Cable Cars, Tired Panda, and More at Hong Kong's Ocean Park!
Four months have passed since our Hong Kong trip as of this writing. I am looking at my drafts and found this one here needs to be expedited and I had been way way behind so many things, I wanted to finish this series and start with our wedding anniversary trip which happened last February but as I scrolled through the draft, looking at the photos, I got already tired trying to remember all that had happened that day, but I will try my best to get this done today.
I didn't book before coming to Ocean Park, I realized, it is not hard to get one and there's always space for everyone in this place because it's a huge place and I didn't book in advance to make sure it won't be a waste of money in case we decide not to go the last minute.
Someone's excited!
The train ride going to Ocean Park was easy and we got our tickets in a breeze at their ticket booth. There were already many visitors as we arrived, they had entrance gates for those with baby strollers so it was easier for us to get inside.
We bought tickets priced at HK$498 or PHP 3558.60 for the adults and HK$249 or PHP 1779.30 for Matti, yes, these tickets aren't cheap! But since they got animals and sea creatures which we won't see often, I strongly believe that this is worth every penny.
Coming in, we were even greeted by the Ocean Park characters. I am not familiar with these characters but they were dancing and singing so we watched. My very first impression upon seeing the structures here is that this looks like an old place, there were several signs of age from the designs and the paints.
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Oh I spotted a few of my husband's colleagues too, we greeted them but had to go our separate ways as we wanted to go on each of our pacing.
I scanned the QR code for the map, there's free WIFI all over the park so it's very convenient. I looked at where the cable cars can be found and so we headed to that spot, according to the blogs that I had read online, it is best to go up to the cable cars first before checking out the spots down.
Here's the map, from the entrance, we headed to the Cable car next to Aqua City. But before coming over to the cable car entrance, we stopped by the old Hong Kong, I got super fascinated with the feels here, and I made sure I got to take some photos of course.
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There are also animals here like the sloth, so make sure to stop over and check out the souvenir shops here too! At the end, we also spotted some of the old tram models. It was another opportunity to take photos!
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It was just the first stop but we already felt tired walking up onto the cable car platform. Thankfully, there was no long line so we got into one without any waiting time.
Both my husband and I were excited for Matti but it wasn't very easy as we have a stroller, the cable car isn't that big and we had to hop into it as it was slowly moving while we were getting inside. We settled inside as the cable car maneuvered towards the hill.
There were three lines of cabins and here's the view of Ocean Park's Waterfront area while we were on our way up to the Summit. I guess it took around 10-15 minutes to ride, it was a bit of a ride so we had time to even eat inside. It is beneficial to bring snacks and food with you while in here.
A few times, the cable car stopped and we had no idea why, we even thought we might have been stuck in there but the view of the ocean was enough for us to enjoy before the gondola started working again.
Above is our video as we walked towards the platform until we reached the summit. After getting off, there's also a viewing deck at the left side and it was nice because when we arrived, only a few were there so we were able to take photographs of the view.
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What can you say about the view above? Stunning! I don't even know where was this place, we just followed the instructions from the Maps app and we reached here. I am not good at geography but this is truly a sight to behold and so our specific location doesn't matter at that time, we just have to appreciate this scenic beauty!
All attractions are listed on the Ocean Park website, they have numerous thrill rides and most of them are on the summit like the Abyss and Hair Raiser which looked pretty scary but the view seems convincing to try. We didn't ride any of these extreme ones, by the way, we were only here for the animals!
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I am proud to say that we visited 90% of the animal attractions except for the sloth because when we were on the way inside, the personnel told us we had to wait for a few minutes but we couldn't wait further as we wanted to ride the cable car right away.
Anyway, our first animal attraction at the Summit was the Rainforest Expedition Trail, we went inside to see different birds while listening to the calls of the world’s largest and smallest toucans, the toco toucan and the green aracari.
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Nearby is the Rapids, a thrill ride and we enjoyed watching the others, mostly youngsters ride the floaters and get drenched. I believe this is good to ride at the end of your visit as you'll get wet the entire time.
Matti on the other hand had so much fun while in here as we found some water blaster. Visitors can aim to hit those who were in the Rapids and it's allowed like there's an instruction in there that tells you to aim for them. It took us a long time to convince my little one to stop as he surely enjoyed playing this.
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Perhaps the highlight of the Rainforest Expedition Trail was the anaconda, the brilliantly coloured poison frogs. Matti also enjoyed the fishes, and there was an anaconda too!
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It's quite hard to explain everything in writing so I guess you should watch our video instead here:
After were done with the Expedition trail, we walked and walked to find other things to do but we ended up finding the Ocean Express Summit Station and thought, we should try that as there was no line at all! I don't know if we were just early or if we were doing the wrong thing as the other visitors were all moving in different directions.
Anyway, we went inside and looked at the map, we decided that we should go check Giant Panda and then the sharks afterward which were both in the low land or the waterfront.
I felt like we were in the Harry Potter movies as we walked towards the Summit Express station. They have designated platforms for those with strollers. Unlike the cable car, the Summit Express accepts passengers going up and down the summit so this is far easier to take than the cable car, plus, the latter is far.
The video above shows how it felt like we were inside a submarine while taking the express train. It was dark inside, they did it on purpose as they got monitors all around the train and they dimmed the entire place while they played a video showing animals and other sea creatures from the shallow area down to the deepest part of the ocean!
My little one didn't like this ride, when we were there the second time, he wanted to go out but we couldn't do that because it was already running so he was crying the entire trip.
Anyway, he was all fine as we went to the Giant Panda area, they got a schedule of when the Panda's going to eat and everyone likes it when Giant Pandas eat as they are truly cute and adorable!
Definitely one of the animal attractions not to miss for because giant pandas are truly cute and funny! I am not sure though if Ying Ying and Le Le know they're making everyone happy just by watching them munch some bamboos.
Aside from the giant panda, there are other animals here which were the red pandas and the giant salamander. While we were at their sanctuary, the red panda was sleeping and we were not able to check where's the giant salamander as we were busy taking photos and videos of the panda eating behind the transparent glass and was surrounded by the tourists around.
Now here's the funny part. After this panda, not sure if it's Ying Ying or Le Le, the giant panda just sat there at the corner and then placed its head into this metal thing and looked like he went to sleep right away.
At the next area, we found out that there's another giant panda hiding behind the rocks. It was far from where were standing but I was glad I could zoom in and take this shot. It seemed like this panda was trying to climb up the hole!
This park is truly huge and so I can't fit all in this blog, that's why, I am cutting it into two parts. Next part, we will check out more on the aquatic animals plus some cold adventures too! So, stay tuned! Thanks for reading!
J U N E B R I D E
Boholana | Cebu | Philippines | Travel | Photography Enthusiast | Calligraphy | Art
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Enjoy kaayo si Matti! for sure si Mommy and Daddy pud. I would love to visit this place with my family.
Yes sis.. nindot baya ..mas ganahan ko ani kay educational