Spaghetti Space Chase

Sesame Street at Universal Studios Singapore - Breaking News 06.10.2012

First teaser, released October 2012

Spaghetti Space Chase is an attraction at Universal Studios Singapore that opened on March 1, 2013. The attraction, which operates in the park's New York zone, is a steel suspended dark ride combining animatronics, video footage, lighting and fog effects.

Synopsis

The evil Macaroni the Merciless has swiped all of the spaghetti on Earth, with Sesame Street being his latest target. Elmo and Super Grover 2.0 are called on to retrieve the spaghetti.

Characters

Abby Cadabby, Anderson Cucumber, Anything Muppet, Baby Bear, Bats, Bert, Big Bird, Chickens, Cookie Monster, The Count, Elmo, Ernie, Grover/Super Grover 2.0, Little Bird, Macaroni the Merciless, The Martians, Murray Monster, Narf, Octopus, Oscar the Grouch, Rosita, Snuffy, Telly Monster, Tungar the Tiger, Zester and Shredder, Zoe

Development

Since its earliest development stages, Universal Studios Singapore wanted to include Sesame Street in their park, but the option was set aside in favor of attractions with more marketing power, according to USS executive designer Kevin Barbee. Sesame Street 4-D Movie Magic (the original English version) was on the park's list of proposed attractions, only to be rejected later on.

In 2008, work began on the attraction that would become Spaghetti Space Chase. The project was originally going to be a new version of E.T. Adventure at Universal Studios Florida (and formerly Universal Studios Hollywood). This concept was abandoned. Barbee explained: "The decision was made to do something more current instead. ET is very beloved but we have to stay up-to-date - there haven't been any new ET movies produced recently".

Reports of a Sesame Street / Elmo-themed dark ride being developed for Universal Studios Singapore first appeared on theme park insider Screamscape's website on February 1, 2012. On May 24, as part of their newly formed partnership with Sesame Workshop, USS announced that it would open a new Sesame Street ride by the end of 2012. Andrea Teo, vice-president of Entertainment at Resorts World Sentosa, said of the upcoming attraction during the press conference on that day: "I think it's a very unique ride. It's got the same Sesame Streetkind of humour, it's a bit wacky, it's a bit way-out-there, it'll make you laugh and because it's a ride, it also gives you a bit of a thrill (and) adventure."

The entrance to the Universal Theater building, originally intended for the announced yet unfinished Stage 28 attraction, had a Sesame Street-themed facade that appeared on May 28. At the entrance were two sci-fi movie parody posters, suggesting that the new attraction would have an outer-space related plot. This was confirmed in August, when the building was covered by a giant illustrated construction wall giving several clues to the upcoming ride's plot: that it would involve Elmo and Super Grover 2.0 trying to save all the spaghetti being abducted from Earth, and that it would involve a super villain. The ride facade and marquee were completed in October, and the attraction's official title unveiled. Also in October, USS released its first teaser video for the attraction with Resorts World Sentosa spokesperson Robin Goh playing a news anchor who reports of numerous cases of spaghetti disappearing from Earth. The video also revealed the first (stock art) images of the villain Macaroni the Merciless and his sidekicks Zester and Shredder. The ride's opening date was eventually pushed back to early 2013. USS Annual Pass members were given a special preview of the ride on February 16, 2013 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. On February 18, RWS announced that the ride would officially open on March 1. Up until that point, the ride had been going through technical rehearsals.

According to Kevin Barbee, spaghetti was chosen as the main concept because it relates to the Italian-American culture (mainly food) in New York City, where Sesame Street is set, but added that it "also related well with Asian culture, as spaghetti is a type of noodle"

The facade, seen as of March 28, 2012.

Construction wall, as of August 2012.

Usselmomarquee.jpg

Finished entrance, as of October 2012.

Social media campaign

On February 16, 2012, Resorts World Sentosa began posting teaser photos for the ride on their Facebook page. From February 18-25, RWS is holding a picture contest for Instagram users entitled Operations Spaghetti (#OpsSpag), in which users must come up with different methods to "protect" their pasta from Macaroni the Merciless (either by hiding, through disguise, or camouflage). The winner(s) will be the very first guests, or "Super Sidekicks", to enter the ride on its opening date.

Grand opening ceremony

Universal Studios Singapore celebrated the ride's launch with a grand opening ceremony. Attending the event were John Hallenbeck, Vice President of Park Operations at Universal Studios Singapore and Peter van Roden, Vice President of Themed Entertainment at Sesame Workshop. The ceremony included a performance of "Another Sunny Day" and a ceremonial "spaghetti-cutting" which is briefly interrupted by Super Grover 2.0 who accidentally crash lands on the roof of Mel's Diner. He then runs down and emerges out of the ride's entrance to join the others as van Roden and Hallenbeck cut the spaghetti.

The ceremony marked the first new (vocal) performance of Elmo after Kevin Clash's departure from Sesame Workshop in late 2012. Peter Linz provided the voice of Elmo for the non-musical portions.

Super Grover makes his entrance...at the wrong building.

Notes

• The Fix-It Shop, which had been replaced by the laundromat in season 39 of Sesame Street, appears again in the street set portion of the ride.
• This is one of Jerry Nelson's last performances as The Count. Nelson also voices the SSNN announcer.

Performers

• Kevin Clash as Elmo
• Eric Jacobson as Bert, Grover/Super Grover 2.0
• Joey Mazzarino as Macaroni the Merciless and Murray
• David Rudman as Cookie Monster
• Matt Vogel as Anderson Cucumber and a Martian
• Caroll Spinney as Big Bird and Oscar
• Fran Brill as Zoe
• Carmen Osbahr as Rosita
• Jerry Nelson as The Count and SSNN announcer
• Martin P. Robinson as Snuffy and a Martian
• Steve Whitmire as Ernie
• Leslie Carrara-Rudolph as Abby

External links

• Disney and More blog - includes pictures of the construction wall