Breaking News from Straits Times

Singapore

Feb 8, 2010

RWS casino to open by CNY

By Lim Wei Chean , Jessica Lim , Tessa Wong , Chuang Bing Han and Mou Zongxiao

The doors to Singapore's first casino and Universal Studios theme park will be flung open by the Chinese New Year, which is widely regarded as an auspicious time. --PHOTO: REUTERS

THE doors to Singapore's first casino and Universal Studios theme park will be flung open by the Chinese New Year, which is widely regarded as an auspicious time.

Tenants and staff at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) told The Straits Times that they have been gearing up for the big opening at the end of this week.

One tenant said yesterday they had been told by the management that the theme park is targeted to open on either Feb 12 or 13, and the casino would open on Feb 13.

'We were told this a couple of days ago. We are very excited about good business during Chinese New Year,' said Mr Zie Samad, manager of Chili's, a restaurant which is just beside the theme park entrance. Entertainment veteran Dennis Foo, who is opening a new club at the integrated resort (IR) by early May, said 'more than three people in senior management' had told him the theme park would be taking in its first guests this week.

Mr Foo toured the IR last month and pronounced the casino '100 per cent ready'.

Several casino staff, who spoke to The Straits Times on condition of anonymity, said they were told to be ready for the casino's opening before Chinese New Year.

Found on the Straits Times, Singapore's premier newspaper

Feeding the Rumor Mill

The breaking news today is that Resorts World at Sentosa has gotten its casino license from the Singapore authorities after many weeks of delay. So how will this impact the opening date of Universal Studios Singapore and the casino.

Well,to look at it, there are a few factors to consider.

Firstly, it is the Chinese New Year. Well, it is no lie that Sentosa receives its highest visitor numbers during the New Year season. If you have ever been to Sentosa during the New Year weekend, you will know what I mean. People will literally have to queue for at least half an hour to get onto the Sentosa express to get into Sentosa, and they would have to queue for another hour or so to get out of Sentosa. The New Year weekend is also when attractions in Sentosa have the longest lines out of the entire year. The majority of the visitors will come from China as they have a long Chinese New Year holiday. There will also be many local visitors, those who are not Chinese, and have nothing to do during the New Year weekend to come visit Sentosa. So will Universal Studios Singapore open before or during the New Year weekend? It is for you to decide.

The second factor is the licenses for operation. Universal Studios Singapore requires at least 3 license to operate: the public entertainment license, the ride safety license and the general operation license. From as far as I know USS has received all 3 of their licenses and is ready to open. And the casino has also gotten its license, hence in theory, both are ready to open.

The third factor is the amount of completion. USS needs to get all their staff trained and all the rides working before it opens.

Therefore, it is very likely that USS and the casino may open either this week or then next. We will wait and see.

Sci-fi city

This will be a series of ongoing articles about the 7 themed lands and rides in Universal Studios Singapore. Pictures courtesy of Universal Studios Singapore Press Conference.

One of the most exciting and most well covered land is the Sci-fi city. It is one of the smallest lands in the whole of Universal Studios Singapore and undoubtedly one of the best lands in Universal Studios Singapore as it houses 3 headliner, gate-busting attractions. The Battle Star Galactica Human line, Battle Star Galactica Cyclone line, and the Transformers ride opening in 2011.



Lets talk about the headliner Battlestar Galactica coasters first. Here are some stats:

-It is the tallest pair of roller coasters (Not the tallest coaster, but the tallest pair)
-The coaster will be launched from their stations at high speed instead of the traditional chain lift.
-Each coaster feature either several inversions, a zero-g roll, a Cobra roll, corkscrews, vertical loops and near collisions mere inches apart.
-Part of the ride will take place over a lagoon.

This ride will also feature a new generation of interactive storytelling queues, where there will be different sides of the story of Battlestar Galactica told on the two queues.


Accelerator
This ride will be like the spinning tea cups on steroids, with a futuristic themeing. It is mainly a children's ride.

The Lost World Area

This will be a series of ongoing articles about the 7 themed lands and rides in Universal Studios Singapore. Pictures courtesy of Universal Studios Singapore Press Conference.

Jurassic Park trilogy will be brought to life in this unique area of Universal Studios Singapore. Life sized dinosaurs will be authentically recreated in this area. This is the largest theme land in the whole of Universal Studios Singapore, with 5 Unique attractions, 4 of which never seen before in other Universal Studios. This land is highly immersive, with lush vegetation and recreated structures from Steven Spielberg's hit movie.


The 5 attractions in this area are:
-Jurassic Park River Rapids
-Canopy Flyer
-Dino Soarin'
-Waterworld
-Amber Rock Climb

Note: Waterworld is based on the film of the same name, seen at other Universal Studios Parks around the world. It will be covered in another article.

