Inside the world’s largest indoor theme park with 150,000 animals

While we have the likes of our beloved Alton Towers and Thorpe Park, other countries do tend to trump us when it comes to theme parks.

They’re just so much, well, bigger. Like massive, enormous, huge.

And in Zhuhai, China, they’re said to have got themselves the biggest indoor theme park in the world.

Guinness World Records even crowned it on 16 September this year.

While it is yet to release an official opening date, the new Chimelong Spaceship Theme Park can apparently welcome a whopping 50,000 guests per day to its sci-fi themed ‘spaceship city’.

With an enormous glass ceiling, the hotspot is designed by Los Angeles-based Legacy Entertainment, with a mega 4,271,783 square feet of space.

The Spaceship reportedly cost $1.1billion (£) to build, which means it’s also one of the most expensive in the world.

But it’s not just housing thousands of human guests.

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Also as the world’s largest aquarium facility (with the world’s largest single aquarium tank) it’s said to be home to more than 150,000 marine animals.

Chimelong Spaceship claims to have more than 400 species on display, including orcas.

Several orcas live there, as part of the themed zone named Whale Universe. There’s even a marine science museum with over 300 species of fish and other animals.

Plus, there’s the Coral Secret zone with the world’s largest living coral reef exhibit.

So, basically, there’s a whole lot of ‘world’s largest’ making up this place.

But, obviously, it’s not just about animals, there’s a whole load of rides too – found in Universal Paradise.

Adding another to the list, Chimelong Spaceship has the world’s largest motional simulator attraction, Bermuda Storm.

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Allowing up to 304 riders on the single motion-base platform at a time, it features a curved projection screen at a mega 1,682 square metres to make you feel as though you’re sailing through a full-blown storm.

There’s also China’s first underwater submarine ride, Deep Sea Submarine.

For more ‘simple’ rides, there’s carnival-style rides and attractions as well as some sandy outdoor areas.

After 10 years of planning and five of construction, Chimelong Spaceship was supposed to open in 2021 but ended up soft launching in September 2023.

There’s still more to come too, with a mountain park and sightseeing cable car set to be ready in 2027.

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Now, with the animals at the park, there has been some controversy – particularly regarding those orcas.

The Economic Times report that PETA Asia’s Vice President Jason Baker expressed concern over the whales’ living conditions.

He claims the orcas were captured from the ocean as juveniles and now have to live in what he deems a subpar facility.

The Economic Times write: “In their natural habitat, these animals travel vast distances daily with their families, experiencing ocean currents and engaging in vital familial activities like raising and educating their young. However, captivity for entertainment purposes deprives them of fulfilling these basic needs.”

LADbible has contacted Legacy Entertainment for comment.