A tour of Universal Studios Singapore: Far, Far Away

December 21, 2011, 10:49 AM · Welcome to the land of Far, Far Away, where a fairy tale castle lies over the rainbow.

Welcome to Far, Far Away

Castle over the rainbow

That's a real photo - not a Photoshop job, BTW. Universal Studios Singapore park vice president John Hallenbeck told me during our conversation in the park that Asian tourists love high-end cameras, which is one of the reasons why Universal packed its Singapore theme park with so many ridiculously photogenic sites.

Such as King Harold's castle, which is the home to the Shrek 4-D film at Universal Studios Singapore.

King Harold's Castle

Castle and Far, Far Away gate

Here are hand (and hoof) prints of the Shrek characters, Grauman's Chinese Theater-style, in front of the castle.

Footprints

And a statue of King Harold.

King Harold from Shrek

Here's Far, Far Away from, well, far, far away:

Far, Far Away at Universal Studios Singapore

I've seen the Shrek 4-D show many, many times so I was more looking forward to riding the Enchanted Airways roller coaster while in Far, Far Away.

Enchanted Airways entrance

Enchanted Airways is a familiar Vekoma Junior Coaster (the same basic model as Flight of the Hippogriff at Islands of Adventure, the Great Goofini at Disney World and the Dragon at Legoland California). Its dips and twists carry enough speed to give a beginning coaster rider a sweet first taste of thrill, without giving them so much that they get sick of the experience.

Here, you're riding on the back of the "D380" (a cute riff on Singapore Airlines' heavily-hyped A380).

D380 poster

On the Enchanted Airways roller coaster

But before you ride, you've got to go to the ticket booth, of course.

Ticket booth

Whoops. Looks like our ticket agent, Gingy, has been hitting whatever's in that thimble pretty hard.

Drunk Gingy

FWIW, that was my single favorite photo from the entire Asian trip. Good, solid Universal snark. It makes me laugh every time I look at it. This ride is filled with little touches like that, including Pinocchio's nose growing when he talks about Enchanted Airways' safety record, and the Three Pigs sacking out instead of working on the loading station's roof.

Far, Far Away also offers two other attractions: the Donkey Live show, as well as a small Ferris Wheel in the Fairy Godmother's Potion Shop called Magic Potion Spin. Your dining options include two counter service locations: Goldilocks, which serves fried chicken, and Friar's, which offers wrap sandwiches. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything deep fried and covered in chocolate.

Tomorrow, we'll make the final stop on our Universal Studios Singapore tour, in Madagascar.

Also on the tour: Hollywood & New York, Sci Fi City, Egypt, The Lost World

Replies (2)

December 22, 2011 at 9:25 AM · The ginger picture it's hilarious and the Casttle looks good cant wait to see that on USF.
December 26, 2011 at 6:19 PM · That says it all about Universal...they have a heavy dose of humor, and self-deprecating at that! Unlike some other theme parks...where everything has to be bland and one size fits all! def

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