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Park News - (11/19/09) Universal Studios Singapore has posted two new videos to YouTube today, showing off the Cyclon side in action, as well as footage of the Human and Cyclon sides running at the same time. (Video 1, Video 2) Meanwhile the park has also announced their ticket prices, with an adult single day pass to run S$66 and s$48 for a child, which works out to $47.50 and $34.50 in US Dollars, which isn’t too bad at all when compared to the price of the Orlando theme parks these days.
    (11/18/09) An official video from Universal Studios Singapore showing off Battlestar Galactica making a test run has been posted to YouTube and embedded below. Enjoy!

    (11/13/09) Video footage showing off the red (Human) side of Battlestar Galactica testing has been posted to YouTube. And no… the footage of the coaster FLYING up the lift hill… err, Launch Hill… is not speed up at all. Wow!  Also check out this other video shot from the monorail and on foot around the park perimeter. Meanwhile a bunch more videos from the park’s Press Conference were also posted here and are worth taking a look at as they include never before seen artwork and animatics showing off what the ride and queue experiences will be like for many attractions.
    (11/11/09) Universal Studios Singapore has launched their own official Facebook fan page. It includes some exclusive looks at attractions in the park that we haven’t seen photographed anywhere else, such as Treasure Hunters.
    (11/9/09) Make the jump over to TheThemeParkGuy to see the latest construction pictures from Universal Studios Singapore. He was lucky enough to get an on-site tour of the theme park and managed to get a ton of great photos of the park icons and attractions very close up. This includes the first shots I’ve seen anywhere of a Battlestar Galactica car out on the track. Looks like they were doing a push-through of the Inverted side of the ride.
    (10/30/09) A bunch of new construction pictures from Universal Studios Singapore were sent in from our friends at the Sentosa Theme Park Blog. Be sure to check out what they sent us over at our construction gallery.
    (10/27/09) A Screamscape sources tell us that the new Revenge of the Mummy attraction at Universal Studios Singapore has become the first of the park’s attractions to become functional and able to cycle coaster trains through the attraction.
    (10/26/09) Thanks to one of our readers, we’ve been sent a bunch of new construction pictures this week from Universal Studios Singapore. Check them out over at our official construction gallery.
    (10/22/09) A new official interactive map of the Universal Studios Singapore theme park has now gone live, and it is worth checking out for sure. For the first time you can finally see the complete layout of the park, including all seven lands: Hollywood, New York, Sci Fi City, Ancient Egypt, The Lost World, Far Far Away and Madagascar.
    Hollywood serves as the main gate area, and the only attraction listed is the Pantages Hollywood Theater, a 1,500 seat indoor facility, that sounds like it will show off a show similar to the Bettlejuice Rockin’ Graveyard Review show.
    New York will feature two new attractions, Lights, Camera, Action – Hosted by Steven Speilberg that will show off amazing special effects inside a soundstage that will show what it’s like when a Hurricane is about to strike New York City. Another movie making attraction called Stage28 will also show off famous film props and how films are made.
    Sci Fi City will feature four attractions: Accelerator which sounds like a high tech Tea Cup ride, the twin Battlestar Galactica coasters labeled, “Human” and “Cylon”. Human is red track and Cylon is the blue side. Transformers will also be in Sci Fi City as well, but now wont officially open until 2011.
    Ancient Egypt will obviously be home to the newest Revenge of the Mummy indoor coaster / dark ride experience, as well as a themed kiddie car ride called Treasure Hunters.
    The Lost World will have the Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure, the always fun WaterWorld show, the Amber Rock Climb wall, Dino-Soarin (a dumbo style ride), and Canopy Flyer, a ride similar in theme and look to the Islands of Adventure’s Pteradon Flyer.
    Far Far Away will offer the Magic Potion Spin (Ferris Wheel), Donkey Live and Shrek 4D. A new kiddie coaster here will be called Enchanted Airways, where guests can climb onto Donkey’s Dragon for a flight over Far Far Away.
    Madagascar will have the Madasadcar: A Crate Adventure dark boat ride and King Julien’s Beach Party-Go-Round.
    (10/1/09) Universal Studios Singapore has announced an entirely new land themed to Dreamworks Animation films. Amongst the attractions will be Madagascar: A Crate Adventure, which will be a custom indoor boat dark ride adventure. You’ll go along to help King Julien defeat Foosa, along with some help from the Penguins.
