Asia trip 2013 Park #3
8 July 2013
After Hong Kong, I absolutely fell in love with the cleanliness and fresh air of Singapore. I will never take a clean toilet bowl for granted again. I loved the Botanic Gardens and Museums, the history, and of course Changi Village where I could have a very expensive cider (though the alcohol content is a lot higher) surrounded by stray cats. This cat lady was in her element! Mum and I also splurged on a Singapore Sling at the Raffles hotel, while we discussed colonisation and Japanese occupation. After spending some time with mum at the Changi museum to complete my military history fix, I needed a bit of a pick-me-up. Off to Sentosa I went! This little resort island is a playground for tourists, where you can see the Merlion, ride a cable car or chair lift up a mountain, and then take a luge back down.
Sentosa is also the home to Universal Studios Singapore, and so began my second experience with Universal. Just like the Orlando version, it was hot and sticky, with an afternoon downpour to cool everyone off. With mum bailing again, I took advantage of my single rider status and avoided long queues for the first part of the day.
Having developed a habit of going to the biggest rides first, I went straight to Battlestar Galactica in Sci-Fi City. Like Dragon Challenge/Duelling Dragons at Harry Potter World, you could choose to go on one of two tracks. The blue was track Cylon (robot) and red was track Human. I always thought that Australia was super strict with ensuring riders didn’t have anything in their pockets, but we actually got a once over with a hand held metal detector before entering this coaster. After experiencing the US rides where ‘do whatever the hell you want but at your own risk’ seemed to be the status quo, this felt like a bit of overkill. Anyway, convincing staff I was free from cameras and coins, I jumped on board each track twice. I can’t say that I had a favourite track as they were both pretty excellent in different ways. The G-force and speed on the Human track were a lot of fun in the traditional trains, while the suspended seats on the Cylon track were pretty intense with all the inversions. The lines for this ride grew to ‘hell no’ length not long after opening, and so I didn’t return later in the day.
Not to worry, there was another Revenge of the Mummy indoor coaster waiting for me. This was just as much fun as I remembered from the US, though I did wish the ride lasted longer. After a couple of turns it was time to move on to The Lost World. I am a sucker for dinosaurs, but this section of the park really lacked the wow factor of the US version. The Canopy Flyer was a sweet little kiddy coaster, but the whole area just didn’t feel complete without the awesome Jurassic Park: The Ride experience. The rapids adventure was a poor substitute. I thought the WaterWorld stunt show was excellent entertainment, far superior to that rubbish Kevin Costner film that no one remembers. I am still unsure of how it fit in to the dinosaur area, but it was still one of the highlights of my day.
The Far Far away (Shrek) area was a bit meh, and it was lacking street performers and atmosphere. The Enchanted Airways Coaster was another one for kids, but ticked it off from my list anyway. I just pretend that it is perfectly normal for a solo adult to be sitting on a kid’s coaster without actually knowing any of the kids on board. If I get desperate, I just walk close to another family and pretend they are mine so I look less creepy.
The Madagascar area was a bit of fun, and once the afternoon hail buggered off, you could appreciate the theming and character actors a bit more. The river boat ride was a good opportunity to get off my feet for a bit. The Monster Rock show was pretty good. Reminded me of a cross between Eurovision and a high school Rock Eisteddfod.
Compared to the US version, Universal Studios Singapore is teeny tiny and seriously lacking in rides. I had prepared myself for this however, so wasn’t really disappointed. I was happy enough that in a country as small as Singapore, there were a couple of decent roller coasters, and a dentist’s dream lolly shop out the front. A day well spent.
Roller Coaster Ramble 