In the beginning, it was quite the dilemma having to choose between Everland or Lotte World. Ideally we would love to visit both parks but reality hits - so we ended up choosing the latter. If compared to Everland, Lotte World can be conveniently reached via subway and getting to Everland is rather tedious and time consuming as it requires an hour or more to get there.
As we went to Korea during late autumn and early winter, weather can be unpredictable. Everland will most likely be affected by bad and extreme weather as it's majorly an outdoor and interactive park. If you compare it to Lotte World, being an indoor theme park, it will be the least affected. So clearly, we have a distinctive winner.
I'll most likely come back to Korea in the future to see Jeju Island and perhaps, visit Everland during the summer or spring. Sounds like a plan!
How to get here: Jamsil Station (Line 2), Exit 4. Lotte World is directly connected to the station so rest assured, it's impossible to get lost.
We are finally here at Lotte World!
Yay, I got in with a junior(student) pass kekeke.
Located in the heart of Seoul, Lotte world is a world-class theme park. It consists of one of the world's largest indoor theme park(Adventure) opened all year round and an outdoor amusement park called Magic Island. There's even a freaking huge ice-skating rink in the center of it all!
#HHWT Tip: There’s a new prayer room facility on the third floor of Lotte World.
(Photo courtesy of https://karainseoul.wordpress.com/)
We looked around the main theme park for a short while before going off searching for the Disneyland look-a-like castle of Lotte World's extended outdoor park, Magic Island.
Honestly, I love the concept of having both an indoor and outdoor theme park connected. Should it rain, at least your money and time spent coming here wouldn't have to go to waste, right?
MAGIC ISLAND (LOTTE WORLD'S OUTDOOR PARK)
Mandatory shot with Disneyland imitation hahaha!
I'm going to have to be honest. The indoor park didn't seem that great but as soon as I stepped out, I was like, "Now, we're talking!" And we're off the try out the rides!
OUTDOOR RIDES
1. Bungee Drop (7.5/10)
Our first ride of the day was the Bungee Drop. I guess it's to prep you before you take on the big one which is located in the same outdoor park called Gyro Drop. Although it is relatively small compared to the Gyro Drop, do not be fooled. You get quite a good view from up there for a mere 2 to 3 seconds before the whole thing drops you up and down and finally coming to a complete halt. And it's like you don't know what the hell hit you.
2. Gyro Spin (9/10)
I thoroughly enjoyed this ride as a whole. Basically, you choose where you'd want to be seated around this circular disk with about 15 other people facing outwards. As it moves from the left side to the right, it'll also rotate simultaneously! And at quite the speed! Definitely thrilling and a lot of fun! Kai hates these things but it's so funny seeing his reaction, it made the entire experience a lot more enjoyable and meaningful.
(Photo courtesy of http://rnmeskin.blogspot.sg/)
3. Gyro Drop
No way in hell was I going to put my heart through the Gyro Drop. Put me on any rollercoaster ride and I'm all up for it but not THIS. Right after the rest got off the Gyro Drop, Kai's dad legit vomited. See... I dodged a bullet right there. That could have easily been me. Smart thinking, Haziqah. Definitely did not regret my decision to sit out this one. And.. I managed to eat some delicious tteokbokki in the meantime.
4. Gyro Swing (9/10)
This ride is a giant circular structure that swings back and forth (while rotating!) on a giant pendulum. Although the ride looked intense, it wasn't (at least for me that is). I really enjoyed it very much and one of the most enjoyable rides I took actually. You get this feeling of adrenaline rush and your stomach lurching whenever you're facing the ground. It's a terrifying yet a fantastic feeling.
Bought some yummy snacks to fight off the hunger and the cold. The deli cheese potato was so good but I got muak from all that cheese after a while!
The outdoor theme park became wildly crowded and we have gotten lazy to stand in any lines. It's really frustrating when you think about all that waiting time, queuing for hours for rides shorter than what? A minute.
Why am I not surprised I managed to pass off as a teen/student.
INDOOR RIDES AND CINDERELLA'S CHRISTMAS SHOW
To catch the 6:00pm Cinderella Christmas performance, we headed back in to get out from the cold and we have also yet to try the indoor rides.
(Photo courtesy of http://www.hitthepave.com/)
Prior to this, we queued for the bumper cars but halfway through I gave up because I was sleepy! Hahaha, I just wanted to sit down and sleep, seriously.
But then.. being curious and typical Singaporeans, we joined in the queue for The French Revolution 2. I'm guessing it must be during their school holidays because the queue was lined with so, so, so many Korean students and the wait was.... just, unbelievable. You would be appalled to see the queue if you were there.
5. The French Revolution 2 VR (6/10)
The French Revolution 2 VR (Virtual Reality) was hands down... the worst ride ever. We waited in line for a close to 2 hours and I could literally finish an episode of The Legends of the Blue Sea and it still wasn't our turn. The concept of this ride was actually really cool especially when you first put on the headset. Although, it was quick to turn all that hype into an abundance of regret. As soon as we got off, my head was spinning and I'm not even exaggerating. All of us felt so groggy afterwards and it was so nauseating.
