In Part 1 yesterday, I talked about our adventures in Hollywood, Sci-Fi City, Ancient Egypt and Far Far Away.

Before I continue with Part 2, here are some photos I missed out. Sacha just posted a whole load of photos on Facebook so I’m stealing some for today’s post! =)

She managed to get a nice photo of my hair flying as we got spun around in our Accelerator:

Sacha and Isaiah love going on theme park rides and they collect theme park ride official photos. Nice hobby! =) I hope to see their collection one day.

So, anyway, they bought the photo of our Revenge of the Mummy ride (the one that greatly traumatised me) and kindly scanned it to share with us. Hee.

Here’s a closeup!

So, everyone didn’t believe me when I said I was terrified the whole time during the ride because, in the photo, I was the only person calmly smiling at the camera.

I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THERE WAS A CAMERA GOING OFF.

In the middle of the ride, I recall Unker Kell and the Goonfather joking about how our car got caught by the speed camera.

At that time, I didn’t even notice a camera flash going off, so I thought maybe they were commenting on how fast our car was going, fast enough to be fined for speeding or something like that.

I was that traumatised. All that was going on in my mind was, “Please let this ride end NOW.”

SO WHY WAS I SMILING CALMLY AT THE CAMERA?

I DON’T KNOW.

The others claim that it’s because I’m so trained in photo-taking that I have a natural instinct to smile for the camera even when I don’t know a camera is there.

-_-

My explanation is that, while I was traumatised, I was at the same time trying very hard not to get too paranoid, so in between screaming my lungs out, I kept telling myself that I was enjoying the ride. It’s a psychological trick, right? Your brain tends to believe what you tell it, so you can psycho yourself out of fearful situations.

So, between screams when the car was going too fast, I was actually forcing myself to smile and repeating in my head, “I’m having fun, this is fun, whee, I love this.”

The look in the photo must have been one of the moments. You can see how strained the smile is if you look closely. I don’t think my psychological trick worked very well, though. I was still terrified despite chanting those magic words.

The whole place was dark and we kept getting scared by scarabs and mummies and evil pharoahs jumping out at us. And there were rooms with fire and you can really feel the heat. It’s really well done, I must admit.

After the ride, I could hardly walk straight. My whole body was jelly. I couldn’t even hold my camera still to take a photo. Haha.

Okay, on with the day!

2:40 pm. Far Far Away

Far Far Away has possibly the best show in Universal Studios Singapore. If you have a chance to visit USS, don’t miss it!

It’s the Shrek 4D adventure!

4D combines 3D films with physical effects like moving seats and water sprays (and more), so you feel like part of the story.

It’s a short story about Shrek rescuing Princess Fiona but I didn’t pay much attention to the story because the effects were so cool and sometimes surprising that I kept getting distracted. Haha. It’s my first time experiencing 4D lah, so a bit suaku okay?

I won’t tell you much more because I don’t want to spoil it for you. Go try it. It’s really worth it!

I think this show has the longest queue in the whole theme park and I’m not surprised. But it’s bearable because we get to queue up in a pretty castle with nice decor and a very nice theme song from Shrek which I love.

Here’s a photo of a cute signage. Maybe it’s for the Magic Potion Spin for kids. Or maybe it’s a fake sign. I don’t remember, but it’s cute.

Close-up:

Hmm, okay, I don’t think it’s for Magic Potion Spin, because that one is indoors, inside the Far Far Away Shop. It’s a mini ferris wheel for kids. It looks so cool!

3:30 pm. Madagascar

Our group got split up for a while here because half of us wanted to queue up to take photos with the lion while the other half ran off to play on the merry-go-rounds.

My friends are such kids! Heh.

The merry-go-round. Nanny Wen is hiding in this photo below. Can you spot her?

I think Madagascar is mostly for kids. Besides the merry-go-round, there’s some kind of a tame, scenic boat ride. We didn’t have time to queue up for it because we wanted to catch the WaterWorld Show at 5 pm.

