As far as I can remember, Halloween time at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) meant just one thing: Halloween Horror Nights (HHN).
For Singapore’s thrill seekers, the highly popular scare fest will no doubt remain a highlight.
But this year, RWS is doing something different. No longer confined within the boundaries of Universal Studios Singapore (USS), it’s flexing its muscle as a lifestyle destination for people of all ages and interests, spreading Halloween-themed fun resort-wide with the inaugural Festival of Thrills.
The festival kicked off on Sept 1 and will run till Nov 1.
This is happening at an opportune time, with the resort having completed two major upgrades since the second half of last year.
The former S.E.A. Aquarium became thrice as big and has been renamed the Singapore Oceanarium. Weave — an open-concept mall filled with retail, entertainment and F&B options — also opened, and is twice the size of its predecessor.
“What we realised is that ‘thrill’ means different things to different people,” Lena Lee, Executive Vice President of Attractions & Destination Experience at RWS, told AsiaOne when asked about the idea behind Festival of Thrills.
“For some, it’s the adrenaline of a world-class ride. For others, it’s exploring marine life, enjoying live entertainment, discovering something new with family, or immersing themselves in a themed experience after dark.”
This was the reason behind the creation of an entire festival rather than just focusing on a single event or attraction, said Lee, adding that it showcases the “breadth of experiences” at RWS.
With this diversity, the resort hopes to target a broader audience — from families and younger visitors to horror fans and thrill seekers — through multiple entry points into the festival.
What to expect at Festival of Thrills
I was given the opportunity to check out some of the festival offerings during a media showcase on Sept 11.
These can be found spread across four main areas — USS, Singapore Oceanarium, Adventure Cove Waterpark and Weave.
I was first brought to the Singapore Oceanarium, where neon-inspired experience Into the Glowcean is taking place.
Here, Singapore’s only glass neon artist Megan Foo, who calls herself a “light bender”, marks her first solo art exhibition with five specially-commissioned installations.
Other than looking aesthetic, these artworks also seek to foster a deeper appreciation of marine animals and their ecosystems — visitors can find out more from the descriptions placed beside each installation.
Families have lots to do at Singapore Oceanarium, with an interactive light painting booth, deep-sea animals keychain making workshop, and a trick-or-treat experience among the many activities available during the festival.
There will also be special dive feeding sessions in the Open Ocean habitat, the attraction’s highlight, featuring skeleton-costumed divers moving through the water, as well as Halloween-themed marine mascots making appearances throughout the day.
Another small but meaningful touch is the addition of Halloween decor — think tombstones, skeletons, pumpkins and the like — in many of the smaller exhibitions. It just sets the right mood.
I visited the Adventure Cove Waterpark next. Here, an interactive game meant for families and children hopes to fill your time in between rides.
The game is accessible through your own smartphone. At five designated areas around the waterpark, specially designed game zones with accompanying QR codes allow you to scan and play.
The game requires you to solve mental puzzles and uncover a piece of Singapore folklore. I can see how this can be entertaining and educational at the same time.
On Saturday evenings, Adventure Cove will also host a murder-mystery called Pool Party Panic. I didn’t get to see this as we were there during daytime, but I was told that dummy dead bodies will be a part of the experience.
I was led to Weave next, where a mix of Halloween- and motorsport-inspired activities are spread throughout the mall. Since October also marks the Singapore Grand Prix season, RWS thought to extend the meaning of thrill-seeking to motor racing too.
From racing arcade game booths and life-sized race car displays to special appearances and meet-and-greets with yet-to-be-revealed personalities in the motorsport world, there’s plenty for F1 fans to indulge in.
[[nid:743800]]
Personally, it’s the Halloween-leaning activities that got my attention more. They just felt more in line with everything else that is happening at RWS.
The cinema-themed Frightly Photo Booth, found along the main thoroughfare of Weave, is a simple but memorable stop. With a minimum spend of $80 at the mall, you’re allowed a free snap at the photo booth and given a physical copy as a keepsake.
Families should aim to come on Fridays and Saturdays in October, as a trick-or-treat will be happening at Weave. As per Halloween tradition, kids (and adults too, if you’re game) are given a bucket and can hop from store to store to receive candy.
But if the Singapore Grand Prix is more your speed, the Adrenaline Bar, a pop-up bar located at Weave’s basement, is the pit stop for you.
It’s where you can grab a pint and relax, all while enjoying live band performances and classic bar games like beer pong and foosball. The best part? You can take away food from any of Weave’s restaurants to enjoy at the bar.
I was then finally led to USS, and shown the daytime offerings there, which you can experience as part of your regular visit to the theme park during this season.
There’s a new show titled The Belloween Ball at Illumination’s Minion Land, USS’ newest zone, where the titular yellow-hued minions tell a tale featuring the debut of the bride of Monster Bob, a spooky variant of Bob from the movies.
This wasn’t shown to us during the preview. However, we did get to see Halloween-themed minions as part of special character meet-and-greets taking place.
