Ocean Park

Asia trip 2013 Park #2

3 July 2013

 After Disney, I was really looking forward to some excellent rides! I had heard good things about one coaster in particular at Ocean Park called Hair Raiser, which apparently sat on the edge of a cliff. I jumped on a bus from the city out to a very scenic area of Hong Kong.

The park was surrounded by lush green mountains and sat on the edge of Deep Water Bay. Although there weren’t a lot of attractions, they were spread out over a huge area (one of the largest parks in Asia). Luckily, you could take a cable car up to the top section, or alternatively you could get a train. The view from the cable car was stunning and I knew my mum would have loved the scenery, but not the heights. I haven’t yet been able to convince her to go to a fun park with me in my adult life, and things didn’t change in Hong Kong!

As the cable car went up and up, the smiling Hair Raiser coaster came in to view. The track looked spectacular, and I was thrilled that there was no line. The ride itself didn’t really live up to how amazing it looked, but it was fun flying so close to the cliff edges. I had a few turns, and then moved on to a small coaster called Arctic Blast. This was a flat track coaster for kids which was surrounded by various carnival style rides that all sat atop Thrill Mountain.

There were some novel features in the park such as Hong Kong’s second longest escalator, which I took down to the other side of the mountain. From here you could visit the Rainforest Area, Marine World and Adventureland.

I had a couple of turns on The Dragon Coaster which was a fairly standard double looper, tortured myself on the drop tower,  and headed to the mine train roller coaster. I wasn’t expecting a lot, but it ended up being my favourite ride of the day. Quite a zippy little creation with a nice first drop, lots of turns, and a great view over the water once again. You can also find the usual suspects like a river raft ride, pirate ship and log ride.

In addition to some good rides, Ocean Park is known for ocean animals (duh) and some land based ones. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the enclosures, and the conservation work that seemed to be going on. As always I felt that some of the animals needed more space. The jelly fish exhibition was pretty spectacular thanks to the use of lighting, and I did enjoy the grand aquarium. I was transfixed by the panda bears – I don’t actually think I had seen one before and they were so damn cute.

Apparently Ocean Park gets really busy, especially when people from mainland China come over for holidays. I think I hit the jackpot, because it was a quiet day and there were no long waits for any of the attractions. I went round the entire park twice, made stupid kissy noises at all the adorable animals, and finished the day with a nice little fountain show at the Aqua City Lagoon. Thanks to four really decent coasters, cool design features and smaller crowds, I think Ocean Park is the best fun park in Hong Kong.