An Asian Disney and Universal Adventure - Trip Report COMPLETED 6/23

RachelleBeaney

RachelleBeaney

PrincessShelle
Joined
Jun 12, 2012
Hello Disney Friends and welcome to my newest trip report.

If you don't know me, I'll introduce myself. My name is Rachelle and I am a 30 year old Disney lover and musician who has now ALMOST been to every Disney and Universal theme park in the world (take that bucket list - and Disneyland Paris, I am coming for you one day!). My husband Jared is my partner in crime, travel buddy and is also a musician (a waayyy better one than me :P), photographer and is an all around multi-talented awesome guy! At home we have two beautiful cats and a dog who we miss terribly when we travel!

I'm really excited to write this report because it will cover our recent trip to ALL, yes ALL the Asian Disney and Universal parks, along with some of the wonderful cities and areas in Asia we visited. This includes Universal Studios Singapore, Hong Kong Disneyland, Shanghai Disneyland, Universal Studios Japan and the Tokyo Disney Resort.

If you want to read about the planning for this trip you can find the pre-trip report here. For those of you who are crazy planners like me you may just enjoy reading it. For others it might help if you are planning a trip to these Asian parks! If you hate planning are prefer to go with the flow then I would suggest not reading it :P!

I really hope this report inspires some of you to make your trip over to the Asian parks. They truly are something special, unique and offer something quite different to the parks in the US. Some of the attractions, being newer and far technologically superior, are well worth the trip to see, as much as I do love the classic attractions. But above and beyond that it's fascinating to see Disney, an American cultural icon, explored in other cultures and adored by other cultures, in other languages and through the eyes of people from completely different cultural backgrounds. I know Asia can be out of the comfort zone for of many of us in the Western World. Still it's history, people and cultures and so worth the unfamiliar feeling, in fact I almost enjoyed it, seeing places so different to places I know and understand.

Another thing I'm really excited to share in this report is all the wonderful photos that my very talented husband Jared (with assistance from me :P) took during our trip! Since I can only post 26 pictures in this post I've tried to pick out 26 of my favourites that give you a feel for the wonderful things we did and saw on the trip (trust me, just picking 26 was SO hard!). Don't worry though, I'll post plenty of pictures in the report too so you'll get to see lots more! We love nothing more than taking in these beautiful locations by taking pictures of them, and they really make the best souvenir to take home with you! Anyway, without any more preamble, here are my favourite shots from this trip.





















































I hope you enjoyed those photos, and I hope you enjoy coming on an Adventure to Asia with me!!
 
Last edited:
Contents

Travel Day - Wednesday 4 January 2017


Day 1 - Thursday 5 January 2017 - Sentosa and Singapore Zoo









Day 2 - Friday 6 January 2017 - Universal Studios Singapore


Day 3 - Saturday 7 January 2017 - Gardens by the Bay - Singapore


Day 4 - Sunday 8 January 2017 - Travel and Hong Kong Disneyland


Day 5 - Monday 9 January 2017 - Hong Kong Disneyland


Day 6 - Tuesday 10 January 2017 - Hong Kong Siteseeing - Victoria Peak


Day 7 - Wednesday 11 January 2017 - Hong Kong Temples and Hong Kong Harbour Cruise



Day 8 - Thursday 12 January 2017 - Travel and Shanghai Disneyland


Day 9 - Friday 13 January 2017 - Shanghai Disneyland


Day 10 - Saturday 14 January 2017 - Shanghai and Zhuijiajiao


Day 11 - Sunday 15 January 2017 - Shanghai Disneyland


Day 12 - Monday 16 January 2017 - Shanghai Disneyland


Day 15 - Thursday 19 January 2017 - Universal Studios Japan


Day 16 - Friday 20 January 2017 - Kyoto Siteseeing

Day 18 - Sunday 22 January 2017 - Kyoto Siteseeing and Sengoku the Real at Osaka Castle


Day 19 - Monday 23 January 2017 - Shinkansen and Arriving at Tokyo Disney Resort


Day 20 - Tuesday 24 January 2017 - Tokyo Disneyland


Day 21 - Wednesday 25 January 2017 - Tokyo Disneyland


Day 22 - Thursday 26 January 2017 - Tokyo Disney Sea


Day 23 - Friday 27 January 2017 - Tokyo Disney Sea


Day 24 - Saturday 28 January 2017 - Robot Restaurant Tokyo

Day 25 - Sunday 29 January 2017 - Tokyo Siteseeing


Day 26 - Monday 30 January 2017 - Hakone Day Trip

 
Last edited:
Part 1 - I wish travel was always like this!

