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LONG
before Hong Kong Disneyland became a must-see, there was
Ocean Park, an Indo-Pacific-themed amusement park at
Deep Water Bay
in the Southern District of Hong Kong Island. This
870,000-square-meter park, covering the area of Wong
Chuk Hang and Nam Long Shan, is recognized as one of the
“10 of the World’s Most Popular Amusement Parks” on
Forbes.com’s list in June 2006. Opened in January 1977,
I allotted a day here during my first and second visits
(with my wife Grace) to Hong Kong in May 1989 and April
1997 (just two months before the British turned over
Hong Kong to China). We entered the park via the
outdoor, 224-meter (745-foot) long and weatherproof
Ocean Park Escalator, the second longest in the world,
up a 30-degree slope, and exited via cable car which
takes visitors from one side of the park to the other
(the two parts are separated from each other by hills).
My third
visit, 30 years after its opening, was different as we
were now traveling as a family, with my kids Jandy and
Cheska as well as my in-laws. We entered (and exited)
via cable car, ascending to the headland section (1,400
feet above sea level), during which we had an unparalleled and spectacular
view of Hong Kong Island, the sublime South China Sea
beyond and the expanse of the park including Atoll Reef,
Shark Aquarium, Ocean Theater, the 72-meter-(236-foot)
high Ocean Park Tower (with its cabin that slowly
revolves from ground to top) and its rides.
This
marine park’s main draw are its marine attractions at
Marine Land. While my brother-in-law Mark, his wife
Nenette and their kids Gelo and Matthew watched the
thrilling theatrics of adorable Pacific bottlenose
dolphins and Californian sea lions (the official mascot
of Ocean Park is “Whiskers,” a waving sea lion) in a
huge pond at the open-air Ocean Theater, we visited the
Shark Aquarium where 70 sharks from 35 species are
displayed. At its underwater viewing tunnel (Asia’s
first), we observed Black Tip Reef Sharks, Pygmy Swell
Shark, Hammerhead Sharks and other kinds of sharks,
looking at them eye to eye as they safely passed
overhead. Too bad we missed seeing divers feeding or
playing with sharks.
We next
visited the expansive Atoll Reef where 2,000 fish in 250
species are displayed in a huge, coral-themed aquarium.
Shaped like a three- or four-story elliptical fishbowl,
here we viewed a variety of fish through six-centimeter
(2.4-inch) thick glass windows. The Atoll Reef
collection includes sharks, tropical fish, nautilus,
tiny Pomacentridae fish, a gigantic Zebra Shark, morays,
groupers, turtles and over 400 kinds of marine animals
from the Pacific Islands or the South China Sea, plus
some corals and cays. Another sensory wonder was the Sea
Jelly Aquarium, Southeast Asia’s first. Here, we were
awed by over 1,000 sea jellies of all sizes, shapes and
colors from all over the world.
The
park’s other attractions are its numerous exciting
rides. Too bad the Dragon, a steel roller coaster (the
longest one in
Hong Kong) with 842 meters of track, was closed for servicing at
the time. I, however, tried it (alone) on my second
visit. My 2.5-minute ride, hurtling at a maximum speed
of 77 kilometers (almost 48 miles) per hour, consisted
of heart-stopping twists, turns and 360-degree loops
with a brief but thrilling moment of being suspended
upside down. However, Cheska and I tried out the
swinging Crazy Galleon, the Eagle and the thrilling
Abyss Turbo Drop. At the latter, we were slowly raised,
on a platform, vertically up a 185-foot tower (where we
had an overall view of the ocean and the park). The
platform then stops briefly at the top before it drops
abruptly straight down in free-fall in five seconds,
surprising even us who were prepared. Jandy joined us
in the Ferris Wheel and Flying Swing where we were swung
in chairs as high as seven meters (23 feet) through a
gyrating wave. We missed out on the Zamperla Mine Train
(a roller coaster), the Space Wheel and the
Raging
River, all at Adventureland.
At the
Lowland Gardens is the Giant Panda Habitat, home to Jia
Jia (female), An An (male, born in Sichuan in 1986) plus
two more pandas named Le Le and Ying Ying, both added in
May 2007. The Lowland Gardens also features the
Butterfly House (a glass cocoon where butterflies are
bred), Caverns of Darkness 3D, Goldfish Pagoda (where
more than 100 varieties of Chinese and Japanese goldfish
are exhibited) and Whiskers’ Wild Ride (a theater with
moving seats). At Dinosaurs Now and Then, you can view
vivid dinosaur models (especially the model of
Tyrannosaurus Rex) as well as animatronic and still
model dinosaurs. Two of the dinosaurs represented, the
dilophosaurus and the velociraptor, are inaccurate and
based on the way the dinosaurs appear in
Jurassic
Park. The dilophosaurus is shown with a neck frill while
the velociraptor is much taller than its actual size.
Its other attractions include the Chinese Alligator and
Chinese Giant Salamander. At Bird Paradise is the
Amazing Amazon Bird Theater, the venue of the Amazing
Bird Show (flamingos, macaws, etc.).
The park
also has observatories, well-developed laboratories
(where numerous new breeds of goldfish are developed),
an education department, restaurants (Bayview
Restaurant,, Middle Kingdom Restaurant, Terrace Café,
Silk Shack and Ching Bar) and food kiosks, souvenir
shops and a Dolphin Breeding Center where tourists learn
the dolphins’ daily living habits and the importance of
protecting this intelligent marine mammal, as well as
view eight bottlenose dolphins (including two little
dolphins bred by artificial insemination for the first
time in the world).
This
amusement park is open from 10 am to 6 pm. Take Citybus
629 from Star Ferry Piers in Central, near Central MTR
Station, or from Admiralty MTR Exit B, daily. |
