From 22 – 24 June 2012, six JPITians &
their family members went on a weekend trip to the Universal Studio Singapore
and Johor Premium Outlets (co-organised by Club-i and the staff club of Jabatan
Kewangan). The group left BNM HQ at around 8.30pm on Friday by bus and headed
straight to the Tropical Inn JB, where we spent our nights there.
Day 1: The ‘fun-filled & thrilling’ day out at Universal Studios Singapore
(USS)
We left Johor as early as 9.00am and only arrived
in Singapore approximately two hours later (phewww…blame
the suuuper looooooong queue at the immigration!). It was scorching hot
when we reached USS main entrance, but the excitements to kick start our day at
the famous Hollywood-inspired theme park overcame it all. For info, USS which
was officially opened to public on March 2010 is the second Universal
Studios theme park opened in Asia (after Japan) and the
first in Southeast Asia.
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| DDRMI & family |
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| Kak Uji's little princess |
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| Kak Uji & family |
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| Puan DDRMI + kids |
We had a quick group photo session in front of
the gigantic USS globe (ini lokasi wajib
untuk bergambar kepada sesiapa yang mengunjungi USS) before finding our
ways to explore the seven different themed zones within USS. The first thing
that we did upon entering USS was to grab the park map/ brochure & plan our
route ‘strategically’/ wisely so as to fully optimised our 8 hours adventure there (bearing
in mind that most of the famous rides will take approx. 45mins – 1 hour queuing
time). Here are highlights of the highly recommended rides which you
shouldn’t miss while in USS (based on the
writer & her JPIT colleagues’ personal experience there)...
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| The group @ Universal Studios Singapore, 23 June 2012 |
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| Step 1: Equip yourself with the 'maps to the stars' |
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| Seven different themed-zones to be explored |
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Misi meng'strategise' our route in USS
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Zone 1: Sci-Fi City
This futuristic city is based on the popular television series,
Battlestar Galactica. Mind blowing crazy rides are located here.
Transformers - The Ride
Though I am not an avid fan of Transformers, I
find this as the most interesting & ‘cool’est ride of all. A compulsory one
I would say! (even if you had to queue
for hours, it’s totally worth it). It uses elevators to transport the ride
vehicles from one platform to another. A combination of 3D-HD film on battle
between Autobots vs. Decepticon, supported by 4D effects (water sprays, fog etc.)
makes Transformers: The Ride as a must ride for everyone! Everything
seemed so real!
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| Transformers The Ride: A must ride! for everyone |
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| Aktiviti wajib to kill time while waiting |
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| Mr. President queuing up for the ride |
BattleStar Galactica Cyclon & Human
This is the world’s tallest steel duelling inverted roller coaster. For ‘Human’,
lap restrained were designed to give upper body total freedom while for ‘Cyclon’,
your feet was left hanging in the air, with some sudden turns which are very
close to the building and the ground. Initially, the writer wanted to try this
but backed out at the very last minute (tetiba
kecut perut, hehehe) and let her other friends to take on the challenge
instead! Kudos to the two JPIT heroes
& their JKW colleague who survived the intense Cyclon ride (Note:
one of them even had to take motion-sickness pill beforehand! Oppsss
pecah rahsia). Not sure if they cheated & closed their eyes most of the
time to overcome their fear! (silalah
approach them personally for their detailed share of stories on the Cyclon
ride). My advice is to try ‘Human’ first. If you are really up for the
challenge, then go for Cyclon!
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| Battlestar Galactica world's tallest duelling inverted roller coaster rides |
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| Red track = Human (Level 1 challenge) |
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| Blue track = Cyclon (Level 2 a.k.a 'insane' challenge) |
Zone 2: Hollywood
Lights! Camera! Action! Hosted by Steven Spielberg
Hosted by Steven Spielberg himself (yeah, right, on screen), this is a
place where we will witness special effects like the rain, typhoon, fire,
explosion bang bang boom in front of our own eyes! Wow! It was really awesome
and real! After that, we walked out. I was like – “Is that all? I want more”
Zone 3: Ancient Egypt
Revenge of the Mummy - The Ride
Next on the list is Revenge of the Mummy Ride. Do
‘expect the unexpected’ from this
ride! The writer’s friend told her that it is just a ‘peanut’ ride with no crazy overturn i.e. only a plain cart ride.
To our surprise, it turns out to be a
high-speed roller coaster-like ride with sharp turns and fast reverse sections
in a pitch black pyramid set-up. The ride was very thrilling, that we
screamed our lungs out in the total darkness. You can feel the heat of the
fireballs, the crawling of the deathly beetles etc. The queue is often a long
one, and identical to walking in a real pyramid (not that I've been there, but that was what I felt).
Zone 4: The Lost World
The Waterworld Show
Based on a 1995 film by Kevin Costner, this is
a live show performance on a scene from the movie, where you can witness real
actors doing stunts live. There are three seats color namely blue (not only you'll get wet, they'll definitely
splash water on you!), green (you'll
probably get wet a bit), chocolate (don't
worry, they won't bother you). To me, the effects worked well but the
acting were too scripted. Anyway, watch out for their show time! Or you
will miss it...
Jurassic Park Rapid Adventure
Circular water raft system ride along the canal
where the dinosaurs (fake of course!) roamed
free. You will definitely get wet here. No exception. So we had to rent a rain
coat that costs us SGD 3.
Zone 5: Far Far Away Land
Shrek 4D Show
A 17-minute 3D film where audiences are required to wear 3D glasses named Ogrevision. A film about Shrek's journey to help save Princess Fiona where you can clearly see, hear, almost touch and feel the action right from your seats. For instance, when the donkey sneezes, you can feel water being sprayed onto your face (euuwwww!), the sipders crawling on your feet, the moving seats when Shrek is riding horse while chasing the enemy.
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| Shrek 4D Show where Shrek & Princess Fiona come alive! |
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| Far Far Away Castle |
Zone 6: Madagascar
Madagascar: A Crate Adventure
A 10 minutes river boat adventure that brings us to experience the journey of 4 main animal characters in the Madagascar movie namely Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria. Equipped with digital projection, moving show action and effective sound effects, this ride promises an enjoyable experience especially to kids out there!
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| Meet Alex, Marty, Melman & Gloria =) |
Zone 7: New York City
The New York zone is based on the original New York city layout with nice building, and other main attraction (suitable for ‘narcissists’ who love to take photo of themselves hehehe)...
Finding Halal food in USS is not a problem since they have selection of cafes serving Halal meals. We opted for a Lebanese-Mediterranean lunch at the Oasis Spice Cafe (located in the Ancient Egypt zone). The prayer room is also easily located.
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| This is where we had our lunch... |
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| Platter of lebanese bread, samosa, falafel & chicken wings to fill our growling tummies |
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| Encik Hairi tekun menyantap sajian, burrpp alhamdulillah... |
We ended our day in USS by strolling along the Hollywood main street for some souvenirs-shopping at the Universal Studios Store. Range of attractive and irresistible USS merchandises is sold here at a (not-so-reasonable) price...
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Hollywood Street where you can find collection of USS souvenirs
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| Universal Studios Merchandise Store |
...and our journey is to be continued in the next entry. Till then, wassalam =)
Yours Truly,
AIN ZAKARIA
Photos: Courtesy of FIZRI SAID + HAIRI TAHIR
