Ocean Park

The first time I heard of Ocean Park was at Mike's parents house when we were talking with Joyce and Sarah. Joyce kept saying "Ocean Pahk" and I just didn't understand what she was saying until it dawned on me... Ocean Park! Now I always say "Ocean Pawk" in my head. Joyce and Sarah said that Ocean Park is better than Disneyland, and we have heard that sentiment from people here as well. We really liked Disneyland, so we were a tough sell.

Mike had parent-teacher interviews from 8:00 am until 6:00 pm all day Saturday (not so fun). But in lieu, the school had a day off on Monday, which is a lot of fun! We thought it would be good to use that Monday do something touristy so that it would be less crowded than usual, so it seemed like the perfect day to go to Ocean Park.

Ocean Park is kind of exactly what it sounds like. It's an amusement park with a real nautical theme to it. It's on Hong Kong Island built at the top of the mountain overlooking the ocean. There are a lot more "thrilling" rides than what Disneyland offers, which is why I think older kids like it. And there's an aquarium, pandas and dolphin shows, so even though it can't compete with Disney princesses (not much can in Annika's eyes!), it tries to anyway.
Half of the park is at the bottom of a mountain, and the other half is at the top. It's so spread out and confusing. You can either take a cable car or a train from the bottom to the top. We opted for the cable car, and had to wait about 45 minutes to get on. Now that the girls are familiar with cable cars, they knew exactly how they wanted to travel. The wait was long (why was it so busy after all on this random Monday in November?), but the views were, as Mike kept saying- and said about many other things as the day went on-, "worth the price of admission alone!"
We got to the top of the mountain just as the dolphin show was about to start. Everything was translated between Cantonese, Mandarin, and English, which was a bit confusing. We watched it for a while, but we've all seen our fair share of dolphin and sea lion shows at West Edmonton Mall so eventually we left in search of lunch and ferris wheels.
The ferris wheel was also a long wait for a short ride. But again, the views from the top were "worth the price of admission alone", so you can't complain about that.
A roller coaster jutting over the edge of the water is pretty awesome. I can't wait until the girls are roller coaster age!

The one "thrill seeking" ride that we could go on was the log ride. We weren't sure if it would end with wet, crying children, but we decided to give it a go. It turns out we have a little "thrill seeker" on our hands. Annika had the best spot in the front, and LOVED it! She immediately wanted to do it again. Leila did not like it, but at least she didn't cry about it. Mike and Annika went on it a second time, and I was able to get a picture (not a good one- we had just our old little camera with us again this time) of the final descent into the water. It was the highlight of Annie's day. She would have done it a third time, but she was getting pretty wet, and it really wasn't that warm out!
We took the train back down and went to see Le Le and Ying Ying, the Giant Pandas. They were both awake! So fun!
Annika in front of a Giant Chinese Salamander. Yikes! It was ugly.
We tried to wake Leila up to see the Pandas, because she was wanting to see them, but the nap won out. Oh well, I showed her the pictures just now, and she seemed okay about missing it.
Annie chose the sea horse, Mike got stuck on a pink fish, and Leila and I shared a double- seater dolphin.
Then we discovered the kids zone. It was perfect for the girls. There was a slow little pink train ride that made Leila happy, and the girls had this clown ride all to themselves. There was also a bouncy thing and a playground. All it needed was a Starbucks (better yet, Tim Hortons!) and we all would have been set!

Annika found another thrilling ride- the Frog Hopper.
I rode it once with her (there's only room for one adult at a time), but Annika rode it four times in total.
I was tempted to buy the key chain and magnet of this picture, but they were asking about $25.

The last thing we did was check out the aquarium. We were tired and ready to go home, but the aquarium was so impressive! If we go back to Ocean Park we need to spend more time there... it was pretty cool. Dare I say... worth the price of admission alone?
And... a video! Yes,that's Annika you hear screaming like a little girl.