Hello Kitty Go Around!! Singapore 2015

Dates: 16 October - 10 November 2015
Time: 10am to 8pm daily (Last entry 7pm)
Venue: The Coliseum (Hard Rock Hotel), Resort World Sentosa

Official Website

Official Facebook Page

This is my Hello Kitty go around Singapore review!

We bought the tickets on 18 Sep on the Sistic website because that's the last day for the early bird special. There is no discount for early bird, only additional 'free gifts' (scroll to the bottom of the post to see the items).

If you would like to go and haven't bought the tickets, you can buy them at the venue because there is a ticketing booth there. You don't have to pay for the Sistic surcharge of $4 per ticket.

The ticketing is very confusing and you may need a degree in communications to understand it. Ok I am joking.. but it is not straightforward at all and it took me a while before I understand exactly what it meant. Also, I saw a lot of people asking questions about the ticketing online because they were confused too. You can go to their ticket info page on their website to have a read.

Basically there's 1 type of admission ticket. For adults it's S$45 for weekdays, S$55 for weekends and public holidays and the admission ticket includes:

• Entry to the Hello Kitty Go Around! in Singapore event (duh)
• Entry to S.E.A Aquarium (between 2-7pm on the same day)
• 1 bottle of exclusive Hello Kitty 500ml drinking water
• 2 game coupons
• 2 piece of collectible card
• 1 lanyard cum cardholder

If you buy the ticket on/before 18 Sep 2015, you will receive an early bird bonus pack at no additional charge. Initially they had 10,000 sets but due to overwhelming response they decided to add another 3000 sets. So there are 13,000 sets available. The set includes:

• 1 exclusive Hello Kitty figurine set
• 1 game coupon
• 1 tote bag
• 1 Art Book (worth S$15 and it's being sold in the stall. Do not buy)

Our early bird ticket which includes an extra game coupon

You can add on S$75 for a exclusive SG50 pack (8,000 sets only). The set includes:

• 1 Hello Kitty SG50 exclusive figurine
• 1 exclusive high quality (their words) handmade paper figurine
• 1 SG50 exclusive t-shirt - free size
• 1 SG50 exclusive comic book
• 1 SG50 exclusive tote bag

Everything also exclusive.. (´Д｀) At this point I am so tired of typing the word "exclusive"! Haha!

So that's the gist of the admission ticket and the inclusions. There is 1 special ticket called the "Hello Kitty Birthday Celebration", which is such utter bullshit and rip-off! I am sorry to say this to my fellow Hello Kitty lovers who bought the tickets..... 

Why you all so silly! ╭(๑¯д¯๑)╮

I won't type out what the inclusions are for the birthday celebration. You can see it on their website. It is damn boliao! You have to pay S$188 to be part of Hello Kitty's birthday celebration where she cuts a cake on the stage and everyone takes photos of her and clap for her. The thing is, not everyone is guaranteed a photo opportunity with Hello Kitty! You have to WIN the chance to go and take picture with her! And the capacity is 350 per session. Only 30 people will be picked!

I honestly think the birthday celebration it is not worth the money cos I have been to Sanrio Puroland and there are plenty of charactor mascots there. Also, you'll be surprised by how cheap the admission ticket for Puroland is. It costs 3300Yen (S$38) for a weekday visit and 3800Yen (S$44) for a weekend visit for adults! There are rides, lots of cute mascots, a parade show, exclusive merchandise, cute themed restaurants and cafe... and it is air-conditioned! There's also a Hello Kitty house where you can meet her and hug her and take pictures with her! Ok, you have to buy the air-ticket there and all.. but Japanese Yen is so weak now! It's a good time to visit! The Mecca for all Hello Kitty lovers!

Then again...... if you are a super hardcore Hello Kitty fan (I love Hello Kitty but I am not that hardcore lah), then no matter how much it is, you will still pay for it right? Hahahahahaha!

By the way all prices are subjected to 7% GST!

Some people are complaining that the prices are cheaper at the event itself. Well, technically it is cheaper cos you don't have to pay Sistic fee of $4 per ticket. But that's all! The prices are subjected to 7% GST and after you factor that in, it is the same price compared to buying on Sistic! The $4 is not even earned by the organizers, if you think it's too expensive then boycott Sistic lah! Anyway, if you bought your tickets on/before 18 Sep 2015, the extra $4 Sistic fee you paid is worth it because you receive an extra Early Bird goody bag! But if you buy after 18 Sep 2015, then yes.. it is not worth it and I feel angry on your behalf ok?