Before we get started with the travel part I have to show you my Disney nails, done by my wonderful sister, ready for the trip! I'm sad to report they didn't even last all the way through Hong Kong Disneyland (our first disney park right at the start of the trip)! Note to myself, nail stickers and I do not agree! Still they were very pretty while they lasted!



Anyway, now onto the trip! Normally when we travel to Disney it involves flights in the early hours of the morning, travel that totals 2-3 days, jet lag and exhaustion! Sometimes it also involves Business Class, which helps, but mostly it is a chore!

This time around I'm happy to report that the travel was spectacular! We had a 2pm flight, which was only 5 hours, before we reached our destination (Singapore) which operates in the same time zone as Perth! I actually couldn't have been happier about these facts! This is Jared in the Singapore Lounge before our flight (with his champagne) and us at the Perth International Airport extremely happy about our forthcoming travel experience (I apologise for the terrible iPhone pics in this post but the proper camera was packed away).





We flew Business Class anyway, because we had a whole lot of Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer points which we could transfer into Kris Flyer Points for Singapore Airlines. This was my first time in Singapore Airlines Business Class flight and it was amazing! While the plane we were on from Perth to Singapore was older (obvious to us when we did the leg from Tokyo to Singapore in the new Business Class) it was still fabulous, the seats were SO wide it felt like you were sitting in an arm chair. Take a look at these awesome seats!




The flight went so quickly. It was only 5 hours, and I got to catch up on a whole pile of new release movies I'd been wanting to see (we never go to the movies at home, we are always saving our money for Disney :P). I watched Bridget Jones Baby (which was hilarious) and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (which was interesting and weird).

Once we arrived in Singapore everything went smoothly. Singapore has this lovely tropical smell about it, which I really love, though I could do without the humidity which we felt the second we arrived. Customs moved quickly and we were out and into a cab in no time. Just a note RE cabs in Singapore, we were lulled into a false sense of security when this first one we took had debit/credit card facilities. On the way back to the airport though the cab, like most in Asian countries, only accepted cash, and we didn't have any, so Jared had to run into the airport to grab some for the somewhat disgruntled cab driver. Most Asian cities are very cash based so if you do decide to plan a trip remember that!

Our trip into Singapore was lovely. I enjoyed watching the city fly past, was impressed by how bright and clean and modern everything looked. We went past the Singapore port and shipyards and that nearly flawed me, it's SO big! The tropical foliage was beautiful too, and the street coming from the airport were lined with palm trees. It was a lovely touch. Our cab driver was lovely too and he tried to explain the things were were seeing to us. Whilst English is the official language in Singapore their accents do sometimes make Singaporean's very hard for me to understand. Still the commentary was appreciated.

We were staying at the Bay Hotel, across the road from Vivo City, a huge shopping complex on the water across from Sentosa Island. We'd decided to stay near Sentosa because we knew we'd be spending more time there than in the city, and we wanted to be walking distance to it. It was about a 20-25 minute walk to Sentosa from our hotel. You could also catch the monorail which took about 5 minutes or so. We caught the Gondola's one day as well but as it turns out it was a lot further away from where we were than I thought and it took us much longer (about 45 minutes) than simply walking! The hotel was nice, small but comfortable (of course the bed was as hard as a rock, which I don't enjoy, but this is pretty much all beds in Asian hotels so you can't really complain about it).

Here are a few shots of our room. The best part about it was that the aircon was always on FREEZING setting, which was needed in Singapore due to the humidity! Luckily everywhere you go in Singapore the aircon is this good! Anyway, the room:



Weirdly, the bathroom was basically in the room, with an enclosed the shower area, a small enclosed toliet and the sink in the entrance area.



I loved the art work though!




The next exciting thing we discovered was that the hotel offered a free phone you could use to make local and international calls and use data on while out and about in Singapore! A great touch for many people who choose not to enact international roaming on their phones due to the expense, and can't be bothered researching which local pay-as-you-go SIM card to buy.



While the hotel was small we were still able to fit everything easily, and the free wifi, mini bar and phone made a small room worth it in my opinion. The location was definitely great for Sentosa, if you can't afford to stay on actual Sentosa (it's expensive) and if you like shopping it was perfect being so close to Vivo City! Last bit of praise for Bay Hotel involves the shower. I am forever lamenting the terrible pressure of hotel showers whenever I'm away! This hotel had incredible pressure, a proper rain forest showed head and while the bathroom may have been set out weirdly in the room, the shower was better than many of the other hotels we visited!

Anyway, we decided to get room service and get to bed as we knew we had a busy few days ahead. It was time to get this holiday started!

Continued in next post...
 
