They've picked a winner for the Sentosa Island Integrated Resort. It's the bid by Infinity@The Bay Pte Ltd, which everybody actually calls Genting because that's one of the corporations behind it. This is the bid -- and I admit I lost track of them -- that ultimately included a Universal Studios theme park, including such attractions as Waterworld, Lost World, Egypt, ``Back Lot -- The Big Apple'', Hollywood Boulevard, Super Hero City, and Cartoon Studios. I hope they're licensing cartoons from other studios, since if you think over the Universal Studios cartoons their catalogue consists of Woody Woodpecker and his underlings, and ... ... ... well, there was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and ... It's supposed to also include a ``Journey to Madagascar'' based on the movie, so if I need to interact with an Andy Richter-voiced lemur I now know where to go.
The news says part of the exhibit is an interactive dolphin habitat, but I'm not sure if this is the one that was supposed to include 700,000 dolphins. There's also supposed to be a 6.5 million gallon Whale Shark Lagoon, though, and a ``Maritime Xperiential Museum''. I get nervous with museums that have to spell their names wrong. It's allegedly the first museum dedicated to the maritime silk route between East Asia and the Middle East though, complete with a historical research center dedicated to the subject, if the staff can get work done between theme park noises. One exhibit is supposed to be a full-scale glass replica of an ancient trading ship; a ``multimedia motion shipwreck theater''; and live performances from a group on a replica of the Bao Chuan, one of the boats of Zheng He's fleet.
Shows are supposed to include ``Le Vie'', from the group that put together Cirque du Soleil's ``KA'' and ``O'' in Las Vegas, although since I never heard of show titles for Cirque du Soleil I'm less impressed by that than they wanted me to be. There's also ``the Crane Ballet, a showcase of multi-media moving art with choreographed animatronic crane dances nightly at the Festivewalk,'' I suppose for people who don't think the laser beams shooting out the giant Merlion's eyes aren't enough visual stimulation.
Genting staff are reported to be ``ecstatic'' over the news. I don't remember anyone asking the dolphins or sharks what they think.
Trivia: General Electric's initial bid to provide lighting for the 1893 Chicago Columbian Expo was for $1.8 million. Their revised bid was for $554,000. Source: The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson.
Currently Reading: The Perfect Machine: Building the Palomar Telescope, Ronald Florence.