Our Guide to Universal Studios Singapore

Both of us love theme parks, so we just had to visit Universal Studios Singapore during our 5 days in Singapore. We visited the park on a Friday (December 18, 2015) and stayed there from 10h to 21h, which was more than enough to cover the entire park. This post is our guide to Universal Studios Singapore, covering everything from buyings tickets and getting there to the attractions you should get to as soon as possible and those you can safely skip.

We both like thrill rides and didn’t have any children with us, so keep that in mind when planning your own visit. And unless you’re going in the same period as we did Santa Claus won’t be in the park either, but there are still plenty of things to do at USS!

Where to get tickets for Universal Studios Singapore

You could buy tickets for Universal Studios Singapore through the official Resorts World Sentosa website at S$74 per adult, but you can usually get a better deal through third parties.

Especially if you plan on doing some other attractions in Singapore you might be able to save some money by going for one of these combos or passes:

Do compare with the official prices as well, you don’t want to miss out on any temporary promotions!

What to bring to Universal Studios Singapore

The day has come to visit Universal Studios Singapore. Exciting! But what do you bring with you?

You’re not allowed to bring any food or drinks to the park, but no-one checked our bag so we did manage to sneak in some water and cookies. There are however plenty of drinking fountains to be found throughout the park (mostly in queues and toilets), so it wasn’t really necessary to bring water.

We had a few bouts of rain so we were happy we brought our own rain coats. You can buy these in the park as well, but they’re quite expensive. You probably want them for Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure as well, so even if it doesn’t rain you’ll be glad you brought them.

Our Kindles were also in our bag, allowing us to do some reading when the lines were long. Unfortunately they are not allowed where we could have used them the most: the queue for Battlestar Galactica.

And, of course, don’t forget your tickets and coupons!

How to get to Universal Studios Singapore

Universal Studios Singapore is part of the Resorts World Sentosa island which is very accessible. We recommend doing like we did: take the MRT to the HarbourFront station and make the 20 minute scenic walk over the Sentosa Boardwalk (starting January 2016 you’ll have to pay S$1 to enter the resort over the boardwalk). It’s really not that far and there are even travelators if you’re feeling lazy.

Another option is to take the Sentosa Express for S$4, dropping you close to park entrance. For S$29 you could even take a cable car to Sentosa. Definitely the most exciting way to get there, but we simply walked and got there just fine.

Getting the most out of your Universal Studios Singapore visit

On the day we went, Universal Studios Singapore opened at 10h and would be closing again at 21h. It’s always a good idea to get early to a theme park and catch some of the popular attractions before they get crowded, so we made sure to get at the entrance by 9h30. That was perfect, as we had some time to take a picture with the Universal Studios globe and didn’t have to wait for long in the short line.

At about 9h45 music started playing and Puss in Boots came out to greet us and officially open the park. The also held a little cheering contest and an enthusiastic couple won express passes for the day! We regretted not taking part assuming they would definitely give it to some cute kid. With a bit of luck and enthusiastic cheering it could be you though, so just give it a try!

After that little intro the park opened and it was time to execute our game plan: get to the best attractions as soon as possible. We recommend the following order:

1. Transformers The Ride
2. Battlestar Galactica (Cylon)
3. Battlestar Galactica (Human)
4. Revenge of the Mummy
5. Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure

As Transformers was our first attraction we could walk all the way to the end. Next up was Battlestar Galactica, which are basically 2 different rollercoasters entwined. Here you have to put all of your stuff in a locker (free for the duration of queueing and ride) which is next to the entrance of the Human side. We recommend doing the Cylon side first however as the queues there were consistently longer throughout the day.

Unfortunately we did the Human coaster first and went to Revenge of the Mummy next. We only had to wait for a few minutes in both of these, but when we went back for the Cylon side there was already a waiting time of more than 30 minutes, while the Human side was still at just 10 minutes.

When you’ve got these 5 attractions under your belt you’ve already done some of the best the park has to offer without any queueing. After that, just follow our guide to the attractions in Universal Studios Singapore below for the rest of the day.

If you follow this plan we think you won’t need an Express Pass. At S$30 (every attraction once) or S$50 (unlimited usage) they are quite expensive and in our opinion only worth it for Battlestar Galactica: Cylon. We didn’t have one and did nearly all attractions once and our favourites multiple times, without rushing at all.

One final tip: make use of the single rider lines when available. Most rides don’t have them but if they do you can often reduce your waiting time from over 30 minutes to just a few minutes. We personally didn’t mind not sitting next to each other if it meant saving that much waiting time.

