Universal Studios Singapore – Park Update 01/2014

Universal Studios Singapore celebrates Chinese New Year with seasonal park decorations and festive goodies! Find out what’s new at the park in the first update of the year!

Chinese New Year at the park

From now till 14 February 2014, the park will be in Chinese New Year mode.

Even the ticketing counters have festive greetings.

But in the park itself, the decorations this year are simple: several chains of red lanterns along New York and Hollywood. Along with this: Typical Chinese New Year music, like the ones you hear in malls, fill the air in the Hollywood and New York zones of the theme park.

The music is disconcerting. It feels like we’re going to the mall..? and not Universal Studios?

Another element of seasonal park decor: The Universal Studios Store has a new store display, featuring seasonal merchandise. We’ll go into that later.

During this festive season, Woody Woodpecker and Winnie Woodpecker will be dressed in “auspicious” outfits.

But not your favourite minions!

Here’s a tip for anyone interested in meeting the minions. Grab the park’s Times Guide (the white slip of paper next to park maps) when you visit. The the exact appearance times are listed on the guide (but only for minions).

Five Sesame Street characters will also have seasonal outfits. They will only appear like this outside of stage performances.

I wasn’t able to wait for all five of them to appear, so here’s a photo from RWS showcasing Sesame Street in Chinese New Year attire.

Sesame Street © 2014 Sesame Workshop. Universal Studios Singapore ® & © Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

And oh, here is a special Lunar New Year edition of the park guide. The map remains the same, with just a mention of the Lo-Hei at Universal Studios Singapore event on 30/01/2014. The event is a reunion dinner (banquet) at New York zone in Universal Studios Singapore. Find out more about it here.

With a menu designed by the chefs of Feng Shui Inn (Crockfords Tower) and Forest, this certainly is a unique opportunity for a luxurious 团圆饭 (tuan yuan fan; reunion dinner) coupled with three park attractions that will be open for 1.5 hours during the night. More nights are available for Lo-Hei Dinners at the park, but the line-up does not include dinner at New York street (30th Jan exclusive) and the three attractions will only be open for an hour.

Red Packet Giveaway

During the festive season, the park will give away red packets (hong bao) as part of a promotion called ” Sure-Win Hong Bao Surprise”. Guests will receive one red packet at the park gates, right after your ticket is scanned at the turnstile.

The entire resort is participating in this – that includes S.E.A. Aquarium or Adventure Cove Waterpark during the event period. What can you win? The best prizes will only end up with a fortunate few. For the rest, it’s little treats of discounts or free-with-purchase prizes. I got a “Free Ice-Cream” (with any Meal Combo purchased) coupon.

The red packets given this year look much better than last year’s, probably because it’s a variant of another design. It’s also smaller, like those “$2 Red Packets”. The horse motif extends to the back. On the right: Resorts World Sentosa’s luxuriously embossed red gold packets, is probably big enough for $1000 notes.

While walking around Hollywood, a crew member gave another one. Still the same “Free ice-cream with meal purchase at USS” coupon.

Chinese New Year Store Display at Hollywood

The large store window at the Universal Studios Store (Hollywood zone) is occasionally re-decorated a few times a year. The current iteration is probably the most fanciful so far.

The highlight appears to be the same “Limited Edition” plush toys and Sesame Street red packets (hong baos).

This Sesame Street Hong Bao Set looks like a Universal Studios Singapore park exclusive item. Anyway the characters featured (and chinese words) are:

Cookie Monster – 福 – Fortune
Elmo – 春 – Spring
Oscar the Grouch – 吉祥 – Auspicious
Zoe – 心想事成 – Wishes Come True
Abby Cadabby – 大吉大利 – Prosperity
Big Bird – 恭喜發財 – Kung Hei Fat Choy!!

The Chinese New Year Limited Edition Elmo and Cookie Monster plush toys go for $29.90 each. There is a new promotion: 2 plush toys for $49.90 (or around that price).

We’re back to the USS-exclusive Sesame Street red packet set again. You can find lots of them at Big Bird’s Emporium (New York zone).

You can’t choose which characters to have; each Sesame Street hong bao set has all six characters. The first design is randomized to show variety. You can see all 6 designs can be seen on the back of the set, like so…

Take your time to decide who gets the Oscar the Grouch hong bao.

Photos around the park

After Celebrity Cafe and Bakery radically transformed into Starbucks, the neighbour store, Star Characters, is also going through some changes.

Inside the store, walls have been put up surrounding the window. The rest of the shop is still heavily themed to Shrek. So it seems to be a new window display. What did the old one looked like – Did anyone remember?

It’s exactly six months since the Battlestar incident and the fates of the world’s tallest dueling roller coasters has yet to be decided.

BSG is still under attraction review.

The lagoon below the tracks sadly reflects the state of the ride above.

The outdoor section of Oasis Spice Cafe has been cleared of most tables and chairs. Only a couple remain. What’s going to happen here?

Friar’s Good Food looks a bit different with all the umbrellas taken away, and what looks like new awnings extending into the tiny indoor dining hall.

I really miss the old Friar’s (probably pre-2012) where they served wraps. Now, with a menu of fried meat and chips, it is more like an extension of Goldilock’s across the street.

Some new poster stands have appeared in the park. They are nicely themed!

Here’s one at Sci-Fi City. Although personally I wouldn’t be convinced to buy anything when this poster is placed right at the middle of the Battlestar Galactica floor emblem.

I’ll end this post with a nice photo of The Cruisers performing at Hollywood. Is anyone planning to visit the park during the Chinese New Year holiday weekend?