Family outing @ Universal Studios Singapore

Went over to Universal Studios Singapore yesterday morning 'coz Sis had free tickets but couldn't make it - Princess had to go for her vaccination jab. Needless to say, the trip rendered us lethargic. Not because there were lots of things to see/ play, but because of the long minutes/ hours of waiting to take on each ride or attraction.

If I were to add up all the waiting time, I suppose it would've took up 3-quarters of our time there. And someone should really install some benches or seats along the waiting queue so that the elderly and the kids could wait in better ease under this damn hot weather. I don't care if they don't have it in other Universal Studios. This is Singapore. Summer all year long. Average 35 degrees. Queuing 45 minutes or more under the hot sun is not funny. Argh!

Okay. Forget about the angst for now.
Now back to the experience.

Good thing the Hollywood Boulevard was air-conditioned (sort of) and lined up with interesting buildings and cars/ stalls...



... and we even managed to catch Po for a family pix. Unfortunately, he was the only mascot we bumped into along the way. There were no others around. Sure, I saw Beetle Juice, Frankenstein and Marilyn Monroe, but their presence doesn't scream 'Take me! Take me!'. Where were the characters from Shrek??? Or how about Madagascar???



Damn! As we moved along, away from Hollywood Boulevard, we realised that the Madagascar attraction was not ready as yet. What a downer. But there was this other King Julien's Beach Party-Go-Round (which was essentially a merry-go-round). Had wanted to take that and my parents were almost onz when my bro commented that that ride was for kids - we were not kids. That statement got my parents to retract their initial intention and we moved on to another attraction. ARGH!!! Never mind, I could always go Far Far Away (no pun intended) :P



Had to queue for about 50 mins but it was kinda worth it 'coz Pa enjoyed the 4D show and was laughing whenever the water was sprinkled onto us when the characters sneezed, and also when the kids behind us squeaked everytime an eerie sensation descended upon us or when the chair jerked to the movie. Mom on the other hand got all panicky and was trying to search for her tissue paper in the dark. She kept grunting 'aiyo... why got water one...' But she seemed to have enjoyed it nevertheless.

The Treasure Hunters on the other hand, was total crap. What a complete waste of time. We had to queue for 35mins just to take on an extremely short automated jeep ride. The ride was like 2 mins? Okay, maybe the duration was not that important. But the thing was that it's such a boring ride. There's nothing much to see. Kids would hardly get excited over it. Oh well...

Lucky thing there was a redeeming attraction in the park - Revenge of the Mummy!



Had great fun and a good scare cum adrenaline rush with that roller coaster ride in the dark. Hate the bit where it suddenly moved backwards in fast motion. But the rest was okay. It was Mom's first time taking a roller coaster in her entire life too! I'm not sure if the same goes for Pa though. But mom said she enjoyed it and she went on and on after the ride. We got the photo that showed us screaming in the ride, which was damn funny but I won't post it here 'coz I looked totally unflattering. Mom looked as if she was screaming with her mouth wide open in the pix, but she kept insisting that she was just coughing. Erh... I didn't know one can open mouth that wide while coughing...

Went over to WaterWorld after that to catch the live show. Kinda felt that the stage was too small. Kinda limiting to carry out 'WOW' performances. But good try. Oh well...

And here's a view of the park...



There were some characters that we came across along the way but I wasn't sure if I had ever seen them before. For example, this one:



And some other cute vehicles/ stalls along the way, like this one below:



We went past the Sci-Fi City, which was a bore...



... and the impressive-looking Battlestar Galactica which was still under repair.



The special effects demo in the Lights! Camera! Action! attraction managed to lift our spirits for a while though.

We also took the Canopy Flyer @ The Lost World too. But it was the Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure that was really fun... and annoying 'coz we got soaking wet from head to toe whereas the strangers sitting opposite us, were hardly wet. Bro participated in this soaking ride too. And he was drenched.



After that ride, we decided that it was time to head home. We (Bro and I) argued with Pa that we should take a cab home but Pa was adamant that with the weekend crowd, it would be much faster to just take a bus home. And so, all of us, soaking wet (but not dripping wet), waited at least 20 mins for our bus at the Harbourfront bus interchange and sat our wet butts onto the bus seats. Fortunately, the seats were waterproof. Otherwise, it would have been damn embarrassing when we got off 40 mins later. Oh well.