Explore South Korea: The Everland Theme Park

The Everland Theme Park

Day02: May 29, 2014

Everland Theme Park

On our second day in Seoul, we left Hamilton Hotel at eight in the morning. We had an early appointment, a courtesy visit to our Seoul branch office. The office is located along Seonyu-Ro in Yeongdeungpo-Ku in Seoul.

Kerry Korea

We met the head of the branch office, Mr. KS and we were warmly received by the rest of the staff. This reminded me of our branch office in Vietnam. We were escorted to the boardroom where the rest of the team was waiting for all of us.

We had a lively and short but meaningful discussions with the team.

We left Seoul thirty minutes after the hour of nine in the morning and traveled to the city of Yongin in Gyeonggi-do province. It was a long five hours drive from Seoul.

We had a nice lunch along the way. At two o'clock in the afternoon, we were at the huge parking area for Everland visitors at the city of Yongin.

From the parking area, we waited for the shuttle bus to arrive and bring us to Everland.

According to Wikipedia, Everland is South Korea's largest theme park. With 6.6 million visitors, Everland ranked thirteenth in the world for amusement park attendance in 2011.

Along with its main attractions, Everland also includes a zoo and a water park known as Caribbean Bay. Everland is operated by Samsung Everland, which is a subsidiary of the Samsung Group.

The name of the park is of note, as the name "Everland" is English. In Korean, the name is approximated as "Ebeoraendeu" – in other words, there is no authentic Korean name for the park.

This park was formerly called "Jayeon Nongwon" which roughly means "Natural Farm". Its former English name was "Farmland".

Everland is divided into 5 distinct zones: Global Fair, Zoo-Topia, European Adventure, Magic Land and American Adventure.

Global Fair is primarily a place for food, souvenirs and pictures as visitors make their way into and out of the park.

There are many shops, and restaurants as well as special services such as stroller rental and lockers.

Zoo-Topia is an animal themed portion. There is a petting zoo, pony rides, and animal shows. There is also a small zoo with polar bears, sea lions, penguins, bears, tigers and primates.

A safari bus ride is available which shows animals such as ligers and bears roaming in a contained habitat. The visitors are caged up in the bus.

 

Amazon Express is a raft ride, where most visitors get wet to varying degrees. The petting zoo provides animals such as goats and sheep to pet.

Kosik, one of Zoo-topia's elephants, made headlines when he demonstrated an ability to imitate Korean words.

European Adventure has many restaurants in various European styles. The architecture imitates different European styles.

There is a flower garden encircled by a train, games and arcades. A favorite attraction here is the Mystery Mansion in which visitors can shoot at the ghosts.

In March 2008, a new ride named "T Express" was added. It is the first roller-coaster in Korea to be constructed out of wood.

Magic land is an elaborate array of buildings and rides. There is a portion called Aesop's Village where the characters and themes are primarily drawn from the fables of Aesop.

The Ferris wheel here provided a spectacular view of the whole park until it closed in 2011 to allow for more rides.

There is also a log flume, a futuristic flying ride, and a robot ride. With the rides, there are many restaurants and stands.

American Adventure. Themes from American history are presented in this portion of the park. There are 2 Wild West rides, including the "Eagle's Fortress" thrill ride, and the rodeo.

In Rock Ville the theme is the 1950s and its music. The Double Rock Spin is a main attraction as live bands play near the Rolling X-Train, a roller coaster located within the park.

We left the Theme Park in Yongin city and headed back to Seoul past the hour of seven in the evening. I had so much fun exploring the place and experiencing the colorful ambiance of the gardens. I particularly enjoy the Europen Adventure - its architecture and the food!

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Day 01 - Explore Nami Island and Seoul Tower
Day 03 - Explore Cheongwadae Sarangche and Gyeongbok Palace