New York, USS vs New York, USA

In this post, I will be comparing the various buildings in New York street in Universal Studios Singapore against the real buildings found in New York, New York.

New York street is one of the most detailed themed zones in Universal Singapore, and the attention to detail in the zone is very amazing. Many of the buildings there are actually based on real buildings in New York, and this adds to the level of authenticity. The various architectural styles and references in the park is actually impressively accurate.

The view of New York street from the entrance is dominated by the the Neo-classical building that looms at the end of the street. This facade is actually modelled after the real New York public library, found on 5th Ave in Manhattan.

Image courtesy of USSi 

The real deal - see the likeness?

The New York Public library is actually a really famous building, and it was featured in various blockbuster Hollywood films.

Who can forget the apocalyptic scene in The Day After Tomorrow where the characters hide out from Mother Nature's fury in the New York Public Library?

Or the goofy Ghostbusters busting ghosts in the vaults of the Library?

The next recognizable building on New York street is the Rockefeller building right next to the Public Library.

Remember this? - Image courtesy of SGsearchsite 

This facade is modelled after the famous Rockefeller complex located off 5th Ave. The statue of Atlas Carrying the World is modeled after the one below:

The Rockefeller Center is well known for its public art program. The entire complex is literally filled with dramatic pieces of Art Deco works that celebrate the spirit and achievements of mankind.

The mural behind Atlas in Universal Studios Singapore is modeled after the mural above the main entrance to the Rockefeller building. Notice that in the photo, there is no mural behind Atlas in the original building.

The shape of the facade also closely follows the original building. Forced perspective is put to great use here to give the impression of a tall building when the facade is actually only about 3 stories tall.

Notice the tapered design of the building

Who can forget the heartwarming scene in Home Alone 2 that was filmed in front of the Rockefeller center?

Next to the Rockefeller center is actually a small clock, above the Empire State Emporium.

This clock is modelled after the facade of the famous Tiffany and Co on 5th Ave, as pictured below.

Finally, the rest of the buildings on New York street is modelled after the Tenement style of architecture, found all over New York, as well as other cities along the East Coast, like Philadelphia.

Tenements of New York, USS

Tenements of New York, USA

Such architecture is characteristic of New York, and was constructed in the 1800s to respond to the huge population boom due to the rise of the industrial factories in New York. You can see this style of architecture in famous movies like:

West Side Story

That concludes our tour of New York street. Do look out for more posts in the future.

universal studios singapore photo of the day

Part of the ongoing photo of the day posts

The brown derby

Universal Studios Singapore New York street Part 3

Live Entertainment

When Universal Studios Singapore opens next year, one thing that hits you as soon as you enter the park is the live entertainment. There are going to be actors dressed as different characters in all the areas interacting with visitors, signing autographs and entertaining visitors as they walk through the park. This is going to add to the liveliness and the vibrancy of Universal Studios Singapore.

Well, New York street is no exception. There will be live acts, so there will constantly be live entertainment around Universal Studios Singapore.

F&B and Retail

There are going to be no retail shop in this area, however, there will be two excellent dining options here.

KT's Grill
It is going to be a full service restaurant serving authentic New York Grill with a rich woodwork interior reminiscent of a 1940's NY dinner house. Menu includes classic New York grill entrées, sandwiches, soups and salads; along with a fresh oyster bar and Pacific Rim influenced "East meets West" dishes.


Loui's NY Pizza Parlor
A Pizza Parlor selling a wide variety of traditional Italian pizzas as well as some local Singapore favourites including Hawaiian pizza, tandoori chicken pizza, vegetarian pizza and more.

Universal Studios Singapore New York street Part 2

This will be a series of ongoing articles about the 7 themed lands and rides in Universal Studios Singapore. Pictures belongs to respective owners.

Continuing from yesterday...

Attractions
There are 2 attractions in this area: Lights Camera Action hosted by Steven Spielberg and also Stage 28.


Lights Camera Action is a behind the scene movie making experience. Guest are able to come in to see a real soundstage, where you will be introduced to what movie making is all about. Then, you will walk onto a "hot set", a set where filming is taking place. Right before your eyes, you are going to see explosions, water effects, you are going to see rain, you are going to feel the wind, seeing New York city being hit by a major hurricane.



I am now going to bring you through the whole experience starting from the entrance. You will enter this attraction through a facade recreating a pier facing the Universal Studios Singapore lagoon. As you enter the building, you will be led into the queue/preshow area. The preshow area looks like this:



There are filming equipments all spread around the soundstage, creating the feeling that a production is taking place. There will be 3 huge projection screens in front. The projection comes on when the show begins. The host introduces you to this attraction before showing you a short movie clip. Here is a preview of how the film looks like:











From there, the guest then proceed into the main soundstage to watch the experience unfold before their eyes. For the main show, I do not have much information, and even if I have, I am also not going to spoil the experience for you by telling you how it is like.

Stage 28 is a actual, working soundstage/production centre. Universal Studios Singapore will be partnering with people from all around the world to bring their movies and television commercial production right here to Universal Studios Singapore.




This is going to be one of the best soundstage in the whole of Asia. This venue is also capable to holding big events, like parties, company staff trainings, ceremonies etc.

Live Shows
There will be many live shows in the New York area.

To be continued...

Universal Studios Singapore New York street

This will be a series of ongoing articles about the 7 themed lands and rides in Universal Studios Singapore. Pictures belongs to respective owners.

Introduction


The New York Area-home to Universal Studios Singapore's film making attractions. It will recreate the look and feel of the Big Apple, complete with shopping and dining options as well as live performances by characters on the streets.

Themeing


Just like the Hollywood area, New York streets is also going to have a shade cover to make sure that the temperature is ideal all day long, and to provide shade and shelter. Cool air will be blown into this area so as to ensure that it would be comfortable in this area.

New York Street represents the NY of 1940s. The facades will be very authentic. There are also many small individual environments like alleys, streets and corners for people to explore. It will also serve as great photo opportunities for the family.

Here is one question for you to think about: since this area is the home to Universal Studios Singapore's film making attractions, do you think that New York street area is meant to represent a backlot set of a studio where filming is going on, or is it supposed to be representing the real New York street?



Hole in the Street

A visitor to USS Singapore in the first few weeks or months of operation will notice that instead of buildings on two sides of New York street, there are only buildings on one side of the street, while there are some pretty heavy construction going on the other side of the street. No, this isn't any plan to build skyscrapers in this New York street or anything like that, in fact, the finished product would not even add to the New York area.


This is construction of Transformers ride which will open in 2011 in Sci-fi city. However, the show building extends into New York street, so the facades of the buildings in New York Street is literally build against the show building of the Transformers ride.

So would this whole in the street spoil the theming and the atmosphere of this area? Yes, definitely. Would this be worth it? Yes, definitely, as we will be getting a new ride based on Transformers.

Attractions
There are 2 attractions in this area: Lights Camera Action hosted by Steven Spielberg and also Stage 28.

To be continued

All images belongs to respective owners.