Halloween Horror Nights 2 @ Universal Singapore

Hello everyone, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

In my 4 years in US, I went to some of the best campus Halloween parties around, because in US, everyone throws a party; there must therefore be a party out there somewhere for you!  As a science/engineering major, my personal favorite was the Techhouse party, practically a mini Comic Con, with everyone dressed in their best sci-fi/anime attire, lots of cookies and baked goods to go around, and strictly NO ALCOHOL.  Alcohol is seriously overrated.  I like remembering my outings with perfect lucidity thank you very much.

Anyway, this is about the Universal Studios Singapore's Halloween Horror Nights 2!  I missed all the previous Horror Nights because I was never in the country, but my mum dragged me along to this year's to partake in the festivities :).  This was the first year I'd really celebrated Halloween in the presence of real scarily-decked zombies / evil dolls / mummies etc. instead of the cheesy stuff you find at party shops, so the professionalism was refreshing.

The entrance to Universal was filled with blinky light accessories being sold at pushcarts around every corner, and a creepy bell-like tune blasted over the PA system to half of Resort World Sentosa.   There was even a face-painting booth under this arch, but because I got there pretty late, they weren't taking anymore customers :(.  

For safety reasons USS doesn't allow guests to attend in costume, so it was really weird for me going to a Halloween function not dressed up.  It took away some of the fun, but the awesome actors and decoration in the park more than made up for it.

The entrance to USS is turned into a House of Dolls! (x_x)"

 The whole street leading into the park was turned into a "House of Dolls" alley.  For anyone who had watched "Chucky (Child's Play)" as a kid, you'll know that this is creepy as hell.  Even though this was a 1980s movie, a sequel called the "Curse of Chucky" is slated to be released next year (2013).  BEWARE.

Sadly I'm not quite the right stature to pose as a doll.  And sitting doesn't have the same effect.

Creepy guy covered in blood strapped to a chair.  He was great fun to pose with, and kind of cute when he decided to go out of character and grin during shift-change.  Yes, they all change shift pretty often because I imagine being an actor for this event will leave you with heat stroke, even at night.

The next section was called "Total Lockdown", simulating something of a cross between a holocaust and a zombie apocalypse.  ZOMBIES.  BRAAAAAIIIIIINSSSSS.  I would offer up photos of aforementioned awesome zombies and holocaust soldiers, but I have serious issues with taking photos in low light conditions because I insist on a point-and-shoot.  No chunky DSLRs for me.  If anyone has great low-light point-and-shoot cameras to recommend, please let me know!  I use a Panasonic Lumix, which is superior in every way in daylight but doesn't do well at night.

A city in smoke, aptly set in the "New York" section of Universal.  Because we all know that the aliens and zombies only ever strike in Manhattan.

Death, destruction and smoke.  Sometimes I was a bit wary that the apparent dummies would come to life and jump at me, but thankfully that didn't happen all night.

Eerie fog emerges from a NYC subway station.  Nothing compared to what hurricane Sandy is doing to the real subway stations right now though.

Hey kids, who wants to get a picture of being hanged by a creepy clown?  You get to wait in a half-hour line for it!

Moving on to Egypt-land (I have no clue what the actual name of this section of the theme park is, but it's my second favorite after Dino-land), we have the Bizarre Bazaar!  Mummies, snakes, the Undead, and crows on stilts galore!  The street running through Egypt-land was lined with what look like gypsy stalls, which included fortune tellers, leopard people, sarcophagi, snakes etc.  

Sorry for the paucity of pictures, it was one of the most crowded bits of the park so it was hard to get any good non-blur ones.

Sarcophagi!

This stall was later occupied by leopard-people, but when I first passed by it, it was empty.  One should never pass up an opportunity to sit as though one is on a throne.  Just sayin'.  Even more so when one is surrounded by skulls.  

Crow guy on stilts!  Despite being so large, he was incredibly fast.  Every time I tried to take a picture with him he'd stalk away :(.

These were the only 3 areas of walk-through decoration - the rest of the scares were confined to 3 haunted houses: Dungeon of Damnation, Insanitarium and Death Alley.  I didn't go for any of them because the lines were 75 minutes long each, and because it's a temporarily thrill, the queues were not designed with any sort of queuing psychology in mind (read: hot, humid, tiring).  My younger brother and cousin were game enough to stand in line for more than a total of 2 hours though, and they enjoyed the haunted houses well enough, but I think Universal needs to rethink their crowd control.

VERDICT:  The decorations and atmosphere of USS Halloween Horror Nights are certainly superior, and the walk-through areas are entertaining enough without having to go into any of the haunted houses.  I'm not sure if you think it's worth the $68, but I didn't really think so.  If you do go, and want to see the haunted houses, you should definitely pay for the Express ticket at $40.  Not because I think it's particularly worth it, but because you don't want your night to be spoiled by waiting in infuriating and stuffy lines for hours on end.  It can really detract from your enjoyment of the rest of the park by making you tired and irritable.  If you were already going to pay $68 to go for the thing, you might as well just top it up to guarantee a fuss-free evening.

