After massive demand for a discounted ticket promotion saw netizens crashing Ocean Park’s website, the beloved amusement park has generously released a second batch of discounted tickets to slow-clicking Hongkongers who missed out the first time round.
Yesterday, Ocean Park kicked off celebrations for its 40th anniversary by releasing 28,000 tickets for the price of HKD40 on their website. (FYI, that’s 91 percent off the regular HKD438 adult ticket, and 82 percent off the regular children’s fare.) The tickets, which would be valid for any chosen date between next Monday and Jan. 22, all went on sale at 4pm yesterday, with a cap of four tickets per (HKID-holding) buyer.
Predictably, bargain hunting Hongkongers immediately leapt on the opportunity and overloaded the site, leading to all online ticketing processes being suspended about 20 minutes later. It’s a good thing the folks at Ocean Park are used to a feeding frenzy or two, eh?
According to Sky Post, around 30,000 people attempted to buy the discounted tickets.
Disgruntled netizens immediately took to complaining about the process, with some saying that they waited patiently in the virtual queue for hours without being told how many people were “in front” of them (so to speak), or that sales had even been closed. D’oh. Others shared error messages from the site, showing that it was under maintenance after the huge spike in traffic caused its server to crash.
Additionally, people who were purchasing regular, non-discounted tickets were affected by the crash, which probably didn’t help buoy public sentiment. Here’s the real kicker though: apparently the technical error, plus some crafty customers who, er, circumvented the terms and conditions, meant only a few hundred tickets were actually sold online last night, despite the obviously strong interest.
At 9:30pm, the park posted a statement to thank customers for their “support”, and said they would issue an extra 20,000 tickets at cut rates (meaning a total of 48,000 people will be able to attend the park at a discount). But here’s the catch: applicants have to purchase these tickets in person, at Ocean Park’s *gasp* physical ticket office. The indignity!
(We’re just kidding of course, it’s literally never been more convenient to get to Ocean Park in the entire 40 years it’s been open. Thanks, MTR!)
The second batch of tickets will be on sale at Ocean Park’s ticket office from next Monday (Jan. 16) to Jan. 27, and will only be valid for tickets on the day of purchase. If you’re planning on grabbing a HKD40 ticket (or four), make sure to arrive at the park bright and early, seeing as the amount of cut-cost tickets are capped at 4,000 a day.
If you head to the park during the promotion period but miss the 4,000 mark, you’ll still get a 20 percent discount off full fare tickets (provided you present a valid HKID or Hong Kong birth certificate). While that’s a nice thought, we can’t help but feel a bit cheated, considering that adult fares have jumped from HKD345 to HKD438 since 2015.
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