Like You To Meet: Lotte World

The Lotte World theme park, in Seoul, South Korea.

Note: This first appeared here on October 21, 2010.

We often take for granted that we have the theme parks to enjoy here in America. Here is a look from years back at the experience at a park with a different flavor with an international twist.

Okay, theme park fans… Today we head west, or if you prefer. east. And not to visit a Disney theme park, either.

My niece, Kelly, has been enjoying an extended visit to South Korea this past month. After graduating with a degree in Linguistics, she wanted to see what the country and the people were like first hand. So, she and a friend headed across the Pacific. Along the way, she has found some great stories to share – the first of which you are reading here today.

Now I had heard about Lotte World from my good friend Michelle Valladolid after her visit to South Korea. After so many trips to Disneyland, I am always curious to see (and hear) how it inspired others to produce similar parks around the world. Read on to see and hear about Kelly’s visit.

Last week, we went to the happiest place in Seoul!! Haha no, but we did go to one of Korea’s biggest theme parks, Lotte World! We had wanted to go for a while, but we’ve been trying to spread our events out over time so that we have something to do each week.

A castle in a theme park? Wonder where this idea came from…

We were supposed to meet our friend, Jess, at the entrance at noon, but the subway station was weirdly complicated at this specific stop. We thought we were following the right signs, but we wound up outside in front of a hotel when the entrance to the park is underground. So we had to find our way back into the station and somehow a hallway we didn’t see before came into sight with big signs saying “Lotte World! This way!”. Maybe some kind of sorcery was at work… hehe So by the time we found our way to Jess and the entrance, we were about 30 minutes late.

The tickets were only ₩37,000 (roughly $33), but for some reason we got a foreigner discount and they were only ₩33,000($29). It was kind of amusing to me because I’m used to places like this taking advantage of foreigners, not offering them a discount for coming. But hey, I was not complaining. The weird thing is they had tickets to just enter the park (which were a lot cheaper) and then tickets that included the rides. Although, I don’t know why someone would want to come in just for the rides (maybe if they are just there to supervise or something). Anyways, the one slightly annoying part was having to show our tickets every time we got on a ride, but it wasn’t a big deal. I guess they haven’t discovered the paper bracelets yet. The other annoying thing was their line control because they would make the lines seem so long by making people wait outside and then slowly letting groups of people into the actual line leading up to the ride. Unnecessary, but I guess it was to keep the decorated parts of the line free from graffiti.

The park is split up into two sections; one indoors and one outdoors. We entered through the indoor park and it was all decorated for Halloween. It’s kind of cool because they have a full skating rink in the middle of the building and we even got to see some young speed skaters practice. They had a light show at the end of the night over the rink too. I think the rink is open to the public on the weekends, but it costs extra for the skates and what not. But it didn’t matter to me because I can’t skate to save my life. lol There’s multiple levels in the indoor section and on the first floor they had the kiddie rides and some of the smaller family friendly rides.

 I think the weirdest part of this park was how weirdly similar to Disneyland it was at times. They had multiple, what I started thinking of them as, “knock-off” rides. There was one called Sinbad or something like that and it was basically a Pirates of the Carribean. Same boat. Same drop at the beginning. Same weird animatronic rifraff (though Disney’s were more convincing for sure). It was more funny to me than anything. They had another ride that I wanted to actually laugh as I was riding it. Their “Pharoah’s Revenge” ride was a carbon copy of Indiana Jones. Even the line leading up to the ride was the same, except Egyptian themed. They had the same video screen and the little office at the end where they play 20’s music or something. The ride was like… LOL I thought it was a joke. They had the same jeeps, the snakes, the bugs on the wall when your car breaks down, the firey skull and bridge, the air darts… At one point I remember thinking, “Okay, I swear… if there is a boulder, I’m leaving.” But there wasn’t. haha Besides the rides, they also had the castle outside that lights up at night and an assortment of headgear. Although, I had heard of their cute bows before, so I bought one as soon as I got inside because where else could you wear a giant sequined bow on your head without getting weird looks (unless you are Lady Gaga)? haha They even have raccoon mascots, Lotty and Lorry… I mean, c’mon. I seriously wondered if some kind of copyright infringement was going on. lol

What? No red bows with white polka dots?

From right to left, Kelly Eckman, Steph Arnold and Jess-mj Lee

There were other cool rides also! There was one rollercoaster called “French Revolution” which looped all around the indoor park and even did a flip right over a bridge where people stand and watch. We got to ride in the front for that ride, which I haven’t done in a really long time, so that was fun. The other fun ones were the “Gyrodrop” and “Atlantis” rides; one was like a free falling ride and the other was just a super speedy rollercoaster that required stretching before you rode (seriously, there was a sign and everything telling you what to stretch and bascially telling you you’d better do it or you’ll get massive whiplash). It was a really fun park and we spent about 9 hours there. Plenty to do and see for sure. It wasn’t too crowded either, but then again we went on a Thursday and most people were working I’m sure.

The other weird thing that happened was the, oh 30 or so, interactions with random people while we were in lines or just walking around. I guess foreigners don’t come here that often, because I only saw two other foreigners the whole time we were there. But anyways, kids would come up to us and say, “Hi!” “Hello!” “How are you!” constantly. I don’t know what it was, but suddenly we were very interesting. Two girls even took a picture with us! After a while Steph and I would just automatically reply back because it tickled them so much. Even funnier was when we said, “I’m from San Francisco,” or “I’m from New York,” and they would make a collective, “OOOoOooOOo!!” lol It was kind of cute when they would gather in their groups and discuss how to say something or what to ask us. We should get jobs there. haha

Imagine if DCA had built this as the late lamented Maliboomer!

Fun was had. A churro was chomped. Good times for everyone! 🙂

A roller coaster out of a castle? I like it!

____________________________________________________________________

Thanks Kelly for the look at Lotte World!

In reposting this story, I asked Michelle Valladolid to share some thoughts on her experience there:

“I visited Lotte World 21 years ago, in the middle of a raging typhoon. It was my only free day, and I was determined to visit. 

The entrance was under a hotel, and inside the indoor section of the park was an ice skating rink. On the edges of the park were reptile exhibits on one side and a looping roller coaster on the other side. 

In line for the French Revolution coaster, a group of kids said hello. I looked up from my map, said “Hey, how ya doin’” and went back to reading my map. When the line circled round again, they were all practicing saying “hey, how ya doin’”.

I really wanted to see the cute animatronic ghost show in the familiar-looking castle, but they were all canceled because of the storm. 

There was a walkthrough next to the castle that told the story of Snow White, which was Disney’s Snow White with blond hair and a recolored dress. 

The best roller coaster in the world is there: Comet Express. Think Space Mountain, underground, in a spinning teacup, with art direction by Ed Roth. The space aliens were out of this world! 

There were a few more rides, including a haunted house, but they were all closed due to the storm. 

The Sindbad ride was everything Roger’s niece says and more. Truly trippy. The whole park was a Disney-inspired fever dream. Go if you can make the trip. “

So, there you have it. A look back at a theme park that isn’t one of the ones you usually read about here!