HKG-Ocean Park
 

I'll probably have a 13 hour layover in Hong Kong,so I'd like to take the kids to Ocean Park. What is the easiest/quickest way to reach the park using public transportation?
Thanks.

so I'd guess you'd be coming from the airport.

direct way:
Taxi

tourist way:
Passenger terminal > Airport express > Central Ferry Piers > 629 to park entrance

backpacker way:
Passenger terminal > S1 > Tung Chung MTR > Central, Exchange Square > M590 > get off the stop after Aberdeen Tunnel > Walk 5 mins to entrance.

The way I'd go. I am not a tourist, and not a backpacker. Cost and hassle somewhere between the two:

Cityflyer bus A11 to Admiralty. Then 629 to Ocean Park.

The tourist way seems right. Any idea how long this should take. Also, any idea how much & how long the taxi would be?
Thanks for the help.

Note that the non-stop bus 629 usually departs from Admiralty MTR, not the Central Ferry. Only 5 departures from Central Ferry are from 9:35a to 10:55a. If you can't make those, you have to go over to Admiralty.

The Airport Express runs every 12 minutes and takes 24 minutes. It's a few minutes walk to the Central Ferry buses. 629 departs at 9:35a, 9:55a, 10:15a, 10:35a, and 10:55a. Takes about 25 minutes.

Coming back, you need extra time because 629 will only bring you back to Admiralty. You then take the MTR to Central, walk over to Hong Kong, and then take the Airport Express back. [AE ticket will cover the MTR transfer.]

Make sure you buy the same day return AE tickets. They cost the same as a one-way. HK$100 for adults.

MTR/AE info: http://www.mtr.com.hk
Bus info: http://www.nwstbus.com.hk

Thank you for the help. I'm thinking that the Airport Express into Hong Kong and then taxi to Ocean Park would be probably easiest. Would you concur?

Other than a taxi directly, yes, that'd be the easiest.

Inclusive of tolls (assuming that you go via Pokfulam) from the airport, probably around HK$400, and 45 minutes, depending on traffic.

Yesterday, for the second time for me, there were huge taxi lines at the AE Hong Kong terminus and very few taxis coming in. This was around 7pm on a Thursday, which I guess is still rush hour.

(OT -- I ended up taking the free shuttle that I knew, thanks to you great FTers, ended up very close to my hotel. What I didn't know was that the driver was studying to be a kamikaze -- something you would have thought was impossible in Central traffic, but turns out it is.)

What this means is that when you get to the AE terminus, if there are long queues for taxis seemingly making little progress, switch to the subway/bus alternative.

This has become more of an issue over the last year or so. I wonder why. Perhaps that massive HKD $1 fare increase recently authorized wasn't enough?

Taxis in Central at rush hour are hard to get. They won't wander into the terminus looking for fares when they can get one almost on every street corner.

This is an issue now, but it wasn't a couple of years ago. Or did taxis all of a sudden realize that the AE terminal is not a good place to pick up a fare?