There’s an ogre outhouse in Madagascar which looked cute, so I dragged Nanny Wen with me to explore it.

We ran up the steps and I tried to open the door but it wouldn’t budge. Boo. Maybe the ogre is inside doing his business. Haha. I was half-expecting something to fly out at me and eat me up!

Nanny Wen bought me a potion bottle! Yay! Love her!

The potion bottle costs S$11.90 and comes with a drink, but the great thing about it is that you can use it to buy more drinks at S$2 per refill. (Usual price of a drink is 3-4 bucks or something.)

I brought the bottle home and washed it so I can reuse it every time I go to USS. =D In fact, I will use it at home, too, cos I love drinking from it. It looks exactly like a mana or heal potion bottle in RPGs. Well, except for Puss in Boot’s picture in front, but I can ignore that.

But then… I wanted to buy a heart-shaped lollipop but she wouldn’t allow me to!! Huh! She said big lollipops are a waste of money cos nobody finishes them.

O_o

Every time I picked one up, she’d snatch it out of my hands and put it back.

-_-

She’d only allow me to take a photo with it.

Sigh.

5 pm. WaterWorld (in Lost World)

I love WaterWorld! The show is awesome! Maybe as awesome as Shrek 4D.

It’s a live performance based on the movie and it’s very exciting, with water splashing all over the place, death-defying stunts and awesome pyrotechnics and explosions!

In the giant theatre, the seats are separated into three categories: Soak Zone, Splash Zone and Safe Zone.

Sit in the Soak Zone (blue seats) if you want to get soaked. Sit in the Splash Zone (green seats) if you only want to get splashed. And go far away to the Safe Zone (red seats) if you’re a scaredy cat.

Expectedly, our group split into two again. LOL.

Before the show started proper, the actors entertained the audience by talking to us and throwing buckets of water at us. SERIOUSLY.

There were lots of useless people in the audience who chose to sit in the Soak Zone but then opened umbrellas every time the actors got out a bucket of water ready to throw.

I don’t know what their problem is. Don’t want to get wet then go sit in the Safe Zone lah.

The actors also invited people from the audience to have Super Soaker competitions. So, they got this guy out and gave him a gun and every one got into positions. And they were supposed to all start shooting at the count of three, right?

At the count of three, the guy realised that he had been given an empty gun. Hahahahahaha. Kena tricked! He got soaked good and proper!

I want to be that guy next time!! =D

Not everyone who sits in the Soak Zone will get wet. I think it mostly only affects people in the dead centre. The Goonfather was very disappointed that he didn’t even get splashed. LOL.

There was some splashing action during the show when the actors rode jet skis and tried to make sure the audience got a bit of the action.

Maybe it’ll be different every time, depending on how close they ride the jets to the edge.

All the actors are male except for one pretty, sexy actress. She’s a real eye candy! ;)

The stage:

I was sitting to the side. Not a very good position cos I got blocked by this huge structure, although some of the scenes were done on it. It’s better to sit right in the middle, so it’ll be a good idea to get to the show before showtime in order to get better seats.

We were there at 5 pm and the middle was already all taken.

But never mind. I’m going back again!

With my potion bottle!

6 pm. Lost World

After WaterWorld, because the Goonfather was disappointed at not getting soaked, he wanted to go back to do the Rapids Adventure in Jurassic Park. In that river ride, there’s a steep slope where your 9-seater round raft slides down and plunges to the bottom violently, causing water to splash all over the participants.

Ponchos are available for rent for this adventure.

Remember, the brave people in our group had gone there during the day while I had cowardly begged off because I needed to recover from the Mummy ride. I was afraid the Rapids would have more roller-coaster action.

But the Goonfather assured me that there was only that one slope at the end. I felt that I could handle one slope, so I decided to join them for their second round.

Six of us went. I was the only newbie. They had all worn ponchos in their first round, except the Goonfather, who got terribly drenched. He smartly made a pact with everyone saying, “Next round, NO PONCHOS ALL.”

