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Park News - (7/27/10) Sally Corp. has announced that they have built and installed a large number of animals, figures and animated effects for the Treasure Hunters ride at Universal Studios Singapore. The list includes a family of Hippos, vultures, cobras, a cheetah, crocodiles, and much more. Unlike Sally’s other efforts where their figures are installed indoors as part of a dark ride experience, Treasure Hunters is an outdoor ride, so these figures were built to endure the elements. It’s also mentioned that the Jeeps guests will ride in during the ride were provided by Chance Morgan.
    (2/22/10) Part Four of the tour around Universal Studios Singapore has been posted to the Disney & More Blog where they take you inside Far Far Away and The Lost World. They’ve also posted a link to a lengthy 8 and a half minute video that will take you on a complete tour of every land in the park.
    (11/11/09) Universal Studios Singapore has launched their own official Facebook fan page. It includes some exclusive looks at attractions in the park that we haven’t seen photographed anywhere else, such as Treasure Hunters.

Late 2010/2011 - Battlestar Galactica - Closed For Repairs - (8/23/10) Resorts World has finally come forward to reveal the problems with the Battlestar Galactica coaster. As reported on Screamscape, on the morning of March 25th, one of the seats did fall off the coaster during a test-run. After months of “extensive inspection, testing and review” by Vekoma and other third party experts, the official conclusion from Vekoma is that the  seat-post support failed due to “higher than anticipated stress and vibration levels”. According to Resorts World, a "new machined seat-post component" will replace the original welded component and strength-reinforcement parts will be added. This other report also confirms the report that it was a seat on the red ‘Human’ side of the ride.
    (8/6/10) Universal Studios Singpore has confirmed that the problems that have kept the Battlestar Galactica coaster closed involve flaws with the trains. The track itself is fine, but the trains needed to be redesigned.
    (7/29/10) Battlestar Galactica is getting better it seems, as I’m told that some new cars are arriving at the park for the coaster this week. They will have to begin some extensive testing of the ride again soon to ensure that the problems have been solved. While early testing is likely to happen when the park is closed, it wont be long before daytime testing begins to take place once again.
    (5/12/10) Theme Park News Direct takes a look at what’s going on currently with the Battlestar Galactica coaster and some new developments taking place on site. While there isn’t much going on with the trains any more, scaffolding has been set up around the vertical loop and down into the fog filled trench, both on the Cylon side of the ride.
    (4/28/10) According to the Sentosa Theme Park Blog, Universal will begin to run Battlestar Galactica through a series of test cycles at night as part of the investigation into the problem(s) with the ride trains.
    (4/23/10) The latest word on Universal Singapore’s Battlestar Galactica coaster and other matters can be found at the Sentosa Theme Park Blog. On top of whatever problems may have come up with the Human side of the coaster, the park currently has the Cyclon (Inverted) trains also in pieces, so there may be more issues being looked into than what has been rumored so far.
    (4/17/10) In a follow-up to the status of Battlestar Galactica, this article confirms that “The vehicle has been dismantled and components have been analysed, including an X-ray of its parts.” They wont say any more about the why or where of it all however.
    (4/16/10) The local news reports that not only is the Battlestar Galactica coaster still closed at Universal Singapore, but it will likely be several more weeks before it could report. The ride is currently undergoing a major inspection that has including some components being taken apart and x-rayed for flaws.
    While the park has yet to release any release any details of what happened to cause this, Screamscape sources previously reported that during an early morning test run a “glitch” took place involving one of the seats on the Human side of the coaster. While I have no way to verify how accurate this tale is, we were informed that quite literally, a large piece from one of the seats broke free from the train and landed in the empty queue area. Given that the news report now confirms that they are x-raying the ride for defects, it does start to sound like the rumor is indeed holding water.
    If true, then I’ve got to wonder if the cause of the problem lies with the design, the manufacturer or with park maintenance? While anything can happen, I’ve got to think that with all the years of experience in the industry designing roller coaters, I find it hard to place blame on Vekoma at this time. Sure, they’ve had troubles here and there with more high end designs that have pushed certain technical limits over the years, but making sure the seats were properly bolted to the car floor was never one of them.
    (3/27/10) An anonymous tipster has informed Screamscape that the “glitch” that occurred during early morning testing on Battlestar Galactica the other day actually involved a piece of one the seats from a train on the red (Human) side.
    (3/26/10) The big news from Universal Studios Singapore is this story that claims the government has ordered the Battlestar Galactica coaster to be closed for the time being after some kind of ‘glitch’ occurred. A statement from the park claims that a ‘technical problem” was discovered on one of the trains prior to park opening, and that they shut it down themselves for inspection.
    I’m not not if this is a related item or not, but a Screamscape reader claims they were waiting for their turn to ride the other day and the Cylon side of the coaster seemed to be having trouble dispatching. Upon getting the train to dispatch, it then failed to launch properly up the lift hill and rolled back into the station. The ride was shut down for about 20 minutes for testing, before it reopened again. Like I said, I don’t know if this is related to the shut-down or just a common reaction to a launch miss-fire.