Last edited:
Day 2 - Part 1 - Humidity vs the Camera

We started off our very first day in Singapore at about 8am and we were heading over to Sentosa by about 9. We headed across the road, through the multiple traffic light pedestrian intersections we would come to dread and into Vivo City, looking to buy some water only to find everything was still shut! At 9am! Even the grocery stores! Oh well, we figured we'd find some water on Sentosa. So we started to walk over the boardwalk towards Sentosa. We noticed two important things at this point. One, the boardwalk to Sentosa had travellators (like the kind you find at giant airports) that made the 500 or so meters seem much shorter, and two, the humidity was insane and it had freaked the camera out! We had gotten it out to take pictures of the bay area on the walk over to Sentosa and the lens had fogged up. We don't live in a very humid environment here in Perth so we didn't know what to do! Would the humidity effect the lens our entire stay in Singapore? Would all our photos be "foggy". We freaked out for about a minute and then decided to google it. We then discovered the camera just needs to adjust to the humidity and should unfog within a few minutes! We breathed a sign of relief and continued walking, with the camera out allowing it to adjust the weather! While it may have adjusted within a few minutes we certainly didn't, and I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the kind of humidity one experiences in places like Singapore!

Anyway while we lamented the heat we did enjoy the view as we headed onto Sentosa Island, though Cloudy it was still beautiful!











When we arrived at the end of the boardwalk we discovered that normally you have to pay entry simply to get on the island (I wondered how that worked if you were staying there!). However, it seemed they were having some kind of month long waive of the fee. We discovered this also extended to the Monorail if you wanted to take it back to Vivo City (though oddly you had to pay to go from Vivo City to Sentosa!). We continued to explore the island, and I was impressed by the tropical feel!













Jared had bought a Neutral Density (ND) Filter for taking long exposures of fireworks while on the trip so he wanted to try it out on this beautiful waterfall area we found, of all places, on the way up from the Sentosa parking lot! The results were beautiful! I love the smooth water!





If you aren't a camera buff (even I am sometimes dense about the technical side of photograph) the ND filter allows you to take long exposures in areas where there is a lot of light by darkening the overall capture so that you can allow more light into the camera to get the shot without blowing it out. We didn't end up using it a whole heap on the trip, but it was nice! You can also really see the difference in the shots above to the one below, where we used a normal length exposure



The reason we had so much time to wander and explore the area was because, like everywhere else in Singapore, nothing seemed to open on Sentosa until 10am. I knew Universal didn't open until then but I figured some of the smaller attractions or at least shops and cafes might open earlier but nope, the place was a ghost town! It was actually really nice to feel like we had it to ourselves for a while to take in the wonderful tropical surrounds and the great relaxed holiday vibe the whole place give off. It might not be up to Disney's level of theming, attention to detail and fantasy but Sentosa definitely had the feel of a Disney holiday resort area, full of fun in an out of this world style location.

Continued in the Next Post...
 
Last edited:


Day 1 - Part 2 - Now you are the Star of the World!

Our first stop once things on Sentosa began to open, about 35 minutes after we arrived, was the Trick Eye Museum. I'd seen pictures of people visiting these types of Optical Illusion Museum's and I thought it looked like a lot of fun! Plus Jared and I enjoy visiting any place where we get to take wacky photos of each other!

When we arrived the place was deserted and we pretty much had every room to ourselves. We wandered through each room reading the instructions on how to pose yourself in the picture to make the illusion work. Every single instruction plaque advised you where to stand, how to take your picture, and each one bore the same finishing exclamation "Now you are the Star of the world!" I thought this was hilarious, taking a picture in of yourself inside an optical illusion equating to being the Star of the world (not a Star in the world, or a famous Star, or a Hollywood Star, but a Star of the World! Grammatically a bit weird and all the more hilarious for it!). The whole thing was hilarious, and I wondered if there was a hashtag created from it which people use to post pictures of the museum, but apparently not! I have since started one because, why not! So if you ever visit a Trick Eye Museum #nowyouarethestaroftheworld!!

Anyway, we moved through the first few rooms with ease, having heaps of silly fun posing and taking pictures of ourselves, enjoying being "the star of the world", even if it we were the only ones who knew we were.







I really love this shot actually, it looks like Jared is swimming up a wall!
























It was around this point, when we were about 3/4 of the way through the Museum, that a bunch of school kids were let in the exit and were going the wrong way through each room. All of sudden it became much harder to take pictures with school kids darting to and fro so we didn't take too many more pictures after that...