Our Guide to Universal Studios Singapore’s Attractions

During our 1-day visit to Universal Studios Singapore we did all the attractions we wanted to do at least once and tried quite a few others as well. In this overview you can find our recommendations.

Do as many times as you can

Our favourite attractions at Universal Studios Singapore. We could be doing these all day.

Transformers The Ride 

Without a doubt the star of Universal Studios Singapore. A great 3D experience where you really feel part of the action. Loved this ride and still weren’t bored of it after 3 times. There’s a single rider line available that brought us to the front without any waiting time at all. Perfect!

Battlestar Galactica (Human & Cylon) 

A nice duo of rollercoasters with the Cylon definitely the better one. The Human side is a traditional rollercoaster (sitting) without any inversions, but still a lot of fun. Cylon on the other hand is an inverted coaster (hanging) with vertical loops and corkscrews, very exciting!

Queues get really long during the day (especially the Cylon side, which had waiting times of over 80 minutes), so do these early and/or late, when the lines are considerably shorter. Unfortunately there is no single riders line available here and you have to put all your stuff in a locker before getting in line, so no entertainment on your phone either.

Fun for once

Great attractions (or shows), but we’d only do these once.

WaterWorld Show 

Great action-packed show with lots of stunts and explosions. Different zones in the seating indicate how wet you can get during the show. Stay out of the “Soaked” zone if you don’t want jet skis splashing water on you. Don’t miss this show!

Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure 

If you’ve brought a rain coat, it’s time to put it on. You will get wet in this Jurassic Park themed river rapids ride. Pretty fun attraction, but not a lot of excitement. The drop at the end will get you wet though!

Lights, Camera, Action! 

A show attraction “hosted” by Steven Spielberg using special effects to simulate a hurricane hitting New York City. With a maximum waiting of 15 minutes throughout the day we recommend giving this one a shot.

Revenge of the Mummy 

We liked this indoor (dark) rollercoaster, but not enough to do it more than once. Both Battlestar Galactica coasters are definitely more fun. There is a single rider lane here, so no need to wait for too long either.

Shrek 4-D Adventure 

Pretty fun 4D movie with the usual water and wind effects. Lots of people fit in the theater so you shouldn’t have to wait for too long.

Donkey LIVE 

A comedy show hosted by Donkey himself. Donkey is actually a digital puppet which allows for quite some interaction, which I hadn’t expected going in. Had quite a few laughs.

Only if there’s no line

OK attractions, but we wouldn’t wait in a long line for them.

Madagascar: A Crate Adventure 

A typical river boat ride with all your favourite Madagascar characters. You’re basically just looking at some animatronics while floating along.

Puss In Boots’ Giant Journey 

This is a suspended family coaster that seemed to be quite popular and had pretty long waiting times. Whenever you seem to be getting some speed you reach a brake section, so don’t expect too much of it.

Enchanted Airways 

Enchanted Airways is a typical junior coaster. Fun, but nothing too exciting.

Canopy Flyer 

A suspended coaster with cars that seat 4 people: 2 facing forward and 2 backward. The single rider line took us all the way to the front, but the ride itself wasn’t really memorable.

Feel free to skip

You’re not missing anything if you skip these.

Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase 

Unless you love Sesame Street we wouldn’t bother with this ride.

Treasure Hunters 

A slow tour of an abandoned excavation site. You can actually steer the car you’re in (to a very small degree, of course), which was a bit of fun.

King Julien’s Beach Party-Go-Round 

It’s a merry-go-round for children. But it did get us some fun pictures.

Food at Universal Studios Singapore

Unlike the attractions we weren’t able to test all the different food options. For lunch we had hot dogs at Fossil Fuels. I tried the Bacon Cheese Hotdog (S$11) and Birthe the German Bratwurst (S$12). We both liked the Bacon Cheese one better, but the German Bratwurst is a little bigger. Both of these include a soft-drink, so they were quite good value.

The hot dogs weren’t too filling so we also had some Nachos with Cheese (S$6) at Fossil Fuels in the afternoon. Birthe loves cheese, so she loved this little snack as well.

For dinner we went to Loui’s NY Pizza Parlor and had a slice of Pizza Hawai (S$10) and a Lasagna (S$14). One Large Coke (S$4) was enough for the both of us. Portion sizes weren’t too large here either, but probably just enough for most people. You can always get another slice.

Because we booked our tickets through Klook we had S$10 in food coupons so in the end it wasn’t too expensive.

We hope you enjoyed our guide to Universal Studios Singapore. Let us know in the comments what you think about the park if you’ve visited it yourself!

 

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