Universal Studios Singapore – Universal Party Parade

With new parade music and choreography, Universal Party Parade refreshes Universal Studios Singapore’s Hollywood Dreams Parade in time for the park’s fifth anniversary. Read about what’s new here!

Launched on 19 February 2015, Universal Party Parade offers a modest update: A new song, revamped choreography and small character updates. The parade retains most of the elements from the last refresh of Hollywood Dreams Parade in 2013, which is based on the original parade launched in 2011.

The new song is more upbeat and energetic than “Hollywood Dreams”. Scroll down for the video to hear the music.

Certain props and parade units received 5th Anniversary touches in this update. Some characters were not seen during my visit to the park – but I am not sure if they are permanently removed. In past years, some characters disappear at some shows (possibly some prop/wardrobe malfunction), and reappear again in another show. Notably, the Universal Monsters, Fairy Godmother, Prince Charming, Rick, Evelyn, Ardeth and the walking Velociraptor have not been appearing for a while.

Typically, parades in theme parks have “show stop” elements where the units stop marching. The music switches out and the cast performs something different.

Universal Party Parade incorporates something similar – but it is more of a pause, or a break – at the end of the song. After the short pause, the music reboots.

New Pterodactyls!

Having such pauses in the show can help ease slowdowns during the parade, which often happens to certain units as they travel around the park’s winding streets.

Have a listen to the new parade music in this video. The show pause/break moments are also included (Madagascar, Jurassic Park, Ancient Egypt and Hollywood – It’s a Wrap).

Despite the updates over the years, the park’s sound system is still unable to have the parade music blend seamlessly as the units move along the route. The same repeating loop plays throughout the parade, only to switch during the show pauses. Throughout the entire show, only two units play the parade song with vocals (The Chevrolet and the last Hollywood float), which has been the way its done since 2011. Given that much effort was made reworking the song, it’s surprising that it could only be heard at two short moments.

The other parade units play their own music which, unfortunately, still does not fit with the parade’s repetitive motif that plays in the background. It’s simply incongruous – and after three years there has been no improvement in this aspect. Why not have simple remixes, or variations, of the parade’s theme song?

Perhaps I’ve set my standards too high after watching some overly produced shows such as Happiness is Here. Even Hong Kong Disneyland’s new Paint the Night Parade has an amazing mash-up of Baroque Hoedown and Owl City’s When Can I See You Again? that not only has variations arranged for every thematic segment, but also gracefully mixes with two other songs for every segment.

With the 5th Anniversary logo added to parade units, it is likely that Universal Party/Hollywood Dreams will remain as the park’s regular day-time parade for the year ahead. The parade has yet to be updated with new park characters, such as Sesame Street, Minions from Despicable Me, as well as Kitty Softpaws. While there might be some licensing restrictions, it’ll be nice to see some additions to replace characters that were removed. The 5th Anniversary celebrations has not officially started – so who knows, the park might be keeping some surprises for later.

What are your thoughts about Universal Party Parade? Do you think that it is a decent update, or the park should be doing something entirely different for its 5th Anniversary?