Saturday, in the Park. I think it was the 4th of November.

Ocean Park - lots of fun

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but when you have blonde kids and there are Mainland Chinese tourists around, you tend to be a bigger tourist attraction, than the one they paid for.  My (at the time 7 year old) Daughter thought she should start charging for photos.  True story.  

Travelling to OP in style, the circle on the mountain is the dragon next to the cable car

Same thing happened in Macau, Lamma Island, Disneyland et al.  My missus got the stage where she'd start photographing anyone and their kids.  One bird in Macau had a sleeping baby in a sling that she looked like she'd drop when she bent down to get that selfie with Gweilo kid.  Anyway, I digress.

So I thought Ocean Park was worth a write up for a few reasons.  Normally theme parks are a case of "if you know they're there, go.  You don't need to tell the world about it".  However there are a couple of tips to share and some photos.

Since we last went to HK in 2009, Ocean Park has gotten a lot bigger and the rides more numerous and better.  The big rollercoaster (which is a newbie) is fantastic.

These Pandas are worth the price of admission alone.

Lots of active sea-mammals doing their sea-mammally thing.

The big thing with Ocean Park is that it's so cheap compared to most theme parks pretty much anywhere in the world.  About $100 Australian for a family of 5 (the 1 year old was free).  And there's always something for each age group and adrenelin level (or visual level).

The other big thing is that the food is generally tolerable and cheap, if you go the Cant-faux route.  

Again, probably avoid "street food" dim sum and the like.  The mobile food carts near the souvenir shops after the entrance are a definite no-go on every level.  Steamed Salmonella with Dysentary satay on a stick.  Faux-Malaysian and all sort of awful.  Pretty much avoid anything 'ethnic' in a HKers eyes (stick to Canto food and American style food).  Same applies for Indo, Malay and South East Asian food in Disney, especially in Mystic Manor.  It's going to taste bad, and ruin the next 2-3 days of your holiday, without gaining you any street-cred.

The 'diner' on the right hand side after you enter isn't bad.  Beer isn't cheap there (beer and bottled water are good price indicators), bottled water is prohibitively expensive by HK standards (but okay by AUS) and necessary for the humidity, and the food isn't fantastic and quite expensive, but it won't hurt you too much.

Entrance to Oceanarium, the diner is part of the blue globe to the right of this

The big tip is the food at Panda Kingdom Diner, just after the Panda display (yay!).  It isn't cheap by my cheap-HK standards, though at about $30 to feed a family, it's reasonable.  The food is adequate - the usual Char Siu and various other roasted animals and veges on steamed rice.  Not challenging, and not the best example - but it's a theme park and it'll do.  And it doesn't make you feel yuk and unable to ride afterward (I went on the massive rollercoaster twice immediately after).

These birds are allowed to be free, and don't fly off.  Must be on a good wicket.

More non-edible birdage

In our cage of death

As for the park - if you suffer from Height-based phobias, like my wife and my oldest kid, there's now a tunnel rail between the two parts of the park.  Me, and 2 of my other daughters (the baby went with mum, no arguments) went on the cable car.  Generally the cable car takes lots longer than the underground, due to lines.  And the underground railway is quite cute - mimicking a virtual reality underwater vessel.  So the tip is, check the lines before deciding or one group will be waiting half an hour for the hour.

The usual caveats about ride heights and vomiting apply for all the other rides.  Don't go on a rainy day, you might miss rides.

The view from the cable car

If you don't like the cable car, you can still get a good view in the "rides" part of OP

The other big tip relates to leaving the park.  It's a pain.  We took a taxi there (well worth the fee - though HK taxis are uber-cheap anyway), and the bus back (as of writing, the South Side of HKI doesn't have a train line, though it is being built).  Now this bus back turned into a two hour ordeal of waiting and standing and sitting in back-cramping positions - just to get to Central station.  Just don't bother if you have kids. Pay for the taxi.  Don't be deceived that the bus holds 50 people so that line will reduce quicker than the taxi line.  It won't.  

Get yourselves dropped off at your accommodation direct with a taxi and partake of a 7-Eleven dinner or something easy like that.  You'll be too tired to want anything to try eating out.  You'll avoid the 2 hours back to central, the 'trying to locate the train' in the night (which requires more walking, which you've already done all day) with whingeing, tired kids.  Then the train back, the walk back to accommodation, et cetera ad nauseum.

Ocean Park is well worth a look.  Good value, excellent rides, reasonably priced souvenirs and food.