The first of its kind in Southeast Asia, Universal Studios Singapore (USS) is nestled within Resorts World Sentosa and pretty convenient to get to. My husband and I actually already visited 4 months ago (reviewed that experience here) but the prices on Traveloka were simply too good to pass up! I invited my best friend and her husband along with us this time. On top of Traveloka vouchers, we used $80 SingapoRediscovers Vouchers to offset the total cost of our tickets, what a deal 😀
- Inclusions:
- 1-day entry tickets to Universal Studios Singapore
- $5 dining discount vouchers with $25 minimum spend
- $5 retail discount vouchers with $25 minimum spend
- Spent: SGD$88 (for 4 tickets)
Since it was the Christmas season, there were new elements introduced from when we were last here. The glistening lights and decorations gave off such a cheery and festive vibe, truly the most wonderful time of the year ❤ Character meet-and-greets and their stage backdrops were Christmas-themed as well. There was also a pop-up festive market set up at the Hollywood Boulevard, but more on that later!
In my previous post, I rated the different USS rides according to their thrill levels so you can refer to that if you need something more comprehensive (: This time, we zoned in mainly on the intense rides and went for them repeatedly. Surprisingly, half of Battlestar Galactica, Cylon, was open (I’d never seen this ride open in all my other visits). I told my best friend that I didn’t know if that was a good thing or not because now I had to try it, but it looked terrifying.
This ride was definitely off the charts in intensity! The thrill starts from the moment you leave the station and ascend the track. It isn’t your regular calm before the storm where you make a slow, predictable climb with ample time to prep yourself for the first plunge. Expect sudden acceleration upwards and a very brief period of hang time (ie. weightlessness) at the top before plummeting down that first towering drop. I ran out of scream on this drop as it left my heart in my mouth with the seemingly never-ending free fall, not to mention the loops and corkscrews that flipped us upside down. Midway through the ride, there is a really steep, high-speed drop to below ground level through a shroud of mist. Absolutely insane stuff! The two times I arrived back at the station, I felt thankful to have survived lol.
We then headed to the Revenge Of The Mummy ride, the other intense ride here at USS. Earlier, before we entered the park, the USS website had a notice saying that the park had reached its maximum capacity so I was a little concerned about wait times. To our delight, we didn’t have to queue for very long even though the displayed wait times indicated otherwise.
It was mind-boggling seeing a 40-minute wait time for this ride but when we got to the platform, there were only 4 people in front of us (not that we were complaining!). I was simply wondering how the park was supposedly full but the lines for the thrilling rides were so empty. I could barely comprehend this awesomeness.
Well, I spoke too soon as right after that, we spent the next 30 to 40 minutes queueing for the Transformers 3D ride (which I didn’t even feel was worth the time but I was outnumbered in votes).
Next up was a short tea break at Loui’s NY Pizza Parlor where we decided to use our $5 dining discount vouchers. We ordered the Loui’s Monster Beef Supreme pizza ($40) to share, as well as root beer floats ($8 each) and a green tea ($4). The pizza was really quite tasty, just like the carbonara we had here during our last visit. Yay for yummy theme park food 😀
Once we were fuelled up, we went to check out the Christmas festive market. A friend of mine shared that they gave out $5 vouchers with no minimum spend at the market entrance, but unfortunately by the time we got there, they had run out of vouchers for the day 😦
Anyway, to access the market, we had to walk through this alluring pathway lined with pretty lights (video walkthrough here, scroll to the end!). The market itself, however, was a tad disappointing as there were only a handful of vendors. I guess I had a different expectation as the markets I’m used to are usually on a larger scale. My husband ended up getting the exorbitantly priced Thai milk tea that came in a tiny bottle, which tasted a little too sweet for me.
As we finished our last Cylon ride and were on our way to exit the park at about 5pm, we saw some areas being closed off and fancy banquet chairs lined up in the middle of the streets. Turns out that for a fee of $248, you can enjoy the premium programme called “It’s Showtime”, which happens from 5.30pm to 9pm. This experience includes an entry ticket to USS, a thematic 4-course dinner, exclusive performances and parades, as well as front row seats to the highly coveted fireworks display. We would’ve loved to catch the fireworks but that’s a mighty hefty price to pay.
My overall rating of the experience: 4 out of 5 stars. Despite the park being reportedly full and the signs indicating long wait times, we surprisingly didn’t spend that much time queueing for rides (except the Transformers 3D ride). I really liked the merry and vibrant atmosphere with all the Christmas decor, plus the pizza we had from Loui’s NY Pizza Parlor was quite good too. It was a bit of a shame that they didn’t do more to make the Christmas festive market more enticing as the market space felt somewhat bare and uneventful. Also, as with all theme park food, they’re not exactly easy on the wallet. Nevertheless, our ticket prices were more than sufficient to make this whole experience entirely worth it!
If this post helped you in some way and you’d like to buy me a coffee, I’d be incredibly grateful (:
Dania Experiences 