Singapore's version of the Hatbox Ghost? :rotfl2:



All in all the Trick Eye Museum was a really fun way to start our day. We probably didn't spend much more than 30-45 minutes inside, but it was great fun and we got some great photo memories out of it. A tip for anyone heading to Sentosa for a few days wanting to try some of these smaller attractions, I believe you can get a pass that covers entrance to Universal as well as a lot of these other attractions like Trick Eye, Madam Tussauds and the Aquarium. We didn't realise and bought tickets separately for each thing and I'm fairly certain it was a lot more expensive! One area I hadn't done a lot of research was in relation to these smaller attractions on Sentosa, and I wish I had known we could have booked passes with our Universal tickets. Oh well live and learn....

We were heading over the S.E.A Aquarium next, and in order to get there we had to past Festive Walk, Sentosa's version of Citywalk. It was interesting, in that it was a bit more upscale looking than a regular Citywalk, but also had a more dated feel, like something from the 80's, even though I'm pretty sure Sentosa is newer than that (I think it was the caramel coloured marble and the green colour that made it feel like that). It also was less of a walk and more of long passage that came off a Central hub with a lot of parallel streets and hotels. It wasn't the best layout, but it made good use of the small amount of space available on Sentosa.

Pretty soon we had arrived at our next destination...

Continued in Next Post...
 
Last edited:
Day 1 - Part 4 - Under the Sea

Arriving at the S.E.A Aquarium we were dismayed to find that the line to purchase tickets was long! Very long. In the space of about 45 minutes Sentosa had gone from the ghost town we found upon arrival to a hive of people, and lines :(. It took us about 15 minutes to get tickets (another reason to pre-book), and I was feeling the sting of my planning fail a little here! Still, 15 minutes is not too bad a wait.

The Aquarium had some sort of Asian Cultural Exhibit showing while we were there. There were exhibits displaying art, pottery, textiles and more from China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Pakistan and Kenya (why Kenya made it into an exhibit about Asia I'm not 100% sure!)











There was a really impressive scale model of the inside of some of the cargo ships used to transport goods from Africa to Asia. The scale was enormous, just check out those giraffes!



I was fascinated by all the history and culture on display, but Jared isn't much of a history buff and just wanted to get to the Aquarium so we didn't spend a lot of time looking at the exhibit. Some info on the S.E.A. Aquarium. It stands for South East Asia Aquarium apparently, and it is the worlds largest Oceanarium. It is home to around 100,000 Marine animals and 800 species of animal. Until very recently it also had the worlds largest viewing window to it's main exhibit. The window is 36m wide and 8.3m tall! It's so huge they have multi-level viewing areas!

The Aquarium also boasts an underwater tunnel, which is great fun. This was not a new experience for us as our aquarium here in Perth (AQWA) has one that's quite a bit longer (and moves on a travellator) but it was still a fun experience. here I am with a shark above my head!





The shark tunnel also had beautiful light rays shining down from the top of the tank and what I assume was a glass ceiling to the sky. It made for beautiful pictures of the Aquarium!







The smaller exhibits were of course not as interesting as the bigger ones (namely the shark tunnel and the main aquarium) but they were so beautifully colourful. It made me a little sad because I have seen coral on the Great Barrier Reef and it doesn't look anything like the coral in these exhibits, which was so bright and vibrant and alive! We also found Dory!









After a while Jared forbade me from asking him to take anymore pictures of colourful fish (there were many more than this taken) and suggested we move on to the main exhibit.

When we got to the Main exhibit our jaws dropped a little. We did get this one shot of the majority of the viewing window however not it even gives you a sense of the full scale and size of the exhibit



We loved watching the HUGE black Manta Ray as it circled back around through the exhibit, and it was adorable to watch the small sting rays as they glided along right next to the glass, almost kissing it (if sting rays can kiss, I don't know!).



Our Manta Ray friend



[

We stayed at the exhibit for ages, just watching as the sea creatures gracefully floated past. It was a very relaxing experience. Still we had to keep moving so we did. I was surprised as we went along to find a dolphin exhibit. We weren't able to get pictures as there was a diver in with the dolphins as a guide inside the Aquarium with us explained the various behaviours the dolphin was exhibiting. I managed to squeeze towards the front at one point and I couldn't have sworn the dolphin smiled at me :).

Anyway we headed back through the Aquarium tunnel soon after this to head out for lunch as we were starving!





We decided to find Sentosa's Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. Yes, we are those people who love to visit Hard Rock's, if there is one (don't judge us!). We just enjoy the familiar, especially in such an unfamiliar place like Asia, plus I knew I would be able to avoid gluten because I knew the menu - and it makes us really feel like the holiday has started if we get to go to a Hard Rock :P

This Hard Rock had an Asian flair to it's decor, which was interesting but really fun in the end. I had Potato Skins because they are my favourite, and I was on holidays so I could! I believe Jared had the ribs.







