Besides The Venetian, The City of Dreams (COD) is the other ambitious project at the new Cotai Strip of Macau – a purpose-built casino area between Coloane and Taipa Island (these 3 areas have more or less merged to form a big island). This is another mind-boggling development with 3 hotels anchored around the main casino. The design is very modern with acres of glass curtain walls – kind of like a city within a city. The collection of hotels is impressive – Crown Towers, Hard Rock Hotel and Grand Hyatt Macau. It is owned and managed by Melco Crown Entertainment Group, a joint venture between Lawrence Ho – Macau Casino Magnate Stanley Ho’s son and James Packer’s Crown Casino Group of Melbourne.
The light show at COD is one of the best in Macau.
Inside the gigantic complex there is also a very high-end shopping centre that is unlike any I have seen. Instead of a seamless shopping arcade connecting all the shops which is the typical model, here the shopping centre is divided into different zones each focusing on different products such as fashion, watches, etc. This concept is suppose to bestow exclusivity to the shops, but I find it a bit disjointed and confusing as there are no connections between the different zones. You need to go up and down different sets of escalators to go to a different area, rather inconvenient.
There are 2 interesting free attractions at the COD. First is Vquarium – a gigantic curved screen with water cascading down from the top. The back-projected video show features computer generated 3D mermaids which appear and disappear at regular intervals. It is entertaining mainly for small kids.
Another attraction is called “The Bubble”. It is a 20 min 360 degree 3D show featuring 5 legendary dragons, projected onto a hemispherical screen. The start of the show is the most interesting, with a light and water shower effect at the centre of the theatre. The sound effects are quite spectacular. This is a lot more impressive then the mermaids, and it is free ! Make sure you go and get tickets from the ticket counter as you will only be allowed in at the specified times.
The light show at COD is one of the best in Macau.
Inside the gigantic complex there is also a very high-end shopping centre that is unlike any I have seen. Instead of a seamless shopping arcade connecting all the shops which is the typical model, here the shopping centre is divided into different zones each focusing on different products such as fashion, watches, etc. This concept is suppose to bestow exclusivity to the shops, but I find it a bit disjointed and confusing as there are no connections between the different zones. You need to go up and down different sets of escalators to go to a different area, rather inconvenient.
There are 2 interesting free attractions at the COD. First is Vquarium – a gigantic curved screen with water cascading down from the top. The back-projected video show features computer generated 3D mermaids which appear and disappear at regular intervals. It is entertaining mainly for small kids.
Another attraction is called “The Bubble”. It is a 20 min 360 degree 3D show featuring 5 legendary dragons, projected onto a hemispherical screen. The start of the show is the most interesting, with a light and water shower effect at the centre of the theatre. The sound effects are quite spectacular. This is a lot more impressive then the mermaids, and it is free ! Make sure you go and get tickets from the ticket counter as you will only be allowed in at the specified times.
