Ocean Park - Hong Kong

“Fill in the blank" amusement park- a place for fun and games for everyone! People of all ages can enjoy our sights and rides! The best theme park in all of "fill in the blank.” Riiiiiiiiiiiightttttttttt. Everyone says that. It's the same motto for Disney World, Bush Gardens, Sea World and all the rest of the theme parks. But for Ocean Park, Hong Kong, the motto is true!

After a day of sight seeing in Hong Kong, we needed a break. I have to admit, my head was swimming with names like Peak Tramway, Victoria Peak, the longest escalator in the world, and other western names. We had heard about Ocean Park before, but never really thought about going there. Ocean Park, Hong Kong is an ocean park not because of its contents but because it's located right next to an ocean (the South China Sea). The park is also very hilly, can you imagine building an amusement park on the side of a mountain?

There are not as many rides as in Disney World, but the rides that they do have are fun. Not only are there rides, but also exhibits and shows. We saw a show where dolphins jump out of the water and the sea lions slide down slides.


We had a fun time there and it felt like we were somewhere in America – except that everyone was speaking Chinese!

Before we go on and describe what we did at Ocean Park, I would like to tell you about one of the things we saw that doesn't have to do with the ocean. These things, are pandas! First of all, I'm crazy about pandas!!!!!!! They're one of my favorite creatures on Earth. Before we went on the trip, when dad mentioned something about going to China, I thought it would be the coolest thing to see pandas in their native country. Well, at Ocean Park, there's a special exhibit for the pandas. Ocean Park has four pandas; everyone recieves pandas in two's these days and Ocean Park has received pandas twice! That means four different, adorable creatures, that look like black and white photos, and are muching on bamboo! We arrived at their dinner time. How those pandas eat! It's amazing they don't excrete a thousand times a day. Pandas will only eat the leaves of bamboo - not the stem. They are truly amazing!!


Siena

When you arrive, there are two sides to the park. One side is the 'younger kids' side, with rides like a small people's rocket device... If you want to go to the other side of the park, (the 'big kids' side) you must immediately take a cable car over. It is a very scenic ride. You see some buildings and some teeeennnny islands and the sky blue water. When you arrive at the other side, you can go to the aquarium, the jelly fish exhibition, or the rides. We went to the jelly fish area first. All the jelly fish are so cool! They swim around in their tanks very normally, yet they look like ballet dancers. In one room, there were lights in the tank to color the fish and there were mirrors on every wall, millions of millions of millions of jelly fish!


Afterwards, we walked through a Japanese garden to get to the aquarium. The aquarium has the largest single exhibition in the world. Four stories deep, the bottom of the tank is covered in rocks with corals of every shape and size. Each floor had something different to offer, the top was small fish, the second was larger fish with one roaming sea turtle, the third was stingrays and HUGE fish, and the last, was algae eaters and even larger stingrays and sharks. Upon exiting, we immediately proceeded toward the rides.

The first ride we saw (and rode on) was the giant swing. It's a merry – go – round but there are swings attached to the celling. Then, it rises up and spins around and tilts and you go along with it!!


Second, the Abyss. And it's just as scary as it sounds. You ride up, slowly but surely, until you can see all of the park and beyond. Then, just as quickly as it stops, it speeds down and you will absolutely fly out of your seat!!!


The Eagle was next. Like the Abyss, you go up, but this time it's in individual cars all attached to a large round circular thing. There are four circles. You go up, and the circle with your car spins and tilts and whirls.


And last but not least, the mine train roller coaster. It's a roller coaster, but because of the parks precarious position on the side of a mountain, it feels like you are going to drop into the water. It had three big drops; fun, terrifying and awesome all at the same time.

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