After lunch we caught the monorail back to Vivo City. The local MTR station is actually inside the shopping centre, and we had plans to catch it, and then a bus, to the Singapore Zoo. We had heard wonderful things about the zoo, and had booked in for a private night safari tour, so we would be spending the rest of the day there.

Before we could do any of that though we had to wait to get a tourist pass for the MTR, which you can't just buy at any ticketing machine! We had to go to the nearest Ticketing Office and then we stood in a very slow moving line for about 20 minutes, which was frustrating given we knew the journey to the zoo would take a while and it was already almost 1pm at this point.

We had to catch 2 trains and a bus to the zoo! It was a little tedious and took us about 2 hours. We had a small snaffo with signage to the station where we had to transfer to the bus depo, but a very friendly lady her saw us looking confused pointed us in the right direction. We must have looked like helpless tourists! The one good part about the long journey was that it gave us time to see Singapore's residential quarters. It was interesting to see how people lived in a country that was also a city in an area only about 35km long and 700km2. The government built apartment blocks are clean and well maintained, but somewhat bland, dull and soulless in design. Obviously it was designed to be perfunctory and not pretty. They all had the same square block verandas and bar windows, looked like they were made from cinder blocks and there were of course no gardens or parks (no space I guess). It looked like a cold place to live from what I'm used to, but in no way a slum or a dangerous place to live. They were very Asian apartments too as I saw a lot of washing handing out windows or on rickety lines over balconies and railings. This seemed to be a thing, especially in China, why people don't use inside "clothes horses" as we call them here I don't know, but it adds to that foreign sensation when you see Singapore. I'd be very nervous about loosing my clothes on washing lines 10 stories high, and also be worried that my undies (panties for you Americans) were on display to the world, because many were!

Anyway by the time we got to the zoo it was about 3pm and we knew we had about 3 hours until the zoo closed....but more on that soon.
Continued in the Next Post...
 
Last edited:


Hi :wave: joining in. I really look forward to seeing the other Disney Parks around the World. I have to say the pictures in your first post are stunning. Your husband (with a little help from you) did a wonderful job.
 
wiscbugs said:
I always love your reports! Those pics in your first pic are gorgeous!!!!
Click to expand...

Thank you so much, I'm glad you enjoy reading along! Yes my husband is very talented with a camera and I promise lots of fun pics like the ones in the first post!

Grumpy's Wife said:
Hi :wave: joining in. I really look forward to seeing the other Disney Parks around the World. I have to say the pictures in your first post are stunning. Your husband (with a little help from you) did a wonderful job.
Click to expand...

Welcome - I'm glad you're here I'm so excited to show everyone the beautiful Asian Disney parks! Thanks for the lovely compliment - I'm really grateful for my husbands talent and how it helps us capture these beautiful places we get to visit
 
Last edited:
Day 2 – Part 4 – Monkeys and Tigers and Bear (No Lions)

After almost 2 hours of travel we finally arrived at Singapore Zoo. The Zoo itself consistent of four complexes, the Singapore Zoo, the Night Safari, the River Safari and the Jurong Bird Park. We got to visit the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari on this trip, and would have loved to have had time for the River Safari, however we didn’t. When we arrived we only had about 3 hours until the close of the Zoo, and opening of Night Safari, and the Singapore Zoo is very large and can take a day in itself to really see everything!

As we were arriving we noticed how beautiful the zoo was themed, rainforest shrubs and plants created a tropical oasis and everything was perfectly themed to take you to a zoo in that environment! It reminded me a lot of Animal Kingdom. It’s a huge compliment for any sightseeing location if I compare it to a Disney attraction or park, and I don’t do it lightly, but Singapore Zoo deserves the comparison! Have a look at the entrance!







In keeping with the Animal Kingdom comparison there were even Dinosaurs at the zoo (there was a whole section with Dinosaur statues and this T-rex head at the front). Of course it was nowhere near Dinoland USA’s level, but that level is not that great anyway which probably goes to show that it isn’t really worth trying that hard with Dinosaurs anyway :P



As we were heading to the ticketing line we came across a lovely Singaporean lady, she had a work pass that allowed her and three guests into the zoo, only her guests hadn’t shown up. She asked us if we wanted to get in on her ticket for $25 each, which was almost $10 cheaper than the regular price so we said “why not”! We proceeded to the entrance with her, got let in on her ticket, handed her $50 and were on our way, after thanking her for her kindness of course!

The first thing we noticed when walking into the zoo was just how beautiful it was! Think the Oasis at Animal Kingdom but even more tropical and lush! As we walked in we saw these cuties (Tamarin monkeys) just sitting in a tree on the main walkway! They seemed content not to roam from their tree (though they could have if they wanted to) and there were a million little kids trying to touch them and grab their tails (I could have said some choice words to some of them and their parents). Anyway, these little guys were cm’s from our faces and certain points staring down at us with curious faces!




