It’s interesting to just sit on a bench near the entrance to Universal Studios and watch people as they step inside. Everyone, young and old rush in with big smiles on their faces. You can see the spring in their steps and the feeling of excitement is very evident. The very next thing people do after crossing the entrance……take a selfie of course!
Universal Studios provides free wi-fi and the selfies can be uploaded instantaneously. The place has a happy vibe and complete with the Christmas decorations and songs over the loudspeaker, you are in your best holiday mood.
Universal Studios is situated in Sentosa island and we got there by road by 10 am. There are 7 zones in the park – Hollywood, New York, Sci-Fi City, Ancient Egypt, The Lost World, Far Far Away & Madagascar. Each zone has a host of activities, rides and shows. Our first ride was Transformers The Ride – The Ultimate 3D Battle in the Sci-Fi City. The wait for the ride was about 40 minutes. But the ride was good as we joined the Autobots and Optimus Prime against the Decepticons. You can shorten the wait by purchasing the Universal Express pass.
After photo sessions with Bumble Bee, we proceeded to the next ride – Revenge of the Mummy in the Ancient Egypt zone. It had a comparatively shorter queue and was an indoor roller-coaster ride. They provided a locker, protected by your fingerprint as password, to keep your belongings safe before entering the ride.
The Battlestar Galactica – a two track roller-coaster is a popular attraction, but we skipped it.
In Far Far Away we attended an interactive “live” show hosted by Shrek’s sidekick, Donkey, called – Donkey Live. Highly entertaining and good show!!
In Madagascar, we saw King Julian’s Tropical Christmas party – a song and dance show by the cast of Madagascar.
We had lunch from KT’s Grill House, a good place.
Try as you may, but you cannot leave the place without buying some souvenir of your favourite movie character.
We had to leave Universal Studios by 4 pm as we wanted to see the SEA Aquarium, but there was still so much to see and do. We also tried the video arcade, was fun. The Hollywood zone is complete with the Walk of Fame.
The SEA Aquarium was also celebrating the season with Merry Fishmas. The huge aquarium takes you underwater and gives you a unique experience of marine life. The fishes and marine animals are grouped as per their original habitats. We saw the Hammerhead shark and the majestic manta rays.
The Open Ocean Habitat with the huge acrylic viewing panel is beautiful and you can keep staring at the ocean scenery. You pass the exhibit of jellyfish towards the end and the fun facts about them are informative. As you leave the place you still carry the surreal blue of the water with you.
There are other attractions like the Trick Eye Museum, Adventure Cove Waterpark which we had to skip. We left the place by 6:30 pm with heavy hearts and a heavy bag of Hershey’s goodies.
Happy travelling,
Anju
