Dubai: A show featuring fountains, fireballs, spotlights, projectors, and surround speakers is set to become a permanent feature at Dubai’s Festival City mall.
The new display will be on show for all visitors to the mall from December 26, on the same day that fireworks display and street performers kick off the Dubai Shopping Festival.
From midday, two times an hour, 28 water jets, eight fire-spewing machines, 25 surround sound speakers will play one of several lined up shows.
The display also features a hydraulic central geyser which will flash giant columns or water and fire into the sky.
To the right, projectors will play accompanying video off the side of the nearby Intercontinental Hotel — an area larger than five IMAX screens, according to organisers.
“What we’re creating here has been three years in the making,” said Steven Cleaver, director of shopping centres at the mall’s operating firm, Al Futtaim Group Real Estate.
The display is part of a recent Dh1.5 billion expansion project at the mall.
Dubai’s glitzy malls are no stranger to grand displays and entertainment to reel in visitors. At Dubai Mall, one of the largest shopping centres in the world, lit-up fountains dance to a rotating repertoire of music.
And at smaller malls, organisers frequently arrange children’s shows, prize draws and loud parades that stomp across gleaming marble floors.
-High expectations-
This fact is well noticed by Cleaver, who has managed malls for a decade and is well aware of the need to impress.
“Expectations in Dubai are very, very high,” he said. “People are used to bigger and better, amazing spectacular things.”
The new outdoor show, which takes place on the mall’s creekside promenade, can fit a crowd of around 12,000 people.
Mall managers are coy about the content of the shows, but say that they will feature Arabic music.
In addition, the water fountains can show water sculptures, such as flowers.
During daylight hours, shows will be shorter and more toned down. Then, as darkness falls, longer, grander displays lasting eight to nine minutes will ring out every hour until the mall closes its doors.
“Due to the size of the [display], wherever you’re standing, you’re going to see something different each time,” Cleaver said.
How can I see the new Festival City outdoor show?
Show up to Festival City mall on Monday, December 26, the opening day of this year’s Dubai Shopping Festival.
If you’re one of the first 5,000 people to show up, you will be given an interactive LED that will sync with the display’s music and lights.
On the same day, there will be entertainment across the mall, such as dancers, drummers, street style performers and competitions to win shopping vouchers.
Nine radio stations will broadcast from the mall throughout the afternoon and evening. The evening will end with a large fireworks display.
