Madagascar: A Crate Adventure

**Madagascar: A Crate Adventure** is a water ride at *Universal Studios Singapore*. It was the flagship attraction of the park's *Madagascar Land*. It opened on May 16, 2011, and then eventually permanently closed and got replaced by *Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem*.

## Overview

### Pre-ride

As guests enter the queue, they encounter television screens featuring a national news reporter stating that Central Park Zoo animals Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman have gone missing while being shipped to Kenya. The guests are told the ship carrying the animals vanished near the shores of The Cape of Good Hope. They then board cargo-crate shaped rafts which have signs on the back of them reading "BEWARE OF FOOSA!".

### Ride

The ride begins with a recreation of the shipwreck scene from the original *Madagascar*. Guests will see crates containing Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman. The raft makes a turn allowing the guests to see a silhouette of the Captain on board, shortly before the penguins reach him. Rico knocks out the captain, Skipper gives instructions, and the penguins take over the ship. The alarm goes off and the raft makes a quick turn to a scene where a stack of crates is about to topple onto the guests. The animals' crates can be seen falling off the ship, making their way to Madagascar. The raft enters Madagascar where everyone is shocked that they are lost, except for Marty who is seen slurping salt water. The raft makes another turn where guests find the penguins. Skipper asks Kowalski where they are; Kowalski is unable to tell as the map is "written in code", a reference to *Star Wars*. The guests will see the animals finding their way around Madagascar. The raft enters through the bushes where they find King Julien and the lemurs having a party while singing "I Like to Move It". The raft makes a left turn where Mort is seen dancing. Above him on a rock are fossas. One of them sprinkles salt and pepper on Mort while another holds a fork and knife. The next scene shows the gang attacking the fossas. As the raft enters a volcano crater, Julien snatches a ball filled with TNT explosives from the penguins, thinking that it is a "toy candle". It explodes, setting a foosa's head on fire as a camera takes an on-ride photo of the riders. The animals later celebrate their victory as Alex, Marty, Gloria, Melman and the penguins get their luxuries. The ride ends with Marty and Mort squirting water at the guests as the raft makes an exit. At the exit, the penguins can be seen repairing a plane(foreshadowing Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa).

## Development

Development of Universal Studios Singapore began in the mid-2000s; a *Madagascar* ride was one of the ideas for the new park. An early concept of such a ride was *Wild Madagascar Photo Safari*, a trackless dark ride with augmented reality cameras on safari vehicles. Guests would have been able to take pictures of the movie's characters as they traveled through the Madagascar jungle. Ultimately, the idea was rejected by upper management in favor of a free-flow boat ride.

On September 25, 2009, the yet unopened Universal Studios Singapore confirmed the newly titled *Madagascar: A Crate Adventure* would be the signature attraction of a *Madagascar*-themed land. *A Crate Adventure* was scheduled to soft-open with the rest of the park on March 18, 2010, but the day before, it was announced that the ride would be delayed until mid-2010. Ultimately, technical problems delayed *Madagascar: A Crate Adventure'*s opening until May 13, 2011, for annual pass holders, and May 16, 2011 for the general public.