Universal Studios Singapore: Halloween Horror Night 5

*This was a very recent happening of Ella's travel. I still got many pending travel posts to draft but that just have to wait. I am just too excited to share this..


3 October 2015

Never in my life would I have imagine myself walking into haunted houses. I just don't get the idea of having "fun" and being terrified to death, both at the same time. In other words, I am a scaredy cat. Meow..

But this year, I don't know how do I find all the courage from, but I did. I freaking went to the Universal Studio Singapore (USS) Halloween Horror Night 5 (HHN5)! And I can't believe that I would say this, IT WAS FUN!!

It all started a year ago, when a friend came out with this brilliant idea of going to HHN. But I think she's a scaredy cat too (proven! ;p). So yeah why not. We can make a good scream team.

Year has passed, and OH MY GOD it's really happening!! Tickets in hand, and there's no turning back. Anyway, we bought our tickets a month early and got a very good early-bird deal ($50 only per pax). We are sooooo ready for this, aren't we?

So on the day itself, we reached Resort World Sentosa (RWS) around 4.30pm and we got 2 more hours to spare. HHN5 will only open its gate at 7pm. We tried to kill time by taking pictures, loads of selfies, taking more pictures and I bought a devil head gear for myself in an attempt to blend in the Halloween theme. By 5.30pm, we were already tired of walking. Besides, we need to save what's left for the night. We saw few people already queue in line at the HHN gate (USS was still open at that time until 6pm, so they need to let all the USS guests out first before we can enter). And so we join the queue. So glad that we did, because 15 minutes later, the queue length has tripled!

Compulsory photo.

One of the cool HHN special merchandise. Blood bag. It's actually refreshing fruit punch with grenadine syrup. 

Before being...

...possessed by an evil spirit.

Macam kugiran jalanan pulak.

Maleficent on holiday.

This year HHN, the theme is heavily on local ghosts and spirits, which are familiar and popular among the Singaporean. But I think these ghosts are not that much different compared to our Malaysian ghosts really (read: Pontianak, Toyol, Hantu Raya, and those heavily costumed chinese ghosts we've seen on TV). So yeah, another reason for us to freak-out even more.


The Blood Moon Rise...

Exactly at 7pm, the gate finally opened. The crowd rushed and ran straight into Hollywood area to get the best spot for the opening scaremony. It was about the rise of the Blood Moon and its prophecy of apocalypse that unleashed across haunted houses and scare zones. It's a catastrophe!

The moon is waiting for us.

Scream team!

So the blood moon rised and the undead awakened, its too late to change our mind by now. After the scaremony ended, again the crowd ran towards Madagascar. I was like, oh man, it's gonna be a tiring night.. And so we ran too.. Everybody just want to be the first in line in everything!

As I was still new to this scary-shit (contemplating and chicken-out a bit), I just got to go on that Battlestar Galactica (BSG) roller coasters first, to recollect my courage. Most of the attractions/rides open during HHN (BSG, Transformers, Revenge of the Mummy and etc). And I thought that the queue will be shorter for rides other than haunted houses. I was wrong. In less than 30 minutes, the waiting time already built up to more than 1 hour! Crazy huh. Anyway, adrenaline is all pumped up and yeahh I am ready for the night! Bring it on.. 

So there are 3 scare zones.

1. The Invaders

2. Conterminated

3. Hungry Ghost

And 4 haunted houses:

1. True Singapore Ghost Story: MRT

2. Hell House

3. Tunnel People

4. Siloso Gateway, Block 50

The Invaders

Scare zones are set up in open areas, so it technically means less scary. Out of three, The Invaders is the least scariest one to me. That's where we headed first. The set up is so happening! With lazers and loud music and cool aliens, we really felt like we were in the middle of an alien invasion mess. Just like in the movie. 

The Invaders. So happening!

Not sure whether the alien was smiling or laughing.

Bapak alien.

Fighter.

Conterminated

Next was the Conterminated scare zone. This is the best place to warm your vocal chord up. Here is where a colony of the deformed and the diseased are quarantined away by the government. We have to walk along the scare zone path and get through all these mutants, in hope that we won't get butchered by them. They seems to like to feed on human meat though.

Over exposed to radioactive.

The goes my lunch.

True Singapore Ghost Story: The MRT

By that time, we think we're ready for a real fright. So we confidently walk to Waterworld area to enter the mostly hyped HHN5 haunted house, the MRT. Our jaw dropped to see the waiting time for this was 160 minutes! Not so much choice we got, we just started queuing like we don't have a clue, hoping for the best that the time might probably just an exaggeration. Not it's not. The line was endless! We queued for 2 hours. The longest queue I ever had in my entire life. Our legs cried that night. Sorry legs. 

Berpintal-pintal barisan manusia across the Waterworld stage.

