Ocean Park - Winter Hong Kong with Children Day 5

Been so looking forward to this day for Ocean Park~ I've been there many years ago when I was in my late teens (OMG that was like so long ago!). So it's changed a lot since then, it became bigger than what I remembered of it.

I woke early and tried to shoo the children out of bed as early as possible. 爸爸 bought tickets from 7-11 store near the hotel to save some queue time (HK$320 per adult and HK$160 per child). Later it seems there is a ticket counter at Admiralty MTR station that sells tickets to Ocean Park at slightly discounted price? Not sure as we didn't stop to find out, just saw a sign in front of the counter.

Our way of going about HK is easy, just hop on the MTR (using Octopus card, very convenient), and change lines until the required station. So end up we arrived at Admiralty MTR (金钟) at 10am. From Admiralty station, there are signs showing which exit to go for Citybus 629 which will take us directly to Ocean Park. Bus fare is HK$10.60 per adult, HK$5.30 per child (not free, ok!). We paid with Octopus card so it's still convenient. Bus driver will keep a hawk eye on you while you are scanning your card, don't even think of cheating :) Even though it's a Monday when we visit, there is a long queue building up for bus 629 :P

Citybus 629, we manage to get top level front row seats!
However 姐姐 looked like frowning in the photo as she knocked her head on the TV display when scrambling to 弟弟's side.

We reached Hong Kong Ocean Park in about 20 minutes of bus ride. It stops right in front of the park since it's a dedicated service. See the crowd is already building up, there's quite a long queue for tickets. Luckily we already had ours and went straight to the entrance. My sympathies to a foreign family (not sure what nationality), they printed online tickets and were having problems with the barcode, don't know what happens then. But our poor quality 7-11 tickets went through without problem. They checked our bags again (just like Disneyland) and I think they are looking for canned foodstuff too (hahaha are they expecting us to bring canned curry chicken? Just joking).

Direction of the sun is not suitable for photo, but no choice :P

I think we didn't really research the layout and map properly, so we just went for the Ocean Express first. As Ocean Park opening hours is from 10am to 8pm (this is for the time we visit, seems like opening hours might be different so check their website), there's not much people yet (they're probably still queuing for tickets outside).

Ocean Express - we took this train throughout the day. 

We took the Ocean Express several times throughout our visit. There's no way to walk to the Summit area other than taking Ocean Express unless you take the cable car (think long queue again).

This breathtaking view is from Summit Plaza, Hong Kong Ocean Park

Christmas decorations around Summit Plaza

Then we went around exploring the North Pole Encounter and South Pole Spectacular. No flash photography allowed here so our photos didn't turn out nice :P

We manage to see walrus feeding, but it's just throwing food at the animals so it's not as interesting as in Siam Ocean World. It's much colder inside North Pole Encounter and South Pole Spectacular.

Walrus feeding (see the two brown walrus right at the back?) and Arctic fox, cute, it's looking at us and take photos with the children.

Arctic Fox walking around its den. Penguins and a mock penguin. 

Penguin deco around South Pole Spectacular. Met Penguin mascot, but no time to wait for photo :P

It may be called Polar Adventure but there's no polar bear at Hong Kong Ocean Park.

There's still some time before show time for Sea Lion Fun Time Show, so we went to see the pandas. The big pandas were sleeping away, and everyone is asked to be keep their voices down.

Red panda and sleeping panda -they are all cute!

Around the same area, there's alligator.

Gator - fake (above), real (below)

Family photo with panda mascot

After that, it's the Sea Lion Fun Time Show at Whiskers Theatre. 姐姐 was called to the stage to mimic how the trainers train sea lions hehe. Poor girl she was jumping around as she didn't understand Cantonese.

Then, after the show it's lunch time at Panda Cafe. Kids had kids' meal and panda steamed buns, we shared a chicken stir-fry dish (costs HK$264). The food is nothing to shout about, although the panda steam buns are cute. It's quite packed during lunch hour and we're lucky to get a table.

