The fright is right at Ocean Park

Trick or treat? Or a real good scare? Come Halloween, step into some of the scariest places on earth — the haunted houses at Ocean Park Hong Kong, which has been transformed into a Republic of Halloween.

Eight haunted houses are scattered all over the park to sow fear and terror among park goers when night falls. But instead of driving people away, these spooky haunts, which look like they’re long abandoned and decaying from disuse, attract quite a number of visitors from all over the globe. And yes, Manila Bulletin’s Ron Lim and I, together with four other journalists from Malaysia and Indonesia, were their latest recruits.

If you’re like us and love to be scared, scare someone else or delight in watching others wet themselves in fright, enter the Paper Doll Paradise, if you dare. As its name suggests, the house is inhabited by Chinese paper doll ghosts.

The sound and smell of burning joss paper greeted us at the entrance. Also known as ghost or spirit money, joss paper (which comes in the form of a car, a house or an appliance) is burned during Chinese funerals to ensure that the departed loved ones have the essential things they might need in the afterlife.

Republic of Halloween spokesperson Lady Gwai-Gwai with Ocean Park Hong Kong chairman Dr. Allan Zeman

The scariest part was when we had to go through the tunnel one by one, which led us to a dark room where the damned were partying. Here, you can feel hell’s burning sensation and hear the screams of lost souls (i.e., us).

Mutilated body parts, innards and splashes of blood on the floor and walls are on view at The Bloody Workshop, a slaughterhouse- turned-art gallery for a macabre exhibition. Here, the deranged artist awaits his next subject. Luckily, he didn’t notice us enter his workshop or else we might have ended up on his canvas.

We got up-close and personal with the zombies at Zombie Mayhem. At this abandoned military camp, we engaged the living dead in a final laser battle. Armed with laser guns, we hit their “soft spot” and lulled them to deep slumber.

What makes Republic of Halloween’s haunted houses unique and interesting is that each one has its own theme, the stories are locally relevant, and the houses rely more on the actors rather than on animatronics so the scare factor is different every time you enter each one of them.

Baby, Come Back!

Ocean Park’s Halloween Bash was conceptualized in 2001 right after the launch of The Abyss Turbo Drop, a thrilling ride which raises passengers up 62 meters in 20 to 25 seconds before thrusting them downward at speeds of up to 65 km/h, even faster than freefalling.

When a middle-aged lady alighted from the ride, an official of the Ocean Park asked her if she enjoyed The Abyss and if she would go back and ride it again. “I enjoyed it very much. I rode it once, and I’m not going to do it again,” was her reply.

Bloody: Mutilated body parts, innards and splashes of blood deck the halls of The Bloody Workshop.

Ocean Park Hong Kong executive director, sales and marketing Paul Pei overheard the conversation and was alarmed by the lady’s reply. Who wouldn’t be? Ocean Park spent a hefty sum for The Abyss and if all park goers share the lady’s sentiment, the prospect of ROI is bleak.

Paul felt they needed to come up with something new to entice more guests to visit the theme park. And so Paul went back to the office and related to Ocean Park Hong Kong deputy chief executive and chief financial officer Matthias Li what he’d heard at The Abyss.

Matthias responded, “What if I give you half of the amount we spent on putting up The Abyss? What would you do with it?” The group started thinking about it.

“There’s an old philosophy in the theme park industry that goes, ‘Software should drive the hardware.’ What that means is you can keep your park fresh by spending not much on the rides but on different events instead,” explained Tom Merhmann, chief executive of Ocean Park, over dinner at Neptune’s restaurant.

That inspired Paul and his team to think of different events that would give a boost to park attendance during slow months. And since most of the theme parks in the US and in Europe hold a Halloween bash, it’s about time they started a Halloween celebration at Ocean Park, too.

In 2001, Ocean Park launched their Halloween Bash with basically one haunted house manned by 30 talents and technicians.

The last supper: Enjoy a sumptuous dinner with the ghosts at the Fear Factory.

Tom shared, “We opened the attraction for two weekends with a total of five nights. The new attraction required little investment — just enough to test how the market responds to it. Thank goodness, it worked! We basically developed a new formula for success: we could entertain people by scaring them.”

Local Flavor

Now in its 11th year, Ocean Park’s Halloween Bash keeps getting bigger and better each year. What started out as one attraction has become a hard-ticket event, which features eight haunted houses and a host of other attractions.

“When we had our first Halloween bash, we had Frankenstein, Dracula, and those western horror movie icons roaming the park. In our third year, we started introducing local ghosts and horror stories. Over the years, we’ve managed to build an arsenal of local ghost stories, which have become the themes of the haunted houses. The locals related well to these stories, while our foreign guests find the Chinese-speaking ghosts scary and funny at the same time,” Tom related with a hearty laugh.

What makes Halloween Bash unique is that the houses, shows and performers are different every year. The creative efforts are huge. This year, there are 25 haunted attractions and shows, 444 ghouls including Republic of Halloween’s spokesperson Lady Gwai Gwai (gwai-gwai is the Chinese term for ghost).

Ocean Park’s market is growing, too. The park is getting more people from Mainland China, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Korea who now account for close to 30 percent of overall attendance during the Halloween Bash month.

Tom Merhmann, chief executive, Ocean Park Hong Kong

Ocean Park chairman Dr. Allan Zeman is confident that attendance at this year’s Halloween event will achieve the expected 10- to 15-percent increase and approach the 700,000 arrivals mark.

Ocean Park’s The Bayview Restaurant even designed a four-course Halloween menu for courageous park goers to enjoy. For starters, there’s avocado salad with ox-tongue and pesto dressing followed by cream of tomato soup with snow crab meat and black truffle, which accentuates the sweetness and slight acidity of the bloody red tomato sauce.

For the main course, choose between braised lamb shank with mousseline potato and steamed salmon fillet with black bean sauce and deep-fried onion rings. A slice of mint chocolate mousse cake with Haagen-Dazs ice cream caps the macabre meal.

Kids and vegetarians aren’t left out as the resto has a separate menu for them.

Get Ready To Be Scared

If you’re planning to celebrate Halloween at Ocean Park, it’s best to buy your Privilege Ticket (which includes night admission to the park and unlimited entry to all haunted attractions through a fast queue) or Privilege Dinner Combo (which includes night admission to the park and unlimited entry to all haunted attractions through a fast queue, plus a Halloween Scary Dinner at one of the restaurants and a souvenir) online because with the normal ticket you have to queue up for 30 to 45 minutes just to get into each house.

Food for the soul: Kids are in for a scary but yummy treat at Bayview Restaurant.

If you can’t get the Privilege Ticket, go to the park early. You might get an early bird coupon, which serves as a privilege pass to one of the three haunted houses in The Waterfront (except for the HTC Presents Nightmare in 3D). To activate it, you need to go to any of the four haunted houses up on the Summit (take the cable car or Ocean Express) and get a stamp on the coupon.

Remember, there are eight haunted houses to explore and if you’re a normal ticket holder, you have to plan your course of action really well to be able to visit all houses. Who knows? You might bump into Lady Gwai Gwai along the way.

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Ocean Park Hong Kong’s Halloween Bash runs until Oct. 31.