Halloween Horror Nights After Event Review Pt3

This is part three of the review of Halloween Horror Nights in Universal Studios Singapore.
Pestilence
Scare Factor 4.5/5
Production quality 3.5/5
Overall Show 4/5
Located in the streets of New York and the waterfront area, Pestilence packs lots of scares in this small compact area. This scare-zone is highly unique, and resembles more of an outdoor haunted maze than a scare zone per se. This follows the story of how a contagious zombie-making virus has entered the slum area of New York.

This zone has a really compact layout, and the fact that half of the maze faces towards the harbor definitely adds a false sense of security. The ambiance is excellent, and the scares are at the very least unexpected.



The entrance is located near the still defunct Sci-fi stage area. The entrance resembles a pair of cast iron gates, with a great fog effect behind it. One of the first scares was by two scareactors on bungees. I found this scare highly effective and gives an "out of control" feeling to the maze. Another innovative scare technique is that of the electric sparks, whereby a scareactor seem to give off sparks on a metal grate while guests are walking past.

This maze is overall pretty cool, and is rather innovative for an outdoor maze.

To be continued...

Halloween Horror Nights After Event Review Pt2

This is part two of the review of Halloween Horror Nights in Universal Studios Singapore

The Vengeance of the Matriarch
Scare Factor 4.5/5
Production quality 4/5
Overall Show 4.5/5
Arguably the most detailed and elaborate section for the entire event, VotM is a solid maze with great show sets and many innovative scare tactics. The story is loosely built around a crazy Peranakan lady inhibiting an old colonial shop house. The story is really very flimsy, but the production quailty made up for it.

While VotM didn’t have the “Hollywood” energy of Post Apocalyptic Rage or the Void, what it did have was creepy classic Halloween cranked up to 11! While scare zones impressed me with the show production, I found the tricks and techniques used to scary me in this one impressive. This haunt was unique and deserved a scare rating of 4.5 as many of the scare techniques are totally unexpected.

The maze entrance is located at the boundary between Hollywood and New York, and the queue winds into the backstage sections of the park, before ending up at a small door leading into a Soundstage. The queue is just some makeshift ropes and is not themed at all, but this is understandable for this temporary event.

Tip
The queue is very long, and can easily bump up to 75 minutes, so it is best to visit this maze at the start of the event.

The maze starts with a full scale facade of a Peranakan Shophouse, complete with balconies and tiled floors. This facade area is generally well lit but still manages to set the eerie feel for the maze. The next area is the welcome room. It is a highly detailed living room, typical of colonial shophouse buildings. The matriarch is sitted on a rocking chair in the middle of the room. The scare here is the fact that there are two mirrors at the two sides of the room, and one of the mirror is slide-able and a scareactor can pop out from behind. This room leads into a portrait room, full of details and amazing period portraits. Some of the portraits were slideable openings for scareactors to appear.

Some other notable rooms include a dining room with a scareactor cannibalizing a human head, while other scareactors jump out from the sides, a walk through wardrobe full of hanging cloths, which gives a highly claustrophobic feel, as well as a room with hanging body bags and a butcher hiding among the bags. These rooms are the common staple of overseas Halloween events, and is great to see these scares coming to Singapore for the local audience here.

The best room in this maze is still the courtyard scene. This scene is very empty on first sight, with minimal decor and lots of space. This really adds to the false sense of security of the place. Out of nowhere, a scareactor on bungee then appears and scares the heck out of guests. The speed and the unpredictability of scare is highly effective and very disorienting.

Overall, this is a great house, and packs a great deal of scares. Given that Halloween is quite new in Asia, this house really pioneers lots of innovative and groundbreaking scare techniques that may be considered as staples in the West.

To be continued...

Halloween Horror Nights After Event Review

This is a review of USS's Halloween Horror Nights, an upcharge after hours Halloween event that happens in October.

