MsC's birthday party plans were dashed by COVID-19. She celebrated her 8th birthday at home during lockdown and was promised a "party" when things opened back up.

She had been planning a Universal Trip as her birthday party with her best friend for at least 6 months. She wanted it to just be me (Mom) with her and her best friend (No MsE, No other friends, No friend's Mom); and she wanted to go at night. She could not be swayed and she absolutely loved the night the way she planned it.

There was no line outside Universal Studios, but inside loading for each ride was slow. I headed back to Customer Service to upgrade our friend's ticket to Express so we didn't have such long waits for each ride.

The crowds were low, but with the reduced capacity on rides (they skipped every other row for seating) and the cleaning after each person got out of a seat, it was slow going. We waited 30 minutes even in the Express line for the most popular roller coaster.

You read that right - Roller Coasters! This trip was all about the roller coasters. I sat 2 rows behind the girls usually and listened to them scream. They were so brave! We rode the Mummy with MsC chanting "It's not real. It's not real" the whole way and then she asked to ride it again.

The Mummy is a pretty spooky ride through an Egyptian Pyramid, which then turns into a roller coaster in the pitch black half way through. We rode the smaller Dragon roller coaster which is even more fun in the dark where you can see all the lights around the park. We had a long wait for Battlestar Galactica the first time, but a short wait when we rode it again right before the park closed for the night at 9 pm.

Our friend kept asking to be sure that this ride did not go upside down as we waited. No, Battlestar Galactica - Humans doesn't go upside down; it just looks like you are going to fall straight off the roller coaster on the first hill. I warned them that the first hill was the worst and told them that if they survived that hill they would in deed live through the ride. As we were loading I could hear them talking rather frantically promising to hold hands the whole time. I definitely heard them scream on that first hill.  

We bought rain covers for Jurassic Park from inside the queue line up. They were kind of essential for the light rain that was falling; and also because MsC and I were once were completely drenched on this ride. This time it was dark and kind of cold outside when we rode it, which certainly added to the scare - you couldn't tell where the ride ended and reality began in the dark.

FYI - If you live in Singapore, you can believe that 26 C is rather cold.

We had ended up at Universal on a rainy day in the first place, because you need to make an advance reservation in order to get into the park right now. They're only running at 25% of the park's capacity. We planned which rides to do first by trying to squeeze in the outdoor rides in between light rain showers. There was no lightening, so no rides shut down which happens if there's lightening.

We saw some characters from a distance, but the girls didn't want pictures, they wanted roller coasters.

There were hot dogs and fries for dinner, with blue slushies for dessert and a little dancing in the rain. We sat at an outdoor table under cover, no one else near us. We put on new masks after dinner, to feel fresh again.

The girls would probably tell you the roller coasters were the scariest part of the night, but for me it was when I forgot the Locker code. You have to put purses and bags into a Locker before can you ride any of the roller coaster here, but most lockers use thumb prints to open. A new set of Lockers had been added for the Mummy ride to allow for better Social Distancing. Well after the third time riding the ride that night, I forgot the code, actually I even forgot what locker bank we were in. I had the old guy supervising the lockers, opening whole locker banks for us, while he kept sternly shouting "You must remember the code!" over and over again to us. Surprisingly, I actually figured out the correct locker after he unlocked 5 banks of lockers for us. It narrowed down the locker options a lot - turn out I knew the code, but wasn't typing it into the correct locker.

After we got our bags back, we went to the gift shop and MsC used to birthday money to buy gifts for her friend and sisters. MsC told them it was her COVID-19 Birthday Party Re-do and they gave her a free Hello Kitty stuffie to celebrate.

After 4 hours of roller coaster riding with hardly a break, the girls were able to drag themselves off the bus and slowly walk home together.