USS Park Update: A Universal Christmas 2023 event, Minion Land updates

Party at Santa’s North Pole HQ and enjoy merry encounters at Universal Studios Singapore’s 2023 A Universal Christmas event.

A Universal Christmas 2023 event

Universal Studios Singapore’s A Universal Christmas returns for the holidays, where you can view a colourful, glittering tree themed to Trolls at Hollywood, and step inside Santa’s North Pole HQ in the New York zone. Apart from numerous Meet & Greets around the park, you can also enjoy some of them “repackaged” into a mini parade at New York, along with an night-time show, W.I.S.H., happening at the New York Public Library stage.

A Universal Christmas 2023 – Park Hours and Tickets

During the 2023 Christmas event period, the park will be open daily, with the following opening hours:

10AM to 8PM – 2 to 17 December 2023
10AM to 9PM – 18 December 2023 to 1 January 2024

With a USS park ticket, guests can enjoy all shows, Meet & Greets featured in this article:

* Redeemable at selected restaurants in the park.
** Redeemable at shops in the park except carnival games, candylicious store, and other exceptions. Stackable up to 4 vouchers per transaction.

A Universal Christmas 2023 event vlog

Check out highlights from the shows of this year’s event in this video:

A Universal Christmas 2023 event highlights

This year’s line-up is split into two key zones: Santa’s North Pole HQ (New York) and A Trolls-ific Christmas (Hollywood).

W.I.S.H. show at New York zone

Don’t miss the headlining act for this year’s Christmas event, Worldwide Institute of Santa’s Helpers (W.I.S.H.), in the New York zone.

Santa has received an exceedingly high volume of letters this year, overwhelming the elves at North Pole HQ. They need help from the Worldwide Institute of Santa’s Helpers, or WISH, to ensure that all the presents are delivered on time all around the world.

See how 6 regional representatives get rapid, on-the-job training at North Pole HQ – with mixed results.

From transforming presents, to baking festive treats, and to learning to fly, the representatives get all the training they need to make Christmas happen.

Unlike all other programmes listed in this article, WISH only has one show per day, so remember to regroup at New York zone early to get a good viewing spot.

Santa’s North Pole HQ

Santa’s Present Party

This “roving party” of Meet & Greet experience takes the form of a mini parade from Sci-Fi City to New York.

Santa’s Present Party marks the return of the ‘Stars in Car’ float from the park’s original parade show, followed by three small ‘present’ floats that will bring you gifts… of meeting your favourite park characters.

It’s party time once everyone’s here!

Santa Claus arrives with Mrs Claus, kicking off the multiple Meet & Greets happening all over the New York zone at the same time. You can take photos with Santa, Mrs Claus, Reindeers, and Toy Soldiers at the New York Library stage.

On one side of the stage you can find the Penguins of Madagascar.

Jolly Minions, such as Kevin and Stuart, are waiting for you at the Toy Division area.

Complete your adventure at the other end of New York street, where Po and Master Tigress await.

Let It Snow! also happens several times daily at Santa’s North Pole HQ, offering numerous photo opportunities.

Check the Show Times board for a break down of the programmes available in the New York zone. Throughout the day, smaller groups of characters will also have Meet & Greets, in case you miss them during the Santa’s Present Party segment, as it happens less frequently and the queues might be too long.

The street sets are also beautiful at night, and I recommend staying back after the W.I.S.H. show to avoid the crowds.

Mel’s Merry Mixtape

Mel’s Mixtape is redone for the festive season, bringing back your favourite Christmas hits from every decade!

A Trolls-ific Christmas

This holiday, Hollywood zone has a colourful Trolls-themed overlay.

Join the Tree Trimming Party at the Hollywood stage, and dance along as Poppy, Branch and their friends decorate the Christmas Tree!

See the oversized Dazzling Decorations at Hollywood Boulevard, along with a separate Trolls Meet & Greets happening here.

The Hollywood zone also shares some of these golden stars that can be found outside the park, around Resorts World Sentosa.

There’s also a photo backdrop for the new Trolls Band Together movie.

The street may not look heavily decorated, but maybe that’s to avoid looking overwhelming with the bright, vivid colours from the Trolls theme.

At night, the lack of big photo backdrops does make the street feel a bit sparse, as compared to last year’s.

Other Park Updates

Other Park Meet & Greets

Apart from the new Meet & Greet experiences featured above, there are other regular Meet & Greets happening around the park, some with seasonal theming. Notably for this event, you can meet Shrek & Princess Fiona at Far Far Away in their holiday outfits, and Bumblebee will offer Christmas-themed soundbites.

Christmas Merchandise Update

Two new merchandise collections can be found at the Universal Studios Store, offering unique gift selections for Christmas. For this collection, you can find a variety of bags and pouches that are not as gimmicky and could be useful for daily use.

The Minion range offers a variety of useful travel items, such as phone sling, padded bag, pouches and cushions.

Minion Land construction

The Madagascar: A Crate Adventure show building is completely gone now. This photo reveals how the general landscape of Minion Land would look like from across the lagoon, while there might still be structures that are not topped out yet.

The show building structure for Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem appears to be nearly done, with a spot of blue could be the final colour of the building. Also of course, the unmistakeable skeleton of Gru’s House can now be seen – this will be the entrance to the ride, like all the other copies of the attractions worldwide.

Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem ride entrance at Minion Park, Universal Studios Japan

Resorts World Sentosa has recently updated that the current slate of expansions around the Resort, which includes Minion Land in Universal Studios Singapore, will soft open from early 2025.

Get your tickets to Universal Studios Singapore

Enjoy A Universal Christmas from 2 December 2023 to 1 January 2024.

* Redeemable at selected restaurants in the park.
** Redeemable at shops in the park except carnival games, candylicious store, and other exceptions. Stackable up to 4 vouchers per transaction.