Universal Studios: A Haven for Movie Buffs

My family in front of the Universal Studios logo

One attraction that we definitely couldn’t have missed on our visit to Singapore was the Universal Studios theme park. 

Situated on the popular tourist attraction — Sentosa island, this theme park is a haven for movie buffs. The way it is designed is simply wonderful. 

To welcome you, there is a logo of the famous movie studio at the entrance. The globe in the middle rotates and provides for a well know photo op. 

The theme park is basically divided into seven parts. These are Hollywood, New York City, Ancient Egypt, Sci-fi city and Jurassic Park and Water world. It even consists of several exciting rides and roller coasters for those who love thrill. Moreover, throughout the park, you can see vendors selling exciting treats such as root beers, coconut water, soft drinks, turkey on a stick, ice-cream, desserts and so on. 

Hollywood

Hollywood entrance

Singing and dancing band 

Hello Kitty store

Minions corner and store

As the name suggests, this street is a replica of Hollywood, California. It even has a mock walk of fame. Apart from that it has a duplicate movie theatre, the famous palm trees and several fandom shops based on the Minions, Hello Kitty and more. There is also a Harry Potter momento shop for potterheads. This is the area where the dream parade takes place. It even houses a ride based on Sesame Street called Elmo’s Spaghetti Space Chase. 

When we walked through these streets, we were mesmerized by the grandeur. My little cousins were fascinated with the Minions and Hello Kitty stores and one of them even got a coin momento with a minions print on it. Luckily, we were even able to get a glimpse of an extremely amazing performance by a live singing and dancing band on a Mel's podium. They were dressed in shiny retro outfits and danced as well as sang some of the best songs such as Beyoncé’s Single Ladies and Crazy in Love. Watching them jive was an absolute treat to the eyes. 

New York City

Full New York Style pizza

Pizza Slice with Parmesan 

Street dance outside New York Public library facade

    Mock New York tenements

I can never forget New York street at the Universal Studios Singapore, partly because it gave me a mini glance of one the world’s busiest city with its mock skyscrapers, fifth avenue, tenements and buildings. It even houses the facade of the famous New York Public library and a mock statue of Atlas outside the mock Rockefeller Centre. 

Another reason would be because I happened to taste one of the best New York style pizzas till date here at Loui’s Pizza. It was huge and the cheese glistened it’s entirety. What was more interested was that the restaurant kept a shaker filled of Parmesan cheese in each table. 

We also happened to witness a street dance performance right in front of the New York Public library facade. It was energetic, entertaining and filled us up with complete awe due to all the cartwheels, moves and twists. 

Ancient Egypt

Sandstone Structures

Men dressed as pharoahs 

As the name pretty much sums up, Ancient Egypt street is filled with huge sandstone statues of pharaohs. It has an extremely mysterious feel to it and the music playing in the background only enhances this. 

This part houses an extremely popular adventure rollercoaster ride based on ‘The Mummy’. Now I am not an adventurist at heart and the thought of roller coasters make me puke. But my cousins pushed me on to try the ride. The worst thing was that in order to avoid the huge queue, we decided to go into the solo riders line which meant we wouldn’t be going together either. I am not exaggerating when I say I was shivering out of fear when we were taken inside the cave like structure and could hear screams of fellow riders. The thought of leaving crossed my head multiple times but by the time I had made up my mind, I was called upon to sit in one of the wagons. Thankfully, one of my cousins sat right behind me. 

The ride started and it took us through a dark, twisted cave with evil laughter in the background and mummy structures with red eyes. But that wasn’t the scary party. The jerky turns were. There was even this moment when the wagon stopped and then went backwards for a while. We legit felt like we were gonna go backwards in circles before it jerked forward again. By the end of the ride, my feet were shivering but it was a thrilling adventure nonetheless. My cousins even wanted to try it a second time but once really was enough for me. 

While exiting the street we also happened to see a few individuals dressed up like pharaohs dancing on the street. It was pretty entertaining but we had to leave for another ride before it was jam packed as well. 

Sci-fi City

Sci-Fi City entrance

The sci-fi city consists of intergalactic buildings. It also consists of the tallest roller coasters in the world that are based on Battlestar Gallactica. These are the Human and Cylon. Apart from this, it consists of the Transformers 3D ride and a model transformers car that turns into bumble bee. It also consists of other smaller rides such as the Accelerator but we happened to experience these two. 

