Universal Studio

On weekend we went to Universal Studio, also because pi's sister is here now, so the ticket entrance is a birthday gift for her :p  It's my 2nd time going to Universal Studio, actually. The first one was few months back when it first opened, with my sister and her hubby who was here.. But then, I haven't got the photos til now.. That's why haven't posted it on the blog.. LOL..

This time round, we brought Vio along! Yeah, it's Vio's first visit to a theme park.. Originally we wanted to go on Saturday, but the tickets were already sold out days before.. So we quickly booked the tickets online for Sunday.  Luckily we did that! There was a notice that the tickets for that day was already sold out too. It was drizzling when we reach there.. But the crowd is still a lot.. Well, if you've paid $70+ for the tickets, raining or not, you're surely still going right? ;)

[caption id="attachment_1424" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Welcome to Universal Studio"][/caption]

Once stepping to the park, once again I feel "transformed" to another place. Doesn't really feel like we're in Singapore. There's just a "theme-park" and "holiday" feeling all over the place, which is kinda nice. And I love that each theme have a different feeling, they're really designing it nicely in detail, and going to a different theme, u'll hear different songs.. So the mood was set. The first "theme" you'll see will be "Hollywood".

[caption id="attachment_1425" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="We're in Holywood!"][/caption]

This is where the shops and restaurants are. No attractions in this part other than those for photo-taking :p  The attractions there are mostly for youngsters and young-at-hearts.. hahahaa... Babies and seniors have not much thing to play with. At most riding the merry-go-round and watching shows... Which is why we didn't bring my MIL along. Well, she's not yet 65, so she must pay the full fares, for nothing that she can play?? Hmm.. maybe we'll wait until she's 65 before bringing her in.. hehehee..

So, the first attraction we went to was merry-go-round which was in Madagascar theme. We queued for about 20-30 minutes for it, and... guess what? Vio was scared to ride on the lion/penguin/other things! -_- He kept crying dun wanna ride that one.. aiyoooooooo... He's even scared of merry-go-round.. haiz... I thought all kids will like merry-go-round.. hmm.. I wonder why Vio is scared of almost everything's new.. :(  In the end, I waited for the next round so that we can ride on the "carriage".. Vio was ok sitting on it.. (luckily) ahahaa..

[caption id="attachment_1427" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Wave to Daddy!"][/caption]

Pi & his sister went to queue for Shrek 4D (which I think was quite nice, but the introduction part was definitely too looooooong), while Vio had his afternoon nap, and I'm doing window-shopping for souvenirs.. hahahaa.. Can't have all play at the same time.. At least 1 must accompany Vio right? ;)  Afterwards pi& his sister went to queue for "Revenge of the Mummy". Oh yeah that's the 1 thing you must ride when you're in Universal Studio! I was impressed by it so much the last time I went there that we rode it twice.. HAHAHA.. I won't tell you why... otherwise it'll be not much surprise :p 

Oh yeah, pi & I finally had our couple picture after so long! Hahaa.. Nowadays so seldom of us to take photo together without Vio..

[caption id="attachment_1428" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Welcome to Far Far Away"][/caption]

Luckily it was still a soft-opening period, so we got a $5 meal voucher and $5 retail voucher each. Somehow I remember the meal voucher was $10 each last time.. I wonder whether I remember it wrongly? :(  So we had our lunch at Mel's Drive In.. which sells burgers. Vio liked it a lot.. He ate a lot of the burger and fries and of course.. the drinks.. Last time I ate at Friar's, which sells wraps. I personally think that Friar's food is nicer as there's nothing special abt the burger.. :)

[caption id="attachment_1429" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Kuku & Vio"][/caption]

Next... Pi & Wie went for the Lights Camera Action, which was (directed? created) by Stephen Spielberg.. It's about category 5 hurricane hitting New York. The special effect was quite good. In the meanwhile, mommy brought Vio to take photos around New York.. ;)

[caption id="attachment_1430" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Vio & the Yellow Cab"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1431" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hmm.. Where Are We, Mommy?"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1432" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Say Cheeeezzzzee"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1433" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Going Up!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1434" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Daddy & Vio in New York"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1435" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="We Met Charlie Chaplin"][/caption]

We also watched the Monster show, which was really terrible. You can skip that. We even went out halfway. They should really improve on the musical..

Afterwards, Pi & Wie watched Water World, which was a real-live stunt show, I think it was quite good, but Vio can't watch it, as there's a lot of gunshots sounds and fights. Not a baby-watch ;)  So, while they're watching Water World, I brought Vio to watch Donkey show in Far-far away. And of course, take photos of Vio (again) along the way. Was so happy to be able to take photo with Puss in the Boots.. Too bad pi & wie missed it! Heheee..

[caption id="attachment_1436" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Little King"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1437" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Puss in the Boot"][/caption]

After the show, pi & I went to the Jurassic Park area to take the River Rafting (I forgot the exact name. River something..). The queue was sooo LoooOOoonnNNGggg... We queued for 1 hour+ before finally is our turn. During the ride, 1 of the person will get super wet (a.k.a soaked) bottom-up. The last time, the person was me. (until I need to buy new shorts in 1 of the shop last time because my shorts was so soaked you can actually squeeze water out of it.. And guess what? This time round, it was me again!! Dotzzzz... So much for my luck.. Hahahaa.. Luckily I was smart enough to bring an extra set of clothes this time round :p

Aiyo.. so fast it's already late afternoon.. Time to go home soon.. Before going home, we catched a show in Madagascar. At first Vio was quite excited, but few minutes after he started crying. I think toooo many people that the air feels super stuffy so he didn't like it. So in the end we also watched it only half way.

Oh yeah, a "memorable" thing to note. Lately Vio is crazy about bus. Everytime he saw a (fake) bus in Universal Studio, he'll shout rather histerically (with full spirit and will) "Bus!! Bus!! Bus!! Bus!!" hahahaa.. soo.. we decided to take photo of him with the buses.. Here's one of them..

[caption id="attachment_1438" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Vio & Bus"][/caption]

Oh oh.. It's time to go home now.. before going home, we visited the souvenir shops (which sells reaaaalllly cute things, btw). And also took a last photo with the Madagascar casts :p

[caption id="attachment_1439" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Hug hug hug hug..."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1440" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Madagascar Casts & Us"][/caption]

Overall we had a pretty enjoyable time. I'm sure that we'll be back to Universal Studio again, though maybe few years down the road when Vio can play more things! And certainly after "Transformers" are opened next year :p