Two things l love are movies and rollercoasters so any theme park which combines the two is usually a hit with me so there was no way l was missing out on visiting Universal Studios on a recent trip to Singapore. I’ve been to the one in Orlando many times (although they were all pre Harry Potter so l doubt that anything l think I know about the park is still relevant). Unlike the Orlando resort there's just one park not two and the Singapore park is pretty small in comparison to either.
The park is located on Sentosa Island to the south of Singapore. My hotel was in the city centre so I took the MRT from Clarke Quay station direct to HarbourFront. From here there are a few different ways to get to Sentosa, the only free one being on foot via the shaded boardwalk.
The walk takes about ten minutes with the help of the moving walkways dotted along the boardwalk. Once at Sentosa there is still another five minutes of walking to get to Universal Studios but once you get there it's hard to miss.
The trade mark globe marks the entrance and as I had bought my tickets online (there’s a discount for paying by MasterCard) l proceeded straight to the turnstiles with my print out. Despite it being only 20 minutes after park opening there were only three turnstiles open + hardly anyone queuing to get in, fortunately a theme which continued throughout the day.
Hollywood
The first 'land' is Hollywood. It's pretty much just shops, snack stands & the occasional character greeting. Frankenstein's monster was there when l arrived but I couldn't see any assistant with him so the line to meet him was none existent and everyone was bunching up around him, trying to get photographs. Anarchy to someone who is used to the organisation and 'proper' lines in Western theme parks. Later I did see the minion meet and greet which was highly organised with at least four people doing crowd control so perhaps they didn’t anticipate the monster would be so popular.
New York
Turning anti-clockwise at the end of Hollywood you come to New York. The only ride here is Sesame Street themed and as I have never actually watched Sesame street (I know, shocking) I ended up skipping that ride, although this cookie stand does make me think that the cookie monster and I would get along pretty well.
There was also a display of vehicles from the Fast & the Furious movies. How they have seven films I'll never know!
Sci Fi City
After New York was Sci Fi City & my first ride of the day. Transformers the ride is a 3D thrill ride (very similar to Spider-Man ride at Islands of Adventure). This is the parks big ticket attraction. It is one of the newest in the park is well as being one of the only thrill rides so I expected wait times in the standby line to be at least 30 minutes, probably more. As it was the sign said 10 minutes, although I was sceptical, & on top of that there's a single rider line. Bonus!
I navigated the zigzags of the queue + walked straight onto the side with no wait whatsoever. As far as I could tell the stand by line was pretty much walk on as well so 10 minutes was an overestimate. At this point I breathed a sigh of relief that l hadn't splashed out for the Express pass to get to the front of the queue. Anyone who had that day had seriously wasted their money.
The ride was okay. I'm not as familiar with Transformers as I am with Spider-Man so I didn't know who a lot of the characters were so l spent a lot of the ride trying to figure out if it was the same track layout as Spider-Man. Yes I'm that much of a theme park nerd!
Ancient Egypt
After a quick photo of Bumblebee, l then moved on to Ancient Egypt, where The Mummy ride is the big attraction. It is identical to its Floridian counterpart & no surprises here, it is my favourite ride in both parks. Loose articles are not permitted so you have to leave all bags in a locker. It's free for 45 minutes. I rode the ride three times in a row & still had thirty minutes to spare.
There's also a kiddy ride in this area where children 'drive' jeeps on a track but I dind't want to be the creepy adult alone on a child's ride so I gave it a miss.
The Lost World
The next land was The Lost World, aka Jurassic Park. I love dinosaurs so I was looking forward to this area. The River Adventure from Islands of Adventure is missing and is replaced by much less scary rapids. Again there are lockers here but no free time allowance. The shortest time was two hours & for a ride with a non-existent queue it seemed a little extortionate to me.
There's also a dinosaur spinning ride for children and the same dinosaur rollercoaster as Islands of Adventure, and unlike Islands of Adventure there's no restriction on adults riding alone so l finally got to try it out. It was a smooth flying ride which gives you a good view of the rest of the park.
Far Far Away
After this comes Far Far Away, the Shrek themed land. The newest ride here is the Puss in Boots' Giant Journey rollercoaster which was up and down all day so whenever it was running crowds flocked to it. Even so, the single rider line meant that my wait was no more than ten minutes. The coaster itself was little more than mildly thrilling but the theming made it fun.
The 4D Shrek show is identical to the one in Florida but instead of the boring backlot studio façade it is set inside the spectacularly grand palace of Far Far Away. Seriously, how pretty is this castle?
Other than that there are a few small kiddy rides & a Puss in Boots dance show which l didn't manage to catch.
Madagascar
The final land is Madagascar. There's a carousel of exotic animals and the only children's dark ride in the park. It follows the characters from Madagascar on their journey from New York to Africa. I am not a fan of the movies so I wasn't as in to it as the Indian family behind me singing ‘Move it move it’ all the way round!
After my lap of the park it was only 1 pm. I'd managed to 'do' the whole park minus a few kids rides is under three hours After that l had a browse of the shops of Hollywood. I would normally buy plenty of merchandise but nothing really caught my eye & my tummy was starting to rumble. I decided to exit the park for lunch.
I got a UV handstamp for re-entry and headed to the Hard Rock Cafe.
I have a mini obsession with Hard Rock Cafe. I want to visit as many as I can however I was tiny bit disappointed that the Sentosa branch doesn't offer my favourite cocktail the blue devil so I had to go with the Hurricane instead and chatted to the bartender whilst l ate my yummy burger.
I had intended to return to the park after lunch but the humidity & 35 degree weather combined with the sleepiness of a full stomach weighed me down. All my jetlagged mind could think of was my hotel bed & a well-deserved nap and thus ended my visit to Universal Studios.
Overall the park was fun and well themed but the vast majority of the rides are aimed at children. As a thrill-seeker, I don't think I would return until there were more thrill rides. The duelling Battlestar Galactica coasters are rumoured to be reopening after two years of being closed for improvements so once they are back up & running it might be worth another revisit. Until then I've still got Universal Studios in Japan and California to explore.
