Ocean Park Hong Kong

Destinations — By Brendon on 07/10/2012 11:50 am

The stars of Ocean Park

Ocean Park – Hong Kong's Top Theme Park

Ocean Park is Hong Kong’s main theme park and is located on the south side of Hong Kong Island. The main attractions of Ocean Park are dolphin and seal shows, live animal displays such as panda bears, a heap of rides and excellent views of Hong Kong’s beaches.

There is nothing of cultural or historical value at Ocean Park and with a ticket price of HK$280, it is very expensive. If you like rides, good views and want to see some impressive animal shows, Ocean Park is still a good day out in Hong Kong.

Ocean Park Facts
Area – Covers an area of 870,000 square meters or 210 acres.
Location – On a small peninsula on the south side of Hong Kong Island facing the South China Sea
Visitor Numbers – 5.9 millions visitors in 2011 which came down to over 16,000 a day. Expect queues and crowding
Attractions – Over 19 rides and 11 animal exhibits (subject to change)
Cable car – Is 1.5 kilometers long
Opened – 10 January 1977

Ocean Park Layout and Attractions
Ocean Park is divided into two main areas. The first area at the base of a mountain is the entrance of Ocean Park and is called The Waterfront. The second area is on the top of the mountain and called The Summit.

The Waterfront Key Attractions
The Grand Aquarium – lots of fish
Old Hong Kong – tacky
Giant Panda Adventure – Pandas and Red Pandas
Goldfish Treasures – mutant goldfish
Whiskers Harbor – only good for children
Amazing Bird Theatre – a theatre!?! So no more
Sichuan Treasures – Pandas and Golden monkeys

The Summit
South Pole Spectacular – Cute penguins & aircon
Hair Raiser ride – scary roller coaster
Ocean Park Tower – awesome views
The Dragon ride – another scary roller coaster
Ocean Theatre – dolphins and sea lions
Pacific Pier – seals and sea lions
The Abyss – scary ride

Best Bits Guide to Ocean Park
Listed below are (in my humble opinion) the best parts of Ocean Park

Ocean Theatre – Sit in the stands and watch super cute dolphins and sea lions put on an amazing show with a story being told in the back ground. The dolphins put their well trained human helpers through their paces, leap into the air and do tricks. The Sea lions use their cute and endearing looks  to beg treats in return for some impressive tricks.

Sichuan Treasures – Check out the shy female panda Jia Jia and the exhibitionist An An. Jia Jia prefers to stay in her luxury panda pad while An An shamelessly puts on a show for his fan base and pigs out. No wonder he is 103kg in weight. You can also see two golden monkeys Lee and Hu Hu.

Giant Panda Adventure – You can see the Giant Pandas Le le and Ying Ying here together with their smaller buddies the Red  Panda or Fire Fox. Le Le and Ying Ying are only a few years old so they don’t have don’t have 26 year old An An’s moves or charisma. The Red Pandas are very cute and active and look like racoons.

Ocean Park Tower – This tower is 72 meters tall and 200 meters above sea level which gives you excellent views. The viewing room rotates 360 degrees so the views of the surrounding park, Hong Kong and the South China Sea are excellent.

Cable Car – Like the tower, the views from the cable car as you go up to The Summit are breathe taking.

Tickets and hours
Prices – $280 for adults and $140 for children which makes Ocean Park one of the most expensive tourist attractions in Hong Kong and China.  To avoid queues at the ticket window you can buy tickets online or at 7-Eleven stores

Includes – Cable cars, shows, rides and everything except for skill or coin operated games.
Hours – 10am to 7pm Mon to Sat and 9:30am to 7pm on Sunday and public holidays
Night time tickets – you need to buy separate night time tickets to see the special night time events like Halloween. 

How to Get There
Bus – The easiest way to get to Ocean Park is to take the MTR to Central station and catch any of the following buses 6A, 6X, 70, 75, 90, 97, 260 OR MTR to Causeway Bay station and catch any of the following buses 72, 72A, 92, 96, 592.

The buses travel through Aberdeen Tunnel and the whole trip takes no more than 10 minutes.

Tips for Visiting Ocean Park
Go Early – To avoid queues at the cable car and at all the good rides, go as early as possible.

Pack Lunch – The food and drink available in the park is way over priced and very ordinary so pack your lunch and enjoy a picnic in one of the many rest areas. Officially you are not allowed to bring food and drink into Ocean Park but this is not a problem. Just don’t unpack the picnic hamper some where so obvious park staff can’t ignore you.

Tags: China, hong kong, Ocean Park, Ocean Park Hong Kong, travel