Lotte World

Went over to Lotte World today with the Singaporeans (Me, Chee Keong, Le Hia, Valerie (who's actually from Canada instead), Sybil, Stephanie, Shan Ming, Olivia, Qin Cao, Yong Hui, Sheena). Lotte World is about 1 hour away from our hostel at Anam station via the subway, and is one of the top 10 visited amusement parks in the world. I was really excited about the trip, cause I haven been to an amusement park for more than a decade.

Lotte World is this huge complex (both indoors and outdoors) opened by the Lotte Group, which is one of the most powerful conglomerates in South Korea. Lotte does finance, food, beverages, hotels, construction, heavy chemicals, IT, electronics, publishing, entertainment and etc. Basically it dabbles in just about anything in South Korea.

The place was really an eye opener for me. Firstly, it's real cheap. My admission ticket was only $25, inclusive of all rides, which is really worth it, cause there are tons of rides available at the park. And the place is really magnificent! There are statues everywhere, and the employees there are dressed in costumes, like safari shirts and butterfly wings and such. And the outdoor castle is so Disney-ish! I really felt like I was transported to a magical kingdom of sorts when I first got there.

Here's a picture that was taken right outside the subway station. It's rather heavily inspired by European art, as seen here.

Of course, being in Korea, there is a part of the building that is dedicated to Korean traditional culture. Lotte World houses a Korean folk museum, which shows plenty of exhibits on Korean art, way of living, houses and food.

Here's part of a mural from a wall that shows palace life in the past.

This part of the museum are all the Korean restaurants. The restaurants all look like traditional Korean houses, to keep up with the theme here.

Entering Lotte World was like stepping into a magical wonderland. The roof is made up entirely of glass, and provides the place with ample natural lighting. The massive space is filled up with cartoonish houses, roller coaster rides and European-styled scenery. A monorail links up both the indoor and outdoor parts of Lotte World, and there are hot air balloons (that visitors can ride for free) that encircle the entire theme park.

The parade was just starting when we got here. And the parade, I must say, was absolutely amazing. An entire female marching band came out first and played marches, at the same time marching special formations to get the crowd's attention. After that, dancers from different regions of the world (Egyptian, Korean, Brazil and more) came out to dance their unique dances, together with large Chingay-syle floats. Cartoon characters (never seen before ones; totally unDisney-like) also came out to join in the dance. The entire parade took around 20 minutes before it ended. I was totally awestruck during the entire parade. I always fantasized about going to Disneyland when I was younger, and although this is not actual Disneyland, I was really thrilled that I could experience something similar.

Part of the parade I found on Youtube.



Here's the outdoor part of the theme park. Look at all the buildings and rides!

Here's the first ride I took at Lotte World, and probably the first thrilling ride I took my entire life! It's called gyro-drop, and it was freaking scary! I was strapped up the seat, alongside with the others, and then the thing started going up the pole. The moment I started going up I was feeling damn scared alr, cause my feet was just hanging loose and the weather was freaking cold, like close to zero degrees. My seat went up to roughly 23 floors and the higher it went, the more freaked out I was, cause I had no idea when I was going to fall. My hands were basically holding on to the safety bar for life. And when I dropped down, the feeling was insane! It kinda felt like my seat went down, and I was left hanging in the air. The feeling of falling 23 floors was nerve wrecking, though it took really fast (like 3 or 4 seconds) to drop down to floor level. I basically screamed my lungs out.


Taken from Youtube



The second ride I took was the roller coaster. OMG it was really the ride of my life. Thinking of it already makes me shudder. It seemed really fun when I see others taking the roller coaster ride, but going through the ride itself is totally different. I was damn suay, having gotten the front seat, which just made the ride even more horrifying. At first, when the kart (I have no idea what to call it) started moving, I already thought it was damn fast and was shouting damn loud (after which I found out that I was the only one shouting, which was damn embarrassing), but then it suddenly accelerated and I basically felt that everything was a blur. Again, the cold air rushed in and I was flying off in all directions, which at many point during the ride I seriously thought I was going to fall off. And I had to lower my head cause I was scared I was going to hit the cave walls. I really felt I might not have made it to the end of the ride. And when the roller coaster came rushing down from the top, that was it man! My heart almost came out sia!

Here's a clip I found on Youtube for the exact same ride I took. It looks rather harmless on video, but believe me, taking the ride for real is totally different. I screamed so hard I totally expended all my energy for the day. And one good tip, please don't act man and sit in front. Totally not worth it!



Somehow or other I made it thorough my outdoor rides, and went in to take the Viking. Another stupid choice, cause the Viking was really scary too. I mean I can be quite hum at times, but the Viking can get really quite bad! When the Viking goes to the maximum height and goes down, you feel kinda like you are stuck at the top and that your butt leaves the seat and you feel like you are going to crash to the ground, which of course did not happen, since I am safe and blogging now. But at that time it was really the worst feeling possible.

And that is actually not the worst thing about Viking ships. As the ship goes up and down and up and down, I kinda got used to it, and was just waiting for the ride to end. However, because of the repetitive movement, I got really dizzy and sick after the ride. It took me hours before I felt better. This is one ride that is not worth it at all.

Oh and Stephenie screamed like crazy during the ride. I am quite sure everyone in Lotte World could hear her. And it didn't help that I sat right next to her.

For those that don't really like thrills and rides, there are other stuff that one can do at the theme park. I managed to watch a couple of performance there, and they were amazing! For people who know me well, they will know I really like traditional Korean performances, and I was pleasantly surprised to catch one of such at Lotte World.


Cartoon characters and princes and princesses walks around the theme park for photo opportunities. I managed to take a picture with a pair of them. I am not sure why I was not inside the picture though. I think it's taken with someone else's camera. Anyway, most of the performers are angmoh, since getting Koreans to wear such costumes will probably look really wierd. That's a thumb's up for Lotte, cause foreign imports are more expensive!

Here's the exciting hot air balloon ride! It's not really flying of course; the balloon is suspended by cables and they follow a route that encircles the entire theme park, giving visitors a bird's eye view of the complex. The following pictures were taken from the balloon ride.

Well, what's a theme park without the famous merry-go-round? This one's really cool, and lights up really nicely at night. I didn't want to go up at first, but was kinda dragged onto it. And I liked it! The horses moved up and down, and the ride was really slow and enjoyable! In the picture, I was wearing Qin Cao's thick black rimmed specs, which is the must-have Korean accessory of all time.

Nightfall at Lotte World was simply amazing. At 9ish, all the lights in the amusement park shut down for a spectecular laser show, which ended with really cool fireworks. Fireworks inside a indoor building! That's really a first for me! And to end off the entry - a final view of the Lotte World Castle at night.