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Saturday, March 17, 2012

Foreigners In Singapore - Fourth Day: Ride Of Our Lives

I could name countless reasons why we visited Singapore, but visiting Sentosa's Universal Studios was one thing we made sure we wouldn't miss.   Months ago, we already booked for it, with the help of our sister, Jen.  Our thanks to her for making it possible for us to experience such magnificent place.  So, ready or not, here we go...

There are 4 ways to go to Sentosa (as far as I know), a bus ride (stops outside VivoCity), through the cable car ride, level 3 VivoCity Sentosa Express and  a walk over the bridge towards Sentosa... we took the express.  Upon arrival, we immediately took some pictures with the ever famous Universal Studios globe.  That alone was good enough for me, but didn't want the money we spent to go to waste, so I was  forced to go inside... you kidding me, I was dying to go inside.


First stop, Hollywood.  Just missed Poh, the Kung Fu Panda.  He must had been summoned by his master, hehehe.  Glad we still met other well-known characters like the speechless Frankenstein, the cutie Winnie Woodpecker and the ever sexy Betty Boop.  We enjoyed posing with them for a pic, especially the kids.  You just need a little patience in falling in line and wait for your turn.  They're quite popular, you know.


Help! hehehe...
 
 

We had our first ride in Madagascar: A Crate Adventure.  The line's kinda long, so we took some pics first with the replica of the four main characters: Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria.

Then we had our turn for the river boat ride.  It brought us inside through a hole in a huge ship.  Inside was the dark interior of the ship, we were entertained by the trail of adventure of our four heroes, with their lifelike moving figures (probably robotics) and special effects (light, sound and water sprays).


After, we visited Shrek's palace in Far Far Away.  Here we experienced our first roller coaster ride in the Enchanted Airways.  Though it was a junior size coaster, still it wasn't for the weak of hearts.  It also had sudden and heart-stopping twists, turns and drops that would surely weaken your knees and make your world turn around a little bit faster.  A piece of advice, shouting or crying can release the pressure... LOL.

For a breather, we watched the Shrek's 4-D adventure.  Here, with the seats moving, sound and mechanical effects and illusion made by the 3-D glasses, we had a greater perspective of the movie, especially the spiders and the sneezing part, just amazing.

We also had their Magic Potion Spin.  It was a ferris wheel for children, and its one of my kids favorite... something they would not miss, and they made sure of it.

Moving on to The Lost World.  I'm just fascinated with dinosaurs when I was young... and seeing their life-size figures just made me very excited.  We tried first their kiddie ride, Dino-Soarin.  Here we rode in a Pteranodon (flying reptile), which had a button where you can control to soar high or go down as you move around the place.
Then, we prepared ourselves to get wet with Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure.  We bought protective coverings for the kids while we took the risk of getting wet.  During our raft ride, my kids were really afraid especially my son who was already covering her face on the lap of her mom.  We passed by inside a containment facility where the dinosaurs escaped their cages.  The thrilling part was when we were lifted in an elevator, while there was a T-rex waiting at the opening above, then  we were suddenly flooded down in a steep slope.  Luckily, we were not on the part of the raft were the water splashed, otherwise we could have been soaked wet.  But just in case one gets wet, there was a cabin-like dryer in the area after the ride, wasn't free though.



And we rode another nerve-wrecking ride, the Canopy Flyer.  Here, we were suspended in a short coaster-like ride being thrown around Jurassic Park.  I asked my kids if they enjoyed it, and said they did... they weren't afraid.  Me and my wife, it took our breath away, literally.
We took a break here to eat some heavy snacks.  We had tried their spicy turkey drumstick and siopao, and boy, was it good.






Then, to the mysterious Ancient Egypt.  We haven't tried the rides here since we were so busy posing for shots at the relics and with some famous characters like Cleopatra and Egyptian warriors.  Personally, I thought that Revenge of the Mummy was another 4-D adventure, when in fact it was an indoor roller coaster ride... ha ha.  Well, my mind was lingering to somewhere else that time.
 

