RUNNING FATBOY: Singapore Flyer

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Singapore Flyer

What: Singapore Flyer

The world's largest observation wheel, at 165 m (or the height of 42- storey building) and 30m taller than the famous London Eye, this structure just opened last April 15, 2008.

Each capsule can fit in 28 passengers and takes about 30 minutes for the ride to end.

Where: Singapore where else! More specifically, it is just a short walk from City Hall MRT station or you can wait at a designated pick-up point near MRT station for free shuttle bus to this area.

Why: One of a kind experience and chance to ride world's largest anything...

When: 8:30AM - 10:30PM 7 days a week

Price: S$ 29.50 (about Php 900) - regular ride

S$ 52.00 (about Php 1,550) - express boarding ride

S$ 70.00 (about Php 2,100) - Signature Cocktail ride

S$ 1,000.00 (about Php 30,000) - Private capsule

Website: http://www.singaporeflyer.com/

Now, the website offers 9 Great Reasons to Visit this. Here's my 10 Great Reasons NOT to visit this place.

1. At Php 900, price is very expensive for a ride on a ferris wheel. Granted it is the biggest in the world but that is equivalent to paying Php 30 per minute on this thing!

2. The view. According to its website, one reason to visit this is for the view of Singapore. That is true in that you can spot the Esplanade and some other buildings but they are farther off the area. What is near the area are lots of empty space, some water and some construction area. So if you are into seeing empty lots, now isn't a good time to ride this until 2010 when the casino opens up.

3. The Express Boarding Ride. If you pay for this, you don't have to queue lines anymore and can just board ride immediately. My only question is.... What line? It took us less than 5 minutes to buy our "regular" tickets and another 5 minutes to board the capsule.

4. Private Capsule. Ideally this is good if you want to do birthday party here for 30 minutes or maybe even date with special someone, but paying P30k is just too much. What is worse is that since not much people going here, you can try getting private capsule at regular prices. This actually happened to a guy who went in the next capsule after us, but since there was nobody else, he just stayed in one capsule, roaming around and talking to... nobody.

5. Photo Op. Okaayy, I still bought this just to have picture with Melody but still, they take a picture of you standing in front of a green screen and when you exit ride, you get this fake photo of ride with city view. Thing is, it looks realistic enough that you can fool other people but why can't they just take a picture of you when you are inside an actual capsule? If log jump rides at amusement parks can do that, why can't the delevopers of this S$ 240m project do too?

6. Seats. There are only two black benches for you to occupy during course of ride. I had hoped that everyone get their own individual chairs/seats with back support but guess they figured, what the heck...it's just 30 minutes anyway so tough it out, why don't you?!

7. No local tourists. That warning sign alone should tell you to stay away from this tourist attraction. If locals don't think it's worth it, they are usually right!

8. No lines. I know that this is usually a good thing but for something which just opened 2 weeks ago, no lines means this place just sucks! Usually even if place isn't good, there would still be long lines for first few months of operation as everyone curious about it but this defies even that theory...

9. Overstaffed, baggage check, x-ray scan, etc. This is worse than going to an airport. They have two security check areas and lots of staffs loitering around. I count 10 staffs at one point just standing together and basically all they do is standing as not much customers to service anyway.

10. 9 Great Reason to Ride it... Based on ride's website, among reasons are: a) great food, b) feast on local dishes, c) shopping, d) visit rainforest, e) flight simulator, f) doctor fishes, g) children play at water fountain. All these 7 reasons have nothing to do with the Singapore Flyer!!! They are just within the vicinity of the area and reasons a), b) and c) can be done ANYWHERE in Singapore with reasons a) and b) just a re-wording!

What's more is the 9th reason.... play at the water fountain???? That's it??? Think they had tough time coming up with good reasons to include this in the list....so bad that they couldn't even think of a 10th Reason to visit place!