The countdown is over. Today Studio City opens its doors testing the waters of so-called Cotai 2.0 in times of gaming industry recession with Mariah Carey and Leonardo DiCaprio among the guest list.
When Macau Daily Times and a few other media outlets were offered a sneek-peek tour of the new Melco property in the heart of Cotai there were still 13 days to go. The hotels in the two-tower complex were conducting simulation tests with in-house staff and here and there a few touches were being made to the decor.
The uncertainty about the number of gaming tables was in the air, but nobody there seemed to care much about that, except for Studio’s President JD Clayton.
“Officially, we requested 400 tables and Lawrence Ho has consistently said that, and what we get is what we’re going to get, and certainly, we’re hoping to get the full 400 compliment. But if we don’t, we’ll take what we get,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Times ahead of the media tour (see interview on opposite page).
So, much more than anything else, excitement was in the air. “We’re really excited about being part of a whole new thing in Macau,” some of the staff told us.
Around 5,300 people are working at the new property on opening day, says Clayton. “By the time we finally get towards the end of the year, we should probably pick up to 5,600 people or something like that.”
The tour started with lunch at a fine restaurant on the ground floor where the Chefs
proposed an exquisite mix of East-West food – not an easy quest for me. But their offerings really did the trick to the great joy of our taste-buds.
An aspect of the gaming floor, which has capacity for 500 tables. Studio City was allocated 250 [Right} The Tea Bar at the center of the casino area
Batman Dark Flight (a collaboration with Warner Bros and DC Ent) is the world’s first flight simulation ride based on the super-hero
Much anticipated by the media entourage was the first-ever ride for “aliens” on the Golden Reel, the eight-
shaped Ferris Wheel, the biggest in the world of its kind. At its highest point, it took us 130 meters above sea level. It is a sweet, quiet ride, where you can take the time to enjoy the view – it’s not a wow-view like those from a ride on the London Eye or the Hong Kong Wheel, but it’s a very different perspective on the usual Macau urban sights: A view to the Coloane green, the pearly canals of the Inner Harbor and Hengqin’s mountain scenery. What best got my attention was all the sights of the giant and solid-looking mechanism of the wheel itself, constantly in motion, like a clockwork symphony made of iron.
But “real” magic was about to unfold.
1,600 guest rooms – with a view in the twin-towers complex
When we entered the multi-theater House of Magic, a resident show led by acclaimed illusionist Franz Harary, he was there. Harary himself and a troupe of stage dancers were there to give us a taste of now you see-me-now-you-don’t, with a couple of eye-catching, high-tech stunts in one of the three rooms of the house of tricks.
Mr Harary made his career in Vegas in and around casinos, and replying to the Times he explained that “Macau, Cotai, is the magic place to be right now.” He also clarified that he “and none of his team of magicians” are allowed on the gaming floor! He was joking, of course, but if I were Lawrence I wouldn’t let that guy make cards disappear in front of our noses. Harary is also famous for pulling stunts outside the theater and he promised to “surprise us” on the streets of Macau occasionally.
With magicians, Batman, Bugs Bunny, Sylvester and D-D-Daffy Duck on the premises, Studio City promises to stand as a family entertainment center appropriately connected with its major target-market, right across the Lotus Bridge.
Tonight, Mariah Carey and Scorsese’s ad-movie “The Audition” will be starring at the opening ceremony and, “I believe that Leonardo DiCaprio might show up as well as all the guys that were in the movie,” Clayton says.
A view from the Golden Reel, 130 meters high, with Hengqin on the other side in the background [Right} Franz Harary and his troupe of magicians and dancers at the House of Magic resident show
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