Korean Crossroads: An Everland Weekend

Last weekend was spent in one of Seoul's must-see destinations for the children of Korea...and myself and Dan. We went to Everland, the world's 4th largest amusement park. An entire day filled with rollercoasters, spinny rides that make you feel like you want to puke, vendor food, animals galore and more walking than should be allowed. Right up our alley. While the actual experience was a walk in the park (excuse the pun), the actual process of GETTING THERE was an endeavor to say the least.

According to all of the online reading I had done about Everland, supposedly the park was a mere hour bus ride from Seoul. We specifically stayed in Seoul so that we could be closer to the park to get there right at the 9:30 opening. Should have been a breeze, right? Wrong. Turns out we needed to do quite a bit of traveling before we could actually get to those golden gates. First was a subway ride that involved us getting a bit turned around (my fault, I admit) that ended up being about an hour. Then we ended up at Seoul Station where we were told there was NOT a bus to Everland but a train to the nearby city of Suwon. Another hour. We get to Suwon. Where is the bus? No clue. We head over to the tourist information center where we are informed to get on another bus to get to Everland. Another hour. We finally arrive to Everland, right? Wrong. We then get on ANOTHER bus to take us from the Everland parking lot to the actual gates of Everland. Before we even get to the park we have ridden a subway, train and two buses.

With a little more than frustration on our faces, we finally walked into the famed park of Everland, where the dreams of tiny Korean children everywhere come true. This particular park mirrors its decorations from the different holidays in the year. We had arrived right at the change over from their "Summer Splash" theme to the "Happy Halloween" decor. With pumpkins, ghosts and cute little goblins everywhere it definitely got me in the right frame of mind for the impending fall that I knew was right around the corner.

Jack o'lanterns galore seemed to be the perfect backdrop

We spent the rest of the day riding (almost) every single ride, taking pictures with every cardboard cutout or funny statue, eating amusement park food and everything in between. Among others, we (somewhat) successfully rode the world's steepest wooden roller coaster, the biggest viking ship I have ever ridden which included a 75 degree vertical lift and a haunted house ride that would freak out even the most stoic person.

Now when I say that we (somewhat) successfully rode the roller coaster, I mean that Dan successfully rode it while I literally cried like a child for the entire ride to the top of the first drop. After that first drop, THEN I became successful. There was something about seeing all that rickity wood, screaming people and swaying pieces that threw me for a loop. A loop. See, I can make a joke about it now. But in all seriousness, take a look at this picture and tell me it doesn't make your stomach flip-flop.

The rest of our day was spent looking at the "Zoomania" section of the park (obviously complete with zoo animals), walking around to take in all the sights, riding every ride we could find and of course taking a million pictures. To close on this post from one of my favorite places in Korea, here are a few of my favorite pictures from that day. Hope you enjoy them and if you have the opportunity to visit Everland, do it. You won't regret it!