SEOUL (16 Dec- 20 Dec 2014)
Today's itinerary was not very packed cos we were expecting the travelling time to be rather long between places~
1. Seaweed Museum (skip)
2. Korean BBQ Meal!!! (skip)
3. Everland Theme Park
4. DrumCat Show
Our first huge destination was none other than the Everland Theme Park!! Journey there from Mt Seorak was long and I was actually soooooo looking forward to it after lunch :D
According to KTO, Everland Theme Park opened way back in 1976 and was the first family amusement park in Korea! It is divided into multiple sections- American Adventure, Magic Land, European Adventure, Global Fair and Zoo Topia.
Original entry ticket pricing: 46,000won~ [Adult, fullday entry pass]
Refer to their site for operating hours and seasonal discount coupons for the entry pass!
*Typical aunty, have to place particular emphasis on it cos.... Discount ma! :P
So off our group goes to explore Everland! :) First things first, PICTURES!!
Had pictures taken at the big tree which is sooo famous! I like to call it the Rainbow Tree cos it's decorations differ with each season hahha. It's such a significant display at Everland cos of Running Man episodes that captured this too :)
And we saw Santa Claus!! :D
Had my eyes specifically on a few rides since I'd read up about it prior to the trip. Ends up, I was a weeee bit disappointed because:
1. Only 2 hours given to cover... The whole place. Seriouslyyyy? :(
2. 3 out of 4 of the rides I wanted to go on were closed due to bad weather, and the staff did not know if it would be opened before I had to leave the theme park
On the bright side, I did manage to go on 2 amazing rides that SG doesn't have for sure!
This was the safari ride- Lost Valley, we took, and we opted for the vehicle which is not enclosed, just so I could see the giraffe stick his neck in during the feeding by the vehicle guide. AND IT DID HAPPEN!!! :D And spot that long tongue omg eeeew :D
For the safari attraction, there are 2 ride options:
Enclosed- Goes through the route which has fiercer and more aggressive animals- ie. Bears, Tigers, Lions etc.
Opened- Goes through the route which has tamer animals- ie. Giraffes, Zebras, Camels etc.
Running Man previously featured Kim Jong Kook on that same opened ride, with him having to complete a mission with the lions, Yoo Jae Suk and HaHa with the elephants and Kwang Soo with the giraffes at that same safari area. (Episode 141)
My favourite scenes from that episode :D
And yup, as expected, the guide on the safari vehicle whom spoke purely in Korean throughout the whole 10 min journey also brought that up. ;)
One thing I realized though, was that there was one part of the route where both vehicles would see the same animals. I believe it was the tigers' enclosure...
On a side note, when on the vehicle, don't opt to sit near the back as the view is obstructed when other passengers stand up in excitement~
Continued walking in the chilly weather and ventured to look for my long-awaited T-Express roller coaster (The highest wooden rollercoaster), Double Rock Spin and Let's Twist. ALL WERE
MAD MAD DISAPPOINTED.
I NEED ANOTHER VISIT TO EVERLAND :(
The T Express I had been looking forward to :(
The first drop is 57m high and at a steep 77 degrees angle. Madness doesn't stop there, but continue with the multiple drops throughout the ride!!
Trudged on unhappily but ended up stumbling upon this!
The Snow Buster!! This special attraction is seasonal, and basically gives the visitor a float to sit on, then slide down the icy slope!! Super fun I tell you! And best thing, we didn't have to climb up. There was this pulley system that would pull us up the slope one by one. Good for lazy people like me hehhe. Queue was long but cleared up very fast!! :D
No doubt a short visit to Everland, but we were still rather tired out by the weather. Imagine standing outdoors and walking around for 2 hours in that cold! BRRRRR..
According to Jiejie, amongst them Tour Guides, Everland is voted to be one of the coldest places during winter too (Alongside Mt Seorak's crazy winds and of cos the ski resorts).
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Next stop would be dinner followed by the Drum Cat Show!! I initially thought that it would be some random stage performance that wouldn't be any entertaining at all, so I didn't go search for any info about them online, but boy was I wrong!!
According to KTO, Drum Cat is a globally-recognized Korean performance that has been established since 2003. This all-female percussion group had actually won prizes on international platforms!!
Couldn't take pictures inside so I just hijacked and credited a few pictures from their Facebook page~
Their skills are undoubtly amazing and their energetic performance definitely had all of us moving along to their rhythm. Audiences for our session consisted of Koreans, Thais, Chinese, Taiwanese and SGreans. I tell youuuuu, simply stunning!!
Original entry ticket pricing: 40,000 - 50,000won~
80 mins, evening shows only
In my opinion, it's definitely worth watching. But if you ask me to watch it again, I wouldn't. Unless it's an entirely different set, then I'd probably consider. Come to think of it, their tickets are rather pricey eh? :P
Retired to our hotel at The Lexington Hotel. Well, the exterior of the hotel was really grand-looking and looked like some European Court place. But the rooms were significantly smaller as compared to the other hotels we have stayed at for this trip.
Found this picture online but yes, my room looks exactly like this. The table and chairs are rather redundant and just obstructs the passageway :/ I'm not sure what the pricing is like for this hotel, but IMO, it's location is also a wee bit out of the way. We had to cross the river to get to central places like Myeongdong. Nonetheless, the coach journey was also about 20 mins only, so probably ain't that bad!
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TIP: Everland- allocate one whole day to that place please! And there is alot of walking to be done, up and down slopes, so one has to be dressed in comfort albeit in 4-5 layers :)
Sun can get pretty glaring even though the temperature doesn't change much, so sunscreen for exposed skin is definitely needed!
There's this BBQ Meat shop which is near the main entrance of Yongin Everland Resort (The place where vehicles pay toll). We had lunch there- ~SGD$30/ pax and I think it's a rather decent place to have lunch before going into the theme park as food inside the theme park is pricey!
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Post-trip thoughts: I DEFINITELY NEED TO GO BACK THERE AGAIN FOR THE ROLLER COASTERS :(
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