Garet

Most of the signs for Everland's new stuff here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1827204#p1827204 I didn't submit it as a TR since it is pretty much just an update on things around the park more than a TR.

I know this is the time of the year when I usually upload a year's worth of photos in a huge 90 photo TR but honestly this year I didn't really take any. A couple of reasons but mainly 1) the park hasn't changed much in 7 years give or take the lost valley and panda animal exhibitions, nearly all the new rides have been re-skins or re-used buildings that were already there so most of my photos were just repeating and 2) both my trips I had my 17 month-year-old son with me who, now he can walk, has taken an interest in rides. And although a lot have no minimum height with an adult (I once saw a baby strapped to the parents on the rapids) we avoid anything too fast or that has a divide since he is still too young to grasp the concept of safety (no matter how many times he points at the dragon) so I end up spending most of my time on the children's rides that my wife can't stomach (aka the rotating airplane mini magic carpet style ride for hours) and don't want him bored for an hour while I'm in line for T express. Although from next year I might stop going on days with 50% discount and do a yearly trip with the fast pass package. One minor quibble, the queue return tickets to stop line jumping seem mostly for show. We constantly saw while in the Safari World Reservation line ( the reservation area had a random 9:56am posted opening and ran out within 8 minutes instead of staggered fast pass they allocate a bus every hour or two to be just for queue pass people so be on time for that pass!) one person in the line, point to a group of up to 5 - grandparents, wife, and kids, be given a queue return to go park the stroller while those 5 jumped in and he would come back to join them. I also don't have pictures of the closed ferris wheel VR since there was only a small information board and a small pathway next to the memorial sign I've posted in previous TR's. We ended up here on one of the busiest days with my wife's family. Those are the ticket booths at the front with the entrance in the distance with the area so crowded the line into the park was running past them. Thankfully the ticket booth for foreigners was open. I always find it funny that foreigners get 50% discount over chuseok since the park used to be dead while Koreans went to pay respects to their ancestors and family but it can now be one of the busiest days of the year. For all the massive crowds I think the park did a really good job containing them with lines never going above 2 hours which isn't too bad when i've seen longer lines on some weekends. The ride to replace Pororo 3D. Despite the sign, it isn't just this cartoon show they play. It rotates between 3 different kids cartoons, one an hour on rotation. Like a lot of things in Everland, it's a ticketed reservation ride. Since all my last TR was the boy panda while the girl was sleeping, here is the girl panda in the other half of the exhibit. The red panda was also out today. I mentioned in this thread that Everland was the target of some animal rights groups. There solution was to cover the exhibit and limit looking in through peep holes. Looking through one of the holes. Single rider has now been removed from all rides and their signs in Everland including T Express so plan accordingly. I've never found the lines too long on a sunday for the flat rides so if you plan your day right it shouldn't be too big a deal. Rio 4D has left the, still strangely named, Space Tours simulator and has been replaced by happy family 4D. GYro VR has been built into the existing Sky Cruise gondola station. It's another ticketed reservation but this one is an upcharge. And this one is set up between Hurricane and Championship Rodeo. It's also a ticketed reservation and also an upcharge. Can you guess where I'm standing Hint: abcd (was) EF (now) G (no longer going to be) H

Some photos when we stopped by Lotte Tower while in Seoul. Excuse the quality of some, most were shot 10-20 minutes before sunset with my iphone and zoom since I didn't have my camera with me. The mall is huge but I didn't take any pictures since we had been at a Your Name Exhibition nearby and wanted to make it up before the sunset so we rushed, there was a Kidzania which I know TPR is very fond of. 118 floors up over Seoul With the sun setting just out of this photo The glass floor was crazy busy due to half being roped off for a photo zone. The other side of the building also has a glass floor but since it looks down on mostly grass it wasn't busy at all What makes this a TPR TR.... Lotte World from above. Sun setting over Seoul Lotte World looks so tiny from up here. Even the drop tower. Looking out towards Olympic Park Lotte World at night Glass floor at night was so packed you couldn't move. I took this photo by accident because someone knocked my phone out of my hand and snapped this with the camera pressed against the floor. Looking up from the small outdoor area, I actually enjoyed being out here in the cool air since it was much quieter than the indoor part. The glass floor and photo zone area.

