Ocean Park - 23/04/2023

[Gazza]

Ocean Park - 23/04/2023

https://www.parkz.com.au/attraction/ocean-park

I didn’t just head to Malysia back in April, I headed to Ocean Park in Hong Kong as well. It’s a huge park split into two parts that are 1.6km apart, connected via cablecars or a funicular.

 

Ocean Park is located on Hong Kong Island, and very easy to reach via the MTR, a single stop away from Admiralty (literally minutes from downtown). Once you are there you literally walk 50m to the front gate.

First impressions as you come in are quite impressive, with whimsical ocean themed buildings around a lagoon used for fountain shows.

I was advised to head to Giant Panda Adventure first thing since you get to see them feeding, and I wasn’t disappointed, with one of them right up close and munching away.

The red pandas were pretty cute too.

Down this end they also had Little Meerkat and Giant Tortoise Adventure, a pretty small exhibit but again offered a good up close view.

Down here they had a few other smaller exhibits.

And a kids area, which to be honest looked a bit underwhelming on the rides front for a park this major. Guess Disney reigns supreme for families with kids here.

To their credit they did build a big indoor thing with giant interactive walls and so forth recently.

The cablecars can get quite busy in the morning so I opted to head up to the summit on the Ocean Express.

 

Probably the best themed transport ride I’ve seen. There was also a video playing in the roof of the cars, but it was nothing to write home about, just a mash of ocean related stock footage.

Arriving at the top of course I headed to Hair Raiser, the parks B&M floorless coaster, which looks rather awesome perched on the edge of a cliff.

The ride experience is a bit of a jackammer though, it was kind of like when you lean your head on a bus window and your head is vibrating so much your vision is blurred.

Starts off with a climb up the side of a naked cliff, before a large loop and a dive loop.

Next comes a high speed camel hump, a Zero g roll, and an immellmann right over the ride entrance. 

The ride finishes off with a twisting hill and another turn into the brakes.

I still did about 7 laps given the lack of a queue, but it was with my head firmly planted against the backrest.

Arctic Blast is the other coaster, a mack powered coaster which was decent, with a dive into the trench under the entrance and a few helices for good measure. Only steadily paced though, so firmly for the families.

Theres also The Rapids, pretty decent with an animal exhibit in the middle full of rainforest creatures.

Note: dont do artificial rock like this!

Most of the wetness seemed to come from a multitude of fountains on the way.

 

 

 

Spotted the Ocean Park Tower nearby, spectacular views.

 

Sea Jelly Spectacular was supposedly the inspiration for Sea Jellies Illuminated at SW, and got multi hour queues once upon a time. Was expecting something huge, but in reality the one here in the GC is better imo.

 

Ferris Wheel offered views of the SBNO Dragon coaster. Pretty bad to have so many rides in plain view but not operational.

The funny thing is off by itself amongst the closed stuff they have Wild Twister, a very modern looking Top Scan. Haven't done one of these in years, and certainly not in the outside seat and they are great fun, with you tumbling about in all directions. Feels like it achieves much more randomness than say a tourbillon.

I think that sums up all the proper rides I did. (not one for spin and spews)

I opted to catch the Cable Car downhill to get some pics and then promptly caught it back uphill again. Really makes you appreciate how HK just clings to every flat bit of available land.

Around the bottom area is a nicley themed "Old Hong Kong" themed zone. Grabbed a drink before pressing on.

There are quite a significant number of other animal exhibits

 

Pacific Point contains all the seals, I got there right on feeding time but the underwater area was under rennovation.

Didn't stick around for the dolphin show.

Perhaps the most significant exhibit is Polar Adventure, which is divided into both north pole and south pole themed zones.

Amazing seeing a walrus up close, and they seemed to love the crowds, blowing bubbles.

The smelly, but cute arctic foxes.

And of course they have penguins, but the whole room was kept cold rather than an enclosed box like the ones at SW.

Shark Mystique is an all indoor version of shark bay, starting above ground at the rock pools and then leading down a spiral to a huge under ground tank. The sawtooth sharks were probably the highlight.

Catching the ocean express back downhill I saw the last two major exhibits.

Sichuan Treasures contains some long haired monkeys.

