The Crane Dance debut a few weeks back during Christmas last year, so I thought I should take a look at it too. Got there early, at around 7.30pm, and there were already quite a few people sitting at the WaterFront. Music started blasting at around 8.00pm - a bit too loud if you ask me. By 8.30pm the WaterFront seats were full. The weird thing was, they fenced up a part of the seating area, which was empty throughout the whole show. They even chased some people out of that area when some guests tried to sit inside. Maybe its for handicapped / VIP guests - but in the absence of those guests, I think it was quite inflexible of the staff not to allow anyone to sit in the area - considering the show only lasts 10 minutes.
The show started promptly at 9.00pm, with no fanfare or whatsoever announcing it. I suppose as a nightly free show it would have some frills cut out of it. Having seen Braviseamo! before at Tokyo DisneySea, I wasn't too wowed by the mechanical display. The cranes would have been much more impressive had I not been spoilt by Braviseamo!.
The pair of "cranes" came with something I hated - LCD display screens. I don't understand why they needed to resort to using display screens to show some poorly animated 3D models of the crane "insides". I'd rather some more innovative means of programming the water jets. The transformation of the mechanical cranes into "real" cranes near the end of the show was cringe-worthy. Having spent a fortune (I suppose) on the physical construct of the show, why can't they have paid a better studio to make more realistic 3D renderings and animation of those cranes? I don't need a Lords of the Ring or District 9, but at least something that doesn't look like a cheap kid's TV show.
Somehow, the music reminded me of Hollywood Spectacular. Must have been the same composer. Nothing that would stick in your mind, unlike Swept Away from Braviseamo!. Needless to say, the whole experience was sorely disappointing.
Since it was a Saturday night, Lake Hollywood Spectacular was up at 9.30pm, which gave us 20min to head into Universal Studios Singapore. The crowd crossing the single bridge has to be seen to be believed. There were other exit points as well, but too far away to be of practical use. It seemed everyone was headed into USS for the fireworks, which turned out more or less true. Of course, the crowd caused huge jams everywhere - first at the bridge, then at the gates to USS. Thankfully, though there was some hold up at the gates, we managed to reach Lake Hollywood in time. The wonderful visual display helped to redeem the disappointing Crane Dance somewhat.
I wish they'd take the timing of Lake Hollywood Spectacular into consideration, and start the Crane Dance earlier - say 8.30pm. That would at least help to mitigate or manage the crowd heading into USS. That said, I don't think I'll want to watch the Crane Dance again. It just wasn't that great a show for me.