After a year of false promises, Resorts World at Sentosa finally introduced Halloween Horror Nights to a eager Singaporean audience. The Halloween market has been in rapid development in the past years, with local events such as Sentosa Spooktacular and 13 cells.

General Feelings
I was there for the opening weekend of Halloween Horror Nights. The place was relatively packed for a 60 dollars upcharge event. The majority of the audience was clearly teens and young adults. This event is clearly not suited for kids below age of 12. The atmosphere there was really good, and the Halloween vibe was definitely there. Although it rained during my visit, much of the scare zones are covered and hence my visit was relatively not affected. The production quality was excellent, so were the scare actors. This is a solid event with lots of potential. The scarezones at this event is wicked, and they are really big budget productions. Though the mazes may lack the details of HHN's overseas counterparts, it is still groundbreaking in the Asia scene. However, it is clearly evident that the scale is very small and that they will definitely have to expand for future Halloween Horror Nights. This was a great start, and we hope to see it flourish in the future.

Entrance Plaza
Although Universal Studios Singapore belongs to a much large propoerty, Resorts World Sentosa, the Halloween action is very much concentrated in the park itself. Therefore, the entrance plaza and the surrounding areas are pretty much left untouched, with no decoration or fog. The only apparent Halloween touch is the creepy background music played in place of the usual welcome score.

Tip
The lines can usually get very long during event opening. Be sure to look out for turnstiles will shorter lines, especially those closer to the VIP entrance. The lines also move relatively fast, so don't get impatient. The event usually opens slightly earlier than the stated timing, so be sure to get in line early.

Turnstiles
This is were the madness begins. In place of the usual cheerful ticket checkers clad in vintage usher uniforms are zombie ticket checkers in aged and worn uniforms. The make up on their faces in superb, rich with details. Some of the ticket checkers may just have a scar make-up, while others have entire prosthetic skull faces in rich details. They also stay in character, and greet the guests with a silent stare instead of the usual cheerful greeting.

For the following segments, I will rate each scare zone according to its scare factor, production quality and overall show design.

Carn-evil
Scare factor 2/5
Production quality 3/5
Overall show 3/5
The overall most unique and exotic scare zone is definitely Carn-evil. A play off the recurring themes of clowns and scary sideshows, Carn-evil creates a great ambiance and serves as a great introductory zone to the event. It is highly visually stunning, and is heavily fogged, adding to the overall mood. As the zone is covered, the creative team is able to install many theatrical lights onto the covered structure, adding to the production quality of the zone.


This zone starts with the entrance area, with many sinister clowns, some carrying animatronic jack-in-a box props. The clowns are definitely spooky, and adds to the atmosphere. However, they are not aggressive in their scares, and tend to keep mainly to themselves.


Walking down the street, we will see the lady with her mirror, inviting you to take a look at the reflection. This character is definitely twisted, but there is no outright scares here too. Following that are the two sideshow pavilions, one with a tattoo lady and one with a fortune teller. These pavilions/ tents are great photo ops, and the character will definitely interact with you if you are willing (though most people just stop for a photo). There is also a fire-breather and a stilt walking clown. Their performance is a joy to watch, and adds to the sinister, twisted feel of Carn-evil.


Overall, this is a solid scare zone, that is high on atmosphere and mood, but lacks the scares. Great eye candy, and a great place to sit down and people watch.


To be continued...

USSingapore Blog 2.0

This is official. After a year long hiatus, USSingapore Blog is finally back, and better than ever. As you can see from the new look of the blog, USSingapore Blog is now in 2.0 mode! In this 2.0 version of the blog, You can look forward to more content, weekly photo updates from the park, detailed trip reports and ride reviews. You can look forward to regular posting, as well as more interaction between you and the blog! Thanks for all the support for version 1.0 of the blog. I really appreciate you taking time to read my articles. To kick start this new season, we will have a 2 part long series dedicated on comparing Battlestar Galatica Human and Cyclone coasters.

Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure

Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure, a major attraction located in the Lost World section

Quick Facts
Location: Universal Studios Singapore
Park Section: Lost World
Type: Rapids Ride
Status: Soft Opening
Opened: March 18, 2010

Will you be able to handle it?
This ride, being a rapids ride, is rather gentle and slow as compared to coasters and other ride systems. However, there are some portions of the ride where it gets pretty bumpy, and of course, not to forget the drop at the end of the ride, which may be a little intense for some.

But be ready for some portions in complete darkness, and some pretty close encounters with dinosaurs during the ride.

Tips on Riding
This ride features a pretty low capacity ride system and it is also one of the most popular rides in the entire park, hence there will be long lines towards the middle of the day. Try going on the attraction right after the park opening, where the queue will be about 10-30 minutes long. As the day progresses, especially after every Waterworld show, the queue will be bumped up to 1h15mins and it will remain this way until shortly before park closing.

You may also get very wet on this ride, depending on which direction you are facing. Given that the rafts are circular, there is literally no way to chose a dry seat or a wet seat, hence it is recommended that you wear a raincoat before getting onto the ride just in case you get soaked.

The Ride Experience

The Queue
The queue for this attraction is mostly held in a large sheltered area with switchback queue systems and it does lack the themeing that we come to expect from Universal. However, there are some small information posters about dinosaurs throughout the queue.

Another cool detail they did to make you buy into the entire Jurassic Park mythology is to have this complicated backstory regarding this tropical rain hitting Jurassic park, and that certain sections are closed due to the probability of flooding. There are evidence of this back story throughout the queue, from overhead announcements informing the closure of certain areas, to alerts on the video screens about the rainstorm.

To be continued...

Revenge of the Mummy Compare and Contrast

This post will deal with the comparison of the 3 incarnations of the Mummy ride in Singapore, Orlando and Hollywood. Check out the previous post for a detailed description of the Singapore incarnation of the ride.

The Universal Studios Singapore, Universal Studios Hollywood and Florida versions of Revenge of the Mummy are essentially the same. They both incorporate dark ride and roller coaster elements to immerse riders in the sinister world of Imhotep and his mummy minions. But there are some subtle and not-so-subtle differences.
Mostly, the differences have to do with real estate. In the Singapore version, the soundstage was built from scratch, while in the USH and USO version, it occupied the E.T. and Kongfrontation soundstages, respectively. The USH and USO soundstages occupy different footprints, while the USS version have an exact duplicate of the USO version. Orlando's and Singapore's larger width, depth, and height allow for a larger, longer ride. The Singapore version also have the advantage of an entire theme land dedicated to the Mummy theme, and since it was built 6 years after the original in USO was built, it also have the advantage of feedback and experience, allowing them to tweak some of the major story and queue elements.

• Ride Length- One of the major differences is duration. Florida and Singapore's Mummy clocks in at about three minutes, while Hollywood shaves 30 seconds off for about two-and-a-half minutes of fun.
• The Queue- In Florida, guests supposedly wander onto the movie set for the next 'Mummy" film sequel. Eventually, this morphs into the Mummy's tomb. In Hollywood, the line is shorter, and there's no pretense of a movie set. Guests there enter into the Mummy's tomb from the get-go. And in Singapore incarnation, guests supposedly enter a real tomb in the real Egypt, with not even a single reference to soundstages or filmaking.
• The Story- In the Singapore version of the ride, the guests have a "mission" to fulfill. They have to find the book of the living to destroy the curse, while in the USO and USH versions, the guests have no real mission.
• First Encounter- In the SIngapore version of the ride, the first encounter with the Mummy occurs with the Mummy performing a ritual on an archeologist, while in the USO verson, the Mummy jumps out of a coffin and sucks the life out of Reggie, and in the USH version, guests encounters the Mummy much later in the ride.
• The Launch- In Florida and Singapore, the vehicles launch 45 degrees up into the mouth of the Mummy. In Hollywood, it's a straight, zero-degree launch. Both versions reach top speeds of 45 mph, however.
• Going Backwards- In Florida and Singapore, the vehicles go backwards early in the ride after encountering the scarabs. The backwards part of the ride only lasts a few seconds as a transition to the next scene. In Hollywood, passengers don't encounter the scarabs until halfway through the coaster part of the attraction. They continue the second half of the coaster ride facing backwards.
• The Turnaround- In Florida and Singapore, the vehicles drop onto a turntable a few seconds after going backwards and immediately before they launch into the coaster part of the ride. In Hollywood, the vehicles proceed backwards for the second half of the coaster ride and the turntable faces them forwards to the exit area for unloading.
• The interruption- In the Florida version of the ride, there is a false unloading scene where the Mummy sucks life out of the ride operator and sends guests into the second porton of the ride, while in the Singapore version, the interruption comes when the guests finds the book of the living, and Imhotep pops up, cursing the guests and sending them into the second coaster portion. In the Hollywood version, the interruption is when the vehicle stops in front of the Scarab infested wall.
• Fire- In Florida and Singapore, the Mummy unleashes a blast of real fire. In Hollywood, the ride uses a "faux" effect to simulate fire.
• The End- In the Florida version of the ride, the ending of the ride has a video with the coffee gag, while in the Singapore version, the ending features Imhotep trapped in a coffin.

