Universal Studios Singapore

Universal Studios Singapore

This year you wouldn't see me blogging about Gardaland since we're now thousands of kms away from Italy. I haven't had the courage to visit Chinese theme parks due to the squeeze factor. But Universal Studios Singapore on Sentosa Island came to the rescue and plugged the theme park void for the year.

OK, it's a small one. And best not to visit on weekends and Singapore school holidays. We heeded our own advice and went in the week. Had a great day there and despite turning up after lunch managed to finish almost all the rides. Except for one ride there were no queues and the 2 shows (one with the Shrek Donkey and the other the stunt show Waterworld) we caught were interesting and funny.

Waterworld live stunt show - lots of sound, action, water and smoke

I was actually quite impressed with the park. It was clean, well-maintained and easy to navigate in. The souvenirs were as usual cut-throat pricey (had to really put my foot down with Hub - or the kids would have left with nothing. Cheapskate!) and we didn't try the restaurants, but we've enjoyed the rides especially the Human and Cylon Battlestar Galactica roller coasters. If you turn up in slippers (like I did), not to worry. Just remove them when it's your turn on the ride, you'll love being thrown around barefooted.

Jurassic Park!

There was this indoor roller coaster in the Egyptian zone and it was quite good, the guy sitting next to Hub actually whimpered during the ride. We saw that he covered his face when we went to the photo booth to check out shots taken during the ride! The ride took place in the dark - really cool.

The part where the Human and Cylon roller coasters crossed paths

We also loved the 4D Shrek show. Basically there were rides for all ages though of course if you had a 3-year old who needed to buy a ticket but couldn't do most rides because he was under 1.2m (been there so could empathise), it could feel like a rip off. Baby Boy could do almost everything now except the Galactica roller coasters, hopefully in another year or 2 he'll make it. Then you could also have a kid taller than yourself who's too scared to do anything. There are all sorts of children in this world.

In fact the Teenager would rather spend his time in the Hershey store if you let him. All he could think of were Reese's peanut butter cups.

Visiting Universal Studios was therefore a nice way to spend a day. The next time we'll get a chalet at Sentosa and visit the rest of the island as well. Though tiny, things are always changing there - beauty of our country and its ability to renew constantly.