adrieltjokro

Hi guys! My name is Adriel. I am currently a student in Berklee College of Music. I have always wanted to visit these two theme parks as recently they opened some of the best new roller coasters, aside from the facts that these two theme parks also already have had a very astounding collection of rides since long time ago. However, I am aware that as a college student, my budget is somewhat limited to a certain amount. I am posting in this forum to ask if any of you guys are willing to share lodging/room (if you're staying in hotels, or if you actually have a house in nearby area) and means of transportation from Kings Dominion to Busch Gardens Williamsburg (if any of you guys are using your cars). By sharing a room with at least one person, I know that it will save me a lot of money. And if I am able to do car-sharing with TPR members who are driving to both of these events, that will even save me more money for the transportation between Doswell and Williamsburg. Note that I will pay my own transportation from Boston, MA to East Coast Bash and back, so you don't have to worry about that. Please let me know very soon regarding this, as I'm looking very forward to attend these two events, as well as visiting these two theme parks. This could be my first TPR Trip ever, and I've always wanted to do this thing. You can e-mail me at atjokrosaputro(at)berklee(dot)edu. I appreciate your time and help. Thank you very much. Sincerely, Adriel

Hi guys. This will be hopefully my first time in a TPR Bash trip. Hope you don't mind me joining in. I will be departing from Boston.

How would you spend the time if your parents decide to go shopping in the famous Orchard Road, and your sister decides to get some tea with her friends, and you're left alone in Singapore, and you only have until 10pm to enjoy your own time? The date was Thursday, June 23rd of 2011... 1pm. The answer is... FOLLOW ME! EDIT: Sorry guys! Some of the photos below are captured "vertically". I have no idea how am I supposed to put it "horizontally". I sincerely apologize if you guys have to tilt your heads sideways to clearly see the photos. ADMIN EDIT: I went ahead and removed the all caps from your thread's title. Guess where am I, guys...? That's right! WELCOME TO UNIVERSAL STUDIOS SINGAPORE!!! Just like Tokyo Disneyland, Singaporeans love to have its entrance covered with this huge glass-like roof. With its extremely humid and stormy climate all year, this cover is a crucial factor to welcome the visitors. Yup, the famous and iconic tangled tracks of Battlestar Galactica dueling coasters. Did you know that this is arguably the world's biggest dueling-coaster? It's the world's tallest, standing at approximately 140 feet high. The entrance area for both coasters. This is the Cylon side, having 5 minutes of waiting that afternoon. The Human side was more popular, attracting more family riders. The waiting time was 20 minutes, which was a lot. The tall tangled portion of the coasters. Before going on Battlestar Galatica coasters, all riders must store all of their loose articles and bags in one of these lockers. Each locker can be hired for free for up to 40 minutes (on that day). After that, the charge would be SGD2.00/hour. Right next to the Sci-Fi City is the Egypt area. This picture shows the entrance to the Egypt area from Sci-Fi City. The huge building to the right houses the Revenge of the Mummy coaster. Unlike the other versions in Hollywood and Orlando, the Revenge of the Mummy coaster in Singapore has its own immense theming. The gigantic creatures were put at the two sides of the entrance, which consists of 3 different lines: Universal Express, Single Rider, and General Queue Line. Treasure Hunters was the ride with the 2nd longest waiting time of the day (50 minutes), probably caused by the low capacity of the ride. This ride is located right across Revenge of the Mummy, which had a waiting time of 20 minutes. Who wants some refreshment on an extremely hot, humid day? You can get the idea of the theming of the Egypt area here. ... and here too! I think I'm lost... where am I now? JURASSIC PARK!!! Universal Studio Singapore has its own version of Jurassic Park Adventure ride. Whereas the other versions are huge-boat flume ride, this one is a relatively small, rapid-tube style ride. This sign is dedicated for all you theme park signboard fans. The ride had the longest waiting time of the day, at approximately 80 minutes. The visitors were craving for "wild wild wet" moments in an extremely sunny day. This is the rapid-tube. Each one holds 9 riders, with 3-3-3 configuration. When I mean the ride gets you wet. I mean REALLY REALLY WET, as in, SOAKED TO THE SKIN. Just to get an idea of the splash area of the ride, so that you can compare it with the other versions of the ride As you can see here, the Jurassic Park area is very small and compact, having 3 rides. The mini-inverted roller coaster in the area, Canopy Flyers, attracts many family visitors. Each car holds 4 riders, 2 facing the front, 2 facing the back. You can choose your own seats. 45 minutes for a less-than-a-minute coaster ride? Uh... no. I don't think so... I rode it a year ago anyway... Waterworld is apparently a very popular show in Universal Studios Singapore. So popular that they actually played the show 3 times a day, up from the normal schedule of twice a day. It's time to go FAR FAR AWAY. The entrance to Far Far Away from The Lost World area... Far Far Away is like a smaller and compact version of Disneyland's Fantasyland. One thing though... it's still amazing. In here, Shrek 4-D has its own castle! Like, OMG, for real. If you look at the castle from the front, you'll feel as if this is the centre-piece of the park! Do you know which coaster is this? Paging passengers of ENCHANTED AIRWAYS flying to Dragon's Lair, please board the dragon immediately. "Hi, I'm just changing the waiting time to 15 minutes." It's time to go to MADAGASCAR! Ready to spin around? Finally... after a year of delay, the ride opened... to a less-than-spectacular review. Madagascar: A Crate Adventure has had a lot of troubles before its opening. One of the big changes was the removal of the flume drop that was originally planned to be a part of the ride. Rumor has it that the flume was so big, the water splashes to an area that isn't supposed to be wet. As such, this sign is wrong, as there is no drops or something like that... Due to a mediocre review by those who have been on it, the ride had a very short queue line... (look at all of those empty lines) Loading/unloading area and the boat. Madagascar: A Crate Adventure is just one of those rides for people who go like, "Hey, it's really hot here. I wanna get some fresh and cold air. And sit down. Let's go." The ride uses quite a lot of gigantic HD screens. In Singapore, covered eating areas are MUST-HAVE(s). Wanna get an idea of the park compact layout? Here you go. Now it's time to head back to the main hub and go around the park ONCE AGAIN! Let's go to the Hollywood area! They showed this show 4 times that day. Small detail counts. NBC-Universal. Yep, the special-effect show. But we'll get onto that later... Doin' it Asian style. The entrance to the Sci-Fi City from the Hollywood area. The waiting time for most of the rides at 3pm... (1) The waiting time for most of the rides at 3pm... (2) The waiting time for most of the rides at 3pm... (3) The moment you saw the Battlestar Galactica coasters, you'd be struck in awe. COMING IN LATE 2011/EARLY 2012, TRANSFORMERS RIDE!!! Battlestar Galactica: Human defines the term HELIXES OF DEATH perfectly. Hm... sexy shot. Enchanted Airways across the pond. Battlestar Galactica: Cylon has this insane vertical loop that encircles both coasters as they leave the loading/unloading station. Can't get enough looking at the beauty of these entangled tracks... Do you play NoLimits or RCT3? Here's a layout map for you guys. I hope you guys can use this. Here's the layout for the junior coaster, Enchanted Airways. BONUS 1: Canopy Flyer BONUS 2: Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure Located right to the Battlestar Galactica coasters, you'll see a huge empty red enclosed area. That's the site for next year's TRANSFORMERS RIDE. Yep, the map of Universal Studios Singapore in red and blue colors. This is the seat for Battlestar Galactica: Human. A simple lap bar that is pulled from above, giving you the freedom to lift your hands up, as high as you can. And to give you that open-air, wild sensation. Imagine this as a less extreme version (without inversions) of Blue Fire. And this is the seat for Battlestar Galactica: Cylon. Pretty much similar to the other coaster, but this one is with shoulder harness, giving the riders a safer "feeling" to it. At the special effects show: LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! OMG! It's Steven Spielberg!!! He's the host of this show. And this is the sound stage for the Hurricane Level 5, attacking an old boathouse in the one and only NEW YORK CITY. Looking over the Far Far Away castle from the Madagascar land... And Shrek's Swamp At 4.30pm, the Monster show was packed by audience lining up to watch the show! At night, they had street shows that attracted a lot of audience as well. Well, it's time to leave. At 7.30pm, the sun had set and I had to go back to Jakarta... Thank you for the Universal Studios Singapore for a great day. TPR readers, thank you for reading. I hope one day, TPR will come to Singapore and come experience the country and this boutique-sized theme park. Please let me know if you ever visit Singapore. I'll be very happy to take you around.

