NTUC Downtown East
NTUC Downtown East is an entertainment hub located in Pasir Ris, Singapore. It is 147,000 square metres in area and was officially opened on 5 November 2000. It is run by NTUC Club. It provides leisure and entertainment for families and youths. It competes with the two Integrated Resorts, especially Resorts World Sentosa.
Attractions
Various types of entertainment features are being provided in NTUC Downtown East. Such features are shopping, arcades and others. The attractions include:
- E!Hub, a five-storey leisure and entertainment hub.
- Wild Wild Wet, a water park.
- Escape Theme Park, an amusement park (closed in November 2011).
- D'Resort @ Downtown East, a 5-storey resort and hotel combination that was opened in 2015.
E!Hub
A five-storey leisure and entertainment hub, named E!hub, was developed at NTUC Downtown East sometime in 2008. E!hub's main features include:[1]
- eXplorerkid, the largest indoor family park in Singapore
- nEbO City, a combination of Cathay Cineplex, gaming and cafe.
- 25-metre Ferris Wheel, sponsored by Cadbury.
Wild Wild Wet
Wild Wild Wet is the biggest-operating water park in Singapore as of August 2010, which features a 3-storey high raft water slide (known as Ular-Lar) that is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. Wild Wild Wet opened in June 2004, 4 years after Downtown East's official opening. Currently competing with Resorts World Sentosa's Adventure Cove Waterpark, part of Marine Life Park, Wild Wild Wet has a total of nine water slides, and many other water attractions, one of which was sponsored by Yakult for a period of time. It also has a 18+ metre slide called Torpedo. The riders would slide down at 11 metres/second.
Escape Theme Park
Escape Theme Park was Singapore's largest outdoor theme park which Universal Studios Singapore took its position in May 2010. Opened in 2000, it operates on Saturdays, Sundays and gazetted school and public holidays. Its slogan is '360 degrees of fun', and had a total of twelve operating rides. It closed on 26 November 2011 due to declining business and the site was used to make way for a bigger Wild Wild Wet and Costa Sands Resort.
Accommodation
- D'Resort
2010 gang violence incident
On the evening of 30 October 2010, an incident at NTUC Downtown East in Pasir Ris led to a fatal attack on Republic Polytechnic student Darren Ng.[2] Four individuals, aged between 18 and 21 were arrested and charged with murder 48 hours after the incident. The Straits Times published a report on July 31, 2012 stating that 5 of the accused pleaded guilty to the incident.[3] 12 in total were eventually charged and jailed for what was reportedly "one of the most vicious gang attacks here (Singapore) in recent years.[4]
References
- ^ http://www.downtowneast.com.sg/e!hub/index.htm
- ^ "Darren Ng was part of gang" Straits Times
- ^ "5 Youths Plead Guilty for Slashing Incident" Straits Times
- ^ "Couple lost son in Downtown East gang fight in 2010, but now save his friends " Straits Times