Yes cause they asked for a government handout and still fired a bunch of staff. Disney didn't fire anyone also there is a slight issue with how animals are treated at OP that has come into question more recently. I think the biggest issue is a lack of new attractions at the park and if anything many of there older famous rides like the raging river (splash mountain like) & mine train (probably one the best rides anywhere actually because it literally hung of the side of a mountain with amazing views) and never replaced them with anything this happened right before covid. I think there was a whole plan but I think when covid hit they scrapped it and now the park lost what was its unique charm over Disney a lot of thrill rides being one of those driving factors.
Here is some history of Ocean Park and how it came to be to the state we are in today:
-Park opened in 1978 as a zoo, on goverment land and paid for by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, who provides official horse racing bets, lottery and gambling in Hong Kong. It is a government organisation.
- In 1984, added its first large rides, the Dragon looping roller coaster and the Raging River log flume. In addition to that, a nice ride package of spinning rides was added. A water park near the main entrance also came online during that time, the first Water World.
- 1992 saw the addition of the observation tower, 1993 three new kiddie rides and 1994 two new flat rides. The ferris wheel and the Huss Condor came online to leverage the amazing view in the Headlands ride area.
- The park first major mistake happened in 1995-1996, when they contracted Zamperla rides (maker of many rides for Disney, such as the modern Dumbo, the various Tow Mater/Alien Swirling Saucers whip rides and others) to design and build a new custom Mine Train roller coaster. After many millions of dollars, it just didn't work. They were also stuck, as there was a financial crisis raging through Asia at that time and they could not afford to remove the ride and get another that worked. They finally hired other companies and they were able to get the ride running in 1999.
- Around 2000, Water World (the original) closed down and was torn down, as it wasn't used many months in the year and was a product of the 1980s, with older slides.
- 2001 saw the addition of the Abyss, a double Turbo Drop set of drop towers from S&S as a replacement for the 1984 Huss Troika. It didn't work, as it didn't draw the crowds in. What did work was Halloween Fest, the first Halloween event in Asia. It was initially held on two weekends, but guests response was incredible and it expanded to one of the largest Halloween event at a theme park in the world in future years.
- In 2005, the 5.5 billion HKD redevelopment plan was launched to bring the park up to Hong Kong Disneyland level. This was not paid by the government, but Ocean Park management team instead went on the market and raised money at good rates for the time. The new plan would include among it's many components 3 new themed areas in the old Headlands ride area, the transformation of the entrance into the Waterfront and the addition of the world's largest aquarium.
- In the time between the announcement and the lands starting to open, a new player entered the fray: Chimelong. Chimelong is an oddity on the chinese domestic market: a real park operator who wants to have efficient operations, great attractions and provide a great experience. Their first massive park opened in 2006 in neary Panyu, Guangzhou and it was a great success. Their water park soon became the most attended in the world and it was obvious there was something incredible going on there.
- Shortly after Chimelong Paradise opened in 2006, plans were launched by Chimelong to build another resort. They went overseas for designers like Ocean Park and in 2010, broke ground on Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai. That park was designed to beat Ocean Park recent plans in every aspect: a bigger aquarium to get the world record, a bigger headliner roller coaster, more animals, etc. It opened in 2014 and it started drawing the chinese main tourists away from Ocean Park.
- In 2015, plans for a new Water World water park were announced at Ocean Park, to replace the old back entrance. The site was a massive challenge to work with, with massive height differences, slopes and hills. Now, Siam Park in Tenerife (Canary Islands) had a similar site and they were able to build the best water park in the world for 50-60 million USD around the same time. Proslide, their slide partner, proposed an approach where the land is used to house the slide, rather than terraforming everything to get it flat and then build slides on it. It is how Proslide started in 1987, when they built their first water slides at skiing mountains in Canada. How did Ocean Park instead design their water park? With massive terraforming and massive buildings to house a portion of the slides. The opposite of what Siam Park did...
- In 2016, lower tourist numbers to Hong Kong and Chimelong Ocean Kingdom started hurting Ocean Park visitor numbers. 2017 saw a brief visitor number rebound, thanks to the opening of the MTR station at the park entrance, but it was temporary.
- Before the pandemic hit, the new Water World went into massive cost overruns and eventually cost 4 billion HKD versus a planned cost of 2.29 billion HKD. It opened in september 2021 finally.
- In 2019-2020, Ocean Park asked the government for money to pay their commercial plans from the previous redevelopment plan. They gave out the money, 5.4 billion HKD, of which some went toward the 3.07 billion HKD commercial loands.
- In 2021, the government had to again inject money to save Ocean Park. 1.45 billion HKD were given to Ocean Park to pay the day-to-day bills and complete WaterWorld, which they had run out of money for at that point.
- The latest transformation plan as they call it is a 6.8 billion HKD proposal where a lot of things are outsourced and the goal is to make the park self-sufficient. In that aspect, with Hong Kong Disneyland able to make it through the COVID crisis with no further money from the LegCo
- In 2022, Ocean Park plan to turn the front of the park into a free entry dining and shopping area failed to attract a single bid during an invitation for tenders process.
To end on that topic, while the LegCo had to invest in Hong Kong Disneyland for new attractions, the park itself is structually sound and will make money. Ocean Park, even after removing most of its legacy attractions and getting billions in bailouts, is still having massive issues. I can see why the LegCo could decide at one point to say enough is enough and move on, concentrating all its ressources on Hong Kong Disneyland.
