Week Seven Entry - Universal Studios

The creators of the Theme park have designed it in a way that from the second you walk in the park you have physically escaped reality and entered the designed world, by which I mean you have been disconnected, literally once you have entered the zone the creators control all your senses, what you See, Hear, Feel, Smell and Taste, everything is been chosen to match the themes accordingly, the park was divided to Seven parts and each part had a completely different theme, from the structures to the objects to the props to the rides and games to the shops and the restaurants and the sounds and the real characters walking around too.

As you know there are many different forms of Art, like Storytelling, illustrations, music and more, but what makes a theme park unique and special is it caters to all the senses, it is literally designed to have those immersive themes that make the environment a form of art, the way it utilizes all the senses to give the person the illusion of being somewhere, whether its in the past or future or even teleported to a hot spot somewhere around the world.

What was nice about about the theme park is that they try their best to perfect it in the sense that they would hide all evidence of the outside world, emergency exits are covered in a way that the person would not notice them, and the same thing applies to the Staff where they try to blend them with the theme and environment and the reason is not to break the mood and feel of the place, because that is the whole point, is us experiencing the place with no flaws and signs indicating that this is fake and put together.


Sections in Universal Studios Singapore:

The Theme park is built like a a big doughnut, which was pretty easy to navigate within, the Transitions are pretty obvious because everything changes with a step, starting with section one which was Hollywood that later splits to two other sections, the one to the right was Newyork and the one to the left was Madagascar, when i was there it was a very simple decision to make, i was already in America so might as well go to Newyork :P



Sections:
1) Hollywood

This picture was taken at the entrance of the theme park

This is a picture of Mel's Drive in Diner, which is known for its all American saucy Burgers

2) New york

This picture is taken in the street of Newyork,
the building opposite is the 30Rockfeller Center and the
entrance to the Subway is on the left

This Picture is taken at the Que waiting for the show to start,
this show is hosted by Steven Spielberg, you can see the props all around the place to
give the person an idea of what is coming next.

3) Sci-fi City

This picture is taken at the entrance of the Sci-Fi City, you can see how futuristic

and robotic the environment is.


This is the Battlestar Galactica roller coaster ride in Sci-Fi City

4) Ancient Egypt

This is the Entrance of the Revenge of the Mummy
indoor rollercoaster Ride which is in Egypt... Veryy Egyption!

5) The Lost World

This picture is take at the entrance of the Lost world,
Very much like the Jurassic park theme

6) Far Far Away

The Main big castle in Far Far away section, which held the biggest
event which was Shrek 4-D adventure, the building becomes smaller as it goes higher

7) Madagascar

Madagascar was a tropical beach environment, where there were small huts
with bamboo sticks all around.

Things i have noticed during the observation period:

Bad Points:

Cleaning Staff- did not blend much with the theme


Security Staff and Actors/Characters - walking together in the street


An Emergency Exit on my way out of the Madagascar ride,
i took a peek at what was out side! and i did not like what i saw because it
shattered the reality i was in


Poor Effort- in the sense that this Big JBL speaker was right infront of me at eye level which actually blocked my view which i thought was very poor effort in hiding the speaker by just painting it green

Good Points:

This is a Speaker which is been molded to a shape of a rock, good effort in hiding the source of the sound which makes it realistic.

Steam coming out from sewage pipes, good effort in simulating the effect made the place look more real and genuine


Rides were build mostly for all ages so that parents can ride with there kids, which was a good point that parents don't have to wait anymore



Props all around the area making the place very realistic, as if there are really people there using these things everyday

In conclusion what i came to understand is that any environment can be simulated if all five elements were covered, from what we see to what we smell to what we hear to what we feel to what we taste, if all these elements are controlled by a theme we actually experience it as reality, because that is how we percept our reality.