Panda steamed buns and kid's meal at Panda Cafe

After lunch, we went back to Whiskers Theatre for Ocean Heroes. It's a kids' musical in Cantonese :P

Children with Gator mascot. Talking Tree, we think it's actually a trash can! 

Children taking photo with Ocean Heroes mascots. Children with blue Santa at Santa's Ocean Cove

More mascots, intercepting Panda. And met a starfish :P

Now, I don't know why we went back to Polar Adventure.

These are mock animals :)

Finally photos with spotted seal!

Next we went to wait for the Ocean Wonders show at Ocean Theatre. OMG, it's so far walking there as we kind of lost our way a little and so hot waiting for the show to start under the sun (even in winter)! I'm definitely not coming here in summer hahaha :P

Ocean Wonders at Ocean Theatre, Hong Kong Ocean Park - see the dolphins' jump?
And dolphins decorations :P

To be honest, the show is definitely more geared towards being educational, it's in Cantonese so those who don't know the language, sorry. 爸爸 bought us popcorn to share while waiting for the show, but the popcorn is really bad. It's nothing compared to those even from the cinemas hahahaha. Definitely the ones at Disneyland tastes much better. We think the show at Bangkok Safari World is the absolutely most entertaining among those we had seen. So this one rates kind of boring with the children. And the children quietly said "why are the dolphins so fat, they can't even jump as high as those from Bangkok Safari World" :P

We went to Chinese Sturgeon Aquarium Yangtze Exploration after the Ocean Wonders show. No photos here however. It's really tiring walking around as it's steep uphill and downhill around Ocean Theatre. We did pass by Garden of Joy without meaning to :) It's just a tranquil garden with koi fishes and oriental surroundings. It seems that Ocean Park is more crowded in the afternoon with Mainland Chinese tours. Maybe they only do half-day for Ocean Park after lunch. The queue for cable car is extremely long now so totally no chance to go on it.

Then it's Pacific Pier where the seals are housed. Super cute, as they are snoozing under the sun.

The children loved  Pacific Pier! Oh the sun direction again :(

Seals and more seals :)

Snack at Boardwalk Cafe, only because of the seals at the tables.
The bottom one with 弟弟 is actually outside the restroom.

After snack time, we decided to take the Ocean Park Tower since the queue looks bearable by now. It's pretty nice except, again for the rowdy tourists spoiling my mood. Did it occur to people they don't have to holler at the person right in front of them? Sigh...

Top photo: Ocean Park Tower
Bottom photo: Touch pool, touching star fish at Grand Aquarium

Children and 爸爸 explored the Grand Aquarium while I waited outside (couldn't find any place to sit inside). Too tired to walk by now, but it was cold :P

Waited for the Symbio show, it's claimed to have water and fire and some laser images. Then it's boarding the 629 bus to Admiralty. We went out before the show finishes but there's still a crowd. Cannot imagine how it is if we had waited. Very tiring day!

Well, if you haven't been to Hong Kong Ocean Park, you'd be wondering what's so tiring about it? Remember it's a pretty big place, and everything is not located together. You'd have to walk and walk over hilly terrains. If you're healthy and fit, it's fine.

We also didn't plan this visit nicely. It would have been a better visit if we had studied the park map more thoroughly. There are limited drinking fountains and can be found from the map. It would be good to note where the toilets are (from the map) especially if travelling with children. Some toilets at certain locations could be crowded, so it's good to know where another nearby one is.

The children didn't get to take any rides, actually the children rides are at Whiskers Harbour. The other rides are meant for teenagers and adults. It's difficult to balance rides, shows and animal exhibits. We just tried to cover as much as we could in our limited time.

After leaving Ocean Park, we went hunting for dinner near the hotel. We tried 北海道活壽司 Hokkaido Katsu Sushi at Citywalk. It's about closing time, so we are the last order. We had 北海道叉烧豚骨拉面 which is some char siew pork ramen and sushi rice set with tempura and miso soup. Too bad no photo as too tired and hungry. The ramen is pretty good, but sushi rice is served cold :P Still food is good at reasonable price, we spent $164.1, which is price after 20% discount (some after hours discount).