Revenge of the Mummy Review

Revenge of the Mummy, one of the best attractions in the whole of Universal Studios Singapore

The Revenge of the Mummy, located in the spectacular tomb in Ancient Egypt, is an indoor psychological roller coaster thrill ride.

Quick Facts
Location: Universal Studios Singapore
Park Section: Ancient Egypt
Type: Steel Coaster
Status: Soft Opening
Opened: March 18, 2010
Designer: Universal Creative
Inversions, Loops, Corkscrews: 0
Duration: 2+ Minutes
Height Restriction: 122cm
Max Speed: 45mph

Will you be able to handle it?
The coaster part of Revenge of the Mummy does not have any inversions, does not do to any uncomfortable speeds, and reaches a relatively tame max speed of 45 mph. RWS even considers it a "family" attraction and it's less intense than Battle Star Galactica Coasters. But it does include high-speed launches, delivers some startling drops and out-of-your-seat airtime, and feels a lot more out of control because it is in the dark. Be prepared for a more aggressive ride. There will be moments where you feel that you will drop out of your seats, and some "uncontrollable" turns in the dark. There are also steep drops, but still still can be managed. The Linear Induction launch is an aggressive part of the ride, and it launches you straight into a fog filled room, so for those sensitive to fog, you may need to consider it twice. There is a backwards section to the ride too, but it is short, and more fun than intense.

On the "psychological" side of the thrill equation, I think just about everybody, save highly impressionable young children, will find the mummy motif more engrossing than gross-out. The sound effects will be loud, and there will be strobe lights and pyrotechnic effects (real flame).
If you're on the line, I'd advise you to suck it up, hold on tightly to the rider next to you and give it a try. Revenge of the Mummy is among the very attractions in USS, and you should try it at least once. Even if you find the ride a bit too unsettling, you'll be able to take comfort in its short duration; the whole experience lasts about three minutes, with the coaster portion taking less than half that time.

Note
Follow the safety guidelines and do not bring a camera to film the ride. The camera will fly out!
Great Ideas, Great Technology The attraction's high concept, melding a special-effects laden dark ride with a thrilling coaster, is a remarkable theme park achievement. While there are other examples of indoor coasters that attempt to incorporate a story, nothing comes close to Revenge of the Mummy. The introduction of magnetically launched coaster systems provided the linchpin to make the hybrid ride possible. The Mummy's conveyance system, which uses linear induction motors, or LIMs, allows the ride to blast off like a coaster. The real breakthrough is a modified, slower version of the LIMs (called SLIMs) that transport the vehicles through the dark ride parts of the attraction. The technology allows the car to vary its speed through scenes, seamlessly transition from the dark ride to the coaster, and even travel backwards at one point.