Finally, we arrived at the most challenging part where the most challenging rides were, Sci-Fi City.  I was dying to ride Battlestar Galactica, oh my, was I was dying. My heart was pounding hard just thinking at that moment that I would be riding that coaster.  My wife just talked me to it, that when will I go to try it, when I'm no longer capable?  Having said that, I told her that we'll do it.   And we did.   And guess what, there's no long line there, unlike our previous rides.  Come to think of it, just think of how uncomfortable it was convincing your body and mind that it must be done.  And before we knew it, we're zooming in their "Human" seated coaster (it was the red track).  It was mixed emotion of excitement, fear of the unknown, and this is it, can't turn back now.  The sudden twists, turns and drops were just mind bugling...it made me stiffen with my blood rushing to my head.  We were shouting the whole time during the ride, at least we knew that we haven't passed out.  At last the torture, I mean the fun ended and like brave soldiers we were met by people clapping their hands (wondered why, but I was also clapping my hands too... I'm alive).  I didn't stand up right away since I was waiting for my spirit to catch up with me, I left him somewhere along the way LOL.  We hadn't tried the "Cylon" suspended coaster (blue track) since we didn't have enough time already (excuses? hehehe...).

Haven't got enough yet, we tried their newest attraction, Transformers The Ride: The Ultimate 3D Battle.  It was a very, very long line.  Even heard someone murmuring, "hope this is worth the wait".  So we enjoyed ourselves looking at some of the Transformers paraphernalia and screen shows along the way.  Then, our turn came and we were secured inside a vehicle.  Inside, we were dragged in a battle between the Autobots and Decepticons, with the latter wanted badly to destroy us.  We were fired upon with missiles,  vacuumed towards a huge crushing robot, slammed in a building and thrown from the building to the ground.  Good thing were always  saved by autobots.  It was so realistic, that my son wasn't looking anymore. 

To relax our nerves, we then took some pics around with the famous robots of Transformers.  Too bad, we missed Optimus Prime, oh well, can't have them all.


After, we had snacks, again, but this time in classic 1950's diner Mel's Drive-In.  We also enjoyed the live show outside, a quartet, singing golden hits.  And had pics with their classic cars parked also outside the diner.


We then stopped and took some shots of the old New York.  It seemed like your in a different country and traveled back in time.  We didn't stay long and hadn't watched Lights, Camera, Action! since we were pulled by Hollywood's Monster Rock.  It was a live concert performed by classic monsters but with a modern touch in music and costumes.  Really enjoyed the light fun, whew.

Then as promised, we returned to Madagascar's King Julien's Beach Party-Go-Round.  If there was another thing that my kids enjoy more aside from the ferris wheel, it's a merry-go-round.  So, after a countless of spin around, we decided to call it a day (since they were already closing the part where the rides were).

 

And we had a relaxing walk and took some pics along Hollywood shops until we came by a shop named That's a Wrap, and indeed it was.  Thank You, Yahweh, for such a once in a lifetime experience.

The kids had fun... it's all that matters.

41 comments:

  1. I am so much pleased to see a family who travels together. Filipino families now have the guts to travel abroad! God Bless!

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  2. great time on your fourth day, just enjoy every bit of it

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  3. aw, this is so nostalgic. :>
    i miss universal studios =)

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  4. ang cute nung parang sinasakal ka oh.. hahaha..

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  5. Singapore!!! I'm going there this June! :D already have my tickets and im super excited. will bookmark your page and read it thoroughly. might get some tips here haha :)

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  6. This is such a lovely and unforgettable experience! I wish I could do this with my family. :)

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  7. Wow! My brother will love it there, he loves Transformers! ;)

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  8. I am not into rides so my favorite there is also picture taking.. Hehe and the musical shows!!! ;)

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  9. Great family pics! Looks like you really enjoyed the trip! Hoping to be back at Singapore, and sana this time kasama ko na rin family ko.

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  10. That looks like a lot of fun, Singapore is indeed a vacation spot for travelers.

