My Mom in Singapore part 3: Universal Studios

Universal Studios, a world renowned movie theme park,  has just recently opened in Singapore as part of Resorts World Sentosa. I bought tickets online and man it was expensive – S$72 for a one day pass for each adult.

Fortunately, my mom is a qualified senior (65+), so her ticket only cost S$36. Unfortunately, tickets were non-refundable and I had bought my brother’s ticket before I found out that he couldn’t come due to passport issues. I managed to sell it off at a discounted price in Ebay, though.

Mom and I went there bright and early on Good Friday. We were handed maps of the place, a flyer of all the shows and their timeslots, and an unexpected bonus – each of us got a S$5 voucher for merchandise and S$10 for F&B.

The theme park is subdivided into seven zones – Hollywood, Madagascar, Far Far Away (from Shrek), Lost World (Jurassic Park), Ancient Egypt, Sci Fi City, New York. Mom and I are both not fans of rides (read: wimps), so we just caught the two lamest rides in the place and spent the rest of the day walking back and forth through the zones to catch all the shows during their appointed time slots.

Some of them were really really awesome. I will now proceed to show our pictures by zone instead of by chronological order. Hollywood was the first place we stopped at and we had lunch there too, but that doesn’t mean we did that next to each other. We just went back there.

Hollywood

The first thing we saw once we walked in was the streets of Hollywood. We saw Kung Fu Panda but I think he rushing off to a bladder break so we weren’t able to have a photo op with him. We didn’t run into the Marilyn Monroe impersonator either. Too bad.

We had lunch at Mel’s Drive In, a 1950’s burger joint with a classic jukebox and vinyl booths. I’ve always wanted to walk into a cozy place like this. They had giant burgers and super thick milkshakes. I could finish only half of my burger; I wrapped the rest for later. The milkshake was so thick it took a lot of effort to sip it down. I paid only S$1 for both our meals thanks to our food vouchers.

As soon as we left Mel’s, we walked outside just in time to see a live musical performance from the Kowabunga Kove. Their songs reflected Mel’s classic vibe as well. I recognized some of the songs from Dreamgirls and Hairspray. They had great voices, moves and outfits (especially that girl’s pink balloon skirt). I really enjoyed their performance, musical freak that I am.

Kowabunga Kove finished just in time for us to line up for Monster Rock’s 1pm performance which was right next to it. The description made me expect ugly robot monsters clunking around the stage, so I wasn’t even planning to watch this at first.

I’m glad we did, though, because this was my favorite show! It was a musical that involved a bunch of good looking and sexy performers dressed as monsters who sang and danced with amazing special effects, lights and fireworks on stage. I don’t have a picture of them because photography and video was not allowed inside. Sorry.

My second favorite show was Steven Spielberg’s Lights Camera Action. It was a short show that showcased the special effects of a hurricane. Cool stuff! Also in Hollywood.

Madagascar

The Madagascar movie comes to life – from the crinkly giant tree to the shipwrecked boat that the animals used to escape from life in the zoo.

We watched the Madagascar mascots of Alex the lion, Gloria the hippo, King Julien the lemur, and the penguins dance “I like to move it, move it” on the streets. We later had a pictorial with the penguins. “Remember, cute and cuddly, boys! Cute and cuddly!” Loved that movie.

Photo op with lifesize statues of the Madagascar characters – Melman, Marty, Alex and Gloria.

Far Far Away

I’ve always found the name of this kingdom funny. Loved the movie Shrek!

A lovely far away shot of Far Far Away

A photo op with Puss in Boots. Even without the famous irresistible eyes look, I can’t help but be drawn to him. I love cats, that’s why!

We watched the Shrek 4D adventure. I had been wondering all this time why they call it 4D when it’s just 3D glasses then it dawned on me – oh right, the 4th dimension means the seats that move, the water that sprays, and all the other effects that help you be “in” what you’re watching. It was Mom’s first time to try on 3D glasses. She laughed all throughout the show while I screamed – hey, there were some startling moments!

She enjoyed it so much that when we went out of the show and into a shop, she wanted to buy a Shrek remembrance. We settled on a nice lightweight keychain with individual Shrek characters dangling from the ring and the Universal Studios logo emblazoned on it. Then we bought a Universal Studios T-shirt for my brother. We used our vouchers and got a discount.

I found this picture-poster on the wall in the receiving area to the Donkey show. The medieval version of Boys II Men. LOL! We watched a live show of Donkey singing on stage – a projected screen. Even though Donkey was just on screen, he interacted with us live. It was a stand up comedy show with music and audience participation.

Lost World

Clowning around in dinosaur land. Yes that is my mom in an eggshell.

This was the show that I most looked forward to because of the way it was described in the brochure but it turned out to be the one I least enjoyed. They recreated the setting of the movie Waterworld – scrap metal and roofs all patched together to form a habitat in the water, in a future world where all the polar ice caps have melted and land has disappeared.

They then enacted an action-packed scene with lots of chase and fight scenes, speedboat maneuvers and exploding gunfire and fireworks. The last one was what made me hate the show because I’m deathly scared of explosions. It was like watching an action film scene, only in real life. I’d rather stick to the cinema.

Ancient Egypt

Mom in Egypt… not! Love those realistic-looking Egyptian statues!

Me trying to pull off a failed concept shot again. LOL.

The second ride we went on. You just ride a jeep and go on a journey through the “Egyptian desert” where you come across alligators and snakes and vultures and scarabs and treasure. The end! Lame as it was, there was still a long queue before we could get on.

Sci Fi City

Just some mist and architecture that reminds me of the inside of a Gattaca game. I was trying to make like a robot in this picture, but I dunno if I succeeded in getting my point across.

The most famous Battlestar Galactica ride was closed due to some glitch. Not that it made a difference to us, since we wouldn’t have ridden it even if it had been open.

This is what we rode instead. It was like sitting inside a giant teacup as it got spun round and round. The end. Told ya it was lame. Hahaha. But at least nobody got palpitations.

New York

Wow, it’s a bunch of Pinoy guys dancing on the streets of New York! They’re called the Rockafellas. Filipinos are a talented bunch indeed.

A replica of the capitol… I think. I’m too lazy to google.

Two kinds of cabs. LOL. The top one is the typical New York cab while the bottom one is a parody of it in Far Far Away.

When we got out of Universal Studios, I thought of checking out the newly opened Casino nearby. We could go in for free because were foreigners. Singaporeans and PR’s have to pay a 100sgd levy. When we got in, there were sooo many people. I don’t have any pictures because I was afraid to snap any even though I couldn’t see a “no photography” sign anywhere. I was scared someone would smash my camera out of nowhere because I had snapped a photo that will prove his gambling addiction.

When we walked outside, it was just in time to hear an announcement about a show in the lobby. It was some girl named Stephanie who slithered up a silk cloth that was tied to the ceiling. She did splits and all sorts of things that would make you wonder if all her bones were made of wishbone material and dipped into vinegar to achieve that rubber-like consistency. She did all these about 10 feet in the air with just the hard concrete floor beneath her, no net or mattress to cushion her fall.

We went home to get her baggage and headed to the airport. Joey and Gelle were also there to send her off. That was awfully nice of them. They don’t understand Bisaya, which is my mom’s main dialect, but instead of speaking Tagalog to them, to my surprise, she spoke English. Haha. She ended up telling them things even I didn’t know before, like my dad’s “way way” moves. Haha.

My mom really really enjoyed her vacation. The entire week = success! 🙂