Apparently, some of them (Nanny Wen) got pinky tricked into signing up for the pact.

So, I was the only poncho-wearing coward in this ride.

It was fun!!

In each ride, we all sat in a circular formation, and the boat would spin round and round depending on the current. At the last splash, usually only half the people would get soaked while the other half would get splashed, depending on which end the boat lands.

After the first round, we all decided to go again to test our theory that the Goonfather’s side will always be the one who gets soaked because he’s the heaviest.

Everyone persuaded me to remove my poncho this time. I was already half wet, anyway, because the poncho was a gimpy thin plastic sheet, not a real poncho. So I took it off and received a lot of cheering. =)

Our theory was wrong. The Goonfather didn’t get soaked the second round (his third). It was our fellow passengers, an ang moh family with their little girl, who were really friendly and fun people. They stayed with us for both rounds.

After our ride:

My front didn’t get wet so much because I always instinctively bent over when we landed so the water would splash on my back instead of front.

It was great! Haha… Next time I’ll wear the right clothes and slippers instead of shoes so I won’t have to be so scared of the water. :P

Lost World is cool. I think it has the most rides. There’s also Canopy Flyer (a fast-moving ride in a sky-lift type of carriage), which I didn’t dare take. I’m afraid of heights. It’s so annoying, all these stupid phobias I can’t get rid of!!!

And Dino-Saurin, a merry-go-round in pterodactyl-ships.

Erm… it’s supposedly for kids but they let adults in, too. This one I dare to take. Haha. You can pilot your ship up and down using a button while the thing is going round and round the figurative mulberry bush.

Unker Kell and Wang Wang behind us!

There’s also Amber Rock Climb. This one has a separate charge of S$10, so we didn’t do it.

And random dino eggs! LOL @ the Goonfather. He looks so contented in his egg.

7 pm. Hollywood.

Back to Hollywood for dinner!

We ate at Mel’s Drive-In. Nice cheeseburgers!

Then we stopped by Superstar Candies to buy sweets.

By this time, my camera had run out of batteries. Actually, it had run out earlier but I was using my phones to take photos. But by 7 pm, I was tired of taking photos. I mean, I was literally tired.

I just got this one lousy shot of the night scene:

After Hours at Universal Studios Singapore starts at 7 pm. You can enter the park for only S$5 and enjoy the sights and have dinner there. All the rides and shows are closed, though, which is why it’s so cheap.

But on Fridays and Saturdays, there’s a pyrotechnics and fireworks show in Hollywood at 9:30 pm and it’s definitely worth the S$5!

We hung around there until after the fireworks, then went to upgrade our day passes to annual passes.

Annual passes cost S$318. You can upgrade a S$72 day pass on the same day by just paying the difference. So, it’s like, try before you pay the full sum!

The Goonfather, Wang Wang, Unker Kell and I decided we wanted to visit USS many more times (there are still some rides and shows we haven’t tried, and we want to eat turkey leg again), so the four of us got annual passes.

For S$318, you can enjoy unlimited entries to the park all year round (minus 53 block-out days which are public holidays and long weekends). You also get a $25 gift voucher for stores in the park, a 5% discount in the stores, a ticket to Voyage De La Vie and two USS pins. Oh, and sneak previews of new rides and attractions! I look forward to that!

I wish I could have the Superstar Pass, though. That’s costs S$1,098 but there are no block-out dates and you get priority queues to all the attractions. And a S$100 gift voucher!

Too expensive for me. Boo.

But I’m happy with my normal Fun Pass. I can’t wait to go back again! Oh, I think we’re going this Saturday because we need to use our free Voyage De La Vie ticket by Sep 30, so we’ll drop by USS to eat a turkey leg. Heh.

10 pm. Bye!

We finished everything at 10 pm. Just nice, that’s the time the park closes.

Our carpark charge was S$26!!! But that works out to be about S$2 an hour, so I suppose it’s reasonable. We were there the entire day, from opening time to closing time.

I’m so happy that Universal Studios came to Singapore!