As the peak summer holiday period arrives for Macau’s gaming and hospitality industry, so too do two big attractions aimed squarely at enhancing the family-friendly tourist experience in the city.
On July 1, Sands China launched the ‘DreamWorks Experience at Cotai Strip Resorts’ allowing visitors and guests the chance to meet some of their favourite Dreamworks animation characters from hit movies like Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and How To Train Your Dragon.
Everyday at 4pm ‘The DreamWorks All Star Parade’ is taking place at the Shoppes Cotai Central retail mall featuring a cast of up to 32 performers, including 12 characters, dancers, puppets and stilt walkers. Po from Kung Fu Panda; Shrek, Fiona and Puss in Boots from Shrek; Alex the lion, King Julien and the penguins from Madagascar, and Toothless and Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon, are all there to dance, wave and shake hands with the audience.
There is also a themed meet and greet area at Sands Cotai Central’s Paradise Garden, where visitors can meet their favourite DreamWorks characters from noon to 3 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. daily.
Hotel guests purchasing a DreamWorks Experience package are also able to enjoy ‘Shrekfast with the DreamWorks Gang!’ – where they can have breakfast with the characters. There will also be poolside DreamWorks movie nights at both Sheraton Macao Hotel and Holiday Inn Macao Cotai Central every weekend.
This new family-oriented entertainment offering is the result of an alliance between Sands China Ltd. and DreamWorks Animation.
“With the DreamWorks Experience at Cotai Strip Resorts, we continue our commitment to the diversification of Macao’s tourism industry. It’s a great attraction for visitors of all ages, providing fun activities for the whole family to enjoy,” announced Edward Tracy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sands China Ltd. at the official launch ceremony.
Among the invited guests were approximately 250 low-income families and children with chronic illnesses from Caritas Family Service – the first members of the general public to be part of the DreamWorks Experience at Cotai Strip Resorts.
And this is just the beginning of the Dreamworks fun. When summer comes to an end, there are already plans for DreamWorks Ice World, where characters from DreamWorks Animation movies will be brought to life by talented ice carvers and craftsmen from Harbin. And in 2014, we can look forward to a DreamWorks 3-D light-and-sound show.
Fun for kids continues across the road at the Venetian Macao, where visitors can come face to face with a host of prehistoric visitors at ‘Dinosaurs Live at The Venetian.’
A travelling exhibition which has toured Europe and Asia and has already been viewed by over half a million visitors, Dinosaurs Live is an interactive experience for families and kids of all ages. Thirty animatronic dinosaurs which move, breathe, and emit sounds are on exhibit in a 2,500-square-metre (27,000-square-foot) jungle setting at CotaiExpo. Visitors to The Venetian Macao’s lagoon or mall areas might even be lucky enough to catch sight of a dinosaur stomping around.
The exhibition takes visitors 250 million years back in time to see these prehistoric creatures up close and personal, and learn some useful information about their habitats, lifestyles and diet. The dinosaurs on display can wriggle their claws, arch their necks, turn their heads and flick their tongues. Visitors who watch closely will even see the dinosaurs’ eyes and abdomens move.
Colossal creatures at the Dinosaurs Live at The Venetian exhibition include: Ankylosaurus, Dimetrodon, Spinosaurus, Stegosaurus, Velociraptor and T. rex. Children can climb onto and ride on the back of an Iguanodon, a Protoceratops, or a Triceratops. There is also a 45-minute 3-D dinosaur movie available for viewing in a 120-seat cinema.
Sheraton Macao Hotel and Holiday Inn Macao Cotai Central are each running themed DreamWorks Experience packages for stays from July 1 to Sept. 30, 2013.
www.sandscotaicentral.com
Dinosaurs Live at The Venetian
July 1-Oct. 1, 2013, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. daily.
Tickets for start at MOP/HKD 80 (adult) and MOP/HKD 50 (children)
www.venetianmacao.com/macau-shows/dinosaurs-live/