Definitely Cedar Point. Why? I was amazed when I first visited the park last year. The staffs there were uh... so nice. And they're very VERY energetic too. You can feel their enthusiasm all around the park. Even on the roller coasters, you'll probably hear this all the time... "Millennium Force!!! 300 feet up, 80-degree drop, 93 miles an hour, HERE WE GOOO!!!" - or - "Welcome back riders! How was your ride?!?!?!" - or - Anything else. Cedar Point's roller coasters are also top-notch too, with the exception of Mean Streak of course... uh... that one is a pain. A real, massive pain. While I know recently the coasters have been passed by newer ones in terms of rank, doesn't mean that they're not as enjoyable. Top Thrill Dragster, Millennium Force, Magnum XL-200, and Gemini ended up being in my top 10 roller coasters (at least, so far). Regarding flat rides, yep. They have lots of flat, traditional rides that Six Flags Great Adventure doesn't. MaxAir, for example, was amazing.

No matter how modern or fantastic new musicals are, my heart still belongs to The Lion King - Broadway Experience.

El Laberinto del Fauno. aka... Pan's Labyrinth. Enough said.

I just watched Disney's Tangled. I think it's funny. I think it's magical. I think it has wonderful characters. But most of all, I love the original songs and amazing scores that once Disney was very proud of. Too bad, it's all shown in 3D... I always miss that old-fashioned, 2D animated Disney features like those in the 90's. Still, I feel so so sad that apparently Tangled is the last Disney's animated feature ever to have the theme of "fairy-tale". After this... no more fairy-tale and singing princesses.

I'm thankful that right now, I'm finally studying in the land of USA. I'm right now in Northeastern University, dual-majoring in Environmental Studies-International Affairs, and minoring in Music Industry. And I'm thankful that my family is here for Thanksgiving. Anyone in Boston? HIT ME UP!