This is the concept art for the entire land:



Jurassic Park River Rapids
Main article here
It is based on the blockbuster movie Jurassic Park by Steven Spielberg. It is a re-imagining of the classic Universal Studios attraction Jurassic Park River adventure, located in the other Universal Studios theme parks around the world. One thing unique about it is that it uses circular rafts rather that boats or log flumes.

Canopy Flyer


This is a version of a Skylift that uses rigid arms and the vehicle is propelled by a mechanism on the track, rather than the original Skylift rides where the whole track moves. It allows the whole family to sit comfortably in the vehicle and have birds' eyes' view of the land while enjoying the breeze.

Dino Soarin'


A theme park classic, a Centrifugal ride, like Dumbo the flying elephant, Astro Orbiter etc. What is different in this ride is that there is a joystick that allows guests to control how high or low the vehicles flies.

Amber Rock Climb


A rock climbing experience for the whole family in a safe environment.

To be continued...

Christmas Wish List

Christmas is coming, so this is my Christmas Wish List for Universal Studios Singapore.

So if Santa is reading, please seriously consider my wishes.

Number 1 No crowds.
Although I hope that Universal Studios Singapore will be popular, huge mobs of crowds will not only spoil the whole experience, but it will also ruin all the fun of Universal Studios Singapore.

Number 2 A Nightly Fireworks/ Lagoon Spectacular.
Like all good theme parks, Universal Studios Singapore should have a lagoon/fireworks show to keep the guests in for the night and to cap off the guests' experience. Given that Universal Studios Singapore already have a lagoon, adding a lagoon show will be easy.

Number 3 A Halloween Party/Event.
The american versions of Universal Studios have it. It is a hard-ticketed event where there will be fun houses, haunted houses, temporary attractions etc that brings Halloween attractions to a whole new level.

Number 4 Constant updates and refurbishments.
As you know, movies are one of the easiest things to get outdated, so I wish that there will be refurbishments and expansions on new movies, and old attractions based on outdated movies will be swapped out.

Number 5 Local passes/ Annual passes.
All the other Universal Studios have local resident passes or annual passes, where there will be a discounted price for people who will come very often. This is very important as in order to keep the locals coming after their first visit. And living in Singapore, I hope there will be a discount for us.


To be continued...

Universal Studios Singapore Ancient Eygpt part 2

This will be a series of ongoing articles about the 7 themed lands and rides in Universal Studios Singapore. Pictures courtesy of Universal Studios Singapore Press Conference.

Revenge of the Mummy ride
This is the main headliner attraction of this land. It is an indoor roller coaster. People from Universal Creative (those who designed this park) calls it a psychological thrill ride, because you are in complete darkness while riding through this roller coaster. This allows you to buy into the story and suspend all disbelieve. Very intense, a whole lot of fun and a lot of screaming on this ride.

The story to this ride is that you are exploring an ancient Mummy tomb when you heard of the tale of Imhotep, and you have to destroy the book of the living before him can get to it. So you jump onto these mine cars and you start exploring, when Imhotep discovers you and he chases you around this tomb, each time escaping him narrowly.

There will be amazing effects such as the fire effect seen in other versions of this ride, shown below.


Another cool effect that is present in other incarnations of the ride is the Scarab beetles effect, where the beetles appear on the walls with help of projectors, as the added special effects of air jets at riders' feet and a spray of water from above create the illusion of the vehicle being overrun by the bugs.

There may even be a backwards section of the ride, where the vehicles move backwards through complete darkness with Imhotep chasing behind you.


Treasure Hunters



This a family fun ride, where the whole family can ride the jeep and explore the excavation site, which ties in very well to the theme of this whole area.

Universal Studios Singapore Ancient Eygpt

Imagine walking with Pharaohs. Imagine the grandeur and the splendor of ancient Egypt coming to life once again. Imagine the luxury of an era long gone. Imagine the culture and the complexity of this magnificent civilization brought to life before your very eyes.

Imagine no more.

Meet Universal Studio Singapore's most exotic, and culturally rich land, Ancient Egypt. This land is the home of 2 mega attractions, The Revenge of the Mummy and the Treasure Hunters. This two attractions cater to all ages. Now add this two attraction to a wide array of shops and dining (or should I say feasting) options, spice it up with some authentic theming elements, and you get one of the most picturesque land. This land really brings story telling to a brand new level, where you are in a giant movie set and you are the actors, making memories and having fun.



The story of this theme land is that you are the archeologist who discovered the ancient ruins of an Egyptian civilization, and this land completely does that. That explains why there is the Treasure Hunters ride, which is the jeep that you, the archeologist sits on to excavate the ruins. While is Mummy coaster is the centerpiece of the land, and the entire ruin is built around the tomb of the Mummy.