All Around Seoul: Everland

♫♪ Everland! Everland!♫♪  

OMG! The sound of Everland theme song kept haunting me many days after our trip there. And it's playing in my head as I write this post. Sounds crazy? Believe me, if somebody claims that they've been to Everland but cannot quote this tune, perhaps that somebody has never been there ;-) 

Note: There's a visitor discount coupon available for Everland tickets. Check out the nearest Tourist Information Centre. 

Background: Everland is the largest theme park in South Korea. It is located at Yong-in area in Gyeonggi-do, southeast (and outside) of Seoul. It is also one of the most visited theme parks in the world. The jaebeol for Everland is Samsung. Intrigued by its reputation, our group set a date to visit this place. 

How to get there: The journey to Everland took quite some time. After getting off the Gangnam train station, walk alongside the main road towards a bus stop. Board the bus no. 5002 labelled Everland. You'll travel for about 1 hour until you reach the Everland parking lot. From there just take the many shuttle buses to the Everland entrance. Note the parking area you're from so that you know which shuttle bus to take when returning home later. 

Queuing for bus at Gangnam 

Dedicated shuttle bus to Everland 

The Journey
The day was Friday, a day after Children's Day and so the crowd was super massive. Kids, parents, teachers, teenagers, couples and us...all queued to get into Everland. The area was super huge! I think it's way bigger than a university campus. The compound was divided into theme park Everland and water park Caribbean Bay. We only got into Everland. Anyhow, Caribbean Bay was due to open only in June during summertime. 

There were 5 zones in Everland: 
Global Fair near the entrance was the place for food, souvenirs and facilities like stroller rentals. It's also a nice spot for photo-taking. 

Zoo-topia, as the name suggested, was the place with animals. There's a petting zoo, animal rides and the such. Looking at the crowd queuing at the front area of Zoo-topia, we decided to detour to other zones. Besides, it's mostly for kids and their parents. 

 

Off we went to the American Adventure zone, where all the fun rides were. All the rides here had a commentator who'd be talking and cheering and dancing to the rock n' roll music while the ride was moving. Wow, they're really taking this seriously! And the rides were truly scary....and the runtime was long...I mean like more than 2 minutes. I'm tellin' ya, you'd get your money worth if you go through each of these rides. No doubt about it. Just beat the long queue, that's all. 
The one that you shouldn't miss would be the Double Rock Spin (top right). This is not for the faint-hearted. Even I screamed while watching those on the ride! 

Magic Land was filled with fantasy and characters extracted from the Aesop fables. There were the ferris wheel, roller coasters and rides suitable for families. We just passed by the zone as we headed for the other area, and by the time we came back to Magic Land it was drizzling. 

European Adventure was next. The Alpine Village architecture was very much European (more like Bavarian), as was the atmosphere around the Carnival Square. The major attraction here would be the T Express, the first wooden roller coaster in South Korea. It's steep, speedy and completed its round in 3 minutes! That's a longgg time being in a roller coaster. Even when it's raining, the ride didn't stop until later. Imagine the slippery tracks added up to the steep, speedy and long airtime elements. Haaa...pure nightmare??! 

My favourite was the Four Seasons Garden where lotsa flowers were blooming beautifully. After all, it was springtime :) There were various types of tulips around the Amsterdam area, but not a single glimpse of rose at the adjacent Rose Garden. Not in season? Hhmm...

 

My description of each zone was very much simplified. It didn't do justice to just how expansive the area or how thorough each zone was. Of all the theme parks I've ever been to, Everland was the one with the most varieties and the most amount of thrilling rides! I'll come again to cover those that I've missed, and I'll make sure that it's NOT on Children's Day :P