But perhaps one of the best was saved for last, the Grand Aquarium.

If this existed outside the park, they'd probably charge $40 for a ticket, but here its a standalone attraction. Several quite large displays, culminating in a massive picture window (since eclipsed by SeaWorld Abu Dhabi)

Could have done without the baby shark stickers getting in the way however.

Overall, its a good park, though disappointing to see so many closed rides in full view. These are not even ones they have boarded up etc, you have to walk right past several to get to some of the newer stuff.

You can tell they are trying to fill a niche not covered by Disney, with a renewed focus on thrill rides and animals, neither of which Disney have.

 

The rub with the place I feel is that it seems to have way too much in terms of facilities, attractions etc for the attendance that it gets, and they have built a lot of new stuff without getting rid of the old stuff, so the result is a place that is very spread out and empty feeling in parts and needs a lot of staff to actually run it. These comments more apply to the summit area. The bit down near the entrance is absolutely fine.

I  do hope the parks financial woes are able to be solved because no other place in the world has a setting like Ocean Park, and their animal exhibits are excellent.

 

More photos are here:

https://www.parkz.com.au/search/photos/location/ocean-park

Edited June 21, 2023 by Gazza

[REGIE]

Bizarre park! But looks very cool.  That B&M actually looks really fun in terms of layout.  The park does look a bit outdated in some spots perhaps.  It has a few things in common with Sea World Australia.  From The shows and exhibits, and the fact they have closed attractions in plain sight. Cough Cough Castle bridge, log flume and Monorail (though I still have hope that will reopen).   The vekoma looper (guessing it’s vekoma based on the layout) looks like it could be open tomorrow. Why don’t they run it anymore I wonder.   And is the dual S&S shot tower closed too? 
 

the setting looks incredible and some parts and rides look great! The exhibits all look great too. Some of the theming also looks great. Though some looks in bad condition.  Overall looks like an awesome park I did not know about!  I hope they can clean it up.

Edited June 21, 2023 by REGIE

[Aw hype]

Shame to hear Hair Raiser runs so rough. Glossy smooth when I rode back in 2014.

As for the state of the park - Its quite sad. The Arrow looper was 37 years old so had lived its life, but the other rides in the summit were perfectly operable when closed. Ocean park had been crippled pre-covid by the Hong Kong riots and the downturn in tourism from mainland china that it caused, as well as the genuine competition that was starting to pop up from the mainland.

I believe they are planning on selling off the summit and the area near the old Mine train to a private developer/operator who are then going to operate certain attractions on a pay per ride basis, and this company had no interest in operating larger rides - or those similar to the Disney style of ride - so Ocean park just shut them down.

P.S that mine train was just as beautiful as it looks.

 

[Baconjack]

My old man used to live in Hong Kong for a decade so went to this park every time I went over there to visit before he moved back home so I've followed this park pretty closely over the years. The animal exhibits are as you say great and more than adequate. The presentation is excellent, but I think it's degraded quite a bit since it was all new. The park was basically rebuilt a decade ago to compete with Disney and I remember when it was all new and fresh. The fact that Ocean Park is very cash-strapped is very telling through the photos. I don't think its particularly well looked after at all especially compared to how it looked when it won an award usually reserved for Disney, Universal or big European parks.

Hair Raiser started out very smooth when it was new but it definitely developed a nasty rattle over time. I think it's a great ride and has a decent layout with a combination of different forces but unfortunately it operates in the wrong climate - I think it's pretty similar to Abyss in that respect. It can get very hot in Hong Kong during peak summer and it's easily worse than the coast thanks to the humidity.

The mine train was awesome, truly a fantastic experience and one of my favourite coasters despite being a Zamperla with crappy transitions, no other coaster in the world has the setting quite like what that did. Dragon had an awesome setting too but it was a terrible Arrow looper which says a lot considering I have a bit of a soft spot for them. Some of those transitions were just wrong, you can see them in POV's. Particularly in the helix after the sidewinder. It's a shame they're all still sitting there unused, but it doesn't at all surprise me - I don't think this park has the cash to remove them - there's heaps of rides and buildings down there sitting closed left to rot away including a few flats and a massive log flume. The park is huge so even on a relatively busy day it looked dead on each visit.

