I wasn’t going to go. I mean I really wasn’t. I didn’t have the money (what’s left of my cash for the month is supposed to be going towards my Elephant Ride in Thailand) and I’m enough out of the pit now that I didn’t need another park day…I really didn’t…
But then Simone mentioned that she had a really good friend who works at Universal Studios…who therefore could get us in for half price ($30 instead of $60), and could likely get us fast passes that basically make the lines disappear…and I’d had a bit of a weird morning (not bad, just…odd)…and…well the park is right there…as in it’s a ten minute tram ride away…
*sigh* I know…I know I said…but I also know that the universe knows what a weak willed person I (sometimes) am…
When it comes to some things.
Universal Studios Singapore remains a pretty small park, but it’s still surprisingly difficult to do it in a day. Especially since we were more focused on seeing the shows (Simone’s friend is a cast member rather than a face character) than we were on going on the rides. The fact that Simone had connections in the cast meant that we got to sit in the VIP section of the theatre which was many shades of awesome because the cast comes up and interacts with you since you’re right in the front! The show itself was equally brilliant (though, it was no Disney show, and I’ll fully admit that I’m bias as far as theme park stage shows go), bringing to life and modernizing a bunch of the classic Universal Pictures movie monsters, including a little half pint of a girl with firecracker red hair who played the ‘Mummy’ and could sing to bring the rafters down (Lady Gaga no less, never thought I’d hear Born This Way sung as a Broadway belt…but it worked shockingly well).
Since word spread that a cast member had friends in the park, all the other cast members started playing to us in the street shows, Simone got pulled out of the crowd to dance at one point.
After Simone had had her first round of catch-up with her old co-worker, we sat in Mel’s Diner and sipped coke floats and munched on French fries and just kind of enjoyed being off the ship for a while. Simone and I have – until recently – been just work friends, this is the first time we’d really hung out with each other outside of that context. I think she originally only asked me if I wanted to go with her because she knew I was a theme park junkie, but I’m pretty sure we were both pleasantly surprised to find out that we actually get along really well. Definitely a good thing.
Eventually – after a whole lot of shop talk from all three of us (Simone’s friend is also ex-ships so we all spoke pretty much the same language) we left Key to get ready for the parade and decided to actually do the ride thing. This is where the whole knowing-someone-in-the-cast thing came in exceptionally handy: hand over a VIP pass at the beginning of the queue? And that 50 minute wait for the Jurassic Park rapids ride? Disappears.
Yeah, I dragged Simone through Jurassic Park, and once again I still kept my eyes mostly closed, and when they were open, they were looking steadily at the floor of the raft. I tried! I really really did! I just…epically failed. I somehow just cannot make myself get past the IT’S A BIG BLOODY DINOSAUR AND IT’S GONNA EAT ME!!!
But Simone told me that she closes her eyes for the abdominal snowman on the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland so I feel slightly better now 😉
I also directed her to the Transformers ride…actually that was what we went on first.
How are you with sim rides?
Oh I’m good with any ride…
Then you have got to go on this thing. Remember what Star Tours was like back when it was new? Yeah…this is better.
Her reaction when the ride was finished was much like mine was the first time I went through it.
Oh. My. GOD! THAT WAS AMAZING
Yeah…I love introducing people to that ride.
Looming over the whole park is the one sad thing about the whole day: the now defunct Battlestar Glaticia dueling rollercoasters. Turns out I was one of the last ones that was able to ride them, rumour has it that they’re going to tear them down and build a whole new attraction in their place; in the meantime they’ve been closed for the last year and a half or so. Pity really, that was a really great attraction, one of the best in the park. I’ll be interested to see what they put up in its place, though I expect it’ll be a while before anything is done with it.
I cut it finer than I’d intended getting back to the ship (don’t worry, we’re on an overnight) and on the gangway ran nearly headlong into Sherra, whom I haven’t seen since I dragged her to Universal Studios nearly three years ago (nearly the first time she’d ever been to a theme park as I recall!)…she’s onboard for just over a week, with a show somewhere in the middle. So…this week? This…is gonna be a fun one.