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Universal Studios Singapore Discussion Thread


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On New Year's Eve, RWS held their Countdown 2011 party at Universal Studios Singapore. Four zones in the park were open - Hollywood, New York, Madagascar, Far Far Away - and the attractions in those zones were also running (except Donkey LIVE! but no one really needs to watch that). I've also spotted BSG:Cylon doing some rounds of test cycles occasionally.

 

Interestingly, Annual Passholders were not invited, but fans and loyal customers of Resorts World were part of the crowd of 5000. It is quite obvious that the attendees were "Theme Park virgins" and the park programme (which is basically normal attractions with new year greetings and generic live band/street performances) is not really a theme park countdown, but more of a "preview of Universal Studios Singapore on new year's eve" sort of thing.

 

While I'm disappointed with the not-exactly-very-exciting programme and long queues for everything, I can't say I didn't enjoy myself - it was fun to stay at the park after midnight and well, the event was FREE, and it came with free food and party goods after all. (Honestly, anything that's FREE or involves queuing up will work on the local crowd)

 

If you are interested you may want to read Joseph's review of the event.

 

 

Mini-Photo TR of the event:

Long queues for party pack redemption.. The park opened at 9pm and from what i've heard there was a LONG queue at the gates hours before the park open. Thankfully I arrived 30 mins after 9.

 

 

 

 

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Updates from the park

 

Work has been done at the mysterious columns installed at the Hollywood-Madagascar area. It is a sheltered walkway that leads.. to the restrooms..?? (My guess is, for the patrons of the China Bistro? Perhaps the restrooms are not linked indoors for some reason?)

 

okay back to Battlestar Galactica:

Both sides are currently testing, but without the weight dummies and plastic wrap/tapes now. Human side is testing quite often, perhaps every 5-7 minutes or so. Cylon side launches more occasionally. So no, they are currently not dueling.

 

CYLON (More photos at the previous post here.

 

HUMAN:

 

 

 

Exposed seat post on one of the HUMAN seats. Could this be "the one"? We wouldn't know.

 

Some mysterious construction work at the entrance of the HUMAN queue. No such work on the Cylon side though.

Edited by digimax
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  • 3 weeks later...

Here's an article regarding the re-opening.

 

SINGAPORE: After almost a year of being grounded, the world's tallest duelling roller coaster, the Battlestar Galactica, will resume operations on February 21.

 

Channel NewsAsia understands that authorities have given Universal Studios Singapore the required license to reopen the ride.

 

In a statement, Universal Studios said officials had worked closely with Singapore authorities and theme park safety experts to determine the cause of the failure and to correct the fault.

 

The ride went through months of re-engineering and thousands of test cycles.

 

It was shut down in March last year, just weeks after a grand opening of the theme park, after a failure had been detected on one of the seats during routine checks.

 

The fault was attributed to fatigue cracks detected in a welded component of the seat's support structure, the part which attaches the coaster's seat to its frame.

 

All welded components for the seats have since been replaced with a new machined part.

 

Prior to re-opening, Universal Studios Singapore will host a series of special events, including dedicated ride access times for team members of Resorts World Sentosa, invited guests from the ride's sponsor Panasonic and annual pass holders.

 

During this period, park guests may also be invited to ride on the coaster as operational procedures are refined.

 

Mr John Hallenbeck, Vice President of Park Operations, Resorts World Sentosa, said: "Battlestar Galactica is a signature and prominent ride at Universal Studios Singapore and we are so excited about it taking to the skies again. We expect sellout crowds and are advising guests who have been waiting for Battlestar Galactica to book their February tickets in advance."

 

Battlestar Galactica, themed after the hit TV show about an on-going battle between Cylons and Humans, is comprised of both the suspended 'Cylon' coaster and the seated 'Human' coaster that chase each other on twisting integrated tracks. Riders on both coasters experience unbelievable thrills as they zoom, loop, turn and narrowly avoid collision.

 

Each Battlestar Galactica track is a kilometer-long and the ride takes approximately 90 seconds to complete.

Edited by larrygator
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Was able to ride both Human and Cylon yesterday (Feb 5) during regular park hours in the afternoon. Took a friend from Japan there, it was quite crowded, and was surprised to see it running, since coasters were clearly labeled as closed at an entrance placard. Initially saw lots of excited-looking guests run up to the rides, only to be turned away, so assumed it was testing by staff or by invitation only. Later in the afternoon it was running sporadically, so I decided to ask about the tests, expecting to be turned away, and bam, they said go on in!! Apparently everyone else assumed the same, seems to me most people were not even trying to queue anymore. No ride wait times posted, no crowds gathering, it really looked closed. Anyhow, rode Human first, then tried Cyclon immediately afterwards but was denied entry, tried again an hour later and got on. Maybe they were throttling capacity, letting people in small bursts or such, should have asked. Both coasters seemed to be running more or less consistently the rest of the day.