It's unfortunate because Ocean Park had a huge master plan a few years ago that looked awesome (with a lot of new rides themed to the standard of what's at the top of the peak including a dive coaster and a family launch coaster) which was supposed to replace all those closed rides but they have since been shelved as a result of Covid, the protests that occurred before driving down attendance from the mainland (last time I visited was right before Covid started and the park was nearly empty). From what I hear also the government chose not to give the park money to invest in the expansion. To my understanding they are changing the park's operations to contract out zones to different operators - I think they're quite desperate and the future of at least the amusement side of the park is not looking particularly bright.

Edited June 21, 2023 by Baconjack

[Ogre]

Thanks for sharing! This park has been on my radar for a few years now and has really interested me. Hair Raiser has a decent chance of being my first B&M. Makes me worried hearing how rough it is...

Think it could be a one day park or does it deserve two?

Edited June 21, 2023 by Ogre

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

11 hours ago, Gazza said:

Ocean Park is located on Hong Kong Island, and very easy to reach via the MTR, a single stop away from Admiralty (literally minutes from downtown). Once you are there you literally walk 50m to the front gate.

Yeah the South Island Line has really changed getting to the park. I visited in 2010 and 2015 and both times required a bus from Causeway bay through the Aberdeen tunnel, and the bus still dropped off about a kilometre from the park gate.

8 hours ago, Aw hype said:

Shame to hear Hair Raiser runs so rough. Glossy smooth when I rode back in 2014.

Agreed it was beautifully smooth in 2015.

Hearing about the closures and the roughness (as well as the financial woes) is making me second guess whether to go on my next trip to Hong Kong. It sounds like they might be slipping on maintenance too.

8 hours ago, Aw hype said:

that mine train was just as beautiful as it looks.

Yeah it was. nothing else to say it was great.

5 hours ago, Ogre said:

Think it could be a one day park or does it deserve two?

Pre-covid i'd have answered "it depends on when you visit" as the weekends (friday included) saw a lot of "mainlander" visitors. they would flood the park every weekend and mainlanders are notoriously lacking in manners and etiquette. By the sounds of those who have visited more recently, that isn't so much of an issue anymore - but even on a friday with mainlanders present 1 day is still plenty enough - even with Dragon, Mine Train, Eagle, enterprise, flume and the spaceshot towers open (which by the sounds of things many are no longer)

12 hours ago, Gazza said:

they have built a lot of new stuff without getting rid of the old stuff

I think this is their biggest issue. I was there in 2010 when they had just started construction on the summit. The south end of the park, including dragon, mine train, eagle, etc were all very stretched out and lots of construction walls, but it was nice enough. It was exciting to see new stuff coming, but the new stuff all lumped in one area, which seemingly ignored all the older attractions, which in turn lead to a further loss in popularity for those. Rather than the one big expansion I feel like if they'd removed one and replaced one over a decade, the park would still be pretty darn awesome (although covid and the riots are still wildcards that are impossible to quantify)

I'm glad you enjoyed the park but its very sad what is becoming of it.

[gauge]

We were there in 2012 and enjoyed our day, Hellraiser was new but closed the day we went which was disappointing other wise it was a good park and much better than Disney HK.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

1 minute ago, gauge said:

much better than Disney HK.

That's a VERY big call, IMO.

[Baconjack]

1 hour ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

That's a VERY big call, IMO.

To be fair it wasn’t very good in 2012, no mystic manor, no iron man and probably no big grizzly mountain. Basically in its opening day state with the expansions they put in. Without those big majors to set it apart from the rest of the Disney parks it’s literally just a Disneyland clone with half the budget and effort (compare Hong Kong space mountain to California)

Edited June 22, 2023 by Baconjack

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

10 minutes ago, Baconjack said:

compare Hong Kong space mountain to California

The same layout, and same soundtracks? Major difference in the two is that the load station is downsized - though the Hyperspace Mountain overlay has now been made permanent so the addition of star wars elements makes up for this IMO.