We headed into the zoo, deciding to head towards the Polar Bear, Tiger and Organtuan’s first. This was our view as we headed into the exhibit area of the zoo!



On our way to the Polar Bear came across more monkeys just sitting in the open, no enclosures or anything! This was a really cool feature of the zoo, to see animals just sitting there with no barrier or cage between you and them!




We stopped for a second to watch the Otters, such adorable creatures!





When we got to the Polar Bear exhibit it was feeding time, so it was madness, but we managed to jostle a decent spot and see the Polar Bear eating his noms!




We really wanted to see the white tiger so we headed that way, we came across this guy nonchalantly walking along the path on the way – he didn’t seem to concerned about the people around him!



We got to the White Tiger enclosure and were happily surprised to see him up and pacing, scratching himself on trees, grooming and just generally being awake (large cats sleep 20 hours a day so normally when you visit their enclosures they are doing just that, sleeping!). This beautiful boy was so active though, we got some incredible photos of him! Jared couldn’t get enough of watching him (he so loves cats, of all sizes) and would have watched his kitteh friend all day if there was time! As it was we probably spent a good 30 minutes watching our tiger friend as he roamed about his enclosure.













Continued in Next Post…
 
Last edited:
Day 1 – Part 5 - We found the Lions (or the Lion Did Not Sleep Tonight)

As we finally tore ourselves away from the beautiful white tiger we decided to check out Singapore Zoo’s main attraction, it’s open range Orangutan enclosure. Yes, you heard correctly, open range! But before we get to that check out some pictures of the beautiful scenery that you can find everywhere at Singapore Zoo



It’s a zoo, and a rainforest, we were told later that evening the Zoo contains some of the only native rainforest left in Singapore!





It’s hard to really capture how beautiful it was, you could have enjoyed just walking around through the rainforest, even without the animal exhibits. The zoo was huge though, and there was a tram that took you to different stops around the zoo if you didn’t feel like walking (we didn’t choose this option as it cost about $5 per trip I believe).



We found the Orangutans next and our jaw dropped at the enclosure! It was completely open range. The trees and ropes for the apes to across went up over pathways and there were barley any barriers (besides a small water break) between the walking paths and the enclosure. This photo shows a little bit of what the enclosure was like but doesn’t really fully illustrate it!



I loved watching the Orangutans! They are such beautiful, calm and majestic creatures. I could have watched them all day, like Jared with his white tiger friend. But Jared suggested we move on after we had watched for a little while.








As we started to move past the Orangutans though I discovered two things; one, the feeding time advertised on the opposite of the enclosure we had planned to come back for later didn’t relate to the opposite side of the enclosure, where the feeding was already happening. And two, we hadn’t seen the male who was in an enclosed off area at the back of the main enclosure.

There was also another element to feeding time I hadn’t realised would happen that made me stop in my tracks and advise Jared we would be spending more time with my Ranga friends. While the smaller Orangutan’s ate they were lined up on a rope in front of a wooden log and you could go sit on the log and get your picture taken with the apes right behind you!!! Like right behind you! I couldn’t believe it, what an experience to be so close to such beautiful creatures. So we hopped in line to wait to have our picture taken! And here’s the result.



Pretty amazing huh!

Anyway, we headed in to watch the big guy (the large male Orangutan) who was kept enclosed more securely for the safety of the other apes and for us of course. He was HUGE! And after we'd finished watching him we sat down to watch the other Orangutan's a little longer, and a zoo keeper walked one right past us! I couldn't believe how close we got to such incredible animals. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of that, it happened so fast!



The zoo itself is situated on a large river/estuary area, which I would imagine makes up part of the River Safari. It was lovely to be able to view a large body of water from inside the zoo, it made it feel like you were on a tropical island filled with all kinds of cool creatures!



We found a few more cute Tamarins heading towards the African section of the zoo.



And then we found more great apes, chimps! Their enclosure was pretty spectacular too!







The most incredible thing about all the enclosures was the lack of bars, netting and glass - it felt like every enclosure was just part of the rainforrest around you and that the animals were not penned in but free to roam! Obviously there were invisible barriers to stop the animals coming for you, but it was just so well done!



So earlier we found the Tigers and the Bears (and Monkey's!) but Lions had eluded us. Never fear (or do, because they are Lions) but we found them in a similarly open looking enclosure to the Chimps, and just like our wonderful Tiger friend they were also awake (we had such luck big cats at Singapore zoo). They weren't as active, merely sitting and looking, but it was nice to see them alert and awake.





This King of the Jungle was very content with his "pride rock" (a raised section at the back of the enclosure that he had choosen to sleep on!)




