Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. From trick-or-treating, to costume competition, then Halloween themed parties, I have enjoyed celebrating Halloween since I was five. However, the only thing I don’t like about Halloween is the theme parks. Last year, I went to both Horror Nights and Hunted Night in Universal Studio in Orlando and Canada, not out of personal interest but to accompany my friends. I won’t call it the most fun and amazing experience in my life. So when my fiancé invited me to the Halloween all day fest in Ocean Park in Hong Kong, I really hesitated. After avoiding the topic for two weeks, my fiancé went straight to buy tickets and we are going on the 29th since it is a Thursday! We got there early in the afternoon and started exploring the park. Ocean Park is actually ranked No.1 theme park in the world for three consecutive years. It feels like Sea World combined with Disney World. It has the ocean theme pavilions and a lot of water shows. Then there are pandas, birds, and rainforest and arctic theme pavilions like Animal Kingdom. Then there are a lot of roller coasters and cartoon themed playgrounds like Magic Kingdom. Also, there is a section replicating the old Hong Kong streets and food, so it is kind of like the Epcot. Because it is Halloween all day fest, there are Halloween shows throughout the day. We spend the daytime riding roller coasters and watching animal shows. And the real thing happens after 5:30 pm. It gets dark outside and the “ghosts” starts to roam around the streets under thick smokes. I was ready to get scared but it was actually much more friendly than I thought. In Universal Studio, the staffs are really trying to scare you. The lightings and costumes are mysterious, creepy, and thrilling. They apply techniques such as secretly following and suddenly show up to scare you. They don’t talk, no excessive facial expressions or body language. Most of them don’t even take pictures with visitors. It is pretty much the same thing in Wonderland, Canada too. Besides that staffs in Wonderland sometimes take pictures with visitors. But here in Ocean Park, the staffs are “lacking” the work ethics. They walk around a lot more and take pictures with, sometimes even talk to, the visitors. A lot of the costumes are more like cosplays, very sophisticated but not scary. Another fun fact is that, apparently, it is popular for Hong Kong locals to dress up and makeup while visiting theme parks during Halloween. And I have to say some of them look very professional. So, interestingly, the visitors blend in well with the staffs. So we ended up having a scare-free and fun Ocean Park day.
