Read the Part 1 here and Part 2 here
From the water world inside the Grand Aquarium to the rainforest with giant pandas, the adventure continued as we moved to the upper part of the Ocean Park, the Summit. There were two ways to go to the Summit of the park, either to ride on the express train or a cable car. My friend and I wanted to try both, so we opted to ride on the express train going up to the Summit, and the cable car going back to the Waterfront.
One thing I wanted to do in Ocean Park was to ride on different rides, especially the hair raiser roller coaster and the splash that would make your hair raise once they turned upside down, lol. Unfortunately, my friend has astigmatism and she doesn't want to ride on any extreme rides as she would feel dizzy and have a headache. And it would be boring if I would ride alone, so I opted to stay with her. Besides, the queues in all rides were freaking long and would eat most of our time. No rides, just have fun!
The Ocean Express Waterfront Train Ride to the Summit
From the waterfront to the summit, we traveled through the ocean express train. My friend said that due to unstable weather conditions here in HK that make cable cars unaccessible, the ocean express was added as an alternative way to get back and forth from the Waterfront and the Summit. I was awed by its architecture with a nautical theme, from the station and waiting areas to the train itself and its portholes.
We hopped into a submarine-style train and readied ourselves for a funicular ride. But wait! Submarine-themed train passing through the underground? It wasn't just an underground ride as we experienced an underwater adventure! Underway, sea creatures like different fish, jellyfish, manta rays, dolphins, and sharks were appearing on the roof part of the train, and we felt like inside a real submarine.
The thrilling part was when a giant octopus hammered on the train that caused the glass to crack and it shattered into pieces. It was indeed a fantastic underwater adventure.
The Summit
We reached the Summit after 4 minutes and saw the amazing view atop and visitors could do binoculars overlooking the sea, HK city, and waterfront Ocean Park. Unfortunately, the binocular seemed unavailable because we didn't see anything as we peeped into it.
After taking a break and eating our snacks, we ride on an escalator going to Thrill Mountain.
Thrill Mountain
This carnival-themed part of the Summit has the most exciting adrenaline-filled rides and different game booths where visitors who don't like rides could play shooting, throwing, tossing, etc, and win cute and huggable stuffed toys such as Peppa pig, Kanahei, giraffe, and more. And there's a giant clown man statue doing a circus show at the entranceway.
If adventure and thrill are your forte, then visit Thrill Mountain Ocean Park. It has different thrilling rides that could make you fly through the air and scream on top of your lungs while passing on an undulating track. The exhilarating rides include an aerial swing ride called Whirly Bird, Rev Booster that could make your body twist, and more.
And the top most visited adrenaline rides are Flash and Hair Raiser. I was thrilled while watching the Flash swinging the visitors inside gondolas and rotating at 360°. Your hair would definitely raise and feel like your internal organs will be pulled out once it rotates upside down, lol.
The Hair Raiser, on the other hand, is a floorless roller coaster and the fastest one in Hong Kong. This was the ride I wanted to try but my friend doesn't want to experience the breathtaking twists and turns that would make our feet dangle in the air. It was located along the bay so visitors could overlook the scenic Ocean Park and the South China Sea. They also have Bungee Trampoline jumping that suits young visitors. But we didn't try it too and just focused on taking photos everywhere, lol.
After visiting Thrill Mountain, we went down on the opposite side to the canopy highway and visited the rainforest which I mentioned in this article The Giant Panda Adventure In The Rainforest.
Aside from thrilling rides, there were also other rides suitable for kids and old visitors. An ocean-themed carrousel, a giant Ferris wheel that looked beautiful at night with its lights, and a tram that visitors could use to travel to other parts of the park.
Ferris wheel (Summit), Tram and Carrousel (Waterfront)
I never tried riding on a tram yet and that's my plan one of these days. If it wasn't only late, I would definitely ride on it at Ocean Park. Too bad that we found it late at night already. Meanwhile, the Ferris wheel has a long queue, so we opted to look for the cable car as it was getting late already.
From the rainforest side of the Summit, a Tropical Safari-themed glamping site was found and I wasn't sure what were those tents for, either from a restaurant or just sleeping tents. And the perfect part was the stunning view of the South China Sea.
I changed my long skirt into jeans before going to the next destinations to be more comfortable.
At the end of the Rainforest trail was Santa Claus and an elf who love taking photos with the visitors. I spotted three Christmas-costumed staff and took photos with them. The other one was outside the Christmas Alley near the Giant Panda Adventure site.
Park Tower
On our way to finding the animal shows, we spotted the Park Tower and opted to ride on it. It has viewing rooms that rotate 360° so visitors could see clearly the South China Sea, other Hong Kong islands, and of course, the whole Ocean Park. We had perfect shots as it slowly rotates until we captured all sides of the Ocean Park.
You could see all the thrilling rides on the Thrill Mountain in the lower left photo with a yellow coaster. That's the Hair Raiser, the fastest coaster in HK and would turn you 360° with hair raising and feet dangling in the air.
The sun was slowly settling when we ride on it and we witnessed the beautiful sunset as it perfectly created a glimmering path in the water facing the Pacific pier. After the 3-minutes ride, we hopped out and continued our journey to finding the animal shows before the dusk take over.
See you at the final part of this water world adventure! 😁
Thanks for reading.
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