Yeah, 2012 you're probably right, the park was a flop at opening and the expansions you mention is Disney's recognition of this. Mystic, in my opinion, is possibly one of the best dark rides Disney has ever done. Though M&M RR is newer, having experienced both, I think I enjoyed Mystic far more with much more practical sets and less reliance on projection. Grizzly has it's own place too as a 'different' option to big thunder. Throw in Toy Story and the park is more fully fleshed out. Now with Iron Man, and soon to be Arendelle - it's definitely punching above its weight and is being underestimated (even given the loss of Autopia).

I saw the park in 2010 and 2015, so saw the before and after. 2010 was still enjoyable, but 2015 it was beating OP hands down.

I think @Gazza would have made it to HKDL while he was there, so no doubt another TR is coming and we'll find out what he thought of it in its current state of comparison.

[Baconjack]

On 22/06/2023 at 11:32 AM, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

The same layout, and same soundtracks? Major difference in the two is that the load station is downsized - though the Hyperspace Mountain overlay has now been made permanent so the addition of star wars elements makes up for this IMO.

The effects are also cheaper imo. No strobe tunnel in Hong Kong, 2nd lift effects are just strobe lights compared to the tunnel on the California version, brake run tunnel looks worse. Load station is smaller and looks a bit odd too. With the Star Wars overlay it looks incomplete and a mish mash of Star Wars & old space mountain, you'd think if it was intended to be permanent they'd go all in on the retheme. You're right on the layout and soundtracks but look into the little details and you see it's the cheap version (their autopia version could fall under this criticism too) which explains why Hong Kong was considered bad in its opening day form. A couple of standouts and it's a good park for someone who hasn't visited a Disney park before (Like myself when I visited) however if you visited Disneyland or WDW beforehand you'd notice these things pretty quickly.

As you say Mystic is a fantastic dark ride, easily the best thing there, and a great take on the haunted mansion, it doesn't depend on screens as heavily as modern trackless dark rides (compared to Ratatouille or M&M RR). Grizzly is a great ride that has a great feeling of speed but haven't ridden any of the big thunders yet so can't make a judgement on whether it's better than that. Iron Man is a good alternative to Star Tours but I wasn't particularly impressed by it and it stuck out like a sore thumb in Tomorrowland, haven't gotten to ride the Ant-man space ranger spin redo yet but based on POV's it seems to be a downgrade. Arendelle looks great and although I dislike Iger/Chapek era IP-based projects as much as the next person it has its place and is a necessary addition to drive visitors up as something different from what you can experience in the mainland. Hoping the Avengers e-ticket is eventually built to finish off the marvel corner of tomorrowland which will also give visitors a reason to come as there's nothing marvel at shanghai.

Edited July 11, 2023 by Baconjack

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

31 minutes ago, Baconjack said:

their autopia version could fall under this criticism too

Their Autopia version, fully electric with smooth controls and safety systems was, in my opinion, far superior to California's boneshaking version, nevertheless, HK hasn't operated an Autopia attraction in over 7 years now.

33 minutes ago, Baconjack said:

No strobe tunnel in Hong Kong, 2nd lift effects are just strobe lights compared to the tunnel on the California version, brake run tunnel looks worse. Load station is smaller and looks a bit odd too.

This assumes California is in full working order (which it isn't at present) so the effects are as much hit and miss as Scooby or Superman can be. HK has a smaller load station, but i'm not riding for the station. It's been about 8 years since I went on HK's version but having just come back from California, I think HK stands on it's own - not as big, or bold, but still a great park, with newly opened Toy Story Land and potentially Grizzly open in 2012 - certainly worthy of outranking Ocean Park, which was the original comparison made in this discussion.

39 minutes ago, Baconjack said:

With the Star Wars overlay it looks incomplete and a mish mash of Star Wars & old space mountain, you'd think if it was intended to be permanent they'd go all in on the retheme.

Like all attractions there's a difference between capital and non capital expenditures, and overlays don't generally come out of the same budget and full rethemes, so perhaps it needs to wait it's turn in the cycle. Nevertheless, the discussion was on a 2012 version of the park where that wasn't a factor. If we're going to make modern comparisons, then we also need to factor in the modern attractions (as well as the current closures) which IMO still tips the scales towards HKDL.

[Ogre]

I could see them getting a copy pasted version of the Avengers ride coming to DCA if it does well.