Thursday, November 5, 2015

Annyeonghaseyo Korea : Day 1 - Lotte World


ii) LOTTE WORLD


Lotte World - the world's largest indoor theme park! It's reminded me of Genting Indoor Park however this one is much much larger! Honestly speaking, I'm not a huge fan of theme park rides due to my phobia of height but then again, stepping into a theme park makes me feel really happy, it's like stepping into another world and everything seem so magical

A bit on my reading about Lotte World, it is a major recreation complex in Seoul, South Korea. It consists of the world's largest indoor theme park (a Guinness World Record) known as “Adventure Theme", an outdoor amusement park called "Magic Island", an artificial island inside a lake linked by monorail, shopping malls, a luxury hotel, a Korean folk museum, sports facilities, and movie theatres.

How to get there
This place can be easily accessed from Jamsil Station, on Line 2 and Line 8 of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway and SMRT, respectively.

Operation Hour
Lotte World opens all year long without holidays. Its hours of operation as follows :
Weekdays (Monday to Thursday) : 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Weekends (Friday to Sunday) : 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

Admission Fee
The price of admission tickets for Lotte World varies with different age groups. A day pass cost as follows (as of Nov. 2013) :
A day pass for adults (18 years and over) = 44,000 Won
Teenagers (13-17 years) = 38,000 Won
Children (3-12 years) = 34,000 Won
And babies (12 months to 2 years) : 11,000 Won
Lotte World also offers "late admission" tickets, which can be purchased after 4 p.m. at approximately 75% of the price of the regular tickets.


After stuck almost 2 hours in the traffic jam, we finally arrived at Lotte World around 2.30pm. Vincent handed on the admission tickets to us and allocated 3 hours for us to enjoy the theme park. We needed to gather back at the entrance at 5.30pm.


Raining and traffic jam


Following Vincent into the tunnel connecting to the Lotte World. The bus cannot parked in front of the Lotte World due to heavy traffic, so they dropped us on the opposite site instead.



So what are we waiting for... Let's explore!!

Upon entering the theme park to indoor Adventure Theme, we were greeted by this huge ice skating rink which is also South Korea's largest ice skating rink. It's like been in the enchanted world full with happiness.



The entrance was at 1st Floor, while the ice skating rink located on the Ground Floor.


We were greet by Prince Sinbad and Snow White. Getting ready for the parade I presumed.


Lots of interesting building with different theme.


Interesting merchandises


Caricature drawings



With the mascot of Lotte World which is a raccoon! Actually there are 2 mascots for Lotte World, Lotty and Lorry but I only saw one that day.

Donno either this was Lotty or Lorry...



Believed it or not, the place was so big with numerous games/rides to try however we just managed to try two rides. It was Saturday, so obviously lots of visitor. Decided to take the Hot Air Balloon ride. Basically you board this hot air balloon, get lifted off to the ceiling and it brings you around the indoor theme park. Need to stand throughout the ride.









Totally didn't expected the queue itself was more than 1km long! I didn't want to waste time just for one queue. We just had 3 hours so had to utilize the time wisely.

So we just wandered around the area and took photo.


All the games were full with people. This one seemed to be interesting but just look at the line....


Monorail


Most of the entertainments available in this indoor theme park are suitable with the children.


The kids must love this place!!


Whoa... felt like been in Egypt!


Posing here and there


We went to explore the upper level. There are total 4th floor in this Lotte World.




This is a Giant Loop.. One of then main attraction at indoor theme park.


I was more interested with the loop's base supports. Interesting :=)


The view from 3rd floor


So happening...


We planned to check on the monorail and had a ride


The giant orb...


Hot air balloon from distance



We came to the Jungle Adventure section and it seemed not very much people around so we got into the queue. This adventure will take you into the dark cave in a jungle boat. The boat will be swept by swirling rapids so be prepared of a little bit of wet and one round will take around 15mins.


The prop. Looks like Indiana Jones was having a tea with "K-Pop"er :=)


The boat approaching... One boat can occupied 6 persons.


Finished the ride. The excitement level was just average.



Next we went to ride a World Monorail and luckily the queue also was not very long...



The train coming...



The train took us a ride through a whole section of lotte world. Such a fantastic view!!










Once we finished the tour by monorail, we continued walking and snapping whatever that were of interest to us.





Food court was available at the 3rd floor.



Almost done with the indoor theme park and it's time to step out to the outdoor, Magic Island!

To Magic Island, from Indoor Theme park take an exit at 2nd floor then there will be a bridge which leads to a castle where all the outdoor rides are located! Totally felt like I'm in Disneyland because of the castle. I didn't been to any Disneyland that time so I really appreciated the experience!!!




View of the main road from the bridge. See, the traffic was still badly congested.


Seokchonhosu Lake next to the Magic Island. The colourfull trees had caught my attention. My first experience in autumn season and I felt blessed.


The castle very much resembled the Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty castle.



The indoor theme park was pretty much for children level but once I stepped out, I was like, "So this is where all the exciting rides are!" Among the top pleasers are The Gyro Drop, a steep drop with an altitude of 70 meters and Gyro Swing to taste the thrilling sensation of being inside a tornado. The Flume Ride is a long boat with a high-altitude wave, and the Spanish Pirate Ship swings at an electrifying 75 degrees. However due to limited time left, I didn’t try any :=(


The Gyro Drop and Gyro Swing are visible from here.


Bungee jump! Thrill of sudden fall from a height of 38m at the speed of 90km/h!


Adrenaline rush games.


After few photoshoots, we went back indoor! The weather getting colder.




Lotte World offers a variety of small and big performances and festivals in the park. Since they are mostly performed indoor, visitors can freely and conveniently access them, regardless of weather. Besides the excitement of these rides, Lotte World also contains a variety of parades and laser shows. The 200 performers sing and dance to music in the World Carnival Parade, which adds excitement to the theme park.


Just nice after we arrived, it was almost time for the Fantasy Parade which happens twice a day!
Quite happening and everyone was happy! Woohoooo!






There was a KPOP musical show at the Garden Stage which was pretty interesting as they dance to the latest KPOP songs.








Soon it was getting dark and all the indoor lighting of the theme park was turned on. Feels so magical and enchanted.









Tired already, we had an ice cream and sat on the bench while waited for other members to gather back.



Sharp at 5.30pm, we met Vincent again and then he took us for dinner at Itaewon, one of the famous tourist area at Seoul. I will inform you more about this area later as we went there again on the next day.






We went dinner at Indian restaurant.


Indian cuisane....


Grocery shops selling national foods expecially from Indian, Arabic and Mediterranean.


Bars also available along the street.





We finished our dinner around 8pm. Finally we went to check in at Best Western Premier Guro Hotel, Seoul. A four-star hotel located at Guro Digital Valley, the heart of Seoul's digital industry. The area is so happening but we were so tired that we couldn't afford to stroll along the street nearby our hotel. Once stepped in to our room, took a bath (we didn't bath for one whole day so it was such a relief) and performed solat, we got into our comfort and huge bed and quickly felt asleep. What a day!! So this marks the end of the Day 1 post! The next day would be another day of roaming around Seoul. Stay tuned.