The Best Rollercoaster Ever?
When it comes to rollercoasters, the boy and I are fully-fledged coaster junkies.
So a trip to Universal Studios Singapore, on Singapore’s resort island, Sentosa, in company with both Vagabond Kids and one rather hungover Vagabond Dad, was pretty much a must-do.
For a small park — space is at a premium in Singapore — Universal Studios has some mighty fine rollercoasters. The Revenge of the Mummy, which whirls, swirls, jump-stops and reverses you in pitch blackness through an Ancient Egyptian cod-horror maelstrom, rocks, as indoor coasters go.
But Battlestar Galactica, the world’s tallest dueling rollercoasters, makes a serious candidate for best rollercoaster ever. You pick your side: human or Cylon.
Humans travel seated. And FAST, reaching speeds of up to 90kph on the kind of descents where you drop fourteen storeys in a second, and your stomach tumbles after you to meet you at the bottom. The sort of acceleration that, quite frankly, isn’t good for the heart.
Cylons ride suspended. Through vertical loops, a zero-G roll, and some low, fast, adrenaline-fuelled corkscrew turns that had everyone screaming fit to burst.
Having tested each side of the ride three times, and narrowly passed the barf test, we convened an informal rollercoaster panel.
Between us, we’d visited parks in the US, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, the UK and France. And we think the Cylon side of Battlestar Galactica is officially the best rollercoaster ever.
If you’re in Singapore, I highly recommend you stop by: during the week, outside school holidays, there are hardly any queues at all. (And if you like wild rides in general, check out this fairgound ride we found in Borneo.)
That’s sounds SO fantastic! I love roller coasters and I love BSG — woohoo, heaven!
Thanks for the inspiration. 😀
We are going to get some episodes of BSG. Neither of us have seen it, but looking forward to discovering it…
We went last August and LOVED the Mummy ride but the Battlestar Galactica wasn’t open yet, the boys were super disappointed… We have to go back sometime soon to deal with their student kitas so we will hit Universal again and give the ride a go:)
xo
Tell the boys that Battlestar Galactica is EVEN better.
Once I get this kid out of my uterus, I’m totally going on that! I tried before pregnancy, but they kept shutting the ride down due to technical issues. Then I broke my ankle. Then I got knocked up. Sigh.
Current fave coaster is either batman or superman at six flags in Massachusetts.
Hi Theodora!
My first comment on your blog – and it has to be about roller coasters, of course! 🙂 We are roller-coaster junkies of the worst kind as well and I really got excited about your post! We’re coming to Singapore at the beg. of October and were already planning maybe to visit Universal. But now we DEFINITELY will be! So looking forward to it…
I think the best coasters I’ve been on so far were at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California. Loved the “Deja Vu” which goes forward and then backward the same route.
Anyway, thanks for a great blog! It’s been a joy to read! We’re planning to travel from Singapore to Hanoi and then on to Indonesia for some diving so it has been nice to read about your experiences in those places.
Cheers,
Heidi
Hello! Just stumbled across your post- I definitely agree. BSG is hands down the best roller coaster ride ever. The sheer feeling of it- pure fun. 😉 mummy ride is a reminder of space mountain. Highly recommended.
Ha! Always a pleasure to meet another BSG fan. We even got the TV series to see what it was all about (though we weren’t, I have to say, impressed).
Just went there yesterday. BSG Cylon is the best roller coaster I’ve ever ridden. Even though the first super bend almost threw my back out, I loved every second of it!
It’s still my number one, I think, Steve, although we bottled on one at Ocean Park a couple of weeks ago that looked badass. It’s really rare to have a themed rollercoaster that suits the theme so well, I reckon.