Every time I see news on this rollercoaster it just reminds me that the huge cross valley wooden roller coaster with an almost 200ft drop through trees never happened.

I've mentioned this before, but my wife is the same. Even though she things Tokyo is the best, Hong Kong is her favorite and the one she likes to visit, especially now we have a young child. She likes that we can stroll up to a parade 10 mins before and still find a spot only a row or two back, get a photo with characters in under 15 mins, jump on 90% of the rides and grab a show, fireworks, or eat at the Corner Cafe without needing a lot of planning beforehand. She just thinks for our son being able to walk straight up to Chip&Dale or Stitch right away and go where he wants is a great introduction to Disney before he's older for the lines and crowds of the nearby Tokyo parks.

Flying Theater remains closed through October as well.

We passed the park, the crowds didn't look too bad considering how many tourists were on the island this week and most places we visited car parks were overflowing, I saw blogs mentioning lines of around an hour when they went and apparently there is an x pass, whether you can buy or it's part of staying at the hotel we aren't sure. We debated going but with only around 8 rides and really only 2 of those I would be interested in, it didn't seem fair to my wife and son. The park looks really nice but with such a small line-up it seems more of a beautifully themed resort add-on to get people into the hotel than a gated park. Maybe when the second gate themed to Lionsgate movies opens next door we will re-visit since it's only a 50-minute flight to the island.

As a native English teacher here in Korea and also married to a native, I feel your pain on a few points where I've seen the same/similar. This interior of the park and the castle with the tower framing it looks so much like someone went to Lotte World and said build me one of those.

Everland does something similar with T Express. They also turn one of the safari bus rides into a zombie attraction at night where the buses drive through zombie filled areas after the animals have been moved out. Always thought that could have been a thing if Rhino Rally had been still around.

Gyro VR will be opening tomorrow: http://www.everland.com/service/front/frontFavorite.do?method=favorAtrView&facilId=3043&zoneCode=CT00202&siteCode=CT00101&themeCode=CT00401

Hugh Hefner has died aged 91: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41423845

I probably wouldn't even let my son ride with another adult in a single rider line until he's in his teens. I remember seeing some young moms and dad's on a Korean rapids ride with a baby strapped to their chest. Apparently, they took the no minimum height restriction with an adult way too seriously and decided that made it ok.... it's not a very intense rapids but still seems like a really stupid unnecessary risk to ride together, especially at night when it's not warm. Even stupider throwing in the line was 10 minutes and there was no reason not to split the group.

Right. But this happens IN THE STATION. My whole point is that I cannot think of another park or have witnessed any other park that forces you to put all your stuff into a fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo BEFORE YOU GET IN LINE. There are many parks that make you empty your pockets right before you get on a ride. But I have yet to experience at any other park except for Universal that makes you empty your pockets and go through a metal detector BEFORE YOU GET IN LINE. Yea, that was my point. That if even a park like Fuji Q with a super strict loose items policy can let me keep my phone in line, I don't know why USO can't.

I always find it funny how much Chip, Dale and Stitch seems to have won over so many fans to be big sellers on so much merchandise in Asia... poor Goofy. A couple of times I've picked up group set packs of something and the 4 pack is: Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Stitch taking the 4th slot. Not an issue for me since Chip, Dale and Stitch are some of my favorite characters that I always try and get a photo with at the parks but I know some friends who got fed up of the overabundance of Stitch. Same people who don't mind all the Chip and Dale though. I can see their point, I really enjoyed the first movie but there was a lot of sequels and tv shows. I still remember the crowd giving the biggest cheer of the night during Fantasmic when he popped out of the hat and his girlfriend zoomed past on a jet-ski. Heck, a lot of my younger Korean students don't know where he's from since the movies aren't re-run very often and have no idea who Lilo is. They just know of Stitch the character from the abundance of stationery, indoor shoes (I have a pair for work as well for the kindergarten classes) toys and stuffed animals etc.