Nearby, in a Madagasar themed area will be King Julien’s Beach Party Go-Round carousel. The land will also feature the first “Far Far Away Castle”, which will be home to three Shrek themed attractions: Shrek 4D, Donkey Live and Magic Potion Spin. Nearby will also be the fairy-tale themed kiddie coaster, Enchanted Airways.
    Meanwhile I’ve got a batch of all .new construction pictures to share, thanks to the Sentosa Themepark Blog. Just click here to go to our construction gallery.
    (9/2/09) Some more new construction pictures from Universal Studios Singapore can be seen here.
    (8/31/09) I’ve got a bunch of new Universal Studios Singapore construction photos for everyone to enjoy today, thanks to our friends at the Sentosa Themepark Blog. In addition to the great pictures of the coasters going up, I think we’ve got a peek at the sit-down Battlestar trains under those tarps as well. Click here to go to our construction gallery
    (8/11/09) A reader has sent in a new huge collection of construction pictures from Universal Studios Singapore. Here you can make out the launching lift hills on both sides of Battlestar Galactica as well as what looks to be a new suspended coaster of some kind in the background. Given the location of the new coaster near what appears to be the Jurassic Park ride area, I can only assume they may be going for another Pteranodon Flyers kind of ride perhaps, though the track style looks more like the old Setpoint track system used on the Flying Super Saturator.
    (7/30/09) Big update from Universal Studios Singapore this week as we’ve been sent all new pictures of the Battlestar Galactica coaster under construction along with an extra special tidbit of knowledge from one of our spies. First think about the show itself… if your going to be a Viper pilot, what’s the first thing your going to want to experience in a Battlestar Galactica themed coaster?  The launch… and apparently BG: The Ride will not disappoint. From what I’ve now heard both sides of the ride will feature an LSM launched lift hill, said to fire the trains off the top at about 40mph or so, similar in speed and force as what you experience on the Hulk at Islands of Adventure. Minus the loop… but instead you’ll get a nice pop of airtime before taking the first drop.
    (4/3/09) Another popular American mini-park attraction will be coming to Sentosa Island this October. WaveHouse is a small stationary surf-wave attraction that started off in San Diego, placed right on the beach boardwalk between the ocean and the Giant Dipper roller coaster. The newest WaveHouse to open on Sentosa this fall will feature three huge wave pools (The 3m high FlowBarrel and two FlowRiders).
    (1/5/09) According to this article about Premier Rides’ new Revenge of the Mummy coaster, they say it will be just like the Orlando version of the ride, but will have “move advanced electronics than the Orlando version”.
    (12/15/08) According to this article about the future expansion projects from DreamWorks Animation, they mention that some of their characters will be used “in theme park attractions in Dubai and Singapore.” While DreamWorks struck their own deal for an park of some kind in Dubai, this does seems to confirm that the DreamWorks characters will be put to use within the Universal Studios Singapore park as well. Of course this could simply be a copy of Shrek 4D... or it could involve some all new attractions as well.
    (12/8/08) According to our official contacts at Resorts World, they have confirmed that the Battlestar Galactica dueling coaster will be an outdoor ride and not an indoor as some might suspect.
    (12/3/08) Resorts World at Sentosa have posted a webcast that talks about the development of the new Universal Studios Singapore park project that offers some sneak peeks at the new lands and attractions on the way. Watch the video and they will reveal that the SciFi City area of the park will home to the park’s Dueling Coaster which will actually be themed to Battlestar Galactica. One side will be full of inversions and be very intense (I’m assuming this is the inverted side) while they say the other side will be a bit more family friendly and focus on drops and curves.
    They also mention that each of the lands will have a family friendly attraction for the kiddies to ride. Sci Fi City will have something called the “Accelerator” (my spelling only), Egypt will have a “jeep ride” where kids can drive a jeep through Egyptian ruins. The video is full of stock footage from other Universal parks, but they frequently show off images from The Mummy, Jurassic Park and even Shrek 4D. Meanwhile there is also a new construction picture gallery online, where if you click down to the third photo it shows off the 21 meter tall structure for the Revenge of the Mummy building under construction. The layout of this coaster should be interesting as this will actually be the first Revenge of the Mummy coaster built from scratch where as the other two were designed to inhabit pre-existing structures leftover from previous attractions (Kongfrontation in Florida, and ET in Hollywood).