If you haven't get your tickets yet, you can also buy the tickets from other people online (Carousel, Facebook, etc) because a lot of people are letting go their tickets. Some are selling at below the admission rates. Do note that the tickets are for a specific date so if you can't attend on that particular date then it's considered void. That's the reason why people are selling or exchanging their tickets online because of the fixed date validity.

Another reason why people are letting go their tickets is because of the massive shit storm that is happening on the Hello Kitty Go Around FB page. Only Day 2 and already so jialat lah... Honestly, I feel bad for the organizers cos their suppliers screwed them up and they had to bear the brunt from their customers through no fault of their own. 

Take it from me..  it's better to see and experience for yourself then listen to what others are saying because different people have different expectations. After you attend the event then you have the right to comment about it ok? (Like I am doing so now...)

So what are people complaining about? 

1. Merchandise being sold to the general public
2. Handmade paper figurine not available in the SG50 pack

The number 1 complaint is that the merchandise are available for sale to the public who did not purchase the tickets. I agree with those people complaining because I mean, come on.. commonsense to have the items INSIDE the event area so it will be exclusive for people who pay good money to go in right?

However, the logical Le hubby said it makes business sense to sell as many as possible to earn money, so he will put the stall outside. Personally I think that they can sell to the public but they should have limited edition items for sale only to ticket holders available inside the event.. Just look at Disneyland.. they have a small giftshop outside the themepark and also huge Disney Stores in shopping malls, but all the nicer and exclusive items are only sold INSIDE the themepark! So this point I think the organizers were not very sensitive.

Before I talk about the 2nd major complaint, I shall share about my experience this morning.

There are 2 separate queues. One to exchange your Sistic ticket for the actual event ticket and the other one is to collect the goody bag. Since the queue was so long, I told le hubby to go and queue for the tickets first while I go and buy stuff from the merchandise booth. 

Before queuing, I asked the cashier where is the priority queue for ticket holders because I read on their Facebook page that ticket holders get priority access to buy the merchandise. That idiotic bodoh woman told me "Don't have priority. You have to queue there.". I asked her twice "Are you sure? I read about it on your company's Facebook Page" and she replied firmly that I must join the queue, no exceptions and no priority. 

Fine.. I queue! I waited 45mins! FORTY FIVE MINS! And I hate queuing for anything ok? It took le hubby 40mins to exchange for the ticket and collect the goody bags and when he was done it wasn't even my turn yet.. Anyway, after buying the things I wanted, I put all the stuff and the goody bags into a tote bag I bought ($12), took a picture and went to the car to put all the stuff so we don't have to lug them around inside the event.

While walking to the event area (which is near Hard Rock Cafe, up the stairs). We happened to walk past this booth selling Hello Kitty merchandise. Guess what? TOTALLY NO QUEUE AT ALL! And there is a separate queue for ticket holders!!!!! In case it's not clear in the picture above... see below pic:

凸(｀0´)凸  WTFFFFF!!!!!!!

They don't put proper signage nevermind! But the staff should know there's another booth just 30-40 steps away selling the same things plus there is a queue for ticket holders right? She stupid or she stupid? Omg I was so pissed off for wasting 45mins of my life queuing that I wanted to strangle that woman then burn down the shop (ok a bit drama here, but still!!!!!). The weather is damn fucking hot & humid today and it's not fun queuing so long when I could have just strolled in and get what I want and leave! Wah lao ehh! Angry like anything!!!!!

*ROOOOOOARRRRRR* ι(｀ロ´)ノ

So if you are reading this and you are a ticket holder, DO NOT BUY from the stall near the ticket booth if there is a queue. Just walk down towards SEA Aquarium and you will see the special stall for ticket holders. To that CCB woman that wasted 45mins of my life?

(　ﾟДﾟ)＜!!  FFFFFFF UUUUUUU!!!!

About the 2nd major complaint that I am seeing on the FB Page is regarding the handmade paper figurines that is in their SG50 pack which you have to pay extra $75 + GST for.

