Macau Trip: Water Park

The last time I was at a water park was when we went down to Bali's Waterbom.  So, when we discovered that there was a water park in The Galaxy, we left aside one day to just chill out and enjoy the amenities.

Firstly, the awesome thing about The Galaxy's Resort Deck is the Wave Pool.  It's basically the man-made beach of my dreams.  

Real SAND!

"Real" waves!

During the mornings, when the pool area opened up (8am), there were no waves.  So the little beach was a dream to swim laps in (when you walk out to the deep end).  The laps will be short, but there aren't a lot of people who are up at 8 am.

NOTE:  We went down to the Grand Resort Deck each of the three days that we were staying in The Galaxy…all three days, there were hardly any people who were up at 8 am!!!!

When the waves did start being generated, though, the life guards will let you know with their whistles and also have all kids (who can't swim) put on their life jackets.

The waves didn't seem that dangerous or big, but, more so, a good "wave" height to bounce over and to splash around in.

The beach got pretty busy towards the afternoon hours.  All the beach chairs and spaces in-between were covered with people's beach gear.  I'd totally recommend to visit the beach when there are less people, so then you can really enjoy the ambiance…but, if the early morning isn't for you, the Grand Resort Deck stays open until 10 pm (and that's a great time to have a romantic beach swim with your significant other!).

The second awesome thing about The Galaxy's Grand Resort Deck was the Adventure River Ride, which floated you by some waterfalls, under some water cannons, and through heaps of falling "rain."  It's a leisurely ride, where we just got onto some inflatable donuts and floated along with the crowd.  

The awesome thing about the Adventure River Ride was that there, like the entire Grand Resort Deck, wasn't a lot of people around before lunch time.  So, we got to go through the River Ride as many times as we liked without much hassle.  

This was definitely a great little ride for young people and old people….for everyone.  

***A clip of the Adventure River Ride***

Lastly, (THOUGH I HAVE NO PHOTOS), the really awesome thing about The Galaxy's Grand Resort Deck was the Waterslide.  There were three slides, which were all equally awesome.

One slide I would classify as the fastest one.  This slide was smooth and mostly a straight shot to the end.

Another slide I would classify as a pretty windy one.  It slid me left and right like no tomorrow.

The last slide I would classify as quite similar to the windy one mentioned above, but you had a view.  The other two slides were dark, but this one you could see through the slide…if that makes any sense.

I'd return to stay at The Galaxy just for the purpose of hanging out in the water park again!!!!!  I think this was what really made our stay an amazing one.

Macau Trip: The Galaxy

Today was the day we moved across the street to The Galaxy.  

It was actually a pretty chill morning, as our checkout time was 2 pm, so we got to relax by the pool, have a lazy brunch, and take one last walk around the Grand Canal Shops.

Check out was simple, just dropping our key card into the Check Out slot of the Wing's Lobby.  We then caught a shuttle from The Venetian over to The Galaxy.  

I love when things are simple!

This was the first time we stayed at The Galaxy.  The exterior is beautiful.  It reminds me of a golden peacock palace.  But, inside the hotel area, it really reminds me of a resort in Mexico or Florida!  It's very Tommy Bahama-esque!

The Galaxy is a huge complex that houses The Ritz-Carlton, Banyan Tree, JW Marriott, and Hotel Okura.  

The coolest thing about staying at The Galaxy, which we didn't know prior to our Check In, was that there was a man-made beach in the designated pool area.  There were also a bunch of pools, some exclusive to the other hotels in the complex and a wonderful little water park on top of the hill (with water slides and a lazy river to float along).

There was also a long promenade that went around The Galaxy complex, that went along a cinema, food court, and shopping areas (which features such stores as Burberry, Aesop, Calvin Klein, Uniqlo, Versace, Tiffany, Pandora, Tori Burch, etc).  The indoor promenade also circled around the casino, which seemed to sit at the heart of the complex.

Every entrance of The Galaxy seemed to be named after some semi-precious stone, I think (Pearl Lobby, etc).  But, there were beautiful (though some may deem them tacky) displays in some of the lobbies.

NOTE:  The main lobby, by the way, had a huge diamond/gem fountain that has a light/water show, which we caught after dinner one night.  That was a lovely surprise.

The great thing about The Galaxy, as well, has got to be the food court area called Tastes of Asia.  It was probably the busiest place where people got food.  It was a nice change to have something so convenient and close to the hotel suites.

NOTE:  To purchase foods from the food court, you have to FIRST GET A special card (like a debit card) from the cashier counter.  They'll put as much credit on the card as you like.  Then you can go around to the different counters and order whatever dish you like.  YOU CANNOT just go to a counter and pay for your food, as they only accept those debit cards.  (Though, some places seemed to also accept Octopus Cards…which we weren't sure were Hong Kong Octopus Cards or not).

I got a donburi from the Japanese counter

My husband got a Laksa dish from the Singapore counter

For dessert we headed over to the Honeymoon Dessert place near the cinema and had our fill of some sweets.

A durian and purple rice dessert

A sesame and tang yuan dessert

And, just because we had some cash left on our food court debit card, we went over to the Choux Creme for a tiramisu cream puff.

Looking back, it seems like we were starving that night…Actually, this was also the first time that I got a Chourx Creme puff…it was also what spurred my obsession with getting them a few more times afterwards (as this puff shop is everywhere in Hong Kong now).

Thoughts on The Galaxy:

1.  It reminds me of Hong Kong (There was even a Hok Kee shop from Yuen Long in the food court!)

2.  I loved how there were performers dotted everywhere along the promenade (very much like The Venetian)

3.  I really liked being able to walk along the promenade in the evenings after dinner (a great way to get indoor exercise)

4.  I really loved the pool area

5.  It was also connected to the public bus system, so we could catch the bus around Macau easily from here too...

Would I stay at The Galaxy again?

DEFINITELY!  Especially for the water park.