Saturday I went to
Everland for the first time as a "going away party" for two of my friends that are leaving tomorrow morning *sniff sniff* to go back to Canada. As it turns out most people couldn't make it, so only three of us, including only one of the girls leaving wound up going. But, it's
ok, we still had fun.
Everland is the biggest amusement park in Korea. There are some smaller ones like Seoul Land at Seoul Grand Park and Children's Grand Park has a lame amusement park, and then, of course there's Lotte World which is an indoor/ outdoor amusement park in
Jamsil, but
Everland is the closest you can come to a large style amusement park like what we're used to back in the states. I'd put it on the same level as a Six Flags.
There were a few worthwhile rides at the park. By far the best ride was the T Express wooden roller coaster. The roller coaster at
Everland is supposedly the steepest wooden roller coaster in the world. I'm not sure if that's just Korean pride talking, but the 77˚ drop was pretty darn impressive to me. Sure we had to wait an hour in line, but it was worth it.
We went on a few other rides while we were here, like the Ferris wheel. Ferris wheels in Korea are a little different from the ones at home. They only do one, very slow rotation. Once you get to the bottom, then you get out again. But, it's always fun.
We also waited for an hour to go on this ride called Let's Twist. It was fun but probably not worth an hour wait...
We went on a Amazon water rafting ride. Now, I feel as though the most exciting part about going on water rides at home is seeing how wet you get. There's always the mystery about whether or not you'll get soaked or you'll come out dry. Here, some Korean mastermind developed a tarp to keep you dry in the water ride:
Let me not forget the It's a Small World remake... Korea style. Just think of It's A Small World from Disney world... then just think of Koreans doing it.... Korea style:
Obviously every German boy has a brimming stein of beer. Of course, I've never been to Germany, that could be accurate for all I know...
The Spaniards dance in the streets...
The Kenyans are ready for battle in the jungle with their spears.
We probably had the most fun in the Animal Wonder World which is actually the best zoo I've seen in Korea. Most zoos in Korea have terrible habitats for the animals. This one wasn't perfect, but it was a vast improvement on the zoo at Children's Grand Park, that's for sure.
There was a bug and bird house where butterflies flew around your head, giant bugs were in boxes to touch and you could feed birds right from your hand (and when I say you, I mean not me).
There was a giant monkey area where they had primates from all over the world. They also had some chimpanzees who were trained to do tricks for food from a trainer.
The bird area was also quite fun to see, but I wonder if the birds have had their wings clipped so that they can't fly... otherwise, why wouldn't they just fly away?
Getting to
Everland is quite simple. You can pick up the bus from
Gangpyeon Station (where the Dong Seoul bus terminal and the
Technomart is). The bus is actually not in the bus terminal, but you can catch it on the opposite side of
Gangpyeon station across the street from the
TechnoMart. There are actually two buses that go to
Everland, but I highly
recommend taking the 5800 bus. This bus has about 5 other stops in Seoul before it gets on the highway and goes
straight to
Everland. The 1113 bus also goes to
Everland, but it goes back streets the entire way and the trip is about double the time... more if there's a lot of traffic. The fare is cheap too, only 1,800 won, and you can use your T-money card. So, check out
Everland if you have time, it's a fun day out of Seoul.