Apparently it was not available in the SG50 pack when people collected it yesterday and the company announced it yesterday on their FB page. The SG50 pack costs $75 + GST and the company offered to refund $20 (without GST) and you cannot get the refund on the spot! From the angry comments I read, if you want a refund you have to head down to the office at Genting Lane? (Not sure about this cos I can't verify it).

This morning the organizers released another statement about the paper figurines..

They already tried their best to appease the angry Kitty fans but somehow people are still pissed off because many of them bought the SG50 pack because of the paper figurine and they think that it is very poor management because the organizers only announced it yesterday (Day 1 of event) that it is not available.

People are still bombing them online.. I kinda pity them lah. Angry Hello Kitty fans can be very fierce and demanding! At least the organizer is doing something about it instead of ignoring the feedback right? They could have deleted angry comments or filter out bad comments or something. I worked in the service industry for so many years so I know how mean or crazy people can be when they want something and they demand to have it. I think it's our culture here.. if you go to another country with this kind of demanding attitude, people will either laugh at you, ignore you or stab you with a knife.

Anyway, enough ranting. I was just majorly pissed off about the woman lying to me about not having a priority queue so I wasted 45mins of my time. Other than that.. I am overall quite pleased with the event!

 To access it, you have to climb up a flight of stairs located near Hard Rock Cafe. While climbing the stairs I was grumbling to le hubby that I am so pissed off with the stupid woman who lied to me cos if she didn't know she could check instead of blatantly telling me lies... *grumble grumble* and when we reached the entrance, I became happy again! Because the entrance is very very well done! I am actually surprised in the level of details and also the quality of the decorations. 

I don't know why they put those dividers inside because they don't let people in to queue. We were queuing on the left side and there's a single line straight there. While waiting, more people arrived and they queued on the stairs itself. I was finding it strange until I saw a security dude guy helping people take pictures. No wonder lah! If everyone is queuing inside then the picture won't be so nice...

Thank you random security dude for helping us take pictures! He actually took a few at different angles! So nice of him! Made me happier and not so grumpy! (▰˘v˘▰) 

First thing you see when you go inside is 4 Hello Kitties on carousel horses. I only took photo with 2 of them cos the other 2 were hogged by a group of ladies who wanted to take a hundred pictures with them before they were satisfied. Each Hello Kitty is different! The first one is featured as their 25th anniversary edition mascot, followed by 30th, 35th and 40th. I am standing with the 35th & 40th year edition. Super kawaii! I want to put one in my future living room! Bwahahahaha!

୧〳 ＾ ౪ ＾ 〵୨

There is an official photographer who will use their camera to take picture for you, but he is not allowed to help you to use your own camera to take. He will give you a coupon that you can bring to the photobooth after you exit to buy the photos. 

I thought it will be super expensive, but it's $12 per set (1 photo & 1 frame), and $20 for 2 sets. Not bad hor? I think it's reasonable priced and will make a good souvenir to keep... but there was a long queue and we were just too hot and tired to join another queue so we left without looking at our picture. If you happen to go, go and take pictures! The photoframe is really nice!

After that you will see the centre-piece set, which is the Ferris Wheel! Very apt huh.. Carousel and Ferris Wheel, both goes around and round and the event is called Hello Kitty Go Around. 

┗(＾∀＾)┛

On the direct opposite of the Ferris Wheel is this super cool mural and Bad Badtz Maru! The character figures are very well made and super cute!

There's no rides in the event, it's more like an exhibit of cute stuff for you to take pictures with and carnival game booths for you to play with the game coupons. We had 3 game coupons each, so that's 6 in total. First thing we did was to walk around to recce the games to see which one is worth playing because additional game coupons cost S$5 each! If you buy 10 pieces, it is $35! So if you are getting, buy the 10 pieces one lah. We didn't buy any extra because I managed to win some prizes! Heehee!

There is a Post Office where you can buy postcards! 1 game coupon per postcard! Which means it's S$5 each! Very expensive for a postcard leh!And there are 16 designs! Unless you buy the bundle set of 10 coupons for $35.. then it'll be cheaper. You can send the postcards to yourself but they only have normal stamps, not the Hello Kitty type.

