City Of Dreams Manila officially opened its doors to the public Sunday, December 14. Though still on its soft opening, we trooped there to check out the deal. (Pun intended, of course!)
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| Reminds me of the diamond enclosure in the Ocean's 13 movie. |
City of Dreams is the latest addition to Manila's Entertainment City; second to Solaire Resort and Casino. Three big chain hotels: Hyatt, Nobu and Crown converge into a central casino complex decked with high end shopping and dining options.
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| Sneak Preview night |
We took a couple of wrong turns driving from Macapagal Avenue. More road signs to lead the way would've been useful. When we got there, the parking lot about 80% full. Not bad for a first day!
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| at the golden gates of City of Dreams Manila |
Indeed, as reported, the hotels were fully booked on its opening night. Reading about it in the news a few weeks ago piqued my interest to see the the place.
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| Some minor details |
It's quite obvious that there was still a lot more work to be done on the place. From the exterior, we could see scaffoldings temporarily abandoned for the launch event. Inside, there were still unfinished details - some loose wires, wet paint (parking area) and ceiling access holes temporarily closed for the meantime.
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| LED light centerpiece |
The ground floor entrance opens up to a ceiling-high LED light waterfall installation. Guests have to pass through metal detectors on the side to get to the casino floor. The atmosphere that night was a busy one.
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| The casino floor was cramped |
Guests were in their game and the attendants were busy shuffling about. The membership club counters were queued up - there was an ongoing raffle promo. Amidst everything, the CenterPlay bar located right in the middle of the floor was dishing out tunes from a live band.
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| At the shopping/dining wing |
We proceeded to check out the second floor shopping area. Some restaurants were ready to serve the public that night, but majority of the boutiques were still in their 'coming soon' stage.
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| DreamPlay - I wonder what it is.. |
I was intrigued by this one space, which had the DreamWorks Studios logo and characters on it. I wonder what kind of entertainment it would bring.
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| Event/Function hall |
Hanging above the ceiling were copper plates - I dubbed them the baryas - animating to the guests' amusement! We took a peek of the event hall, too. It was spacious and looked ready for bookings.
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| Pangaea Ultra Lounge Club |
Pangaea, the next be-seen-here ultra club franchise had closed doors that night. Its unveiling date is yet to be announced.
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| Enjoying the music over some drinks |
After donating a few hundreds in the slot machines, we decided to just cap off at the CenterPlay Bar with a Bacardi 151 rhum-coke (~P200) and a tall Erdinger draught beer (~P300).
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| Also enjoyed watching the bartender uncork new bottles of liquor |
I'm not really a gamer, so this is probably a one-time visit to the place for me. I was left in awe when I first saw Solaire Resort & Casino because it really did have the feel of Vegas - from the customized carpeting to the massive artworks on the walls. I thought City of Dreams would leave me with the same impact. However, I wasn't blown away.
*This is not a sponsored post
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