Ocean Park today hosted the Ocean Park Halloween Fest – The Hong Kong Girl Guides Association Charity Day at the newly completed Applause Pavilion. The event raised over HK$1.3 million for the Hong Kong Girl Guides Association (HKGGA) and offered the attending luminaries a chance to be among the first to enjoy this year’s nine unique experiences of fun and fright at seven haunted attractions. Also shown at the event were two television commercials that highlight the fun and fright of Halloween Fest, with one starring Doraemon, while the other featuring Law Lan (Helena Law), Wong Ha Wai (Lana Wong) and Lo Hoi Pang.
Among today’s guests of honour were: Mr. Leo Kung Lin-cheng, Chairman of Ocean Park; Mr. Lau Ming-wai, Deputy Chairman of Ocean Park; Dr. Allan Zeman, Honorary Advisor of Ocean Park; Mr. Tom Mehrmann, Chief Executive of Ocean Park; Mr. Matthias Li, Deputy Chief Executive of Ocean Park; Dr. Quinly Tai Ph.D, Chairman of HKGGA Fund-raising Committee 2014 cum HKGGA Vice President; Ms. Daisy Ho, HKGGA Chief Commissioner; Ms. Miriam Yeung, the Ocean Park Halloween Fest - Hong Kong Girl Guides Association Charity Day Good Will Ambassador; Co-sponsor representatives Ms. Peggie Lau, the Four Seas Group Associate Director, Communications, and Ms. Maisy Ho, Executive Director of Shun Tak Holdings Limited; Juno Mak, Director of Rigor Mortis; Law Lan, Wong Ha Wai and Lo Hoi Pang.
Mr. Leo Kung said, "Ocean Park is honoured to collaborate with the Hong Kong Girl Guides Association on our annual Halloween Charity Day, now in its 14th year, to raise funds in support of the Association’s work in enabling girls and young women to develop their fullest potential as responsible citizens of the world. We are also delighted to kick-off this year’s Halloween Fest at our newly completed indoor entertainment venue, Applause Pavilion, so that everyone can enjoy a special version of our ever-popular Scaremonies presented by Blue Girl Beer in the comfort of a sheltered environment."
Lau Ming Wai said, "Ocean Park is presenting a new breakthrough for this year’s Halloween Fest by offering nine unique experiences at seven haunted locations, over 10 Halloween-themed shows and extended opening hours, while keeping fun and fright all-day-and-night at the price of one ticket. The cast and scale of this year’s event are both the largest ever, involving over 1,000 ghosts and ghouls, as well as more than 20,000 hours of rehearsal and training. All the haunted attractions together add up to nearly 30,000 square feet of extra floor space to complement the Park’s over 80 regular attractions."
Dr. Allan Zeman, Honorary Advisor of Ocean Park, who appeared in a viral video for H14 released earlier, attended today’s event in a special look. He said, "Along with Leo Kung and Lau Ming-wai, as well as everyone in Hong Kong, I feel extremely proud to support Halloween Fest, which has become the largest Halloween celebration in Asia. I just could not let the year pass without playing a surprise part in the opening performance to welcome the arrival of Halloween Fest at Ocean Park."
Ms. Daisy Ho, Chief Commissioner of The Hong Kong Girl Guides Association, said, "Ocean Park’s highly reputed annual Halloween celebration has not only won the enthusiastic support of the Hong Kong public, but also continued to creatively enrich the growing Halloween culture. I would like to thank Ocean Park, the Four Seas Group and TurboJET for making it possible for the Hong Kong Girl Guides Association to co-host this meaningful event, which raised fund for the development of guiding. Ocean Park Halloween Fest – The Hong Kong Girl Guides Association Charity Day is one of the remarkable fund-raising events of HKGGA this year. It is fully supported by Ocean Park Corporation, Four Seas Group, TurboJET, Chairman of HKGGA Fund-raising Committee 2014, Dr. Quinly Tai Ph.D. and the Organizing Committee of Charity Day. The Organizing Committee members include Co-chairmen: Mrs. Nancy Chiu, Dr. Margaret Choi, Ms. Pansy Ho, Dr. Eleanor Kwok BBS, Dr. Jimmy Wong SBS JP, Dr. Andrew Yuen and HKGGA Chief Commissioner Ms. Daisy Ho."
This year’s Halloween Fest commenced on 14 September, with all event dates in September and 1 October being sold out to various corporations for their exclusive use. Although the public would not be able to enter the haunted attractions and certain show venues during these chartered event dates, all guests can still feel the Halloween Fest ambience and take photos with our ghouls around the Park. To experience the entire Halloween Fest offerings, the public can visit Ocean Park on 16 event days from 2 – 31 October.
Highlight of this year's Halloween Fest includes the Asia premiere of Doraemon in a Halloween look at the Doraemon Halloween Party in Whiskers Harbour, with his friends Noby, Sue, Big G and Sneech in attendance. The attraction features Doraemon’s favourite gadgets so guests can enter "Time Machine" and "Anywhere Door" for photo opportunities.
Another innovation of this year is "Transforming Attractions", which offer fun-tastic experiences for the entire family until 5pm on each event day before transforming into the most frightful haunted zones for the evening. Meticulous planning enabled the layout of the family-friendly Phantom Studios to transform into the more intense Horror-wood Studios, thereby producing two different settings. During the day, guests will play the role of an emerging actor by striking hilarious poses of horror to be captured on camera. The footage can be downloaded via QR Code when they exit the attraction. During the evening, guests can rent a selfie video camera to capture and take home their frightful adventure inside the haunted studios. As the attraction has been installed with multiple cameras, guests can also review their terrified reactions before leaving the attraction. Another transforming attraction changes from Forest of Legends with fun, spooky surprises during the day into Forest of Doom at night with a more intense scary feel.
Rigor Mortis LIVE presented by Yahoo! Hong Kong is also expected to be a major draw this year. The attraction takes its theme from Rigor Mortis, a local film that won Best Visual Effects at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Ocean Park specially invited director Juno Mak to offer creative ideas to help bring to life the desolate beauty of his film’s eerie public estate scenes. The attraction also features the film’s spooky characters and soundtrack to make the ambience extra scary.
Time slots available on the first three days of pre-registration for H14 presented by Modern Education, the first-ever limited-admission haunted attraction, are all full. Each person visiting the attraction must first fill out an "Asylum Patient Admission Form" to provide details about their "Panic Allergy Record". A member of the Halloween team will accompany guests through their different "treatments", which require them to find the key to unlock each chamber by overcoming their deepest fears. The second round of pre-registration will be on 22 September. Details will be announced shortly.
Other haunted attractions include Eerie Nippon Journey, based on the design of an Edo-period Japanese garden, and Chinese Mad-icine Hall presented by Age of Three Kingdoms, which is inspired by medical clinics from 1920-30. Throughout the Park, guests will enjoy mingling and photo opportunities with hundreds of ghosts and ghouls as they roam the streets or perform on various stages. In true Halloween tradition, guests may win surprising gifts or chocolate biscuits at the Tim Tam Surprise Happiness Truck!