I super love this lady who was manning the postcard counter. Her name is Trina and she is very friendly and very patient! She lets you take your time to choose and even ask you which one you want to see up close so she can bring it out for you to have a closer look. #BestEmployeeAward

After walking around, we decided to try the "Save the Goldfish" game because it has the highest probability of us winning a prize cos this depends mostly on your skill while the other games depends mostly on luck. I don't believe in luck because I am not lucky at all. I damn suay one.. 

We used 5 of our game coupons at this stall and the last game coupon for a postcard.

The board will spin constantly in a clock-wise direction and the soft-toys will rotate independently in their mini cubby holes. You have 25 seconds to hook one of them with a fishing rod. If you hook it, you win it! They will give you a brand new one without the metal hook. You cannot exchange for other designs, so you have to aim carefully. And they put the same doll back into the same hole if you managed to hook it up.

٩| ര ‿ ര |╯

I went first and I won on my first try!! WOOO!!

The staff were really surprised cos I got it within 10 seconds and they didn't expect anyone to win it so quickly! Hahahahaha! So proud of myself and my steady hands. On my 2nd try I didn't manage to hook anything cos I wanted to try for a Melody / Hello Kitty one but they were too difficult, so I went tried to hook a Pom Pom Purin and I won again! Woohoo! 2 out of 3 is very good odds lah!

Le hubby tried twice but didn't managed to get any. Both times he very nearly got it. Super close calls that make everyone watching went "Oooooh!!!! Noooo!!". He said I have more steady hands than him. I agree.

I read online that yesterday (Day 1) the time limit was 30 seconds but too many people won until they ran out of prizes so they lowered the time limit to 25 seconds.. Honestly, 5 seconds don't make that much of a difference because I won both of mine within 10 seconds.

╰(*´︶`*)╯The Jasmine Strategy

The game looks easier than it actually is. We observed dozens of people playing and none of them managed to hook anything. The whole time we were there, only I won the 2 Pom Pom Purin. The hook is made of plastic and it's making it quite windy because of the fans and air vents so it is difficult to hook onto the metal ring. 

The trick is to aim for a particular one and focus on it. Many people make the mistake of switching targets and they end up getting distracted. Ask the staff nicely to not countdown cos it makes you stress. Tell them to countdown only on your last 3 or 5 seconds because it is very stressful and distracting to hear them say 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.. times up! The less distractions the better. 

Having strong steady hands will greatly increase your odds! Good luck!!!

☆*･゜ﾟ･**･゜ﾟ･*☆☆*･゜ﾟ･**･゜ﾟ･*☆

I thought these UFO catchers were functional but there are actually photo props! SOOOO CUTE!!! You have to climb in from a side entrance. There are 3 of them!

Hello Kitty weighs about 3 apples and is 5 apples tall. We are both way taller than Hello Kitty. Hahahahahaha! I want a height chart like that for my future children (don't care boy or girl, they must like Hello Kitty!).

We spotted this wooden sign and a poster at an obscure corner.

(⋈◍＞◡＜◍)。✧♡

Turns out that it is a Hello Kitty Shrine!

The long-long (bells) are so humongous and #YuanYuanDe!

You can exchange 1 game coupon for one of these wooden tags.

Close-up (It's blank at the back).

You can customize a blank tote bag with Hello Kitty stamps.. but for $20, I find it too expensive.. Maybe it's just me cos there were many people inside happily stamping their tote bags. 

(´ ▽｀).。ｏ♡

Dear Daniel! Can I bring him home?

I need a new bag too!

There is a toy shop but it's not really a shop. All the merchandise are sold outside and they only sell postcards and SIY (stamp it yourself) tote bags.. This toy shop is really interesting cos there are figurines on display that are made out of paper!

It was really crowded so I didn't managed to take pictures of all the figurines. Just snapped a picture of Kerokeropi cos it is Wany's favourite character and I wanted to show her. Haha!

You can pretend to be a toy in this giant toy box! I was so lucky that Le hubby managed to snap a nice pic of me without anyone blocking! I was patiently waiting in the box for him to get a clear shot and thank God the people inside were all very nice and they automatically moved aside so he can quickly snap a pic for me. 