I know a park with ridiculous operations and the strictest loose articles policy known to man.... Fuji Q. I mean I once got unlocked to put a small tissue in the locker I didn't even realize was there myself and had to put a watch in the locker to be replaced by an even larger band..... and even they still let you keep your phone to keep you occupied in a queue line.

I also tend to watch them later. In a weird way, they feel like a behind the scenes/director's commentary version of TPR. Most of the POV's focus on quality or are mainly things like twisty or loop de loop but in these, it feels more like I'm hearing what you and others think/opinions more.

^

I always find it funny that out of all the parks USJ is the one that seems to retire them last with BTTF just closing and Jaws potentially disappearing sometime after Nintendo Land, it's like an encore where you get a couple of extra years to get another nostalgic ride... Are we sure they won't take Dueling Dragons?

I mean T Express was open at the same time as Eagle's Fortress and I think there was talk about getting new trains at some point to try and save the ride so I think if they'd had the option, they'd have kept it going. That's completely different from Universal where it could be kept going maintenance wise and expand in other places. It was not fun having never ridden it and having to see it SBNO for years. Also if we are going to use Eagle's Fortress as an example, removing a very popular ride hasn't exactly worked out there either. The site was pegged for an on-site hotel, and now the whole area is being turned into a garden based on some overhead shots. Considering they just did this with Global Village, it's leaving that area a little bare. The parks never going to be doing too poorly considering the population size nearby and minimal competition but the park hasn't exactly been thriving. Attendance hasn't really changed much in the last 4 years and their big investment was in pandas (I don't have the article on hand but the whole project cost was around the price for quite a big coaster) and despite a huge media push, huge waiting areas originally painted and one of the few rides to offer queue pass, outside of holidays, it has been pretty much walk-in every day since day one.

The flying theater will remain closed throughout September as well.

Hot on the heels of the last 5 VR attractions/upcharges comes Gyro VR: [fbvideonew] [/fbvideonew]

On the non-park side of things for you guys, they've opened a Kidzania and one of those monster sports places with the crazy climbing walls in Korea recently.

Tomorrow will be the last day for Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. Honestly, I enjoy the ride but I won't miss it too much. I hear Shanghai's version is better and what with it at all the other parks it's not like it'll be missing from the region. Hopefully, all the Hong Kong exclusives replacing it and in the future will give the park a boost after the attendance dropped. As much as I love the park for its quiet lines, it can be scarily quiet on times we've been and were shocked to find walk-ons on days we thought would be busier.

I don't suppose you have a video of this do you? Both times I've been at sea paradise the whale shark just followed a bucket of food so guests could get a good look at it and that was it but I might have just been unlucky.

I couldn't find the article on the main site by searching so I screenshotted my phone, the park will open September 30th. This coincides with an almost unheard of 10 day national holiday period. Coincidentally I am also visiting that island for the first time since I came to Korea that week. Not sure if I will visit the park though. I'm not a first kind of guy and with it being opening and that big national holiday I think the island will be packed, it's already the worlds busiest air route and that is the busiest week so might be better to hold off and enjoy the park a few years later than be packed now. Maybe I'll see towards the end of my holiday what the crowds are like. The attractions list is mostly kids rides for $40 right now. I believe most adult rides will come with Lionsgate Park (which may be a separate gate from this kids area with the mack spinner) The site lists Lionsgate park as opening in 2019 with rides/attractions for these films: + The Hunger Games + Now You See Me + Divergent + Saw + The Cabin in the Woods + Robin Hood + The Twilight Saga