Let’s Get Moving!
Since Korea is a relatively small country, there are just three main amusement parks that are well known: Seoul Land, Everland (haha get it? Neverland?), Lotte World. I will be talking mostly about Lotte World, a part indoor and part outdoor theme park that is very attractive during the hot, humid summers. When you enter the park, it will feel as if you’ve entered the same old amusement park that you know; just, it’s in a very large, open, indoor space. Decorated with simple rides like the carousel, spinning cups, and water slides, the open space is filled with these rides. Tracing the perimeter of the building is the French Revolution, an indoor roller coaster that provides you with enough loops that you may go dizzy by the end. It may not have the same thrill since it is limited with regard to its height, but I think it is a good effort for the limitations of being indoors. On the bottom floor of the indoor park is the ice rink. It’s very popular among teens and young adults who want to enjoy the winter sport during all seasons.
It’s a completely different setting outside. With rides reaching for the sky, you are immediately dazed by the contrast between the park’s indoor and outdoor components. As you may expect, there are the typical rides like the Viking ship and the vertical drops. Personally, I am not a fan of the vertical drops because I am not fond of heights… If you are traveling with young children, don’t worry! There are plenty of fun options for the little ones, from the monorails that travel across the park, to the mini airplanes that spin in circles. Seoul Land and Everland are pretty similar to the outdoor part of Lotte World, as they are both outdoor theme parks filled with all sorts of rides.
Korea is one of the leading nations in technology, and this becomes very obvious when there are many VR theme parks scattered across the city. Since it is a relatively new technology, the prices are a bit on the expensive end, as you pay for individual rides. But! The rides are really fun if you enjoy jerky movements and wind in your face. My favorite type of ride was a video game simulation where it was as if you were a character in a game and had to get out of the planet in time to avoid a devastating explosion. When I went up, the ride spun me in a way I was facing the ceiling and felt the gravity push me down (I swear, it is safe!). A word of warning though: since it is VR, your eyes may get watery after a few rides because of the close screen.
Another trend emerging in South Korea is the escape room! Even in the U.S., they have become a very popular form of entertainment for people, but it’s a whole new world of escape rooms in Korea. The escape rooms come in a series, where one escape room leads to another with respect to the storyline but they can also be done independently. When I was in Korea, I did one of the escape rooms with my brother where it was set during the Medieval Ages in Italy. A scientist (our “dad”) supposedly made a time travel machine in the future and has been stuck in a mansion in medieval Italy. It was our mission to rescue him within one hour. I remember walking into the room having absolutely no clue and just watched the time count down… until we received hints. The room was so elaborately built that we unlocked one of the walls to ride a little boat to the next room. Being a person that is very reactive to jump scares, I bust a few people’s eardrums that day as I saw toy skulls fall from the ceiling. In the end, we did make it out alive with four minutes remaining! What was interesting was that by the end, there was a letter from our “dad” that he had actually traveled back to the present and is now working with the CIA to refine the time travel machine (thanks Dad). The next escape room in the series would then take place in the present in a CIA related event.
The horror series is especially popular during the hot weather when people just want to literally feel the chills to cool down. I, a coward, am too scared to try it out, so I stay away from those genres. It just shows the variety of escape rooms there is to choose from across Seoul.
Images
https://tong.visitkorea.or.kr/cms/resource/76/2553576_image2_1.jpg
https://www.dragonhilllodge.com/application/files/8614/9511/3307/DHL_korea_LWpark_722.jpg
https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/disp/a4fe8b47808043.5886027b6b45d.png
The amusement parks looked so cool, especially in the overview photo. I really like how you touched upon Korea’s technological advances, as that seems to have had a great impact on the experiences in the amusement parks. It all looked so cool!
These amusement parks sound and look like a dream. I love rides, so I would love to go here. It looks like so much fun. The outdoor picture looks so bright and happy! I recently did an escape room with my little cousins over winter break, and I was so bad at it. I don’t think I have the critical thinking skills to solve anything of the sort. The jump scare definitely wouldn’t have helped my weak escape room game either. Sounds like a really fun time!
Those escape rooms sound so cool- the detail that goes into creating each one is mind-boggling! Skulls falling from the ceiling, I don’t blame you for yelling I would have been shrieking the entire time. Maybe next time you could do the CIA one… I want to know what happens next. As always great blog, you gave me another reason to go to Korea 🙂
Wow the VR ride and escape rooms sounded so cool. I was wondering about the demographics of people who go to these amusement parks, is it mostly young people or a complete mix? Foreigners or natives? Regardless, it would be interesting to visit and would definitely be another fun Korean experience.