Final safety checks underway ahead of soft opening of
Universal Studios
By Hoe Yeen Nie | Posted: 16
March 2010 1850 hrs
SINGAPORE : Final safety checks are underway as Universal
Studios Singapore gets ready for its soft opening on
Thursday.
After months of waiting, the public will finally be able to go on
the rides.
The Universal Studios theme park includes existing crowd pleasers
like its Water World show. Members of the public can also check out
the attraction based on the animation film Madagascar, the only one
in the world
18 of the 24 attractions planned for the park are either newly
created or adapted for the Singapore park.
No theme park would be without a rollercoaster, and the Battlestar
Galactica trumps them all. It is Asia's first duelling
rollercoaster, and the world's tallest too.
At several points, riders on the two rollercoasters whizz by one
another with just inches to spare. It is certainly not for the
faint-hearted!
When MediaCorp journalists visited the studio on Tuesday, some
rides were closed briefly due to technical and safety glitches. The
park said this could happen from time to time, lasting anywhere
between a few minutes and a few hours. But it expects the rides to
be fully operational come opening day.
John Hallenbeck, director of Operations, Universal Studios
Singapore, said: "We've been testing attractions for months, and
that's just part of the process. And it's not just the testing
phase, but every day every attraction gets looked at - not only
from a technical or mechanical standpoint, but also from an
operational standpoint.
"As far as the processes that we have (are concerned), checklist,
everything gets put together to ensure that we're 100 per cent
safe. There are times when attractions will have technical
difficulties - that's just the nature of theme parks and Universal
Studios Singapore won't be an exception on that."
Robin Goh, assistant director for Communications at Resorts World
Sentosa, said attractions may be closed to make "creative
adjustments". "For example, we have to make sure that the
dinosaurs, for example, at Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure pop out
at a certain time. We expect the park to be fully operational and
fully running by Thursday."
Tour agents said packages to the theme park are selling fast. And
observers believe spinoffs to Singapore's tourism sector will be
considerable.
Travel agent Eric Seetoh said: "Usually tourists to Singapore, they
would only stay two to three days. But nowadays, I notice that
because of the theme park, they're willing to stay in Singapore for
more than four days or even five days."
About 4.5 million visitors are expected to the park each
year.
- CNA/al