3 years back we had an enjoyable time at Universal Studios Singapore for their Christmas Special. We remembered every ride we took and even remembered fondly of eating dinner at Din Tai Fung after that. Fast forward 3 years later, every one of us looked forward to have an equally fun time during this period of the year again! So happy that this time, our youngest was able to join us in most of the rides and not only that, the kids got to take their favourite rides with their cousins again.
This year, A Universal Christmas includes many Christmas highlights, interactive workshops and interesting shows to delight everyone young at heart. You may be wondering if these are all included in the entry ticket. The answer is Yes! The park hours are extended till 9pm daily too! So, it is super worth it to visit Universal Studios Singapore from 1 Dec to 1 Jan because you get to enjoy more than the usual popular and awesome rides and attractions. Best of all, you can soak in the beautiful and everything magic Christmas mood and sights!
A Universal Christmas runs daily and features daytime and nighttime experiences! Here are some of our favourites!
Santa’s Workshop
Timing: 12 – 8pm
Where: New York Zone
Santa’s Workshop makes anything associated with Christmas. The Santa is recruiting elves for this holiday season. Each child or adult who goes into the workshop will go through 5 tasks in different thematic zones and collect stamps on a personalised certificate bearing their own photo. The interactive zones start with a fun photo-taking station that transforms you to an elf. After that, a door opens up to the rest of the stations like sorting letters in a mailroom, assembling a robot in Toy Factory, helping Mrs Claus to find ingredients to make cookies and finally meeting Santa Claus for a photo opportunity!
We were expecting more detailed interactive activities but they were really simple tasks where the whole group were ushered from room to room for different experiences. Nevertheless, the entire 20 minute or so session brings smiles to everyone even the Grandpa (my Father-in-law) who seemed to enjoy the workshop too!
Oscar’s Grouchmas
Timing: 1215pm, 230pm, 430pm, 630pm* (varies with different days)
Where: Pantages Hollywood Theater
The show’s title made us laugh. It is not hard to imagine how grouchy Oscar will be. We did not manage to catch this show at all the 4 timings as the park is so big and we needed double the time to move the 6 kids around from one attraction to another. We were simply too far away to be back in time to watch the show. Otherwise, we would love to see how Oscar transforms from a Christmas grouch to the holiday’s number one fan through an unexpected journey — discovering the true meaning of the season and the joys of giving, kindness and love. The kids missed the chance to see Elmo and the Cookie Monster too.
Search For A Christmas Star (at World of Stars)
Timing: 730pm, 845pm
Where: New York Zone
This is one of the highlights of A Universal Christmas and we made it well in time to secure a good view of the stage. Then we realised that the Airy Fairy was flying in from behind as she swished her magic wand to light up the streets of New York as she set the stage for “Search for a Christmas star”. It was a beautiful and sparkling sight. Remember to get ready your camera to take many insta-worthy pictures.
Search for a Christmas Star is a Star Search Contest where each contestant competes with his best talent. The show wows the audience with toy soldiers in break dancing, ‘Snow’ and ‘Flake’ in lovely singing, other contestants performing familiar Christmas melodies, aerial acrobatics, special effects, fireworks, snowfall, projection mapping of the New York Public Library and many more. We enjoyed the dance moves and singing in this musical that captured our attention from start till end. Not to mention that there is a meaningful moral behind the story of this contest.
There was a surprise appearance of a Gingerbread Boy and Gingerbread Girl in the finale! They must have come out of Mrs Claus Kitchen! Snow started to fall at this moment to everyone’s excitement. We were delighted to queue up just to take a picture with these 2 cuties and the talented cast.
Santa’s Snowy Sleigh Ride and Santa’s Christmas Tree House
Timing: 12pm, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm
Where: New York Zone and Hollywood Zone
We were looking forward to seeing Santa parade down the streets on his sleigh. As we missed all the earlier timings, we wanted to catch Santa after the 730pm World of Stars show for the last parade at 8pm. Unfortunately, we missed the parade by a few minutes and could only manage to take a photo instead. If you wish to catch the Santa sleigh ride, please try to go for the earlier timings.
Hello Kitty Store @ Universal Studios Singapore
We could not have come at a better time! The Hello Kitty Store has just opened just a week ago! I am sure Hello Kitty Fans will not hesitate to visit the park for the sake of this all-pretty store!
Oh, before I forget, guests can shop this year’s hottest gifts at any of the park’s retail stores and with every S$100 nett spent (One free postage applicable to a Singapore address only, with every S$100 nett spent), they can have their gifts mailed straight to their loved ones – for free – with the North Pole Postage Service located along Hollywood. This makes it so convenient for Christmas Shopping 🙂
We stayed till 9pm and not before we took the last attraction on our to-visit list which was the Canopy Flyer in the dark! It was certainly a different experience dangling your feet in the night air and taking in the night scene. We were also lucky for that day’s weather was cool and cloudy. There was some slight drizzle but that did not dampen any of our spirits. In fact, the kids wore their ponchos in the drizzle and were happy to get wet in the Water World Show Soak Zone and the Jurassic Park Rapids Ride. So, remember to bring along Ponchos to USS!
We had lots of fun at Universal Studios Singapore just like we did each time we visited the park. It gets better each time when each of the kids grows up and meets the minimum height for the attractions. I think it will become a tradition for us to visit USS during Christmas time simply because we have so many beautiful memories at USS Christmas special that accompanied the kids’ growing up years. The best part is that we will never outgrow USS because the rides are so exciting and they get better as the kids grow up! We will be back again soon!
Disclaimer: We received complimentary tickets from Universal Studios Singapore. We had great fun and hope you will too! For more information, visit www.universalchristmas.sg .
My favourite source of school holiday fun is none other than Cheekiemonkies blog. So many of my inspiration come from his information sharing. When it comes to what to do with the kids during school holidays, I will start planning as early as during exams period. I want to ensure my kids are not deprived of playdates or outdoor activities even though I am working full-time. So, I will take off from work and bring them to interesting places to play.
