I’ve Chosen My Side: Cylon (Ride)!

tags: Universal Studios Singapore, Battlestar Gallactica, Cylon, Rollercoaster, Resorts World, Sentosa, The Mummy, USS

What an awesome thrill ride!

That was what I could think of about the Battlestar Gallactica Cylon (Blue) Ride at Universal Studios Singapore. Finding my way down the exit way from that ride while all dizzy and out of balance, I thought this was one ride that no one should miss if they wanted the ‘thrill’ rides at Sentosa’s movie theme park.

It’s been almost 4 months since I’ve been to Singapore but this is the first time I got to visit Universal Studios (thanks to Jubay/Renz for the FREE tickets. hehe).

I have only USJ (Japan) to compare, but the theme park here is quite small. Also, it didn’t have the ‘Spiderman’ ride (or something similar) which I think is the best ride ever. However, visiting USS is still worth it. And, that is thanks mainly to two thrill rides: the Mummy and Battlestar Gallactica.
(not sure about the Jurassic Park rides as I didn’t get to try any).

Revenge of the Mummy – The Ride

Everything about this ride and the whole setup is really great. The moment you reach the ‘Ancient Egypt’ area – you’ll feel how serious USS is about getting the details. There are statues, monoliths and well, Egyptians (costumes, of course – I just hope they had a scary mummy walking around the area). The façade of the ride looks great, with two large statues of Anubis guarding the entrance. The path leading to the actual way inside is really well done as you’d feel like going into an actual Egyptian excavation (it’s quite long, though).

Now, the ride is so much worth the long course of the wait (and walking). It’s an indoor rollercoaster ride (similar to Disney’s Space Mountain). The theme is of course strictly about Mummies, so you’d be seeing lots of Egyptian artifacts, scarabs, hieroglyphs, and of course mummies. There are areas there that are really dark where you won’t be able to see where the rollercoaster is going – only the special effects. Oh, what a thing it is to see those effects! I really loved the fires at the ceiling.

This is a rollercoaster ride, so do expect some falls and fast turns. However, being an indoor one you won’t get any loops or extreme drops. Which was really good as I don’t really like rollercoaster rides. This Mummy ride was really well done in terms of the special effects, and not having that much scary points, made it really an awesome experience. Which brings us to the next (albeit, more) awesome ride..

Battlestar Galactica – Cylon Ride

Battlestar Galactica is a two rollercoaster ride attraction (the best one in USS, i must say). It has two intertwined trails for Human-side and Cylon-side, colored red and blue respectively. If you have no idea what those two factions are, here’s an intro in a nutshell: the ride is based on the TV series (which I soooo loved) Battlestar Galactica where a group of surviving humans on board a (space) battle-ship called Galactica is fighting against Cylons – androids and robots. I really loved this series (which is actually, a re-imagined version from Cinemax) – as it contains high-end sci-fi effects, action, drama, politics and mystery. I will be posting a separate review of the series soon. And yes, the series has already concluded.

I loved the series, and I also loved the ride! Awesome.

Okay, first off I got to be honest: I didn’t take the Human ride (the red one) as I really don’t like rollercoasters.. but it’s different when it is an inverted one. Hehe.

image from relax.com.sg

I hate the normal seated rollercoaster rides – and I thought that I’d hate ALL rollercoaster rides. Then, I tried the Diavlo ride (don’t ask about the spelling) at Himeji Central Park (Japan). It’s an inverted or ‘suspended’ ride where instead of being fully-seated on a coaster, you’re legs and feet are left dangling in the air. It’s actually more comfy as your whole abdomen is solid-strapped to the inverted seat – except for your legs/feet, there won’t be too much movement (nor pain in the back or your neck). Also, these types of ride has more freedom with loops and corkscrew style of ride. Plus, you’d feel zero-g a lot more as your feet aren’t on a steady floor – it’s just awesome to see your feet dangling in the air on top of you while you’re moving 90 km/h upside-down. Well, the Cylon ride (blue) is just that! All the thrills with less of the scary (and a bit painful) hits from the normal seated rollercoaster.

One thing to note with suspended rides though, since you have much more movement: turns, screws, loops, etc – the effect is real dizziness right after you get out of your seat ride.

That’s my only comment though, the exit after the ride (similar to Cinema theathers here, hmmm.. might be a norm) – is a fire exit-kind of way. So, after an exhilarating ride, while you’re still hyped up and very much dizzy, you’d have to go down a flight of stairs turning several times. Hehe.

image from LATimes.com

The two rides are run simultaneously to ‘basically’ mock-up a battle between the two factions. The entrances to these to rides are separate, so just double-check which entry you got – might not be the side you chose. Lol.

In the morning, the lines are okay but come afternoon (after lunch) it might take an hour just to take this 90 second ride – but it’s worth the wait. We took the ride twice and if it were possible (no thanks to the very long queue) I would have taken a third.

We spent just a couple of hours at USS, but after the ride at The Mummy and Battlestar Galactica – I have to say, my day was quite fulfilled!

Thanks to: Jubay, Renz, Joel, Cha.. and Kung-fu Panda. Lol.