A few curious meerkats signalled our entry to the African plains section of the zoo!




Continued in Next Post...
 
Last edited:
I am loving your trip report! The pics are amazing and it's so interesting to see how cultures are different AND alike. Can't wait for more!
 
1983DisneyFanatic said:
Can't wait to read more! Great report with gorgeous pictures!
Click to expand...

Thanks - I am glad you are enjoying the report and will try keep updating it each day - I'm glad you are enjoying the pictures too! I really love what my husband is able to capture when we go on holidays and I love to be able to share the pictures with others who enjoy them too!

debjk4 said:
I am loving your trip report! The pics are amazing and it's so interesting to see how cultures are different AND alike. Can't wait for more!
Click to expand...

I promise there will be lots more cultural comparison and information to come! Yes Asia is a fascinating place and we loved experiencing the people and culture there ... Japan is especially an incredible country to visit! I'm glad you are enjoying the picture - I promise I have lots more to share
 
Grumpy's Wife said:
The zoo is awesome. I can't believe how close you guys were to the animals.
Click to expand...

Yes we did get very close to some of the animals, though with others our zoom lens helped, but I LOVED the Singapore zoo - I would go so far as to say it's the best zoo I've ever been to!
 
I've loved reading through and seeing your gorgeous photos! That zoo is incredible (although I admit being so close to the monkey's kind of freaks me out!).

I'm obsessed with the Trick Eye Museum now, oh my goodness! That is so fun, I love seeing you both as part of the artwork. Very cool!
 
xlsm said:
I've loved reading through and seeing your gorgeous photos! That zoo is incredible (although I admit being so close to the monkey's kind of freaks me out!).

I'm obsessed with the Trick Eye Museum now, oh my goodness! That is so fun, I love seeing you both as part of the artwork. Very cool!
Click to expand...

I'm glad you are enjoying reading a long! The zoo is incredible, the best one I've ever been too! The Orangutan's were so gentle and the other monkeys seemed to have no desire to come within touching distance but I'll admit it was slightly disquieting at first as well!

The Trick Eye Museum was very fun! Maybe you'll get to visit one day and put yourself in the picture too :)
 
Day 1 - Part 6 - Sand and Sea

Continuing on we found more African animals, Zebra's, Giraffes, Buffalo and Rhino's. We were disgustingly hot at this point so we also stopped for a slushy, because never had we needed one more!











The zoo continued to be beautiful as well :)



After this we headed back for another look at the wonderful the Orangutan's again.







While we would have like to have caught more of the animal shows at the Zoo (especially the elephant feeding) we only had time for one, so we had picked Splash Safari, the sea lion show at the zoo. We got to meet an adorable sea lion called Philip, and the show was definitely fun, though probably not the best Sea Lion show I've ever seen. The tropical set was a little jarring as well, for a show about a beach animal, but I believe the set doubled as a venue for another show featuring birds and monkeys.



















By the time the Sea Lion show was done we headed back to the front of the zoo to head over to Night Safari. We only got to see probably about 60% of the zoo with only 3 hours, but we do feel like we got to see the best parts. We skipped some of the smaller monkeys, the elephants and the Australian section, which is boring for us as Aussies. We walked past the exhibit though and weirdly (or perhaps not so weirdly) it was sponsored by our bank, ANZ!

On our way back we decided to stop in at one more location, and that was to see Jared's kitteh friend, the White Tiger. We had been over the moon at how active the white tiger had been during our first visit to his enclosure, however we lamented the fact we didn't get to see him in the water. It was such a hot day we figured he might want to swim but he had been content to sit and roam instead. So we were so excited when we went back and found him getting in the water!! He came up to the edge of the water area and we were right above him, and could see right into his gorgeous blue eyes! Such an experience!









Those eyes!!







I am really not exaggerating or embellishing when I say Singapore Zoo is without a doubt the best zoo I've ever been too (a title previously held, at least in my opinion, by Taronga Zoo in Sydney). I believe that experts also rate it among one of the best zoos in the world (it does hold the title for best rain forest zoo in the world) and it is completely worth a visit if you ever find yourself in Singapore. I would suggest taking an entire day for the zoo though, there is so much to see, so many shows we didn't get to see or experience because we only had 3 hours, which really wasn't enough time! I'd love to go back one day and see more.

Continued in Next Post...
 
Last edited:
Day 1 - Part 7 - Beware Creatures of the Night and Tree Cats

The Night Safari is part of the Singapore Zoo complex but offers a really different perspective on the animals than the regular zoo, a chance to see animals in a night environment. All the animals in the zoo are semi-nocturnal, in that are comfortable being awake and alert during the day or at night. It's surprising the number of species that fall into this category!

