Cabaret hall, monorail, moon rocket – how millions enjoyed Hong Kong’s ‘giant amusement park’ during its 17-year run
Construction of the Kai Tak Entertainment Park, in San Po Kong, was delayed by typhoons but it opened eventually in 1965
“Giant Amusement Park: Work Under Way for Opening Next Year,” ran the headline in the South China Morning Post on November 25, 1962. And it wasn’t Ocean Park.
“Details were announced yesterday of a 200,000-square-foot amusement park to be built […] at San Po Kong, near the airport,” the story continued. Fairground attractions would include “mechanical devices for the amusement of visitors to the park [such as] the usual merry-go-rounds, windmills, aeroplanes and boats” along with a 300-foot-tall Chinese pagoda overlooking the harbour and the “twin cities” of Hongkong and Kowloon.
On March 7, 1982, it was reported that the park’s lease would not be renewed. “Kai Tak amusement park, which has attracted millions of visitors since it opened 17 years ago is to close in November,” the story ran.
Visitors said they would be sorry to see it go. Wong Pak-kan, a 68-year-old retired journalist, said he regularly visited on weekdays to work on his book about the Chinese modernisation programme. “It’s quieter than my home,” he said.