One thing that all three of us at And Three To Go have in common, is our love of FUN!! This was definitely the case, recently when we traveled to Singapore for our yearly visa renewal.
Z is now tall enough to ride most of the rides at any of the theme/amusement parks and so Chad and I decided that Universal Studios Singapore would be on the docket for our trip. Chad and I are more Disney park fans, but since there isn’t one of those in Singapore, we had to make do with what they had.
*Disclaimer-I was not asked to write about Universal Studios Singapore or any other of the businesses mentioned in this post. The opinions in this post and the whole day we spent there were completely my own.*
Chad and I had hinted to Z that we may be going to Universal Studios Singapore, mostly because we had been researching it on our own (seeing if she was tall/old enough for any of the attractions there) and we didn’t want to spend the money on entrance if Z wouldn’t enjoy it or be able to ride any of the rides. Prices for tickets at the point in time that we went (early 2016) were S$74 per adult and S$56 per child. It is not a cheap day out.
Z was ecstatic and so we bought our tickets online using an app that Chad found, Klook, which gave us fat discounts on our tickets and the other things we ended up doing during our trip. If you are going to Singapore, make sure you get this app!
We grabbed a taxi to Sentosa, which is where Universal Studios resides, as well as the Merlion statue and other glitzy attractions (Including a casino! Next time for sure!).
We made sure to take a the compulsory (well it must have been for how many people were doing it right?!) selfie in front of the Universal Studios globe and then made our way into the park.
We went to the park on a Thursday and it was not that busy. It only took about 5 minutes to enter the park…. and thats when it hit me…
A grumbling in my stomach that sounded like the beasts of hell… a feeling of nauseousness and stomach cramping that could only mean one thing…
!!!!!FOOD POISONING!!!!!
Living in Southeast Asia has taught me many things, but one of the most unpleasant is the instant recognition of having eaten something that was not-quite-right. As I made Z and Chad wait at the entrance bathroom area while I ran for my life, I started going through everything that I had ingested in the past 48 hours… the only thing that I ate, that Chad and Z did not was a pre-made chicken sandwich at the Phuket airport. So let that be a lesson to you all, STEER CLEAR OF THE PHUKET AIRPORT CHICKEN SANDWICHES!!!
After I felt I could leave the bathroom (sorry for the TMI), the three of us traveled to Madagascar. Yep, we had to move it, move it (I couldn’t resist) to the first ride of the day. On our way to that area of the park, Z discovered drinking fountains. As we passed by one, she pointed and said “What’s that?” to which I informed her that it was a drinking fountain and that the water was safe to drink in Singapore. For the rest of the day, she had to drink out of every drinking fountain she saw. I think this may have been her favorite part of the park actually. But I digress…
Madagascar, The Crate Adventure, was really dark and cheap looking. I admit that I look at all theme parks through a Disneyland lens, but it was not worth the half an hour wait time (though the impatience could have been due to the upset stomach honestly). Z was scared in the ride because it was so dark.
Chad and Z rode the King Julien’s Beach Party Go Around while I took a quick bathroom break. Darn it, I was not going to let a chicken sandwich ruin my day… the carousel was interesting, there were some characters that I am still unsure as to why they were on that ride. For example the old lady that Chad was sitting on (haha, that sounds so weird), is that a part of the movie? Leave a comment if you know what that is all about.
Z was most excited about going to Far Far Away, which is the Shrek and Puss in Boots themed area. Z looooves Puss in Boots and so she couldn’t wait to get there.
We then stopped by the Shrek 4D experience, which turned out to be Z and I’s favorite ride of the day. There is nothing quite like getting sneezed on by an animated donkey or feeling the woosh of rats by your feet to make you feel happy and relaxed. But it was a lot of fun, I think hearing Z’s belly laughs and squeals made it even more fun. And being able to sit down for a bit while having a sick stomach made it even better!
Then we got to meet Puss in Boots! Z was excited, but not excited enough to stand close to him.
The main ride in that area was the Puss in Boots Giant Journey. After an hour-long wait (thank God it was a cooler day) it was finally our turn to get on one of the “Flying machines” that would take us on our giant journey. The gist of the ride was that our “flying machine” would take us somewhere and we had to fly away from a giant goose. Obviously I paid attention to the plot of the ride, oops. Z was so excited about it to begin with, but my goodness, once the ride started I have never seen such an extreme look of terror on Z’s face. She screamed and held onto our lap bar like we were on consecutive loop-the-loops. We consoled her as best we could, but even now when I think back I laugh out loud. Poor Z and her little terrified face, it was too cute.
Then it was lunch time! And we got to have lunch in Jurassic Park. You know the main hall in the movie? Well we ate lunch there… well, I ate rice and had lemon soda while Chad and Z ate a proper lunch. Just a quick side note here, the prices of food and drinks were actually cheaper inside of Universal Studios Singapore than they are outside the park! That was really surprising to me. So don’t pack a lunch, eat there!
I was starting to feel much yuckier, but I was determined to have fun with Chad and Z no matter what. The lines to get on rides were really difficult for me though. The bathrooms were few and far between and rarely near the rides, so I did a lot of running back and forth from line to restroom.
We rode the Dino-Soarin ride which was much bouncier and fun than I had thought it would be. And then we went to Starbucks (and I drooled over the smell of coffee that I just knew I could not have, wahhhh) and then ran back to Egypt land… which to me was the most breath-taking of the lands.
The massive Egyptian replica statues and tomb/pyramid were impressive. I felt like I was in Stargate SG-1 (man, I miss that show). The Return of the Mummy ride was one of the few that Z was too little to ride so we skipped it.
We went on a sad little ride called Treasure Hunters, it’s not even really worth writing about, so I wont.
Then we went and saw the Waterworld show. The show was fun to watch and we sat in the “get soaked” seats, but we came out dry at toast, which I was actually happy about. There was much gunfire and explosives in the show, Z handled it ok, but you should be aware before you take your little ones.
Time was running out! The park closed at 7 pm, and somehow we had quickly gotten close to that time. We made our way through the SciFi City without stopping. Most of the rides there were too big for Z to go on and we had to make our way to the New York area so Z could see some Sesame Street stuff.
We decided to ride on the Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase which Z thought was such a blast that we rode on it another 3 times! Running around to rejoin the line each time hoping that they wouldn’t close it before we got to ride one more time. It was the most fun I think we had the whole day. It was a proper fun time!
The day came to a close and I still had a blast despite feeling crappy (no pun intended, ewwww). After we left the park though, my body gave up and while Z and Chad ate some yummy pizza at a place in Sentosa, I drank a couple of refreshing 7-Ups and willed myself to not give up just yet. We got a taxi back to the place we were staying and I immediately went to bed and prayed that I would feel better the next day.
Overall, our day at Universal Studios Singapore was great fun! Even despite my food poisoning I loved my time there with Chad and Z. Nothings going to stop my fun!
Now it’s your turn!
Have you ever been to a Universal Studios? What did you think? Have you ever had food poisoning, I hope not? But if you have, what was the remedy that worked best (I should probably know these for the next time I get food poisoning living in Asia). Leave a comment below and let’s chat…
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