Atlantis The Palm Grand Opening - Part Two

After yesterday's pictorial presentation of Sol Kertzner's Atlantis Hotel, we will have a look in this second part to the Grand Opening party who happened last thursday.

Not only it was probably one of the most expensive party ever - 30 millions dollars were spent in the party - including 3M dollars for the Kylie Minogue private concert, but it was CERTAINLY the biggest fireworks in all mankind history - so, don't go away, because this fireworks worth the look. We'll see why in details later, but for now, let's have a look to some A+ people from the red carpet and dinner - 2500 guests were invited and enjoyed the party.

Below, Charlize Theron and Robert De Niro.



Janet Jackson with his friend and below with Richard Branson




Two pictures of the great Quincy Jones - I love Quincy!




The also great Shirley Bassey



Kylie Minogue in a glamorous dress, before her concert.



Lindsay Lohan - who came with her girl friend Samantha.



And Atlantis owner Sol Kertzner - 2nd from the left - with his wife and Charlize Theron



The show began with major projections effect on the hotel and performances by Atlantean Goddess Priyanka Chopra and Nawal El Zoughbi...




And then it was the Kylie Minogue show including 113 performers on a 43 meters long stage.





After the fireworks, the party went on and Lindsay Lohan's girlfriend Samantha Ronson was the DJ.



All this was already spectacular, but the stunning moment definitely happened with the gigantic fireworks. The cost of the 9 minutes fireworks was 3.5 M dollars - yes, Millions - and was designed and produced by Fireworks by Grucci, the team behind the design and engineering of the fireworks at the Opening Ceremonies of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing.

Now, before you see pictures and videos of it, you have to know that there was not one firework only around the Atlantis, but all over the 17 km long Palm Jumeirah Island crescent and inside the island. Here are some numbers to give you the idea of the gigantic proportions:
- The Fireworks were launched from 716 locations (!)
- 50 points along the 17km crescent of Palm Jumeirah
- 226 floating pontoons stretched across 46km of water outlining the fronds of The Palm
- 40 locations along the 5.5km monorail outlined Palm Jumeirah’s trunk
- Over 400 balconies on the south facade and all rooftop surfaces of Atlantis The Palm - More than 100,000 specially designed pyrotechnic devices were fired in less than 9 minutes
- Relay sequences raced over 2,500 miles per hour in order to ignite more than 500 devices in 50 locations covering 17km in only 8 seconds
- The display utilized 79k of cables stretched across the 520-kilometres of Atlantis and Palm Jumeirah
- 220 pyrotechnicians spent 3,500 days to set up and produce this display
- The pyrotechnic display was one of the most ambitiously designed and technically advanced computer-controlled fireworks performances ever attempted, run by 62 computer systems operated by 1,200 satellite control modules, which fired more than 36,000 circuits.
- Special Effect Fireworks were designed and manufactured in China, Spain, Italy and Taiwan in addition to the designer’s own special effects Fireworks by Grucci made in the USA.

Okay, you got the idea? Now, here are some pictures , shot from the sky who shows the fireworks on all the Palm Jumeirah island.





This picture, shoot from the ground give a view on another angle.



And here is the Atlantis for the grand finale.




No need to say that i found plenty of videos of this amazing evening for you, and here they are. First these two videos from the sky news special.





This video will show you perfectly the fireworks, filmed from above.



Interesting also these two amateurs videos filmed by people who live on the island itself, in the center of the "action"!





One thing is sure: the synchronisation was amazingly perfect and the Grucci company did a fantastic job. Private message to WDI Imagineers: If Disney is looking for a fireworks company able to create a huge spectacular fireworks when it'll be the grand opening of Shanghai Disneyland, Grucci is the one you need!

Finally, a four part video of all the party filmed by one of the grand opening guest!










Hope you enjoyed this Atlantis grand opening, tomorrow we'll be back on Disney topics!

All pictures and videos: copyright Atlantis The Palm - Kerzner International.