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Huge New Expansion For Ocean Park Hong Kong

roomraider

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Ocean Park Hong Kong has announced a series of 7 new "Scenic Spots" in a massive new expansion due to take place between 2023 and 2027

Scenic Spots 1 and 2: Ocean Plaza + Azure Bay - The current waterfront park (ie, the foot of the mountain near the entrance) will be divided into 2 theme areas, including Ocean Plaza and Azure Bay.

OPHK0.jpegOPHK2.jpegOPHK3.jpegOPHP4.jpeg

Scenic Spot 3 (Peak New Scenic Spot): Jungle Adventure - The current peak park (the scenic area on the mountain) will be divided into 5 brand-new scenic areas, one of which is the jungle wonder. It is an all-weather space offering a range of diverse and exciting rides. There will also be a new indoor roller coaster with a variety of multimedia interactive technologies, allowing visitors to experience a different underwater world.

OPHK5.jpegOPHK6.jpegOPHK7.jpegOPHK8.jpeg

Scenic Spot 4 (Peak New Scenic Spot): Pacific Ocean - The Pacific Ocean will be built into a gourmet paradise, and there will be special restaurants along the cliffs. Diners can enjoy the endless sea view of Hong Kong Island.

OPHK10.jpeg

5th Scenic Spot (New Peak Scenic Spot): Cape Paradise - Capeland makes good use of the park's unique geographical environment. Two different roller coasters designed according to the terrain of the cliff can independently control the speed and provide different personalized amusement experiences.

OPHK1.jpegOPHK9.jpeg

6th Scenic Spot (New Peak Scenic Spot): Adventure Valley -The wild track of Adventure Valley is built on the mountain. The car is powered by gravity and can adjust the speed by itself. It is equipped with different tracks, suitable for parents and children to enjoy the speed, or visitors who like to thrill to compete with friends.

OPHK11.jpeg

7th Scenic Spot (New Peak Scenic Spot): Explorer Coast - Marine mammals such as dolphins will be relocated to the new pavilion on the Explorer's Coast. The new pavilion will provide an environment tailored for marine animals and suitable for multiple species to live together, while allowing visitors to appreciate their underwater posture. It must be mentioned that the Ocean Theater, which everyone is familiar with, will be converted into a new multi-purpose performance venue. OPHK12.jpeg

Source - https://ezone.ulifestyle.com.hk/art...KdmyLSLl6S_xzgVvTLRG-sHTcWAfv5fkLvr8jvxlP38Zk

Now theres a lot to dig into here. Not least a number of new coasters that seem to be planned. From a B&M Dive Machine to a Maurer Spike. But perhaps most interestingly what may very well be a B&M Surf Coaster model.
 
Ocean Park Hong Kong has announced a series of 7 new "Scenic Spots" in a massive new expansion due to take place between 2023 and 2027

Scenic Spots 1 and 2: Ocean Plaza + Azure Bay - The current waterfront park (ie, the foot of the mountain near the entrance) will be divided into 2 theme areas, including Ocean Plaza and Azure Bay.

View attachment 7614View attachment 7615View attachment 7616View attachment 7617

Scenic Spot 3 (Peak New Scenic Spot): Jungle Adventure - The current peak park (the scenic area on the mountain) will be divided into 5 brand-new scenic areas, one of which is the jungle wonder. It is an all-weather space offering a range of diverse and exciting rides. There will also be a new indoor roller coaster with a variety of multimedia interactive technologies, allowing visitors to experience a different underwater world.

View attachment 7618View attachment 7619View attachment 7620View attachment 7621

Scenic Spot 4 (Peak New Scenic Spot): Pacific Ocean - The Pacific Ocean will be built into a gourmet paradise, and there will be special restaurants along the cliffs. Diners can enjoy the endless sea view of Hong Kong Island.

View attachment 7622

5th Scenic Spot (New Peak Scenic Spot): Cape Paradise - Capeland makes good use of the park's unique geographical environment. Two different roller coasters designed according to the terrain of the cliff can independently control the speed and provide different personalized amusement experiences.

View attachment 7623View attachment 7624

6th Scenic Spot (New Peak Scenic Spot): Adventure Valley -The wild track of Adventure Valley is built on the mountain. The car is powered by gravity and can adjust the speed by itself. It is equipped with different tracks, suitable for parents and children to enjoy the speed, or visitors who like to thrill to compete with friends.