The Transformers 3D ride was not only a one-time experience but also a glade at the growth in technology. The queue consists of switchbacks leading up to the Nonbiological Extraterrestrial Species Treaty base (NEST base) from the movies. You are here surrounded by video screens of several characters introducing you to the plot which is the deceptions coming to Earth in search of AllSpark. They are attacking the base because they wish to retrieve the piece that is stored in there. You are then handed 3D glasses and are told to wait while a wagon that rotates 180 degrees arrives to take you on the ride to save the planet. 

We chose to get into the solo rider queued once again because it was short and took half the time. While the others had to wait an hour, our turn came in just about thirty minutes. So there I was sitting in a wagon with other people I didn’t know, all wearing 3D glasses. Our seats were guarded by safety handles. 

The ride was a true marvel because it consisted of multiple screens and a dark room. But when you actually went on it, you experienced New York City infiltrated by deceptions. We were taken into a movie fight. There were times when we were falling off skyscrapers or getting attacked by laser beams. All through this, we were at the mercy of Autobots who were guarding us. Overall, it wasn’t a scary ride but was actually filled of thrill. I would have gone onto this ride another time anyday but I am sure the experience wouldn’t have been as great as the first time. 

The Cylon vs Human rollercoaster consisted of two coasters. One that was completely inverted (Cylon) and one that wasn’t but still contained jarring turns and spirals (Human). Being a scaredy cat, I decided to stay on the ground for this one while my cousins went in the ninety minutes queue because they didn’t want to miss out. Meanwhile, I waited by a vendor who was selling drinks and turkey legs, watching passerbys and looking at young girls savour treats. Once my cousins were back, they told me how chilly yet adventure filled the ride was. They sat in Cylon and said there was this moment where they swore they could touch the people on the Human ride that was entangled into their Topsy Turvy roller coaster. I felt tremors pass my body just listening to this and felt almost glad I wasn’t on the roller coaster. I would have definitely fainted. 

Jurassic Park and Water World 

Jurassic Park entrance

Flanked by dinosaur structures, fossils and more, The Lost World gave the complete feel of the movies. It consists of the main Jurassic Park River Adventure ride apart from the Dino Soarin and Canopy Flyer rides. 

This was the area I was most excited about. I had already done my research on the River Adventure ride and was absolutely ready for it. It seemed like the right mixture of adventurous and mellow and I completely dragged all my cousins in despite the huge queue, even in the solo rider area. Once I finally got a chance to sit into one of the round floating pods, I was already pretty excited after the long wait. The river started mellow with a audio welcoming us to the park and showing us various non-dangerous dinosaurs. However, just like in the movie, things took a turn for the worst and our boat was dragged into a damaged control centre with a T-Rex on the loose. The most scary part was when our boat was taken jerkily up into a broken elevator and we came inches away from a fake T-Rex head that almost seemed real in the moment. Finally all was well and we were escorted back to base. Overall, it was a fun little experiential ride. My cousin didn’t seem to enjoy it so much due to the lack of unexpected turns and more that they seemed to like. However, I really did like it and would go a second time if asked to. Although the queue really was tiresome. 

After this, we caught a live movie in Waterworld. It was pretty exciting because it contained several stunts and a blasting plane, all on a man made lake set. If you happen to visit the Universal Studios, do not miss out on this underrated masterpiece. Someone who loves movies and plays will enjoy this (unless you are expecting something very deep and artistic like regular plays). 

Far Far Away and Madagascar 

Far Far Away town square

Far Far Away Castle

I am clubbing these two areas in one because we didn’t get to explore them much. They were truly beautiful with Far Far Away consisting of a castle, a billboard with the Fairy Godmother on it, rides such as Puss in the Boots giant adventures, Shrek 4D adventure, the live Donkey show, enhanced airways roller coaster, fairy godmother’s potion shop and so on. The music from the movies graced the background and I really did wish I could stay longer but we were running out of time. 

Manmade lake

Ship inside Madagascar Food Court

Madagascar Streets

Madagascar consisted of the jungle island theme with weird trees and sculptures of the characters everywhere. My aunts and mom even got a picture along with the statue of all the main characters. The fun part was that “I like to move it” kept playing in the background and I think it’s one of the most fun songs. I swear I could have danced right there. This also consisted of various rides such as a crate adventure, which we wanted to experience but missed out on due to the lack of time. This area also had a movie themed food court. This also consisted of a ship structure as shown in the Agent Penguins movie. 

All in all, Universal Studios was truly a wholesome experience. While we wished we had time to stay for the parade and experience some more rides, whatever we got to enjoy was also pretty spectacular. What makes it fun is that it’s not just about adventure rides but is also about the ambience, the little shops and the details. You can get lost in those if you are more of a silent explorer. The only thing I was probably sad about was that it didn’t have a Hogwarts area. But well, it wasn’t half bad nonetheless.