Wynn Las Vegas Magazine by MODERN LUXURY

Wynn Las Vegas - 2016 - Issue 3 - Winter

Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas

Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/760086

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 33 of 99

32 PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF GREEN The Year of the Rooster begins on January 28, 2017, but, says Thomas, the spectacular dragons come out every year for Chinese New Year. Wynn Las Vegas, though it has been refined here. "In the Mirage days, we'd change out the plants for the holidays," he says. "And from the Bellagio Conservatory, we learned that people really want to come in to expe- rience the holiday. People have come to know that at Wynn, we celebrate from the inside," which means minimal decorations on the street (if you consider 1 million white lights on the pine trees outside to be "minimal") and a fantasyland within. The holidays get only more fabulous as the season goes on: Wynn's annual New Year's Eve celebration counts down to midnight with individual cakes for all 2,000 VIP guests and with headline enter- tainers including Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, and this year Lionel Richie. But the holidays are equally special for Wynn as a community, Wooden says, since each year more than 100 volunteers go into schools in underserved communities around the city, with Mr. and Mrs. Claus bringing a gift for every single child—an effort supported by hundreds of employees behind the scenes, wrapping as many as 6,000 individual gifts and loading cookies and candies that will bring the city's kids some Wynn-style holiday cheer. "It's more than a tradition," Wooden says, "it's our responsibility. And it's a great time for us to reflect on the past 11 months." At the same time that Thomas was over- seeing the monumental task of readying Wynn Palace for its spectacular opening in Cotai, he was journeying north of Hong Kong on the weekends to check in with Clive Miners, of Rich Creations International Hong Kong, who was painstakingly building the villages and all their tiny movable parts of metal, fiberglass, plastic, and resin; covering them in gold and silver leaf; and illuminating each with its own internal LED lighting. (You can also see Miners's work in Wazuzu, in the form of the 28-foot-long dragon covered in 90,000 Swarovski crystals that presides over the restaurant.) The villages arrived from Hong Kong in November in 52 crates—a festive puzzle that was twinkling by Thanksgiving. But the season is far from over. Three nine- foot-tall rooster sculptures are being gilded as the year ends, ready to take their place under four 45-foot hanging dragons in Wynn and Encore, among 7,000 bright orange, red, and yellow begonias, mums, and calandiva, to usher in the Chinese New Year. And though it would be difficult to get any member of the Wynn community to commit to a favorite season, the pure delight of a holiday won- derland of Swiftian villages, roosters, and dragons is lost on no one, Wooden says. "We look forward to the next year even before the decorations come down. We'd never give up our opportunity to show people how we cel- ebrate the holiday season." "We start early and work through the year on setting up an experience for our guests that is bright and energetic."—maurice wooden

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Wynn Las Vegas Magazine by MODERN LUXURY - Wynn Las Vegas - 2016 - Issue 3 - Winter