he Forum Shops at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas… Hershey’s Chocolate World in Times Square… the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride at Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure in Orlando… the Georgia Aquarium… the Terminator 2 3-D show at Universal Studios. These are just some of the extraordinary attractions conceived and produced by Gary Goddard and his team at the North Hollywood-based Goddard Group.
Recently, Goddard has been involved in world-building—creating mega-resorts that are among the best on the planet. With the recent opening of the $3.2 billion Studio City in Macau, which attracted Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro, Brad Pitt and Martin Scorcese to its grand opening gala, Goddard and his company have outdone themselves.
Inspired by the world of motion pictures, this integrated resort features a double Ferris wheel, a massive figure-8 designed into the architecture of the building itself and rising 460 feet above the ground. The resort has become Macau’s most iconic destination, earning worldwide media attention.
Studio City is Goddard’s second epic creation in Macau, following the hugely successful opening of the Galaxy Macau in 2011, which raised the bar for Macau resort casinos.
Other epic and unforgettable Goddard creations include:
• The Ring of Life monument, designed to be the symbol of an entirely new city that Goddard helped plan and design in Shenfu, China. Rising nearly 600 feet into the sky, this perfect steel circle is a breathtaking statement which the Huffington Post called simply “stunning.”
• Universal Studios Florida and Universal’s Islands of Adventure, which both used Goddard and his team’s talents for overall planning and defining key attractions.
• Sanrio’s two major theme parks in Japan, Sanrio Puroland in Tokyo and Sanrio Harmonyland in Kyushu, both designed by Goddard. Shintaro Tsuji, founder and chairman of Sanrio, personally selected Goddard to oversee the creation of his first theme parks.
• The design of Electric Daisy Carnival, Insomniac Events’ transformative 2013 three-day musical event that attracted more than 350,000 people to the world’s largest EDM live event.
• The Venetian in Las Vegas, the result of Sheldon Adelson’s desire to find “the billion-dollar idea.” Goddard delivered a concept that now is valued at more than 20 times Adelson’s goal.
• Caesars Palace expansion, including the Forum Casino, Caesars’ Magical Empire with Milt Larsen of the Magic Castle, the Collesseum and the new Towers, all created at the direct request of Henry Gluck, former chairman and chief executive officer of Caesars World.
As the youngest show designer ever hired as an Imagineer at Walt Disney Imagineering, Goddard worked with the Disney legends who originally worked with Walt Disney to create Disneyland and Walt Disney World. With these men as his mentors, Goddard helped to develop concepts for Walt Disney World, EPCOT and World Showcase, the expansion of River Country at WDW and early concepts for Tokyo Disneyland.
Currently, Goddard is involved with new projects around the world: a new Marvel Superhero Park in Jakarta; several major new theme parks and resorts in China, including Polar Ocean World in Shanghai and World of Poseidon in Harbin; and several massive new projects in Southern China.
Most recently, Goddard and Goddard Group announced a joint venture with the Cirque du Soleil with the goal of creating an entirely new kind of “experience park” for the global market.
This new attraction will be the next step in the evolution of out-of-home entertainment. Part theme park, part theater, part social-media related, these new Cirque immersive parks will reset the standard for theme parks and outdoor experiences by offering truly unique destinations geared toward today’s social-media based audiences.
For more information, visit thegoddardgroup.com.