I'm sure this will continue running for more years to come, so I'm willing to give it another shot next year.  I will, however, be more prepared for the heat and lines by purchasing an Express ticket, and bringing a large water bottle and electric fan.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Budget!

Early Bird Admission - $60

Basic Admission - $68
Express Ticket - $40 (on top of admission price)

Extras
Face-paint (because it really helps to get in the mood!) - $10 (1/4 face), $20 (1/2 face)

Singapore Night Festival 2012

Hello Singapore!  I'm finally back after spending 4 years in the US at college, so it's time to re-discover my hometown :).

I have nothing to do after work/on weekends, and my friends and I would just sit around and complain that Singapore is boring.  So we went to find some adventure.  Here goes:

First up:  NIGHT FESTIVAL 2012

Held on August 24, 25, 31 and September 1, the annual Night Festival organized by the National Heritage Board was a carnival of colours, lights, art and music.  The whole Bras Basah area was turned into a performance ground for acts such as Fuerzabruta and Home Made, while the Singapore Art Museum and National Museum of Singapore housed various interactive art installations.

We came geared up for the festive atmosphere with our own glowing necklaces called "Fairy Berries"!  Mine's not lighted up in the picture because they blink on and off, and getting everyone's on at the same time was quite a task (>_<)".

We first caught Fuerzabruta: Corredoras, where acrobats "ran" horizontally across a curtain of foil, to almost tribal music.  I'm not much of a music or performing arts person, but even if I didn't take away any deep message from this, it was visually stunning and entertaining.

This was supposed to have been followed by Fuerzabruta: Mylar, performed on a transparent platform suspended above the audience, where nymph-like dancers frolick in a pool of water on the platform, creating a shimmery and mesmerizing lighting effect.  However it was delayed by more than half an hour, during which a local band Shelves did a few numbers.  Not to diss local talent, but they were largely off-tune and off-pitch, and the audience heaved a great sigh of relief when they finally left the stage.  Not wanting to endure more loud, off-key blaring, we escaped to SAM and SAM 8Q to check out the various light displays:

 The gorgeous facade of SAM.  The light show was accompanied by low, humming, rather zen music, but because my digicam was not designed for such bass, I shall not post a video with the torturous sound quality.

Distorted Forest's sort-of shadow puppets!  It was one of the more eye-catching displays I've seen, without being flashy.  The lights move on tracks, giving the sculptures a swaying, organic feel.

Inside the chapel with yet another light installation, Temple of Hope: Forest of Eyes.  It was gorgeous, intricately-cut, and disturbingly philosophical, with images of people having their innards pulled out.  But much of the philosophy was lost on me due to (perhaps deliberately) very ungrammatical phrases.  Example below.

I found that most of them made more sense when spoken with a strong Singlish accent.

EYEBALLZ!!  The front of SAM 8Q, which housed the more interactive installations.

5QU1D was the highlight of my night.  No one could understand why I was so enthused by this hulk of plastic lighted up in psychedelic colours.  Apparently it's supposed to be more colorful when it has more friends, but the room was packed so maybe the issue was moot.

Grow a Garden in the Dark was crazy awesome, because black lights and glowing origami can be nothing but awesome.  There was a booth in the room next door where you could fold your own origami and add to the forest if you wanted!

Deanna puts her vocal chords to the test at the Reactive Wall, or the Scream-meter, as I shall hereby call it.  She was preceded and proceeded by little 4-year-olds with more lung capacity than a stadium of football fans, so suffice to say her results on the wall were mediocre.

We returned to the SMU Green just in time to catch the last performance of Mylar, which was initially a bit of a head-scratcher, but eventually morphed into a rather spectacular display of lights, water, and the human form.  Part of the dance featured scantily-dressed girls just sort of writhing around in the water in an almost erotic way... I know it's art, and I'm fine with any amount of nudity and sexual expression so long as there's a purpose/statement to it, but this one kind of didn't.  The rest was much more fun and whimsical, starting off with a girl walking around the large platform, and having the pool of water follow her around as she danced.  This was interspersed with fellow performers diving across the pool like dolphins to create a fast-paced and dynamic light show.

We ended off at the National Museum of Singapore which featured Scaling the Dome, a fun perspective chalk drawing that everyone lined up to take pictures on.  Someone looks a little too happy to be falling off the top of a building (^_^)".

Overall a very fun way to spend a Saturday night!  Especially when interspersed with lots of bubble tea, and ending with a prata supper at Serangoon Gardens.  The Night Festival has been going on since 2008, but that was the year I left for college, so this is my first time catching it.  Definitely worth a revisit in future years.

Next week:  A visit to the HortPark!