Late 2010 / 2011 - Madagascar: A Crate Adventure - (8/7/10) Awhile back I had posed the question about who is behind the Madagascar ride system, and I’ve now been told by a couple of sources that the ride system (boats) were provided by Hafema, who also provided the Jurassic Park River Rapids ride system as well.
    (7/29/10) Odd news is starting to come forward regarding a few projects at Universal Studios Singapore. According to the Sentosa Theme Park Blog, Battlestar Galactica and the Madagascar: A Crate Adventure dark flume ride will not be opening until “the end of the year.” While I had previously heard this about Battlestar Galactica, this is the first for Madagascar.
    As for Madagascar… the story gets a little weird. According to our source, some kind of fire may have broke out inside the attraction, causing some extensive damage to some of the scenes. If that wasn’t bad enough… it seems the entire ride system is a big steaming pile.  The flume system is plagued with technical problems, and I’ve even heard it said that the lifts and chutes for the flume may possibly be removed entirely before they’re done. Anyone know just who built the ride system for this attraction?
    (6/9/10) Finally… the new Madagascar ride is also slated to open sometime between September and December… which seems to be a mighty big window to me. At this point you would think they would have something a bit more specific or at least narrowed down to around a 45-60 day window instead of 4 months.
    (2/23/10) On an unfortunate note, we’ve heard that the Madagascar ride may be the one attraction that is the most behind schedule right now and that it may not be ready until June or possibly even July.
    (10/1/09) Madagascar: A Crate Adventure, which will be a custom indoor boat dark ride adventure. You’ll go along to help King Julien defeat Foosa, along with some help from the Penguins.

2011 - Transformers - Under Construction - (10/21/08) The big news today from Universal Studios and Resorts World at Sentosa was the unveiling of the plans to build a major theme park mega-attraction based on the Transformers film series that will open first at the new Universal Studios Singapore theme park, to be followed by a copy at Universal Studios Hollywood. While there are no solid details about the exact ride system itself, I’ve got to wonder if this may be the next evolution use of the ride system used on the award-winning Spiderman dark rides in Orlando and Japan. Certainly the omission of those two popular markets for the attraction does raise an eyebrow, though Orlando currently has it’s hands full with Harry Potter. Still... if there was any other movie theme that would really warrant the use of the Spiderman ride system, Tranformers would be it, allowing for a mix of real in your face special effects mixed with giant 3D projection technology to bring the giant battle-bots to life.
    Now for some quotes from the press release as well as an impressive piece of concept artwork.
    “The attraction will fuse 3D-HD media, mega special effects and stunning robotics with a ride system that will transform perceptions of theme park experiences. The rides are scheduled to make their debuts first at Universal Studios Singapore and then at Universal Studios Hollywood, both prior to summer, 2011.”
    In "Transformers," Earth’s humans are caught in the middle of an intergalactic war between the friendly Autobots and the evil Decepticons, which are able to change into a variety of objects, including cars, trucks, planes and other technological creations.
    Tom Williams, Chairman and CEO, Universal Parks & Resorts, said: "Transformers will be a jewel in our collection of world-class rides based on great movies. We’re thrilled to be collaborating with Hasbro, DreamWorks, director Michael Bay and the film’s executive producer, Steven Spielberg, who has been responsible for so many of our signature rides and attractions."
    Tan Hee Teck, Chief Executive Officer of Resorts World at Sentosa, the mega resort that is home to Universal Studios Singapore, said: "It is great that Asia will be the launch pad for the first Transformers attraction. Transformers was introduced to the United States in 1983 but traces its roots to Asia. Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Megatron are familiar names to Asian audiences, who grew up with the robot toys and love the movie. When Transformers opens in Universal Studios Singapore in 2011, it will be the first of its kind in the world. We may see a surge of Transformers mania.’’
    Larry Kurzweil, President and Chief Operating Officer, Universal Studios Hollywood, said: “Transformers represents a perfect match for our theme park: an exhilarating blockbuster with a great story, clever humor, non-stop action and flawless special effects. It has all the elements necessary to become one of the world’s most exciting theme park rides and a centerpiece attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood, The Entertainment Capital of L.A."