    (10/21/08) The big news today from Universal Studios and Resorts World at Sentosa was the unveiling of the plans to build a major theme park mega-attraction based on the Transformers film series that will open first at the new Universal Studios Singapore theme park, to be followed by a copy at Universal Studios Hollywood. While there are no solid details about the exact ride system itself, I’ve got to wonder if this may be the next evolution use of the ride system used on the award-winning Spiderman dark rides in Orlando and Japan. Certainly the omission of those two popular markets for the attraction does raise an eyebrow, though Orlando currently has it’s hands full with Harry Potter. Still... if there was any other movie theme that would really warrant the use of the Spiderman ride system, Tranformers would be it, allowing for a mix of real in your face special effects mixed with giant 3D projection technology to bring the giant battle-bots to life.
    Now for some quotes from the press release as well as an impressive piece of concept artwork.
    “The attraction will fuse 3D-HD media, mega special effects and stunning robotics with a ride system that will transform perceptions of theme park experiences. The rides are scheduled to make their debuts first at Universal Studios Singapore and then at Universal Studios Hollywood, both prior to summer, 2011.”
    In "Transformers," Earth’s humans are caught in the middle of an intergalactic war between the friendly Autobots and the evil Decepticons, which are able to change into a variety of objects, including cars, trucks, planes and other technological creations.
    Tom Williams, Chairman and CEO, Universal Parks & Resorts, said: "Transformers will be a jewel in our collection of world-class rides based on great movies. We’re thrilled to be collaborating with Hasbro, DreamWorks, director Michael Bay and the film’s executive producer, Steven Spielberg, who has been responsible for so many of our signature rides and attractions."
    Tan Hee Teck, Chief Executive Officer of Resorts World at Sentosa, the mega resort that is home to Universal Studios Singapore, said: "It is great that Asia will be the launch pad for the first Transformers attraction. Transformers was introduced to the United States in 1983 but traces its roots to Asia. Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Megatron are familiar names to Asian audiences, who grew up with the robot toys and love the movie. When Transformers opens in Universal Studios Singapore in 2011, it will be the first of its kind in the world. We may see a surge of Transformers mania.’’
    Larry Kurzweil, President and Chief Operating Officer, Universal Studios Hollywood, said: “Transformers represents a perfect match for our theme park: an exhilarating blockbuster with a great story, clever humor, non-stop action and flawless special effects. It has all the elements necessary to become one of the world’s most exciting theme park rides and a centerpiece attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood, The Entertainment Capital of L.A." 
    (12/8/06) Today it was announced that Singapore has awarded the contract for their second casino resort project to Genting International (partnered with Star Cruises) who had a $3.38 billion proposal to build a huge resort to lure in family tourists anchored by a Universal Studios theme park. The Genting plan provided "the most compelling proposal overall that best meets our economic and tourism objectives," according to the statement from Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar. They want to develop Sentosa Island as a large scale family resort that will offer world class leisure options. The overall Resorts World plan includes over 1,800 rooms from six different hotels (including the first Hotel Michael ), a 400+ room hotel designed by Michael Graves), the Universal Studios theme park and the 20 acre Quest Marine Life Park that will include a 6.5 million gallon whale shark lagoon, The Equarius Water Park, The Maritime Xperiential Museum, and other entertainment offerings in the FestiveWalk area. The FestiveWalk area will offer several entertainment venues like the ShowPlace (open air 2,150 seat amphitheater), The Bull Ring (6,300 seat amphitheater), Imagineering (1,714 theater with a dreamlike show of water, lights and special effects.  There will also be the Crane Ballet, featuring animated crane dancers enhanced with colored lights, water, and fire effect mixed to the music and imagery on several giant LCD video screens. They’ve also hired some ex Cirque do Soleil creative people to create their own faux Cirque style resident show to be called Le Vie.
    Genting is "very excited and honored to be entrusted with the great task of taking Singapore's tourism sector to the next level" acording to Lim Kok Thay, chairman of Genting International and Star Cruises. "It will change the face of tourism in the region. We are confident that by 2010, Resorts World at Sentosa will attract 15 million visitors."
    The early plans for Universal Studios Singapre claim it will have seven themed areas and 22 attractions, 16 of which will be designed just for the Singapore park. The “seven worlds” inside the park will include: Waterworld, The Lost World, Egypt, Super Hero City, Back Lot-The Big Apple, Hollywood Boulevard and Cartoon Studios. The only attraction named was Journey to Madagascar that will showcase the “cutting edge of movie-making and real-time animation”, though by the themes chosen throughout the park it looks like we can count on Jurassic Park, Mummy and Spiderman all making the cut.