(Photo courtesy of http://www.themeparkreview.com/)
6. The Adventures of Sinbad (4.5/10)
There were just so many things wrong with the Adventures of Sinbad. First of all, I hate semi water rides because as soon as I got on the boat, I can pick up that longkang smell. The ride was thrilling at first because of the mini 'drop' but after a while it was just downright disturbing with creepy animatronic robots speaking in Korean. Oh the things you'll see cannot be unseen.
7. The Conquistador (8/10)
Pretty much your classic boat swing ride. I rode this after taking Sinbad and everybody else had pretty much given up on the rides so it was just me and Kak Nadia left standing. It wasn't bad. Reminded me of the Viking back when Escape Theme Park was da bomb. Expected but definitely a lot better than the other two which was disastrous. We joined in with the Korean students aboard and had a lot of fun, screaming and raising our arms up in the air hahaha.
The whole performance was in Korean but honestly, I couldn't give tow hoots about it, I'm sorry. After a whole day at the theme park and waiting in line for nearly 2 hours for a ride that turned out horrible, I legit sat there and dozed off. At that point, my body had just completely given up and there was nothing more that I wanted to do than to sleep.
As soon as the show ended, all of us pretty much has had enough of Lotte World and thought of nothing else but dinner. On our way back to Jamsil Station, Kai pointed out that there was an Adidas store here. I was thissssss close to giving it a pass but Kai said, "Maybe they have the shoe that you've been looking for?" What do I have got to lose, I thought. Anddddd..
I actually got my Adidas superstar slip-on in mint! Freaking mint! For ₩99,000, that certainly perked up my day by a whole lot. One good thing definitely came out of coming all the way here. What would I ever do without you, Kai, hehe.
CHEONGGYECHEON STREAM & GRILLED FISH ALLEY
Unfortunately, I have no pictures to share of our walk along Cheonggyecheon stream. Definitely not the ideal time to go down there as it's terribly chilly at night. My advise is to visit here during the day, while the sun is out or before sunset as it'll take at least about 45 minutes to an hour to walk the entire seven miles stretch. That way you can enjoy both day and night time view of the stream.
How to get here: Get off at Dongdaemun Station 동대문역(Line 1), Exit 8 and walk straight ahead. You'll see JW Marriot Hotel on your right. Continue walking straight along Cheonggyecheon Stream, turn right to the first alley and on your left you'll see the whole alley line with grilled fish restaurants.
The moment you step foot into this small alley, it can be quite overwhelming as there are so many restaurants serving grilled fish. The first restaurant on the left had a young man grilling away fish and he turned to us saying, "Masuk, masuk.." and the friendly ahjumma came out to usher us in excitedly saying "Annyeonghaseyo. Ada ikan tenggiri, ikan.." she spoke really fast but it was legit Malay and we understood! It was right then we knew we just had to eat here.
At grilled fish alley, all the fishes are brined in salt water and lightly grilled in advance. Once you've made your order, the fish is thrown back on the charcoal cooker and served to you within 5 to 10 minutes, hot and fresh af.
Each set of fish costs ₩7,000 served with all the banchan side dishes. Do take note that you're expected to order one set per person.
(Photo courtesy of https://migrationology.com/dongdaemun-grilled-fish-street/)
Although the restaurant was rather small and squeezy, the food did not fell short of goodness. We ordered 1 set of spicy octopus, spicy soft tofu soup and 4 sets of grilled fish - spanish mackerel, saba mackerel and another type of fish which I don't know the name for it.
I didn't think it was too salty at all despite the brining process. I'd say they were all grilled and seasoned to perfection and that buttery texture of the fish made it so incredibly good!
The only place I could compare the spicy soft tofu soup with was Yang Good's but the one we had here was seriously jangggg. Daebak! It was hands down the best and so, so good. When we got here, they were already closing up soon so the ahjumma was kind to give us some leftover grilled fish on the house so yay!
When we left the restaurant, it suddenly started pouring down with rain. (Not gonna lie, I was slightly happy it was raining because who knows, it just might snow!) Luckily, I wore my padded parka out today and it came with a hoodie so walking in the rain wasn't going to be a problem for me.
We waited for another 10 minutes for the rain to clear a little before walking as fast as we could to Dongdaemun Station to head back to our apartment.
DAMAGE DONE IN KOREA
Back at the apartment...
Busy gila.
Bought some super cute socks for maself and family back home from Myeong-dong at ₩1,000 each and the two from the right was from Dongdaemun underground shopping selling at 3 for ₩1,000.
Managed to grab these seaweed crisps on our second trip down to Lotte Mart. No ragrets.
All my babies are tucked in and ready to be shipped back home hahaha! Look forward to the next post on Day 5 - Vivaldi Ski World & Myeong-dong, again.
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