We arrived about 1.5 hours before the scheduled start of our Classic Adventure Tour. The Classic Adventure Tour was an upgrade on the regular Night Safari Tour. The regular tours involve tram that circle the Night Safari continuously. There are walking trails in the Night Safari as well however I don't believe these can be accessed from the main tram, but by walking from the front of the park. Our tour involved our own private buggy, a personal driver and guide of the Night Safari Tram loop and the biggest walking trail, the Leopard Trail.

Upon arrival we decided to have dinner at the Ulu Ulu open air food court. The food was really good quality for counter service, I enjoyed fried chicken rice in a lotus leaf and Jared got some kind of curry. The food court served Indian, Chinese and Malaysian options, and further back in the entrance area there were places serving burgers, fried chicken, fish and chips, satay sticks and hot dogs. There was also a gelato place.

We were glad at this point that we had purchased the Classic Safari Adventure as we watched the lines for the 7pm general night safari get longer and longer! People waited in these lines unable to move about so they could be on the first tram of the 7pm tour time, and we just got to chill and mill about, look in the shops, eat dinner and enjoy ourselves! At 6:45pm we checked in for our Classic Safari, and were advised that our guide would meet us at 7:15 for the first Creatures of the Night show of the evening (where we had reserved seats) and until then we were free to explore, and also that there was a show in the main area at 7pm called Thumbuakar! We had no idea what this show was about but we found spots near the staging area and waited to watch anyway as we had time to kill. This was the main stage in the main food/shopping section of Night Safari.





The stage was positioned so that people in the first line for the 7pm general night safari tram could see what was going on, but the others in lines behind couldn't! The show, as it turns out, involved two men performing a fire breathing/twirling show. It was high energy, involved lots of dance and lots of fire and was heaps of fun to watch!













After this we went to meet our guide for the evening, but before we did that I stopped in to use the loo (toilet for you American's not familiar with that Aussie term) and was excited to find that they had a fun pink lit up tiger at the entrance. The toilets had an inside/outside type feel with rain forest inside the toilet area and bamboo blocking the stalls from the outside area. I don't know why, I just found this awesome and so well in keeping with the theme on Singapore Zoo and the Night Safari!

Anyway, we headed back to the Reception area to meet our guide for the evening, Nur. Nur was incredible! Not only was he wonderfully knowledgeable about all the animals we saw, incredibly funny with a sharp wit that Jared and I really appreciated (it was very similar to our own sense of humour). What was more amazing was that he did this job as a volunteer because he enjoyed it so much! It involved three months of training, and he had a regular day job - he just loved hanging out with people and spending time in the zoo providing people with information on the animals he enjoyed there.

We took to each other instantly and he lead us over to the Creatures of the Night show arena where, as I mentioned, we had reserved seating as part of the Classic Adventure Tour. The show was fascinating, it showed off a lot of cool nocturnal animals, and at the end we got to pose with a few of them.













The owls were fascinating, I love how they can turn their heads almost 360 degrees (270 degrees), but by far the most fascinating animal we became acquainted with during the show was the bintalong, a civet which is a kind of animal class I'd never heard of before. They are sort of a cross between a bear and a monkey but I thought they looked like cats. Later I named them tree cats, which Nur though particularly funny (I came up with lots of weird names for the animals which seemed a great source of amusement for him - as was the fact I'd never heard of a civet before). Anyway, the Bintarong at the show was happily sitting on his handlers shoulders, though apparently he could have easily strangled him with his giant tail!





The Bintarong in question was in a particularly bad mood when it came time to take pictures with people - check out his face! We did better than most others waiting for pictures though as for a while he refused to look at the camera (sounds like very cat-ish behaviour to me - see tree cat!)



Then we got to meet an owl, which was super exciting at the time though in hindsight not so much as we met a lot of owls at the Owl Cafe in Tokyo (more on that later).









Continued in Next Post...
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page


GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!


New DISboards Threads

D
Can part of a reservation be transferred to another member?
Replies
0
Views
1
Dave7
D
AUDramaQueen
Do I Manage All Credits for Two Rooms?
Replies
2
Views
23
AUDramaQueen
AUDramaQueen
D
passports renewal and getting the "real ID card
Replies
4
Views
44
_19disnA
1
Tinkaboo
Star Wars Night Map?
Replies
2
Views
44
Tinkaboo
Tinkaboo
Barefoot On A Plane
Courtyard Anaheim Theme Park Entrance & Waterpark Resort
Replies
3
Views
66
Disneyland1084
Disneyland1084
martinm
One more for August
Replies
0
Views
25
martinm
martinm
NEWS & UPDATES



Latest posts







facebook twitter
Top