Zouk Live, “Train to Busan” and “Avengers” liven up Genting!

The first-ever Starlight Carnival at Resorts World Genting closed its curtains last weekend with the debut of the Zouk Live event – a full day of interactive experiences curated for Zouk lovers of all ages.

First up in the schedule was the Unique Fitness Experiences. As dancing is well known for its calorie-busting benefits, Zouk Genting teams up with Épique Fitness for a 45-minute fitness session set to hard-hitting EDM beats.

Épique master trainers Jean Liew and Alando Atkinson led the HIIT (high-intensity interval training) workout that kicked off at 3pm last Saturday evening at Zouk Genting. With fast-paced music blaring on the speakers, participants were aptly pumped as they squatted, stretched and jumped to the beat, following the trainers’ lead (who, by the way, made the moves seemed so easy to do when in fact, most were extremely intense to pull off).

Everyone’s ready to get fit with Épique.

Though most participants were out of breath by the end of HITT, many were still gung-ho to continue their fitness journey with the next session, Piloxing. Master trainer Andien Sahad led the session, getting participants to continually switch between Pilates, boxing and dancing.

After the intense workout sessions, it was time to wind down. Since Zouk Live participation was free with valid Starlight Carnival wristbands, naturally it meant participants from the previous sessions were able to chill and relax at the outdoor carnival next; enjoying a water show or two, or an outdoor movie, or a glass of cold beer from the Oktoberfest bar.

When the sun set and stars started lighting up the carnival, it was also time to head to the Zouk Genting tent on the carnival ground, where dancing was set to take over the night.

DJ Sura bringing a Korean touch to her EDM set (Photo source: Zouk Genting's Instagram).

Malaysian DJ duo, BATE, opened for South Korea’s DJ Sura. The duo first got everyone hyped with their own tracks and remixes before welcoming DJ Sura to the stage, who proceeded to rouse the crowd to dance to the beat of her hip hop-infused EDM set.

If you missed all this fun last weekend, cheer up, there are still plenty of awesome activities Genting has to offer. At the moment, two of the latest additions that everyone is raving about are the “Train to Busan” horror house and Marvel Studios'“Avengers: Damage Control” VR experience at The Void.

While attending the abovementioned Zouk Live events, we at TheHIVE.Asia also had the chance to try out the two recently-launched attractions.

“Train to Busan” horror house has no shortage of zombies.

Fans of the zombie horror movie “Train to Busan” will definitely enjoy the details from the movie that made it into the game (like the barricades, a standard for managing queues for attractions but most wouldn’t have spotlights hanging from them and a “soldier” managing the queue). 

Non-zombie characters will also interact with the participants (don’t worry, no touching allowed by either zombie or non-zombie characters) Anyone who understands enough Korean to get by will be amused to hear an ajushi (uncle) yelling at them to help hold a door close as a zombie tried to attack from the other side or another ajushi yelling at everyone to palli, palli (hurry, hurry) run! 

Be warned, these characters are so convincing that you can hardly tell which are mannequins that won’t try to scare you and which are “real” zombies that will just suddenly come to life and start scaring everyone.

You can also test your zombie-shooting skills at the “Train to Busan” horror house.

For people who like watching horror movies with the sound turned down, sorry but there’s no way to turn down the realistically convincing sounds that accompany this horror house attraction. Expect to hear Su-an crying for her father or zombies snarling as they try to get a hold of you.

Right next door at The Void, the VR amusement centre offers visitors a chance to become a new Avengers recruit! Bear in mind, the whole process – from signing the waiver (you can e-mail a copy to yourself) to the briefing, to the waiting, to the suiting up, to the actual VR experience – will take approximately 45 minutes.

First, we lined up at the entrance before we were taken to the waiver-signing stands. Then we were taken to the briefing room where Shuri greeted us, introducing us to the new suits which we were to “test out” that day. After waiting for a bit (there are limited numbers of VR gears and rooms, so gotta be patient), we headed to the suiting up area where we were fitted with the VR headset and vest-cum-backpack (felt something like that heavy bag full of textbooks we used to lug around to school).

Getting the VR gears ready for the next “Avengers: Damage Control” players.

After waiting a bit again, we were ushered into the VR room (each group is limited to a maximum of 4pax), where the fun then begun. Don’t be afraid to move around as instructed. Despite how real everything looks, there’s really no risk of falling off those stairs in Doctor Strange’s house or plummeting through the sky.

Our olfactory system got a bit of the action too but the smell is something you’d never expect in an action-packed game. It is a pleasant one, so you can rule out burning rubbers or fire smells.

We don’t want to be spoilery here, so just go and enjoy these experiences for yourself, we promise it’s worth the wait (and – ehem– the money).