Genting To Introduce Resorts World with Chinese Pageantry on LV Strip

With Siegfried and Roy s white tiger show long dormant, the Mirage s dolphins a bit ho-hum, and the shark tank at Mandalay Bay long-established , what can Vegas always known for pushing the theatrical envelope do for an encore?

How about pandas?

If China-based Genting Group has their way, pandas will be just part of the over-the-top showmanship coming to their new casino-hotel Resorts World.

But the really crazy part is, it s all coming before a single brick goes up on the property.

Pardon Our Mess

The introductory whoopla is actually right in line with a new Las Vegas Strip credo: don t show your mess before or during build out.

It all started during the past few years, as abandoned, half-built casino projects like the Echelon which is now waiting to be morphed into Resorts World and the Fountainbleau stood as eye sores and brutal testimony to the crashed economy.

Still awaiting approval, plans to put up temporary construction fences around the site with a sound system to blast music.

The classic wooden construction walls will be decorated with Chinese art and, of course, renderings of the property to come.

In addition, two preview centers which will be part of the finished project will showcase the Chinese theme and have pagoda roofs. Get it yet? We re going with a Chinese theme here, folks, and subtlety is not part of the Las Vegas zeitgeist.

It will complement the Strip, says Clark County commissioner Chris Giunchigliani. It s kind of a unique approach.

Great Things to Come

The what s-to-come preview is apparently indicative of Genting s flair for the over-the top; will have its own replica Great Wall of China, besides the live pandas, all to the tune of some $2 to $7 billion, we are told.

Quite a range in anticipated costs; we can t help but wonder why.

The preview project alone is said to run over $2 million.