Universal Studios Singapore opening day

Universal Studios Singapore opened yesterday at 8.28 am with a auspicious Chinese lion dance ceremony. Guests have been arriving since 6 in the morning in a bid to be the first to enter the park.

I wasn't there yesterday, as the opening day tickets sold out as fast as it was released. Industry insiders estimated that only approximately 3000 over tickets were sold for the opening day, therefore making it so hard to get.

This small guest number was for a number of reasons. One of the most important reasons was to facilitate guest and crowd control on the attractions. The ride operators are new in their positions and hence it will be disastrous if a huge mob of guests turned up, leaving the new park operators with little idea of how to handle them.

This small guest number also created some interesting situations. The queues for the attractions were incredibly short. I remember seeing one photograph which says: Revenge of the Mummy coaster wait time - 5 mins. This allowed the guests to experience all the attractions within a short 8.28am - 6pm day.

Yesterday was full of surprises. One of them was the weather. It was sunny when the park opened, but within a few hours, it started to rain, then stop occasionally, then started raining again. This cycle continued for the entire day until the park closed. The deluge helped to lower the temperature, making theme park going in a tropical country more bearable. The rain did not cause many inconveniences as half of the attractions were indoor ones, and the streets also had shade and rain covers to protect the guests.

Another surprise was the extended opening hours. After the park officially "closed", certain portions of Hollywood and New York were open and there was a spectacular fireworks display in the central lagoon, to cap the day off.

Looking into the future, Genting CEO announced that there will be a major attraction rolled out every year, for the next 3 years, with the 2011 attraction being the TRANSFORMERS ride. Phrase 2 of RWS will also commence, which includes an oceanarium, a maritime museum, a water park and 2 more hotels.

Universal Studios Singapore will remain in the soft opening period until further notice. 18 of the 19 built attractions are open (Madagascar ride opens in mid 2010). Attractions may open or closed without notice in this soft opening period.