View attachment 7625

7th Scenic Spot (New Peak Scenic Spot): Explorer Coast - Marine mammals such as dolphins will be relocated to the new pavilion on the Explorer's Coast. The new pavilion will provide an environment tailored for marine animals and suitable for multiple species to live together, while allowing visitors to appreciate their underwater posture. It must be mentioned that the Ocean Theater, which everyone is familiar with, will be converted into a new multi-purpose performance venue. View attachment 7626

Source - https://ezone.ulifestyle.com.hk/art...KdmyLSLl6S_xzgVvTLRG-sHTcWAfv5fkLvr8jvxlP38Zk

Now theres a lot to dig into here. Not least a number of new coasters that seem to be planned. From a B&M Dive Machine to a Maurer Spike. But perhaps most interestingly what may very well be a B&M Surf Coaster model.
This is massive. It looks like a beautiful park now and it looked good before, but now its on a bigger scale than before
 

gavin

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This isn't an announcement so much as a proposal. No funding has been approved for this yet; it hasn't even been discussed by the government so far.

Public opinion on government spending isn't great at the moment, so they're going to be cautious about agreeing to £1 billion, which is a lot more than their share of the Disneyland funding, which pissed a lot of people off.

Having said that, people here are somewhat proud of Ocean Park given that it has a longer history and is a homegrown product.

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emoo

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Has there been awareness to the parks locals that they have big plans or has this come out of no where for everyone at the same time?

All parts of this look intriguing to great, I'd be happy if they get to just pluck some of the best bits.
 

gavin

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Has there been awareness to the parks locals that they have big plans or has this come out of no where for everyone at the same time?

All parts of this look intriguing to great, I'd be happy if they get to just pluck some of the best bits.
Any government meetings have the agendas published online beforehand, so the local press ran a story about the request for money a few days ago, but there were no details what the money was planned to be used for.

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gavin

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It won't be surprising that to hear that this is now off the table.

Instead, they're now asking for around half of that "expansion" money as a bailout to just stay open.

There are more details in the linked article, but basically the way things are now, they only have enough cash reserves to last around a month without going bankrupt. The bailout will allow them to clear debts and keep the place running for a year while they work on other, smaller improvements. It's going to a vote this Friday.

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong...-urgent-bailout-planned-hong-kongs-ocean-park
 

nadroJ

CF Legend
I did wonder how Ocean Park would fare out of all of this - between the virus and the riots it's obviously not good news for the HK attractions but the likes of HKDL obviously have the support of Disney to bail them out.

@gavin - any idea on the local attitude towards the park? Is it liked as a tourist spot/respected as a place that brings in jobs etc? Is it something the government are likely to support do you think?

It would be a real shame if not. It was definitely in need of some TLC but what nice parts there were there were really good and different I thought!
 

gavin

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^ There's generally a really positive attitude to the place among locals. There's quite a sense of pride about the place since it's a local product, and a big sense of nostalgia for a lot of people since it's "always been here" since they were kids.

Personally, I think a lot of that is misplaced and outdated. I get a sense that the locals still believe that OP is a huge draw for foreign tourists as a "must-visit" Hong Kong attraction, but I don't think that's anywhere near as true as it used to be. Even fairly recently, it was on every mainland Chinese coach tour itinerary (stupidly bussing in coachloads of pensioners to a park which is physically unfriendly to them), but those have slowly been dropping off, especially seeing as how many huge aquariums and "sea" parks are popping up in China itself.

If you ask people here which is better, Disney or Ocean Park, the vast majority will (wrongly) say Ocean Park because it "has more exciting games" (rides). Bigger beats actual quality apparently, but part of that will also come down to the sense of pride over OP instead of the "foreign" park which has been very politicised since it was announced and is still very polarising.

OP has 4,000 employees, around 2,000 each of full-time and part-time, so couple that with the local pride towards the place and I think it's safe to say the money will be approved.

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roomraider

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Seems the parks going the other way now. The Mine Train and the River Rapids are being removed and the parks moving to a free to enter model where you pay per ride.

The park will also partner with outside operators to bring in new attractions.

Seems things are getting desperate.
 

TilenB

Strata Poster
Also, the English language article linked mentions that it's the log flume that's going, not the rapids, which are still fairly new (I think they opened as a part of the most recent expansion 10 years ago).

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it's those two rides that are getting axed considering how sad that part of the park looked in 2019. Still, it would be a huge shame to lose the mine train. It's one of the very few good coasters Zamperla ever built.
 

Projektion

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It's weird, they say that there is 7 rides closing, but between 2 articles on hk01 (the source for the english article), it's listing about 8 in total:
The article linked in the English one lists off the wave swinger, log flume, rapids, ferris wheel, shot towers and Dragon. The other one I've found also lists off the Mine Train and Pirate Ship (as well as repeats a couple of the others).

1st article:
2nd:
 
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gavin

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I'll just add that the mine train has had a new paint job. I'm not sure when, but I noticed it from outside the park a few days ago. It's still the same colours, but is very fresh and not that rusted look it had for years.

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