DaptoFunlandGuy

Looks like they plan to open up the path to traffic, which should further alleviate the bottlenecks and navigation issues around that area.

Not maintenance, but let's post it in a maintenance thread. Yes, I knew they'd gotten it, mainly because I have enough friends in the industry that I had seen what came out of the brass ring awards this year. The creative team behind the eggs did a great job, and my son owns two of the darn things (calling one "rare" was fucking marketing genius). (Side note - the folk who did Village key absolutely botched and cannibalised this product with the 'digital eggs' that had characters bearing no resemblance to those created for this physical product, and i'm so glad it appears the Key died a quiet death.) Not sure i'd advertise it the way they are, but good on them for getting it and kudos to the team who worked on the product. Now if we could just get a decent quality polo shirt and some zip up hoodies in the lineup instead of all the t-shirts, that'd be great.

Look i'm not a fire safety expert, but I dont think it's wise to permanently block that alley off from Oz, regardless of their intentions.

Just demolish it and place a new one over the top.

is this just the next stage from the DA they lodged pre-covid?

i mean, by the time flash goes down for maintenance (assuming annual and not doomsday) you'll have three other rollercoasters open and theoretically all operational while this lot are down for refurb.

They should be. We know its a relocation and it isn't all that, but they're doing something (albeit it seems to have run into it's fair share of road blocks along the way) and the focus on BTS content and construction updates and the like isn't something we've seen a lot of from our parks before. I don't want to pour shit on the effort because honestly I want it to continue...

I've no idea, but I imagine it might be a nicer ride experience for duelling trains if there is nothing in the gap between the trains as opposed to two staircases. The station exit is a possibility also.

evac stairs are a pretty standard addition to a coaster. I don't get why there's such a big issue here... Sure painted might have been better - but since it's connected, which colour would you paint it? Jesus enthusiasts will literally complain about anything...

I mean, it has been done before... why not again? Oh right, because labour is prohibitively expensive which is why B&M, Vekoma and Intamin have all built manufacturing facilities in China, right?

That's the case for most players in the industry isn't it? We ship coaster track here most of the time rather than building it locally too, right?

Pico has done some really nice work lately - the splash pad at Dreamworld was all theirs I believe. They've delivered some pretty big projects for some pretty big players and generally done it justice. I'm excited to see what they bring but anything nerfed or not in line with the concepts will likely be due to village pinching pennies. If Pico has the budget given to them, I think it'll be pretty exciting.

trouble is the arena faces west, and most afternoon shows tend to cop a lot of sun in the stands unless you sit high (where there's no ventilation). Combined with burning rubber and exhaust fumes and it makes it fairly unpleasant. As for the weather, if its raining, you may or may not get wet, but anyone who's seen HWSD: Rain edition knows its more exciting to watch paint dry. It's nicer on Main Street if you're looking to chill or get out of the weather. Astro turf is more comfortable than the metal benches too. I do agree though, the show arena needs to keep a show in there - though it desperately needs reworking and not just recycling the same set with a city\country story that doesn't fit. Showstage likewise needs to return a show.

A large percentage of the population are scrolling through feeds on mute, so don't hear the audio and live captioning takes over, sometimes with amusing mis-interpretations. So your talking head is being transcribed anyway. Might as well just caption it with your descriptions of each scene. I like the clean image, though. Didn't even realise there was a text description to go with the video, and didn't miss it when I viewed it.

I disagree, though I respect the opinion. If I consider something like Superman and something like Steel Taipan, I actually enjoy the experience of Taipan more. The accelerator launch is intense, but it's over quickly and then its just a section of track with hills in it designed to slow you down a bit before you hit the brakes. Taipan on the other hand, the launch builds, and builds, and builds, before giving you the same bunny-hop experience. The ride time is longer as a result too. Although the pure acceleration from 0-?? is wild, I also enjoy the 'booster' acceleration of an already moving train - the reverse launch on Taipan is quite something, IMO.

It's a hype piece. it shows it coming together. the music is energetic and exciting. 'someone of note' in the case of Movie World would probably mean sticking either Clark or Bikash in front of the camera. neither of which conjures 'energy' or 'excitement'. Let the ride speak for itself. I personally would have wanted to show it in full speed operation rather than just the pull-through, but kudos to the crew for doing that in the bloody rain. I've no real interest in the ride itself, but I want to praise this effort simply because i'd like to see them continue in this vein in the future.

The Discovery Food Court is open, though we didn't go in. Discovery Food Court- Universal Studios Singapore (rwsentosa.com)

I'll be honest, it isn't just Flash. I've noticed a shift in their social media interactions. The responses seem less canned, more genuinely engaging. It's early days yet, but if this change persists I think it's the start of a positive change to their media and marketing. Whatever they've changed I hope they keep it up.

Universal, even with all the things closed back in 2022 was still an enjoyable day trip. nothing felt rushed and it was a nice relaxing day. This year's trip we felt a bit more rushed because while everything was open, there was a lot more people too. Swings and roundabouts I guess. GBTB - our 2022 trip was late afternoon, so we did the flower dome in gloomy overcast late afternoon and entered cloud forest just after dusk - which we feel was the perfect time to catch it (plus it was raining outside). Jewel - Just to correct the record, Jewel isn't Terminal 1. Jewel sits in the middle of the airport complex, and has walkways leading to terminals 1,2 & 3 (though terminal 1 is the closest). There is also a monorail between each of those terminals, one of which travels through Jewel between terminal 2 & 3.

