There are two major amusement parks in Seoul, and really all of Korea. The first one I visited was Everland, a sprawling park in the mountains south of Seoul itself.
The park's signature attraction, T-Express, was closed due to extreme cold the day I visited. The temperatures were below freezing all day, and while I think every other ride opened up by mid afternoon, this beautiful wooden coaster lay dormant all day.
There are several rides to get you up and down the mountain, including a few ski lift style rides.
One area of the park has a cluster of thrill rides, including Rolling X Train, a somewhat painful steel coaster that goes upside down.
The theming of the buildings in the park was pretty well done, though, with lots of bright, vibrant colors and apparently some inspiration from the Roller Coaster Tycoon game at times.
There's a kids' coaster hidden in those trees!
The kids coaster is surrounded by a tiny village of strangely themed houses.
Seriously, it's like I'm in the smurfs here. Or perhaps Hansel and Gretel.
It's a peaceful area though, and a path leading down a hill has lots of goodies to see.
And it actually tells a story! Using Everland's characters of course.
Hmm. It's a world of laughter, a world of cheer...
*cough*rip off!*cough*
The Global Village dark ride is basically a copy of the It's A Small World attraction.
I guess at times it's stereotypical and perhaps a bit racist in some areas.
But I enjoyed the ride. It certainly helped that the building had a heater!
I don't really remember everything from Small World, but this might be more detailed, though I'm sure the sets themselves are smaller.
I have a sudden craving for pasta. Now why is that?
Who knew Holland was the land of electric rainbows?
From the South to the moon!
Moulin Rouge to San Francisco. Are those the 49ers on the field?
Interesting - New York and Korea are pretty close to each other.
It's a fun attraction, obviously, since I took so many pictures.
This ride, however, gets only one photo. You sit in the seat and use the lever to go up and down. You might be able to spin as well. Hmm.
Walk through fun house!
I don't think I ever saw one of these before.
Every park must have a carousel.
Down near T-Express there is a very large area that might have a garden in the warmer months. I think the fountain area froze. I wonder if they did that on purpose?
The buildings throughout the park are nicely done!
The plaza area has another story book area that might have told a Christmas story.
So that's not going to display properly, but I was able to get the whole Rolling X-Train coaster in about three shots. It has two loops and a couple corkscrews in the back.
Some more of the thrill ride zone.
Oriental Restaurant. Everland has several restaurants, of course, but they seem to try to have varied options throughout the park.
Oh, and there's a zoo. Tigers and bears!
Monkey Valley is pretty large.
These guys like the cold. The mountains around Nagano have a bunch of wild baboons.
I see you seeing me!
These guys are just hanging out!
When the weather's nice you can see the rest of the animals on a safari style adventure.
Oh, T Express, how I wish you had opened. Every other coaster had opened!
A haunted house and small kids' coaster.
The park was fairly busy later in the afternoon. I guess kids came after school or once things warmed up. Since T Express wasn't going to open up, I left early enough to get over to a palace a (long) bus ride away. That doesn't mean I didn't have fun. I fully expect to get back to this park sometime. I missed it this year because of a combination of weather and holidays which would have put me in the park with just about the rest of Korea!
A one-day ticket is 46,000 won (about $46), while an afternoon ticket (after 16:30) is 38,000 won. However, foreigners should visit
Everland's website and print the coupon to get a full day admission for 37,000 won. The park is usually open about 10:00-22:00.
There's an "Ever Line" subway/train that goes to the park's transportation center, but for most people it's much more expensive and takes a lot longer than riding a bus from Gangnam or Jamsil. The public bus (2000 won) is more than good enough, though you can pay about six times the fee to ride a reserved bus (12,000 won) that departs from several locations around town once in the morning, returning in the evening.
Seriously, take the public bus from Gangnam or Jamsil. The reserved bus will put you on a specific schedule that cuts your day short, and the subway is slower and more expensive for most.
Lotte World is located in the heart of Seoul, but my feeling is that Everland is a better park. Granted, I've had several problems with Lotte World's crowds and ride closures (which I'll detail in a Lotte World post in the future). Note that like everything else fun, the park will be very busy on holidays and possibly later in the afternoon as people take advantage of evening admission prices.
No comments:
Post a Comment