Other than minions, popular characters such as Kuromi from Sanrio, Count von Count from Sesame Street, and the Fairy Godmother from Dreamworks Animation’s Shrek are all dressed up in a special Halloween getup, and ready to take photos with visitors.
There are themed food items too, available only at KT’s Grill at USS’ New York zone.
I must say, while the food looks horrifyingly on theme, they still taste good. They didn’t sacrifice taste for flavour here just to amp up the scare factor.
For instance, there’s a burger topped with actual mealworms, to the horror of some of my fellow diners. While I was not irked by this, since they taste rather mild, I can see how others might be.
Still, the worms are easily removable from the dish should you not want to eat them. It’s a simple consideration by the F&B team worth noting.
Halloween Horror Nights 14 preview
The Festival of Thrills is a step in the right direction, allowing both young and old to soak in the Halloween atmosphere without being exposed to outright horror that could bring unwanted discomfort.
But as the sneak peek of HHN14 started, my pulse quickened, and a genuine excitement I hadn’t felt the whole day set in.
It’s as if I know the main event is about to arrive. I mean, HHN is the marquee event of the season after all, and the high production value is palpable as the sun sets and the preview starts.
It kicked off with a showcase of the cast. The main character this year? The Karang Guni Man.
It’s a rather interesting pick, given how the scrap collecting trade isn’t often associated with horror. Neither are our neighbourhood rag-and-bone uncles scary by nature.
Explaining the choice, Gemma Lefaucheur, RWS’ Halloween Horror Nights Creative Director told AsiaOne that the appeal of the karang guni concept “lies in taking something ordinary and everyday and twisting it to make guests look at it differently”.
“We were fascinated by the idea that someone who spends years collecting discarded objects might also unknowingly be collecting the stories, misfortunes and curses attached to them,” she said.
“From there, we grew the mythology. The character eventually became a vessel for these accumulated curses, while his cluttered shop transformed into a place where every object has a sinister story to tell.”
The Karang Guni Man will be the main character in Karang Guni: The Cursed Collection, one of the four haunted houses at HHN14.
Other memorable characters that reared their horrific faces include the genuinely unsettling Fatimah Rockers. The dance group, inspired by pontianak folklore, will be making a showing at The Raveyard.
The graveyard-inspired sector is one of two immersive zones occupying the streets of USS, and where you’ll have to pass through as you head from one haunted house to another.
Joining the Fatimah Rockers at The Raveyard is Ponti-Ana, a part scary, part cute character also taking reference from the supernatural pontianak, and who will take centre stage at a high-energy live show called Nail the Beat.
While seeing the characters were nice, it’s the haunted houses I really wanted to get a feel of. At the preview, two were showcased — Singapore’s Most Haunted: On Air and Made in Hell: Xinling Robotics.
I was brought to the former first.
It’s themed after a television broadcast studio where horror stories are retold in perpetuity, and where the main ghost haunting the building becomes stronger the more such stories are shared.
The thrill begins as you enter the building via the back of a van that has crashed through a wall, rather than through the main door.
The abandoned broadcast studio is dimly lit, and lights flicker as disused cameras and other audiovisual equipment are littered about.
At one point, a haunting figure clinging onto the ceiling shakes violently. I find this to be one of the scariest moments here, more so than the many jump scares that I’ve experienced getting to this point.
It’s unnerving to see, and makes you wonder if the figure will crawl down at any moment to get nearer to you.
Another moment that stood out was when a scare actor suddenly bellowed: “Stay away! This is private property!”
It makes more sense once you know that the character he is embodying is that of a security guard. His warning somehow surfaced an irrational fear of trespassing in me. I was thinking to myself: “Am I not supposed to be here?”
At the next haunted house, the horrors of artificial intelligence come under the spotlight.
It’s set in a bioengineering and robotics facility that has come under attack by rebel forces. Here, the extremes of AI advancement takes on a disturbing twist, with human life being harvested to power AI-human tech overlords and humans attempting to fight back.
While I find this venue less scary in the traditional sense, it’s a welcome, refreshing spin that’s not just about gore and the supernatural. Rather, it’s a salient offering given the real-life fears of AI in society today.
One area in this haunted house that has left a strong impression is a segment where you have to squeeze through a narrow corridor littered with the dismembered bodies of discarded, humanoid robots.
It’s a reminder of how much wastage and environmental damage the pursuit of AI and robotics has inflicted, and is distressing in its own way.
I left the preview feeling invigorated and curious as to how the other acts and attractions at HHN14 will pan out.
Though I’m not a thrill seeker by nature, the well thought out characters and haunted houses still piqued my interest and I felt sustained by a desire to see what comes next.
The highly popular scare fest will soon take place at USS once again for its 14th edition this year, running from Sept 25 till Nov 1. Non-peak period tickets are priced at $68 while peak period tickets are priced at $78.
[[nid:714664]]
No part of this article can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne.
Read the full article here
