Everland Amusement Park
This week was the Korean holiday of 추석. It is translated as Thanksgiving. It is traditionally the big harvest festival where you hang out with your family and eat lots of delicious homemade food. Oh yes, you bring gifts such as oils and spam! Yes, yummy, delicious SPAM full of random meats and by-products! This year I was invited by some friends to go to an amusement park. In Korea, during the holidays the amusement parks offer 50% off tickets for foreigners. We went to Everland Amusement park with a group from Dongguk University. I thought it was going to be less crowded and no lines for rides. Oh how wrong I was.
The Quest to Everland
It was quite the journey to the park. It took about two hours from my home in Sinchon to get there. The subways were not as packed like they are on some Sundays. Rightfully so, they shouldn’t have been because most Koreans were spending time with their families and beginning to stuff their tummies full of homemade food! As I got closer to the park, the subway began to get more and more crowded. After about an hour or so, I made it to the Everland subway train. It was packed to the brim with fellow foreigners. We were all standing at attention and touching shoulder to shoulder. It was not the most comfortable ride. I met my group and we converged to the Everland buses. If you know how sardines are packed into a can, you can imagine how we were packed onto the bus. It was hot a day and everyone packed in. Not the most pleasant feeling or smells one could experience, but we were going to Everland, so it was worth it.
The Magical Everland
When I got there, it brought back memories of Disneyland and other amusement parks I had experienced in the past. I didn’t want to ruin this experience by comparing them, but it was pretty fun to see the similarities. For example, at Disneyland there is a famous ride called Splash Mountain and at Everland there was a similar ride called Thunder Falls. I was immediately giddy, full of excitement about being at an amusement park! I couldn’t wait to get on a rollercoaster and scream my head off. The very first rollercoaster we went on was called the T-Express. It is a wooden rollercoaster and has a terrifying beginning drop that will make your head spin. This was one of the rollercoasters I couldn’t use my GoPro, but let me tell you it was awesome. Oh yes, I did scream my head off. Now, it was for Zoo Topia. It was Everland’s zoo area. It had a wide range of animals like penguins, tigers, and chimpanzees. We went there on the tail end of our trip, so it was getting dark and all the animals were very tired. Once it got dark, we wandered around the park until we were met by a huge light parade. It was an amazing show of bright lights and music. The song was an electronic version of a Christmas song (that’s all I can remember, but I have video!). There was so much to do from rollercoasters to a big zoo. Honestly, I don’t think in words I can really describe my experience, so I want to show you through videos and pictures!
(I am sorry about the pictures. They don’t format correctly through this WordPress blog for some strange reason).
Churros, Corndogs and Meat on a Stick
At Everland, everything is themed for its designated section. They had different sections of the park like American Adventure or European Adventure or Magic Land. For example, in American Adventure there is a 1950’s diner by KFC and a ride called Championship Rodeo ride, which was electronic bull ride with music. There was a seasonal themed section for Halloween. It called The Walking Dead (based on the TV Show/ comic book series). So along with rides and attractions, there are snack shops. In each area of the park was a themed snack shack. At each of the themed snack places, they sold the exact same menu items. There were as following: Corn dog, sausage on a stick, churros, and teriyaki chicken on a stick. It tasted pretty good, but it was pretty much your standard fair of fried foods, but at an amusement park price. 3,000 won for a corn dog. It wasn’t the most terrible price, but hey, what do you expect from a place where you are forced to eat what they sell. Also, I am going to let you readers in on a secret. Unlike other amusement parks where you can’t bring in food from outside, Everland allows you to bring your own food. If I had known that I would have filled up a big cooler full of food and snacks for our group. With hindsight now, I really wish I would have packed more food, but hey corndogs aren’t that bad.
Key Advice
DO NOT WEAR SANDLES TO AMUSEMENT PARK; YOUR FEET WILL HATE YOU AFTER. Ok, public service announcement over. Also, remember to eat your vegetables, your body will thank you as well.
All In All
It was a good day, full of fun and excitement. Thus concludes my first venture to the magical kingdom of Everland. Oh yeah, did I mention that was a tiger and monkeys? Who doesn’t love monkeys and tigers? I can say that no one average person can experience all of Everland Park with just one trip. I foresee many more trips to this gigantic place in the future with wife and friends. There was so much to experience and see, which at times made it overwhelming. Still, that didn’t all the fun and excitement. It was no Disneyland, but it was still fun in its own way. All in all, I would rank my experience in churros. There are different levels in my rating scale from 1 sad churro to 10 ridaunkulous churros. I rank this adventure with 8 delicious churros with cinnamon and sugar. You must go and experience this at least once while on your stay here in South Korea. Also, because of this post, I am craving a churro, and you all must experience Korean churros!
Until next time,