An unexpected change at Universal Studios Singapore’s Battlestar Galactica rollercoasters? Check it out in this park update!
BREAKING: Lady Death Arises! Our Halloween Horror Nights 6 Review is now LIVE. Read it now! →
Battlestar Galactica update
It’s been a while since we updated about Battlestar Galactica. No, the ride is not closing, and everything appears to be running fine.
But then, there is just one little change…
Please do not be alarmed. Yes, the tracks are being repainted.
The inverted rollercoaster experience that we all love is still the same.
It is a surprise that the park is doing this… out of the blue, but that grey track is a closer match to the colour of the Cylon Centurions. You can see the Centurions in our exclusive BSG relaunch photo tour. There’s nothing so blue about the Cylons – it’s just a pragmatic choice for contrast.
Let’s imagine The shade shape of things to come…
How the ride would look across the lagoon with Cylon® Centurion Space Grey™
Note: This is a simulated image.
Well. What do you think?
Earlier it seemed like preventive paint works to protect the ride tracks, but the final shade of grey covered the white undercoat.
Note: As of 21/9, this segment is now painted over. The signature vertical blue loop is no more.
Many concerned readers have already asked me about this whole grey track thing. It does not look like a temporary thing – I’ll be very surprised if the park reverts back to blue after Halloween Horror Nights. From what I’ve heard, this is permanent. Or maybe only the back half of the ride is grey?
And actually, the tracks are in 4 colours:
The red track on the right is a bit different – that’s the launch hill track segment. It’s a dark magenta shade, matching the BSG emblem that’s above the ride’s exit shop – see second photo in this post. Actually maroon and grey could resemble the branding of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica TV series.
The tracks blend in very well with the ride’s queue building, and some of the support pillars, making the Cylon train seem more stealthy.
But why now? That’s another item on The List of USS Mysteries.
Unless, this ride is going to be re-themed. *cue suspenseful music*
What do you think about this? A mere change of aesthetics, or you really want blue tracks back?
Minion Mooncakes
For the Mid-Autumn Festival period this year, the park sold Despicable Me Minion Mooncakes. These went for $58 for a set of 4, and it came in a special box and a DIY minion lantern as well.
Four mooncakes, based on the design of four minions, had fillings in matcha, pandan, redbean matcha, and banana flavours.
Originally it was an in-park exclusive item, the mooncakes were eventually sold at the That’s A Wrap store outside the park.
USS isn’t stopping after this Minion Mooncake Mania, from now till 30 November 2016, there will be more minion-themed food as part of the Minion Food Adventure mini campaign at Mel’s Drive-In. We’ll have photos of this in the next park update!
Photos from around the park
Puss in Boot’s Giant Journey now offers on-ride photos. Probably for quite a long time, since DEI took over the park’s photography services few months ago. The camera is placed at the final drop (right before the ‘awkward’ cat)
Did you know that the park offers free Wi-Fi now? You just need an email address to sign in. Post photos to your heart’s content, or even better, send us anything you’d like to share!
Some parts of the park were closed for repairs – we captured some of them.
A portion of the flooring between New York and Sci-Fi City recently became uneven and bulged. The entire area is now closed off for repairs.
Is this the secret sixth Haunted House for this year’s Halloween Horror Nights 6?
Chop chop, get to Kevin Barbee’s School of Architecture!
Some other repair work at the Hollywood Junction facing the HHN6 Stage. This should be done before HHN starts next week!
The Secret Life of Pets store display
The Secret Life of Pets has landed at Universal Studios Store in Hollywood zone. We won’t be getting an attraction here (unlike in Universal Studios Hollywood) so the cute merch will be all we have for a while, until Lady Death and Jack bring in all their grisly souvenirs.
Park Shows
Originally I intended to post some photos of the park’s shows in the August Park Update (which didn’t happen due to photoshoot schedule conflicts). Here are some of the photos from the cancelled park update:
Hollywood Dreams Parade is now on hiatus as the park is preparing for Halloween Horror Nights 6. The show should be returning sometime in the end of 2016 or January 2017, depending on the park’s plans for the Christmas event.
We have more park updates in our BEFORE DARK series covering the construction for Halloween Horror Nights 6. Don’t worry, it’s all taken in the day – nothing’s scary!
Is it possible that they are refurbishing the entire Sting Alley? Maybe this was the reason why it was not used as a scare zone this year.
Possibly! The whole area is in need of some sprucing up after being used for scare zones for the past 2 years.
I want the blue tracks back!!! 🙁 grey looks too plain …
I’d cry if they re-themed battlestar galactica
Very odd decision to repaint Cylon a dull grey. If Human remains bright red while Cylon blends in with the support structure, I wonder if there is a more insidious reason; like Cylon being decommissioned quietly?
That is also a possibility, given that the ride structure is engineered to have both tracks in place and removal of just one is unlikely. However, as the ride is still running as the paint works is in progress, it seems unlikely that Cylon is closing.
That’s what I thought too. But there does seem to be inherent structural flaws in the ride that cannot be rectified without disassembling the whole thing. The changes to the ride – removing seats and doing away with tandem launches – seem to be an attempt to reduce stress loading on the structure. I really hope my suspicion is wrong. But just in case, I have been binge riding Cylon, especially since wait times are less than 10 minutes for the current off-peak season!
Nah, don’t think so, prettys sure it’s painted grey to fit in with the bsg theming, since cylon isn’t blue in the series…
It appears that the park will not get a new ride unless RWS starts to be very profitable again. Somehow, I wish a certain capex is set aside for park’s growth in addition to regular maintenance. There needs to be a new ride soon, instead of new mechanise of movies minus the rides, after all, it is not an exclusive shopping mall.
Agreed. But there isn’t much space after all… behind Far Far Away’s Castle is a road. Behind Jurrasic park and Puss in Boot’s Giant journey is a Golf Course. There is a lot of limitation, and probably best they could do is put the road in a tunnel and expand, but that’ll do changes to the park too…
Well the Puss in Boots ride opened only last year, so realistically we can expect USS to add a new ride in 3 to 5 years time. I’m sure Genting has CAPEX set aside and planned for USS. But as with any profit-driven business, they have to spend in view of the economic climate. Space is a more critical issue for USS, with no more reserve land left. Acquiring additional land from adjacent properties seems unlikely, so USS would probably need to consider redeveloping existing attractions.
Hi! If I’m planning to go on the morning, October 01, 2016 (Saturday), do you think it would be very crowded. Please advice! Thanks in advance ?
Most Saturdays are crowded. Do note that the park will close at 6pm during October Saturdays.