 

So my advice to everyone is that if you see it running, just try to get on; talk to the staff, and don't give up trying to queue.

 

Good luck to all, hope this continues until official opening. BTW, Human was a good ride, Cyclon was excellent. It was pouring rain while I was on Cyclon, so felt like I was being hurled into a typhoon! I was far more soaked than after Jurassic Park. Amazing fun.

 

cheers,

-kodpeace

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How tall is the Transformers ride building?

 

 

There's stairway access up to 3 stories, but the building is about 4.5 to 5 stories tall. The ride should have 2 levels as the old rumors suggest.

 

BSG Soft-opening for the re-opening of its soft-opening phase (21/02):

 

 

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I was at the park today (couldn't wait for AP preview nights honestly) and took both rides for a spin.. Well, NOT.. I went on many times actually.

 

How does it work? Although it is clearly stated at the Park gates that BSG is CLOSED... you get to ride both roller-coasters, and it is usually a walk-on, unless you want front-row seats. Both sides may not launch at the same time, but most of the time they do. The "technical rehearsals" have somewhat random schedules - sometimes the ride is open for 1-2 hours, and takes 0.5 to 1 hour breaks in between "rehearsal" sessions. After some inactivity, the ride would start testing without passengers, and usually after a round or two the queue would be open for guests. There is no signboard or anything to show the ride's actual status, although it is easy to tell (if the crew members are standing beside the placard, usually it's closed) Like what kodpeace said, just ask the crew members, they seem quite friendly nowadays.

 

There has been no major changes done on the ride vehicle - it is as "violent", "noisy" or "rocky" as usual. Nor were there noticeable differences with the ride restraints. The queue decor is exactly the same, except a longer ride info video that shows the actual, real-world ride in action (somewhat detracts from the original ride video which was heavily themed, IMO). And oh, they added a HUGE screen at the entrances to warn people what to expect.. As if having the ride happening right above them not putting a message across.

 

The Cylon Vertical Loop pit has a lot less fog - hopefully it is just for the rehearsals phase because there isn't enough for that whole "near-miss" illusion with floor. Interestingly the CYLON ride vehicle doesn't slow down much at the top of the loop anymore. As for Human, the train seems to lose speed at the very top of the launch hill (instead of having the "WHOOSH" a la CYLON) - I don't remember that happening in March 2010.

 

Dueling seems to have improved - I could actually see/feel the "near-miss" now, but the synchronization goes off at the some places.

 

Just want to add something, with BSG reopening and making a lot of noise (literally), the other E-ticket rides in the park (Jurassic Park Rapids, Revenge of The Mummy) seems to be losing their customers!!! lol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Park additions/changes (not sure when it happened, I last visited the park in Early-Jan and these weren't there)

 

Seems like they've installed some new sheltered walkways:

 

 

 

Some new live show at Sci-Fi City involving dancing with Starbucks (and some guy, both from BSG universe). Sorry her face was blocked off.

 

Attractive signage for LCA:

 

Maintenance at the Globe (hopefully to fix the rotor, it has been down since October 2010)

Edited by digimax
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Was at the park last night for more BSG. The park had extended hours (10am till 9pm, ride queues close at 8:45pm - this continues until 13th February) with the Lake Hollywood Spectacular show (9:30pm). After around 7:30pm, the park got really.. empty which was startling, but great for photos (and going through rides over and over, often without even leaving at unload.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Oh man, I would absolutely KILL to go here!

But i doubt that i'll have the time/funds to go anytime in the near, near future......

 

I look forward to it in a good few years

 

The BSG coasters like incredible!

Which is better: Human or Cylon? Can anybody who's ridden both shed any light? I'm curious!

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Oh man, I would absolutely KILL to go here!

But i doubt that i'll have the time/funds to go anytime in the near, near future......

 

I look forward to it in a good few years

 

The BSG coasters like incredible!

Which is better: Human or Cylon? Can anybody who's ridden both shed any light? I'm curious!

 

I've taken both many times! I'd say Cylon, but it depends on personal tastes?? Human gives some great air-time, but only at the start. The second half gets boring after a while. Cylon, on the other hand has many inverted elements. I've not really taken similar types of coaster anywhere, but my favourite part of both rides is the noisy launch and being able to "interact" with the other side for that short moment. Both rides have minimalistic restraint design, which is a plus for rollercoaster fans and sometimes scares off the rest.

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