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So if you've been wondering why I haven't been providing many updates lately, that is because for the last month I've been out of the country travelling. And this week I've been exploring Singapore. Before I go into my review, I must say what an amazing country Singapore is, and if you haven't been before, I highly recommend it. Beautiful public spaces, amazing architecture and so much to see and do. Today I visited Sentosa, where Universal is located and as some of you may know, this is only the second one I've been to, with Japan being the first last year. Before visiting today, I was aware that Singapores park wasn't as big as Japans with less rides and attractions, and I'll try not compare the two too much. What was great was all the rides at Singapores park were different to the ones in Japan, so all the rides I'd be experiencing for the first time. Onto the review: I arrived at the park at about 10:15, just after the opening, with a fairly short queue to the ticket booth. However a much much longer queue to enter into the park. Thankfully this didn't take too long. I headed down through Hollywood, and then right through New York. These being the Main Street for the park, they were full of references to films, stores and a few alley walls which were very well detailed. I then went into Sci-Fi City and went on the first ride, Battlestar Galactica: Human. With loose items not allowed into the queue area, I went to the lockers, which I was gladly surprised were free for a certain period of time, with a small fee to follow after that time period (This was a similar situation for all rides that didn't allow loose items or bags, with each rides free locker time varying depending on the rides queue time at that point). The queue time was about 40 minutes, with the loading and unloading being reasonably efficient. As the queue was growing while I was in the line, it was decided that the second train would be brought out, so we had to wait about 5 minutes while this procedure took place, with that particular train having to complete a couple of test cycles before being used. The coaster was good, especially with the unexpected launching lift hill half way up, it had some good forces and sharp twists and turns throughout. From here I went to the Transformers ride, which I will say, was great. Having loved the Amazing Spider Man ride in Japan, I was delighted to see this ride had a similar system, particularly with the rides vehicles. The experience these provide and use of 3D screens, fire, water, fans, sound and movement of the vehicles is awesome, and definitely one of my favourites. I then went to the Ancient Egypt area to ride what I've wanted to go on for a long time, Revenge of the Mummy. I had high expectations for this ride as I'd heard so much about it, and they were definitely meet. If you haven't been on it before, I'd describe it as Scooby Doo on steroids. The queue was very well done, and felt like you were in a tomb, the trains, despite not looking it, were comfortable. The ride itself was awesome, and at a few moments caught me by surprise. The story told was good, and the sudden animatronics appearing were great, and use of fire really added to it. But the best part was the dark track section. After being launched, you go into this crazy, kick ass coaster section where you don't know which way you are going next, with tight turns and airtime. After some lunch, I went to the Far Far Away area. A greatly themed area, based around the Far Far Away Castle from Shrek 2, there is also Shreks swamp and a few other references throughout the area. The castle held the Shrek 4D adventure show, which I hadn't seen since the MW days, and was nice to watch it once again. I then went and watched Water World, which I had seen in Japan, but couldn't understand anything they said then, so was nice to watch it in English. I really do love this show, and could quite happily watch it over and over. The interaction with the crowd is great, it's funny, and it's got some great stunts and special effects in it. I then went to the Jurassic Park: Rapids Adventure ride. I loved the ride in Japan (which was the normal boat one, and is one of my all time favourites), so I had some expectations for this one, and was interested to see how it worked as a rapids ride. It was a good ride, but not as good as I hoped, it had the usual elements and story line, but the finale to it was a let down, without having the suspense built, and then the T Rex appearing from behind the smoke towards you, followed by the massive final splash down. This version had an elevator, about 10m up, with the T Rex above, not really moving, and then then the drop. I knew as a rapids ride, the rafts wouldn't be able to the massive normal drop, just hoped for a bit more. I then went and did a couple of the smaller rides, such as Madagascar: A Crate Adventure, which was essentially a river ride. Then the Canopy Flyer, a small suspended style coaster, over the Jurrasic Park area, and then Lights, Camera, Action stage show, showcasing how a hurricane storm would be filmed in a studio with all the action happening live in front of you, which was pretty cool. I then finished the day off with a ride on the Battlestar Galactica: Cylon. This was a great inverted coaster with plenty of twists and inversions. Again the launched lift hill was great and overall it was a really good coaster, and I preferred this over the Human one. Overall I had a great day, and despite it being a smaller Universal park, it was really enjoyable with some solid attractions, which was I glad I could finally ride. Stand out rides for me were The Mummy and Transformers. If you ever visit Singapore I do highly recommend a visit to the park.

Do we really need a bloody update every time a ride stops? This isn't the Gold Coast Bulliten you know

My favourite part of the parade is having the Arkham inmates being let out by Penguin and running wild. It's very entertaining to watch the GCPD and Arkham Guards try to round them all back up and lift them into the back of the truck one by one. If you mean the one with the bomb? No. This is a smaller show with some ninjas rescuing Scarecrow from the back of a cop car, then running off after some shots are fired by the GCPD cops running up behind everyone.

