Travel
70
8 DAYSIf you’ve always wanted to star in
an animal flick...
DOWN TO HELL
Climb a ladder that is three storeys high and jump off the ledge... without a safety
harness. You’ll land on a huge inflated air cushion. We were still contemplating
whether to try this when a more intrepid journo takes the plunge. She leaps and
it’s over in less than 30 seconds. Okay, it doesn’t seem too daunting. However,
she remains on the cushion where she lands and doesn’t move for five to 10
minutes, afterwhich she was helped onto to a wheelchair and sent to the
paramedics. We see her a few hours later looking fine, and hear that she
had a backache as she didn’t land in the correct position. An Ocean Park
spokesperson tells us: “The Down to Hell attraction features a patented air
bag system from Zero Shock, which is a leading impact prevention
system supplier for theme parks, extreme sports and trampoline
parks. Images of the correct landing posture were posted
along the stair unit. Our operation staff gave a thorough
briefing to all participants individually. The briefing would
emphasise precautions and instruct the participant on
where to land on the airbag and the landing posture
to adopt. Upon conclusion of the briefing, the staff
would check with the guest if he or she fully understood
the briefing.” As with Buried Alive, this attraction is
temporarily closed.HEAD TO: SEAL ENCOUNTER
If gruesome encounters are not your thing, hang
out with some adorable seals instead. Highlights
in the hour-long experience include getting to rub
the cold bellies of the 100kg sea animals, and
getting a big fat wet hug from them while standing
waist-deep in water. Seal-iously cute.WHAT YOU MAY NOT GET TO TRY
BURIED ALIVE
It was one of the attractions we were most keen to try,
where you get “buried alive alone in a coffin by voodoo
priests”. The coffin then slides down into an under-
ground grave, which you get to explore. We’d tell you
what it feels like to be Ryan Reynolds in Buried, but the
coffin slide was not included in our media preview. We
did tour part of the Buried Alive attraction though —
the ‘underground grave’ area, which had us scurrying
past witches in a haunted mansion. But tragically for
a 21-year-old man, visiting the Buried Alive attraction
turned into a real-life horror story. Last month, a park
goer died after he reportedly stumbled by mistake into a restricted, staff-only backstage area, and was knocked
unconscious by a coffin prop. He later died in hospital. The death is Halloween Fest’s first fatal accident since the
fest was introduced in the theme park in 2001, and the attraction has been temporarily suspended.TEMPORARILY
SUSPENDEDTEMPORARILY
SUSPENDEDAdmission tickets start from HK$438 ($75.80) for adults and HK$219 for kids.
Visit http://www.oceanpark.com.hk for more info.