The Gloria Grand Opening was celebrated this week under DVG rules.
This did not diminish the fact that the new spectacular complex off the highway, will have great influence on the way we consume entertainment, dine and interact with our friends, how we celebrate our children’s birthdays and how we watch sports on weekends.
Gloria has it all, including a fantastic parking lot.
At the entrance, charming, uniformed attendants took my temperature, and asked me to sanitize my hands, they were all tested ahead of the opening party to make sure the event is conducted in full compliance with regulations.
I have to admit that the short champagne toast reception prior to the ceremonious ribbon cutting felt a bit awkward, I have not attended an event in nine months, and lost the practice of socializing – also wearing a mask obviously puts a damper on chitchat.
But I was very happy to see all these familiar half-faces, and greet everyone, even those I did not recognize.
Immediately after the inaugural fanfare we social-distanced in the IMAX theater and were treated to some friendly speeches and to the visual wonders of the IMAX experience, with Laser.
https://www.facebook.com/TheMoviesIMAXGloria
Eddie de Veer spoke about the ambitious complex, how the vision expanded over time to include more exciting features, how the company spared no expense and no resources on the creation of a first class entertainment center and how the work was concluded in a timely manner, considering circumstance.
Then Eduardo de Veer, took center stage.
Eduardo has focused over the last few years on the MetaCorp legacy, fully aware that a company commemorating 100 years of continuous success is no ordinary enterprise. It takes generations of fearless risk-taking entrepreneurs to achieve that, they must be ready to stumble, brush themselves off and start anew, they must get tougher when the going gets tough, and mostly never let a good crisis go to waste, MetaCorp has made quantum leaps against adversity, and Eduardo reminded us of all the times the company branched out when it was easier to hibernate.
While tall and imposing, Eduardo looked small against the giant IMAX screen, as he shared 100 years of family history with his audience, weaving warm words with iconic pictures, starting in the heart of Oranjestad where an improvised movie screen was mounted in an empty dirt lot, through several incarnations of the ever-evolving business, cinemas, coal, transportation, concrete, and now the revival of historic Gloria.
He thanked the people who labored before him, praised his collaborators past and present and introduced the future, then asked them all to pose for a family portrait that will be shown at the company’s 200th year anniversary in 2120.
What’s Gloria Plaza’s all about: Ten state of the art movie theaters with about 1,200 seats, an IMAX theater with about 200 seats, an elegant, indoor and outdoor P.F Chang’s restaurant with delicious Chinese, Japanese and Thai dishes. The fantastic murals are by Eliza Lejuez. Sizzles, a sports bar serving Balashi Beer, an Italian eatery, Starbucks Coffee, a VIP lounge, a game room, an innovative ice cream place plus, plus.
The first movie shown at the IMAX is Dunkirk, we saw a piece of the movie and it is awesome, the sights and sounds fantastic!
Gloria Plaza, from Monday through Sunday from 630AM till 11PM
Thank you for The Meta Corp Legacy, a hundred years of Vision and Innovation hard cover book, and the commemorative coin, I will find a good place for both in my office library.