I love USS, it's a great little park. I'm up in Singapore regularly for work and always try and sneak across to Sentosa for a quick visit. Finally going to take the kids up in a couple of months.

I wouldn't mind replacing the old track with a Gerstlauer Spinning or Bobsled coaster, like Grona Lund's Wild Mouse coaster or Van Helsing's Factory in Movie Park Germany. So far, no Gerstlauer spinning coaster has been installed in Australia, and with the sharp banked turns, it could work perfectly with the theme that Eureka had. Nostalgia is one thing, but there is a difference between old-school and outdated. An example of something that is old-school is a Schwarzkopf looper (Mindbender) - the ride is old and primitive, but it is still fun to ride. An example of something that is outdated is a Togo or Eureka. There's a good reason why Togos are closing year after year in the US. If Dreamworld wants to bring back Eureka - they need to bring it up to date with the newest generation of rides so people will, you know, actually want to ride it. Because if Dreamworld re-opened Eureka in its original form - within two months the nostalgia ship will have sailed, and what would be left is an old, rough, rusty Wild Mouse coaster from the mid 80's.

I have no idea why but every time I have ridden it lately there has been a engineer sitting in the back of the control "area" and reading a magazine and got a big bag of tools and stuff in it.....at least they're prepared!

Besides the blindfolds it was Auctaully a really good night, operations were fast, lots of lazer effects and shows, overall it was a pretty good night.

Thought that was what TPSN was for, surely they would be keeping people up to date with ride closures if their posting of park opening hours is anything to go by.

Blindfolds = Thrill Blindfolds AND earplugs = EXTREME!!!

The Zierer would be this one: https://www.parkz.com.au/photo/8459-Cobra/gallery/sort/newest/location/ride-1623-Cobra/offset/1

I rode eureka both in its original form and after the revamped track layout. The first back breaker came right at the start of the lift hill with a massive jolt as the chain engaged the mine cart to lift it up the hill. I'm not a fan of wild mouse rides but will give most at least a go. Eureka in my opinion was better than a standard wild mouse due to the theming and dark element which led to a few surprises. But at the end of the day it was a rough and cramped ride. Like others have said, nostalgia is the only thing going for it which will wear off soon enough if brought back in its original form. Not sure if it's my imagination but for some reason I recall having taken a video camera on the ride to take a POV. I'd have to check at my parents place and dig through the old VHS tapes to find out if I did take video or not. I'd love a dark ride at dreamworld in place of eureka.

You've lost the plot... having a bad week?? It was closed, and they were working on it. That is maintenance. I don't really understand why you've targeted me given the complete dribble posted by some on these pages, with multiple posters uploading the same photo's and content regularly. I don't post here anywhere near as often as most, and I'm certainly not chasing up votes. I know plenty of locals who will change their minds on their afternoon park plans based on what rides are open. I thought my post would be of use to such people. if My post didn't interest you, maybe you could have ignored it, as i do when it happens.

Actually it's not on topic at all. Is the ride closed for maintenance? No Are people planning the family holiday around TOT going down for a while and coming to parkz to make those plans? No Its more like people have verbal diarrhea and can't deal without posting for more than 5 mins or else they won't feel loved.

Don't get your knickers in a knot. it's the school holidays and many people plan which park they are visiting based on the availability of rides. It's not like a new thread is being posted, it's a singular post, in a maintenance thread. Seems relevant, factual, and informative, pretty much the opposite of anything by the GCB.

I think the objection I have with this at a fubdamental level is this piece of shit is calling itself a theme park where really it is at best a themed residential commercial area. It'd be like if South Bank called itself a theme park. I pity any tourist who gets duped into going to this little trap, and by calling it a theme park it tarnishes the reputation of the theme park industry and the Gold Coast as a whole. I have further objections beyond that to do with cultrual inappropriateness, intergration, and other planning issues, but the thing that makes me object at a deep level is how this place is misrepresenting itself in a way that us harmful to the tourism industry.

I'm so disappointed. Just saw it's in the old spot the Octopus was in and it's basically another chair swing style spinning ride except it has carriages and they move outward more. Lame!

@Brad2912 - Nah I had a great day actually... Day off... Son at vacation care, wife at work... Got to sit around and do absolutely nothing all day long... But thanks for your concern there buddy... Back to the topic though... Nothing irks me more than someone who does not pay attention to scheduled maintenance and then thinks that there is something can be done to fix it specifically for them... Read a comment the other day that this persons holiday to the Gold Coast was ruined because the monorail at SW was not operating during their stay...

You doubted the viability of it going ahead and were concerned about flooding, on which points, despite the fact you don't like the project, you're likely wrong, it will probably go ahead and flooding can be handled on this site. So not sure what you exactly 'told us so' about. There is no 'alternative proposal' here where this is all residential, they're being quite upfront about what they want to do.

TOT2 down again.. attendants not sure if it'll open again today yet

No, the claw breaks down a lot and mick doahn

@MaxxTheMonster That's seriously being as pedantic as hell, but anyway... clearly heaps of you are having a completely shit Thursday... hope it continues for your Friday and weekend 😁