Something every foreigner has to experience once is a Korean amusement park. As far as I know, there are two main ones in Seoul: Lotte World and Everland. We heard through the grapevine that Lotte World catered a little more towards the younger crowd so we opted to visit Everland. Both parks were having a Chuseok-foreigner-special kind of deal, so we got our tickets for a veritable fraction of what it normally would cost :)
We had to fight just to get on a bus headed to Everland, since they would get too full! There was a crowd of people waiting at the Gangnam exit that we came out of, peering anxiously into the weekend traffic looking for the Everland bus. After much trial and error, we finally made it onto the fourth (?) bus we tried to get on, kicking, shoving, and elbowing. Finally figured out the reason we didn't make it on the first three buses was because we neglected to use bodily force to get on the bus -_-" Shoulda known....
All that effort notwithstanding, the bus ride there was TERRIBLE. Think of the worst bus ride you've ever had in sweltering heat and unbelievable standstill traffic. Now subtract your seat. Add in 40+ people with no sense of personal space. And add in 3 particularly pushy old men who insist on jamming their umbrellas into your back, who smell like peppermint and garlic (lovely smells on their own, but together they pack a HELLOVA punch. Of the pungent variety...ick). Throw in a few complaining children and subtract any sort of handhold you could give yourself and you have my jarring, painful bus ride to Everland. Make it go for about an hour and a half, + or - 10 mins. I was so miserable I kind of lost my sense of time...my friends were in the situation, scattered throughout the bus.
All that effort notwithstanding, the bus ride there was TERRIBLE. Think of the worst bus ride you've ever had in sweltering heat and unbelievable standstill traffic. Now subtract your seat. Add in 40+ people with no sense of personal space. And add in 3 particularly pushy old men who insist on jamming their umbrellas into your back, who smell like peppermint and garlic (lovely smells on their own, but together they pack a HELLOVA punch. Of the pungent variety...ick). Throw in a few complaining children and subtract any sort of handhold you could give yourself and you have my jarring, painful bus ride to Everland. Make it go for about an hour and a half, + or - 10 mins. I was so miserable I kind of lost my sense of time...my friends were in the situation, scattered throughout the bus.
Top: A pretty garden with this beautiful arched walkway- there were lights and ornaments strung up the entire length! The ornaments were all clear glass balls with things inside them. // Left: Greg being silly by the coliseum waterfalls // Right & Bottom: The gardens with cool statues and resting areas!
The park itself was great- there was a variety of things to see, eat, and ride! There were gardens, roller coasters, kiddie rides, statues & walkways for photo ops...there were even sections of the park designed to look like places from around the world. There was a coliseum-like area with streaming water coming from the tops (picture above), and a lovely riverside section that I totally thought looked JUST like Amsterdam...then Greg read in the park pamphlet that it was MEANT to look like Amsterdam lol (picture below)!
Lunchtime! Parts of the park were already in Fall Season mode, with Halloween statues and autumn-themed decorations. There was also this gigantic (picture doesn't do it justice) Lost-City-of-Atlantis looking stage (the big white thing in the bottom left photo) that we heard they do shows on at night. There were wires and stuff crisscrossing all over, since I guess the performers fly around!
We got lunch at one of the park's eateries, opting for some simple amusement park food- burgers and fries! They had some cool options, including a kogi burger and shrimp burger. Anna and I got the shrimp burger, which was really good!
What's an amusement park visit without a water ride?! It looked just like your average Big Foot Rapids or whatever your local amusement park calls it with a round inflatable raft and a water canal to float through...BUT. This Korean-style water ride gives you water-splash protection covers that velcro to your seat to protect you from all sides!! AND they have workers whose specific job is to SQUEEGEE (spelling?) YOUR SEAT BEFORE YOU GET INTO IT. ARE YOU KIDDING ME HOWAWESOMEISTHAT?!
It was a hot day so none of us were too worried about getting a little splashed but as it turned out, only Greg got wet at all...and he got SOAKED hahahah. They even have these heaters and fans by the exit (also hilarious) for patrons to dry themselves off before leaving the ride!
It was a hot day so none of us were too worried about getting a little splashed but as it turned out, only Greg got wet at all...and he got SOAKED hahahah. They even have these heaters and fans by the exit (also hilarious) for patrons to dry themselves off before leaving the ride!
For our grand finale we rode the biggest roller coaster in the park- this AMAZING looking wooden coaster!! I do love me a good wooden coaster...but then again, I love all roller coasters. The bigger, faster, more gravity-defying, and scream-inducing the better!