrek and Donkey will have to rescue her. You can feel the vibrations, water (Donkey’s saliva) and ’spiders on your feet’ from your own seats.

I personally find Donkey Live Show quite boring. Though Donkey is able to interact with the guests real-time, I do not find it amazing at all. Perhaps the reason is I am not a fan of talkshows all along.

Charactors appearances in this zone are Shrek, Donkey (I did not get to see him though), Puss In Boots and Princess Fiona.

Universal Studio Singapore (USS) opened its doors to its employees and family members as a sneak preview activity. As such, I had the privilege to visit the theme park and experience some of the rides and shows before its soft launch on 18th March 2010. The park was available to us from 9am to 2pm.

The ticket reads: RWS TM & FAMILY MEMBERS SNEAK PREVIEW. I guess RWS TM stands for Resort World Sentosa Team Members.

USS is the the 2nd Universal Studio in Asia and 1st in SEA. Although the park is only 20 hectares (about 1/6 the size of Hong Kong Disneyland), there are a total of 24 attractions although not all are ready in time for the year 2010.  It is made up of 7 themed zones: Far Far Away, The Lost World, New York, Sci-Fi City, Hollywood, Madagascar and Ancient Egypt.

Outside the theme park itself is the rotating USS globe.

Tickets prices for Adults (Ages 13 to 64) are as follow:

One Day Weekday Pass: $66
One Day Weekend Pass: $72
Two Day Pass: $118
Annual Pass-Fun Pass: $318
Annual Pass-Superstar Pass: $1098

I will try my best to blog about the 7 uniquely themed zones by this week.