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  11. My family and I have been to Universal twice already. And on both occasions, we enjoyed ourselves full. We stayed from 9 am to 9 pm, that's how ulit our stay there. haha. We stayed until the last embers of the fireworks died. Haha.:)

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  12. Can hardly wait to take my family there too, a few months from now! Wee!

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  13. You had fun with your family for sure! And omygosh you tried the coaster?Nakakatakot un ah! Nice!

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  14. whoaaahh!! so fantastic was your trip. and i loved that bumblebee at your photo..

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  15. great! seems like you guys really had fun!

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  16. Wow...I just saw Betty Boop. I want to have a picture with her too.

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  17. The boyfie will be at this place in like 6 days. I hope he has as much fun as you guys did.

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  18. I am glad to see your family so happy with your Singapore adventure! Buti nga doon sa sinakal ni Frankenstein! :-P!

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  19. Sounds fun! I wish to bring my family abroad soon :)

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  20. It sounds like you had a fabulous time!! Great pictures!! Kathy

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  21. Great adventure! Hope you can post more pics. :)

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  22. Its fun traveling with your family. I hope we could go there sometime soon. ^_^

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  23. looks like the whole family enjoyed the experience in Singapore. I just had the same moment when I was there http://www.chooseiligancity.com/search/label/Singapore

    I miss the place though!

    Universal Studios is a great place for kids...

    I hope you tried all the rides just like the Revenge of the Mummy----you could have shouted with all your might :)

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  24. It looks like everyone had a lot of fun! :)

    Very charmed with your enthusiasm in recalling your trip with your family in Singapore.

    It lifted up my spirits how you described each activity you have done and obviously the pictures were stories in themselves - made me smile throughout! Just what I needed to read in this very cloudy day in the Netherlands!

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  25. If I will travel outside the country, I would definitely find a way to visit Singapore specially Universal Studio, look at how stunning those awaits their visitors!! very nice...

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  26. Gosh! Your post made me miss my own experience in USS. It was my best theme park experience yet!

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  27. What a happy family. I can feel the fun and excitement in your faces, especially the kids. Singapore is such a lovely place.

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  28. I was also able to visit Universal studios and it was really fun with all the rides and the characters.

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  29. wow! i haven't been here in my 5 years of living in singapore i didn't realized that there's actually a lot of places i haven't been yet hehe well, biglaa kc yung relocation nmin ahahha love to see this photos!! Glad you all had fun too! xx

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  30. It's nice to spend time with family anywhere in the world. Singapore's Universal Studios is on my list of places to visit hopefully within the year.

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  31. Just a small country but will definitely treat you with thousand different experiences to treasure. I just love Singapore for so many reasons but on top of it is that you can experience many different cultures here.

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  32. Great! this is so fantastic. I bet everyone had a real nice time with this trip. Good for your kids, something to remember when they grew up.

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  33. It's not so common to see families travel completely nowadays. I'm happy seeing a family traveling together, congrats for that! :) And yeah, SG is really on my list to visit this year! :)

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  34. My Niece and Nephews will love that place..:) Great 4th day in SG!..:)

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  35. The ride, would be my adrenaline fix..
    I love challenging rides, you will never have to ask me twice.
    Lots of my friends had been going to SG just for the heck of it..
    I did my own share of travelling, within our country at least.
    SO maybe its time I head out

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  36. I am not into theme parks even when I was younger but my kids would love this. My mom was able to visit Universal in the US but she lost all her pictures (pre-digital age). Perhaps next time I go to SNG, I might drop by ;)

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  37. You guys looks so happy at your family pics. Great travel indeed. How I wish I can bring my family in places like that :(

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  38. Kakaingit naman kayo, but spending time traveling with your family nice is an experience to treasure.

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  39. I hope I could visit Universal Studios in Singapore as my wife had been there for a business trip.

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  40. great pictures of a happy family and inspirational for me , wishes and pray to have this great travelling spend with my family ! :)

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  41. Singapore, so small country, yet so big, you are indeed foreigners in Singapore, I wish I could be foreigner in Singapore as well

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