I've noticed they seem to have dropped that tagline from their latest marketing for the ride - maybe they realised how ridiculous it sounded. The post says "sky high" and "behind the scenes" and includes video taken from the crane lifting the board into place. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess we will see more of the same content shown in the teaser - putting the ride together and testing. Footage from the crane, maybe a drone and some other positions? a time lapse would be cool if they have it too. And yes, I know. Its Surfrider and its a relocation... big whoop, right??? But think about it - if they're going this hard on media for a relocated, rethemed ride - what the fuck do they have in-store for when Oz is nearing completion.... Now that's exciting. Screenshot for those who don't use socials...

Just re-reading my original post and I should add to the above - On our visit this year, there were a few things to update: Accommodation: We again stayed at Village Hotel Sentosa. Our checkin was New Year's Eve and the place was packed. All of the little 'special' things I mentioned on our last trip - the gifts, the snacks, etc were all gone. Kid's checkin was not a thing either. We were a group of three this time so had booked a different room type ("sleeps 3"), and discovered on arrival that they expected the three of us to share one bed. This is common in Asia but not something we had expected, nor really obvious in the fine print and had assumed a rollaway or similar would be provided. The room wasn't big enough to fit a rollaway and they were at 100% occupancy, and so we had to make do for NYE. The following day the hotel moved us to a different room type which did accommodate a rollaway but it still dampened our view of the resort overall. Universal: The park has resumed 7 day operation The Madagascar carousel is now also removed and the entire Madagascar land continues construction for Minions Shrek 4D had reinstated the animatronic pre-show, and the seats appeared to work for us on this trip. Donkey Live had reopened The themeing elements on Puss In Boots had received a lot of love and looked fresh as opposed to the dire state of them on our last trip Waterworld had reopened Jurassic Rapids had reopened - this Tube style attraction is different to the boat style jurassic adventures, and we got absolutely soaked - so much so we had to stop and wring out our socks. Food - every single food outlet was open and operating The queue in the mummy has seen extensive repair work and no longer has holes all through the plaster. The mid-course fire scene is still as brightly lit as ever, spoiling the surprise. Little guy was tall enough to ride everything now - didn't like The Mummy purely for the theme, but loved Battlestar Galactica and lapped it repeatedly. Trains weren't dueling every dispatch but operators tried to when they could. Most causes of not dueling was down to guests not being ready to board and having items in pockets or things like glasses and footwear. One one occasion, operators held dispatch for our train because our little guy's watch had a camera built in, and they don't allow cameras (though every other dispatch it was fine) Sentosa Island This trip was a much more relaxed approach. We'd been recently so the plan for Singapore was to relax after a mad-rushed trip through Hong Kong over Christmas (which i'll get down to writing up eventually). As it was intended to relax, we did a lot less, spent way more time by the pool and far less on paid experiences, though we did do the Luge again. We had planned on eating at Hard Rock again (a tradition) but discovered that the entire Forum dining precinct in Resorts World was closed for refurbishment. Hard Rock chose not to renew and relocated their entire operation to the AIRSIDE of Changi Terminal 2. In place of the wonderfully varied and air conditioned eateries in the Forum, Resorts World had moved in a few shipping containers selling food-truck style options. We tried this once, and decided to eat elsewhere for the remainder of our trip. (It didn't help that it was raining, and the roofing they provided was wholly inadequate). Everything seemed to be open more than last time though some places didn't open every day. We explored new areas of the island we hadn't been to previously, but many only opened at certain times so didn't do anything new. The area where Sentosa Merlion was was still under construction (I hear it has since been reopened) but the Merlion is no longer there and a new boardwalk style path has opened between Resorts World and Beach Station. A pleasant option in fine weather if you don't want to wait for the Monorail. Gardens by the Bay We avoided the domes this time but took a walk to Satay By The Bay for lunch (10/10 recommend). We also walked all the way out to Marina Barrage (the water reservoir wall, not the building with the boat) for the view (and then it rained for half an hour so we took shelter and wandered the complex for a bit!). Changi Terminal \ Jewel We spent several hours wandering Jewel again on our outbound day. Due to the nature of our travel plans, we actually had 24 hours to spend airside on our inbound leg (before flying onward to Hong Kong) so we stayed in one of the Airport hotels and spent the entire day exploring all of the various terminals. We still haven't seen it all. Our hotel overlooked the apron at Terminal 1, with great views of aircraft movements all over the terminal, and gave us access to the rooftop pool for a swim \ spa and cocktails. We tried to visit every display, garden, and take in all the outlets, stores, food options, but there were still too many and we've already agreed we need to allow more time on our next trip to or through Singapore to continue exploring the terminals.

We visited again at the start of January and there was noticeable progress from inside the park, with the entire facades distinguishable in the framing - all the parts of Gru's house, etc could be made out, very similar to what's in Hollywood. I think they've moved pretty quickly considering - they're about 18 months in now, since my visit where demolition had occurred. Consider that in a similar period of time, Arkham Asylum was standing in June of 2022, and WOZ land is yet to open (and is arguably far less complex than what Universal is building)...

Given how many of the VR leadership followed Greg to DW, i'm not sure how much trickling would be necessary! But agree, regardless of what the guy was or was not responsible for at Village, his people skills far exceed others in similar positions.

The ride system itself was a great experience, however much of it was driven by parks and manufacturers to be the record breakers, and the experience itself, while thrilling, lacked a certain something. Couple that with the fact that it essentially detroyed the landscape of the park, carving it neatly in two, disrupting routes between various parts of the park, and interrupting the 'escape' of a theme park periodically with punctuated launches (not to mention the siren prior to each launch). It was a great thing to ride, but i'm glad it is gone. As soon as the park can rid itself of the remaining infrastructure, or repurpose it for other attraction uses, the better.

He did say 'with a few changes'