Ride Experience
The journey begins as you enter the huge Egyptian tomb located in the Egypt section of the park. The story for this portion of the park goes like this: It is in the 1930s, the golden age of Egyptian exploration. A group of archeologists are excavating this spectacular tomb when something horribly wrong happened. The mummy in the tomb has gone back to life and you are trapped in it too.
While in the queue (which is positively enormous, think: marathon length, and can accommodate a slew of riders on peak attendance days), tabloids show messages like this "Find the book of the living and destroy Imhotep" . There are some pretty spectacular statues and drawings in the queue too, so you may want to take some time to check it out.
The core of the queue winds around a burial chamber and an archaeological dig. In the center is an enormous Egyptian statue that sits above a freshly unearthed keystone.

So the story of the entire attraction is that you need to find the book of the living to destroy Imhotep before he can destroy you.

Confronting the Mummy

The queue eventually leads guests up to the second level where they board the ride.
The 16-passenger single-car vehicles look nothing like coaster trains. Made to resemble industrial carts, they are articulated in the middle to accommodate the ride's twists and turns. The loading area actually have two platforms so as to double the capacity of the attraction.
In the first scene, words like "Find the book. Destroy Imhotep" are written all over the walls, and a ghostly voice beckons.
In the second scene a slightly mummified archeologist tells us once again to find the book of the living in order to get out. This scene is made to resemble the altar in the Mummy movies where Imhotep sucks the life out of victims in order to grow into a more human form. An imposing and highly fluid Mummy animatronic character turns around sucks the life out of the archeologist. He turns to the riders and says, "With your souls, I will rule for all eternity." As the word eternity reverberates around the corner, the vehicle moves out of there and into the next chamber.

Behind an altar, the Mummy appears as a large sand face. He makes an offer: "Join me and savor the riches of a thousand dynasties." A treasure trove of gold and jewels appears on either side of the train. "Or refuse and suffer a more bitter treasure." The room darkens, and animated warrior mummies pop out of troughs on either side of the train. Braziers on the altar burst into flames. The vehicle moves toward a huge stone wall that's descending and threatens lock the passengers in side the room for eternity. At the last moment, the vehicle makes a little coaster-like dip under the wall, and makes a turn into the next scene.

Scarab and launch

The vehicle speeds around a corner and crashes into a wall. The wall cracks and scarab beetles pour from the wall and invade the car as the lights fade to black. This effect is heightened through the use of sound effects although I think Universal could have upped the psyche-out fear quotient here if it had employed those calf-level tickling devices it uses in Shrek 4-D, which is just a simple string connected to a motor under the seat, which creates a tickling effect when spun.
This is where the ride gets serious. While the invading bugs distract the passengers, the track behind the car switches. The vehicle proceeds backwards, but instead of retracing its course, it makes a straight, steep drop into a turntable.

As the car turns 180 degrees, a the Mummy's voice taunts guests. "Your end will be my beginning", "with your souls I shall rule for all eternity". Visions of skeletons appear around this circular room. Facing a giant Mummy head, and launches 45 degrees uphill into the Mummy's fog filled mouth. There are some wild drops, ejector air, and moments of weightlessness that make for a giddy and nerve-wracking out of your seat turns. Fly-by apparitions help create the illusion of even greater speed, although they are too quick to be distinguished by guests.
As you start to feel dizzy, the vehicle stops in front of the book of the living, the book that you have been looking for all this while. Then the Mummy pops out from behind the book and curses the guests, before flames erupt from the ceiling. These are real flames and you can basically feel the heat from them.
The vehicle goes into a sharp drop and into a fog filled room, where it goes into the second coaster portion. There are a few more turns and then the vehicle goes into the last scene.
Trapped
In this last scene, Imhotep is trapped inside a coffin and he curses and taunts the riders from inside. The vehicle then goes into the unloading station.
Overall, the ride is an impressive one, and the psychological aspect of the ride really adds to the appeal of the ride. Ride it more than once to catch the details!