Judged: Lotte World

Four out of five (80%) people agree, Lotte World is a good place (5th person is taking the picture, naturally).  I didn't even have to use a computer machine to figure out that figure.  Figures.  Can you tell who didn't care for it?

Lotte World is a place where magic flows and dreams come true.  A tiny indoor and outdoor theme park in the middle of Jamsil in Seoul, Korea.  It has a castle, raccoon  mascots and Disney's still pulsing heart powering it all.  The problem is, the heart was willing to make something grand and unusual but the body is six feet under.  I suppose if you hit the jump you will fall into a rabbit hole only to come out in China instead of Wonderland.
 The trip to Lotte World is filled with peril, especially if you go on a Saturday.  The subway is filled to the frame on the subway door, almost bursting at the seems.  We managed to push ourselves into the bloated transport and hoped no one from outside the train felt a need to go on a shooting spree as the term 'fish in a barrel' would best be used to describe our ten minute trip.

Once the doors open, we gasped for air and poured out the entrance into Jamsil station.  A grand place if you could imagine subway stations being grand - aside from Grand Central.  Still, it's pretty swanky nonetheless.

Yes, you are now in Lotte World's subway station. Let's be honest, it should be called Lotte World Station not Jamsil Station.

The scene from the entrance to the terminal is as nice as it looks.  It even has a fairly large subway mall to boot!  Not to mention the world class hotel, theme park, department store, discount store, above ground mall, duty free shop and movie theater.  Phew.  Almost asphyxiated myself from typing all those features.  There's other little odds-n-ends you'll find all over the place too, but those are the main features.

My friends and I visited the theme park.  I'll have to do an overview of the hotel later on, but there was too much to do for one day, though I will say I did see a majority of the park.  However, I digress.  We walked a short ways directly to a ticket booth in the subway which gave us access to the indoor park and subsequently the outdoor one as well.  Before passing through the booth, I noticed something odd.  An employees name tag beared a similar resemblance to another name tag I once wore.  Hm.  I took a picture.

 

Compare this...

...to this

Disney's is a nicer in the design aspect but the shape is the exact same.  Oh well, it's just a name tag, it's not like the whole park is Disney themed.  Right?

The indoor park was immediately bypassed by the five of us.  The weather was nice and we wanted to get in the thick of it!  Upon coming out of the indoor area the monorail passed us by on it's way to the station.  That second, I thought, "Hey I love the monorail in Disney!" and then it hit me like a sack of bricks, I finally saw the name of the outdoor theme park: Magic Island.

Incredible...

But wait, what could be more incredible than spin off of Magic Kingdom?

Astounding...

In case you couldn't tell this is Cinderella's Castle. Just checkin'.

At this point you might think I'm nothing but a punk with an elitist taste for Disney Commercialism.  Well, you'd be partially correct but it needs to be restated: I liked Lotte World a lot.  Now, to continue.

We crossed the bridge towards the castle and kept moving to get in line for the space themed roller coaster.  However, the line was over an hour wait!  What a surprise, a theme park having long lines.  Narae and Karen were nice enough to stay in line for the roller coaster while Susan, James and I hopped in line for the Waikiki Wave!  The line was short enough that we'd make it back in no time!  I videotaped most of the rides we went on but unfortunately, Google has disabled uploading videos in Korea due to a Real Name Verification Law.  So, I guess until I can transfer these to my brother, I'll have to give my best description of the ride.

Waikiki Wave

Waikiki wave is your basic State Fair ride with some new flair!  Instead of going for the more intense ride, called "Topspin," where the arms rotate the car in circles as the car itself rotates, it goes gently turns and moves the car as though it were a wave.  Imagine a kid with a Strech Armstong trying to show his friends how far he can strech his arms.  The kid struggles as he begins to reach his limits and his elbows buckle slightly.  Also the kid has a hard time keeping the doll's arms parallel to the ground.  That is the Waikiki Wave.  I gave it a 6/10 because it was a neat idea, not thrilling in the least but enjoyable and pleasant.  Also, it lacked presentation as the queue was a simple line with nothing to do or admire aside from the wave like motions of the ride.

We snuck back in line for the roller coaster and almost got eaten by wild mechanical animals!  Well, one clipped my foot for sure.  Damn thing hurt.

Rideable Dalmatians. Give me a rideable Raptor anyday.

I'd love to continue but it's getting late and it's time to give some people a call.  Consider this to be a multiple parter.