The place is open air but there's a shelter so at least the sun is mostly blocked out. However it was really warm and humid and thankfully they placed these huge fans around to cool the place. Whenever le hubby sees one, he will stand in front of it and embrace the cold air like his long lost friend.. Super funny lah! Hahahahahahaha! It's like a pitstop for him. Each fan he sees he will stand in front of it for a while to cool down before moving on to find the next one. 

He is not a Hello Kitty fan, he doesn't hate it but he's just indifferent to it. Just like me and techie stuff (which he loves). He is willing to accompany me to such events and even to Sanrio Puroland when we went to Japan. Even though it was really hot today and he is a polar bear trapped in a man's body, he wasn't grumpy and was most willing to take pictures for me and entertain me when I get excited about Hello Kitty stuff. He also paid for the tickets as part of my early birthday present! Woooo! 

#BestLaoGongAward ! d=(´▽｀)=b 

In total, we only spent around an hour inside because it was not really crowded and we didn't buy extra game coupons. If you leave within the time limit, you will receive an Early Checkout collectible figurine. There are 3 colours but you cannot choose cos it is sealed up. Do note that the time limit may change depending on the crowds and also the time that you are there. You can finish everything within an hour. This is a additional freebie so don't complain if you don't get it ah. You want to get early check out gift then you early check out of the place lah.. can't have your cake and eat it right?

☜(˚▽˚)☞☜(˚▽˚)☞☜(˚▽˚)☞☜(˚▽˚)☞

☜(˚▽˚)☞☜(˚▽˚)☞☜(˚▽˚)☞☜(˚▽˚)☞

My loot for the day! ヾ（*⌒ヮ⌒*）ゞ

I bought 3 items from the merchandise shop. The notebook set, big tote bag and an umbrella. The rest are the goody bag items, 1 postcard which I exchanged with a game coupon and the 2 Pom Pom Purin dolls that I won!

The postcard is very well made! Thick and good quality. I should have bought more!!

 Basic goody bag

This comes with your admission ticket. It includes 1 Hello Kitty plastic bag that is not really worth mentioning, 1 lanyard that is poorly made and has absolutely no reference to Hello Kitty, 1 mineral water and 2 dodgy looking collectible cards which I am sure no one wants to collect.

 Early bird goody bag

If you bought your tickets before 18 Sep 2015, you will receive this goody bag at no additional cost. It includes a tote bag, 1 box of Hello Kitty figurine set, 1 magazine that looks like it's leftover from Hong Kong's event last year (it's 2014), 1 artbook that is selling for S$15 (honestly who pays for such nonsense?) showing the exhibits and games that you can see at the event in cartoon form, and strangely a box of Nestle cereal.. Ehhh.. Seriously? It's not even in the description, why throw it in? And why cereal? It's not even Hello Kitty themed. If it has Hello Kitty collaboration or something then ok lah.. Weird. Just weird.

 The tote bag is very nice! Front and back has different design.

The umbrella is kinda overpriced (200 units for sale only) at S$45, but it's really cute and it comes with a super nice umbrella holder. I love umbrellas though this one is only useful for rainy days because it doesn't have UV protection to protect me from the sun.

☆*･゜ﾟ･**･゜ﾟ･*☆☆*･゜ﾟ･**･゜ﾟ･*☆

And that concludes the end of my post! 

This post is dedicated to my sister who waited more than half a year for a new blog entry, and all the Hello Kitty fans - especially to those who will be going and are researching for information about this event. I hope this post is useful for you! 

The angry and disgruntled comments on the Hello Kitty Go Around Singapore FB Page may frighten or worry you (like I was this morning before I went for the event), but remember that those are mainly about the 2 major complaints that I mentioned earlier.. Other than that the event was well executed, the decors and exhibits were really solid and good. Best of all.. the game prizes were of superb quality and are also exclusive to the event.

I went to the Perth Royal Show last month (ok lah, will blog about it soon.. meanwhile go to my Dayre!) and there were lots of games but we weren't even vaguely interested cos the prizes are like those Taobao quality.. Even if I won a prize, I would have given it away! 

This post wouldn't be possible without my hubby cos he was the one who encouraged me (and reminded me several times during the event and on the way home) to blog about it and share our experience with other people. He also uploaded all the pictures from my phone onto the computer so I have no choice can quickly upload this post before I can procrastinate and blog about it a year later (or never). So.. thank you Le hubby!