The smile before the cry.

*spoiler ahead*

Despite the torture, the MRT was great! This was my first ever haunted house. The settings were so real. We had to walk through the MRT trains, and the underground track. Then we time travelled back to the past to witness a history of some black magic rituals and stuff. Then suddenly we were underground again just beneath a tanah perkuburan Melayu. This was the scariest part of all! It's surreal, it creeps the hell out of me. The length of the ride is just nice, and luckily that no one pass out.
*spoiler ends*

At this point, I'm getting to understand that, this scary-shit is actually addictive!


Hungry Ghost

We then went to Hungry Ghost scare zone in Jurrasic Park. Photo ops are abundance in this place. The zone weren't too scary to me *smug-face*, most probably because there were just too many people around (thanks to peak night).

It's time to feed the hungry.

Thirsty?

Clash of the titans.

Don't eat me. I'm no meaty.

Boleh kapel la korang berdua yang baju merah teww..

Ahli baru scream-team?

I hate to tell you this, but, it's not raining...

Why so sad bro?

I though you were dead? Then why you're bleeding?

Siloso Gateway Block 50

*spoiler ahead*
Next target was the Siloso Gateway Block 50. The waiting time was still long at 90 minutes, but in actual was shorter than that. I guess that they shortened the gaps among groups to enter the house, or people just walk faster as it was almost midnight. Here we found the residents of Block 50, and they have all turned into zombies. Many "peek-a-boo" spots in this haunted house, like a closed door, just perfect for a zombie hide-out. The detailing of Block 50 from one house to another are just awesome. Like, in one Indian house, a bollywood movie was on TV. And in another house, the zombie resident tried to attack us, but fortunately, we were saved by a security officer. Bam bamm! He shot the zombie down! I was shocked by the whole acting, but relief and feel kinda safe (for one second).
*spoiler ends*

Tunnel People

The time was almost 12.30am. The Tunnel People haunted was still open for queue. With no hesitation, we get in line to our last haunted house of the night. I told you it's addictive. At the tunnel entrance, the cult representative guided us to go inside, and he then disappeared. How rude! We were finally inside the tunnel of TOTAL DARKNESS. Seriously, it's so dark we can't even see ourselves. We really need to rely on our other badly-affected-by-fear senses. The tunnel is quite narrow I guess, and it smells and damp. Not much thing we can do really, other than walk on and anticipate for the tunnel people to come out of sudden and scare the shit out of us. They could be anywhere. They could be on your left, your right. Well that's pretty much expected already. But the one that coming from the top, I totally wasn't ready for that! I vented out the loudest and the longest scream ever! The scare actor must be very proud of their achievement on that night. This also makes the Tunnel People as a perfect finale for us.

Dia lah yang jalan depan sekali dalam tunnel yang gelap gulita tu. Bila dia kasik cue (aka menjerit) tu maksudnya ada hantu lah kat depan. Sebab dia tinggi sangat, kami tak nampak pon apa yang dia jeritkan. But for the sake of being empathy, kami join je jerit sekali.

Don't let her out!

I told you not to go in!

It was an amusing experience. Never thought that it could be so much fun of being afraid and scream like mad, and laugh at ourselves after realizing how silly we sound when we scream. But that would be nothing, if I wouldn't have the best companion with me the entire night. Thank you scream-team.

The Universal Stores (and few others), is open during HHN. We did last minute shopping before we call it a night.

It passed 1.00am. People were still swarming the place.

So we went to all scare zones and haunted houses, except for the Hell House, apparently due to the time constraint. Not that many photo shots too as it's dark and most of the time we were queuing. Anyway all in all, HHN is worth all the screams. Looking forward for HHN6 next year! Probably, with an Express Pass.

Tips and tricks:

1. During peak nights (I assume that would be Friday and Saturday nights), get early to the park and queue at the entrance. After the scaremony show, run (or walk fast would suffice) to any haunted house that you prefer to be the first few in line. You'll save a lot of time if you could achieve this.

2. Waiting time gets lower when it's near to closing hour. You can utilize the last minutes time you have to get in queue too. Don't waste it.

3. Haunted house walkthrough tips (copy paste from my Instagram):

• Masuk-masuk je kau terus jerit tanpa sebab. Insyaallah, hantu yang menyorok tu pon tak jadi nak sergah kau. 60% effective.
• Bila nampak hantu macam nak sergah kau, kau terus bagi tahu dia macam ni; "orang belakang! orang belakang!" sambil tunjuk-tunjuk geng kau kat belakang yang tengah struggle nak jadi invisible. 50% effective.
• Kalau dah tak dapat nak selamatkan diri tu, kau jerit je lah sekuat hati, nescaya hantu akan berpuas hati lalu move on.

Do check out my scream-mate blog post regarding HHN5 too, HERE!