After Hours @ Universal Studios Singapore

After bugging the boy about wanting to go to Universal Studios for some time, he finally agreed to a preview of sorts, what they call After Hours. Parking was terribly expensive, but as we drove directly to the resort, we did not have to pay the entry fee to Sentosa Island itself. Although parking is $6 per entry after 7pm, tickets to After Hours are limited and you'd probably want to shop around outside the Studios for a bit, so you'd end up paying another $6 per hour before 7pm.


After spending some time searching for a parking lot, we went up the escalator which brought us to the area outside the Studios.


The first thing we saw was the familiar blue globe, but it wasn't spinning as we remembered it should have been.


The ticket booth starts selling After Hours tickets at 6.30pm, but a queue had already formed by 6pm.



I wanted to go to the Hersheys store to get some Reese's, but as we were early, we could take our time to explore and fool around with the candy.




To stave off hunger while we waited in line for the tickets, we got ourselves the peanut butter pumpkin milk chocolate.


A little further away was the Candylicious store. I was attracted to it by the huge colorful lollipop swirls hanging on the tree outside the shop.




My favourite shelf with Hello Kitty galore!


Sweet birthday candles.


Soft lolli >0<
Right after the entrance was Hollywood. You'll also get to see a little bit of Madagascar and New York, but the rest of the park will be barricaded.



Although the admission price included a 15% discount for meals at several restaurants like KT's Grill and Hollywood China Bistro, these places were too expensive for a rushed dinner, and so we opted for a quick snack at the rather interesting Loui's Pizza and Pasta.




We shared a HUGE slice of pepperoni pizza. It's almost as big as the plate it's on! They do have three other different flavours - Hawaiian, Margherita and Chicken Tandoori, and if you're game, you can order an entire pizza as well, though I highly doubt that two hungry people would manage to polish off the gigantic thing in one sitting.




After exploring the rest of Hollywood and the souvenoir shops, we had our dinner at Mel's Drive-in, which is a typical fast food restaurant. Probably the cheapest place to dine at in Hollywood.





The highlight of the night was the Lake Hollywood Spectacular show at 9.30pm. By 9pm however, a crowd had already gathered to get a good position by the lake. As we waited for the fireworks to light up the sky, we were enchanted by the view of the lighted castle across the lake. In the dark, the changing colors were breathtakingly beautiful, and admiring it with a loved one made it all the more memorable.






And so ended the night, but not without more food! I was dying to try the caramel and cheese popcorn at Garret's and was just in time to grab a bag before it closed for the night.


It states 'gone in 60 seconds' on the bag, but I took 3 days to finish it all up, since the boy hated it. The cheese flavour was intense and it was pretty powdery and salty. The caramel on the other hand, was extremely sweet and tasted a little burnt, but melted in my mouth. Neither taste i liked immediately, but I got addicted to nibbling on it slowly over a couple of lunch-free afternoons.




Our eating adventures did not stop at the popcorn. We went to take a look at the casino, saw Toast Box on the way, and decided to have supper! Well, that's a different story, but if you happen to think that Universal Studios Singapore is not worth the ticket price, and you have nothing to do on a Friday or Saturday night, you can always indulge in a mini fantasy for just $5.

Hollywood After Hours

When: Friday and Saturday, 7pm-10pm (not available on certain days)
Lake Hollywood Spectacular: 9.30pm
Admission: $5 per person

*I've just learnt that Hollywood After Hours has been temporarily suspended with effect from 1 February 2011. You may check their website for news on the resumption.