Taken: 4.11.2012
At Ocean Park, Hong Kong.
Ocean Park has changed a lot since I stopped being a regular there - i.e. since I was in high school. It has changed both for better and for worse. On one hand it is trying really hard to stay competitive and stay original, with Disneyland and it's x-year extension plan chomping up the theme-park market share in this part of the world. OP has introduced a few new rides, a few new animal exhibits including penguins and more pandas, relocated and revamped and expanded the aquarium, and built a fake "old Hong Kong street" that sold "old Hong Kong street food" and had games where you can win a soft stuffed egg tart toy.
On the other hand, just like Disney, as soon as you enter the park you are bombarded with souvenir shops, a huge fountain and "epic adventure music". The dolphin show, which used to also feature a killer whale, also bombards you with deafening music throughout the show, and near-propaganda-type audio story of how animals and humans used to live together harmoniously until humans grew more brains and grew hungry and turn planet earth into a free-for-all dumpster. I guess things got a bit boring ever since the killer whale died back in 1997.
But nothing is worse than, although understandable, the number of tour groups from mainland China that the park admits every weekend. Tour bus after tour bus flood into the park's bus carpark, and led by tour guides, they mosey around the park, cut in queues, clip their toenails, flash their camera flashes at pandas and penguins, and leave without riding on any of the rides. But hey, what can you say, can't blame OP for taking advantage of welcoming the rich and eager-to-travel mainland bros to spend a few and save the park from sinking under Disney's shadow, right?
