Garet

I completely missed there was a Christmas update with an enterprise and pirate ship. I have a cheap 3d TV that was being cleared out of the Samsung store might have to try the new 3d option with this update.

Probably, when the apartments go for sale here in Asia they open a model house and people reserve them then each company builds around 20 identical apartment towers with about 60 apartments in them each and there's usually quite a lot of companies who will build in the same area at the same time. My wife and I just brought one here before our first child comes along and it cost more than a house with a nice yard and it's not even brand new. Downside of living in a country with not much land but a high population means everything is apartments even in smaller towns. Here's an old map of what was a new town where I lived when I first came to Korea and maybe 40 mins - an hour away roughly from Universal's proposed location, the red circle is the current city, where you can also see what I mean by identical apartments, and the blue circle is where all the new apartments now are that went up at almost the same time. Some are just finishing but but a lot have been open for over a year.The apartments come first and then everything else comes after. (Big supermarket closer than the one in the red circle and cinema in 2017, subway line in 2020) Funnily enough there are 2 big new cities going up in my area and both of them have the permanent name of (town name) 2 instead of getting their own new name. Side Note: I hope these apartment people cause less hassle than the ones next to Lotte World. The gyro-swing and gyro-drop now have scream shields on them which really can take away from the experience. Gyro Swing has slightly more open shields at the top and bottom now but originally they had to install foam covered helmet style shields that blocked half your view and where quite hot.

Doesn't Aquatopia also have it's station in the middle so they can run two sides? On my trips I've only ever been sent to the left side but I've only been during cold months and the line was only 20mins since It was cold (the 3 big indoor rides had 180 min waits though all day). I feel like some-one posted a report ages ago where one side was a dry side and one was a wet side. Well both involve water obviously but one side had the water jets hitting the car instead of missing apparently.

No word on the official opening date outside of "Spring" still but the 2016 addition of the Panda Exhibit can't be too far off, a lot of the outside themeing can be seen from outside the walls and all the panda merchandise has now gone on sale: http://witheverland.tistory.com/1233 . Looks like the merchandise is split based on stuff made based on real panda's, as in existing teddy bears, and others based on the two new cartoon panda characters the park seems to be adding to the roster: http://everland.com/contest/02_sub_02.html, a boy and a girl - same as the two the park will receive. I've also been hearing reports that whatever is happening with the Global Village (Small World knock-off) refurbishment might be more extreme than first thought. Last I heard, they've dismantled the entire building. Based on Everland's post about come back to see a new look (date tbc) and last years Thunder Falls (a new 2 drop flume with bigger boats and turntables to replace the old 2 drop log ride), it looks like they could be completely ripping out the old ride to replace it with a newer ride system/experience of what used to be there.

Apparently there'll be a Korean version of Newsies this April.

I'm not sure why people are complaining about the name, especially since I remember people complained about the original name: Total Mayhem. Shouldn't people be happy that the park did change it after all the original complaining? Can we go back to my original post of sending it to Korea from ages ago, when people complained about it when it was first announced, that it wouldn't be up to capacity (despite parks in Korea being in the top 20 attendance wise with only a couple of 1 train operated coasters each) etc. We haven't had a big coaster for the whole country in over 8 years, we'll take it no matter what the theme or name.

I had a feeling this clip was coming when I saw the name had changed.

Interesting to see this, like T Express's constantly changing policy with it's reservation only times and tickets, I get the feeling this isn't going to be a permanent change especially since it's only on one of the 3 wild simulators (even if wings is the most popular). With temperatures below 0F currently most of the outdoor rides have had to remain closed until this cold front blows over so obviously the indoor rides are taking in a lot more crowds than usual. Winter is always a lot busier even when outdoors is open because people want to stay in the warm anyway. I remember when Dream Boats opened and that was reservation only because every family wanted to try the new boat even though it was just an oval with 4 logs. Also the magic pass is still in very early days. Like when Disney started with theirs, it could be a case of taking certain rides, such as wild wings in this case, and testing to see what works with the system and what doesn't. Looking at the crowds today for the first 3 hours with temperatures of -15C there was absolutely no need to keep the reservation only policy on. When they announced magic pass they listed I think 12-15 rides but visiting the park every ride has a magic pass line even the tiny kids rides like the tiny mini-viking, that underground train outside and frog hopper and these never have a line. Makes me think that the park is in a test and adjust period seeing what works and what doesn't. The announcement for Wild Wings reservation is here: http://www.lotteworld.com/notice/view.asp?cmsCd=CM0051&ntNo=287 It does look like they plan on adding an end date.

A lot different by art that's been released so far, which is probably for the best, I've heard lines can be horrendous in Paris and though it seemed to work well and not get too crowded in Hong Kong, when we visited the parachute ride (along with autopia) had a 1 hour line when even Space Mountain and Grizzly were only 10-15 on standby and I'm guessing they need higher capacity for Hollywood Studios than both of those parks.

I can understand this, I think I've only ever been to one early entry in my life and I remember people were so rude when something didn't open on time and was still testing, making tapping watch gestures. I felt like saying to them, you're already at the front of the line for this thing and you can grab a fast-pass when you get off before the crowds arrive (oh the days when most parks had scan ticket free fast passes instead of paid add-ons ) so you're already have got something out of this. People seem to expect so much more when it comes to theme park trips or events which I sometimes don't get, there's plenty of tourist tours for just touring the country where all they do is take you from a to b and that's it while the guides just put you in the entrance of the tourist places. At least with TPR you won't get rushed through due to "time restraints" and then dumped for 4 hours at a jade factory.

^ Downsides of being a teacher in Asia means you only get the time off when all the kids are off, Christmas week or the end of July/start of August when most of Japan/Korea/China will be off from school too to travel for family vacations.

Here's something interesting, Everland have converted the original safari ride to a snow safari which is running until Feb 21. Although it's been pretty cold with up to -15 temperatures and some snow, the snow is artificially created as seen in one of these pictures to put the animals in a snowy environment: http://witheverland.tistory.com/1229 I've been told before that a lot of the rocks in the safari area for the tigers, lions etc are electronically heated with the cold temperatures about, both to keep the animals warm and to ensure they are in places so guests can take pictures easily and helps keep them from sitting in the path in the way of the buses.

So if anyone has seen some of my posts, I've talked a couple of times about how it always amazes me that Korea as a country hasn't really had anything in the way of big rides or additions for the thrill-seeker crowd since T Express and also how much it amazes me that so many parks still run with what they were built with 15 years ago. On top of that a lot of thrill-rides have disappeared over the last few years and have been replaced with family friendly attractions or not at all, there's a park call Myland on Wolmi island that removed a Huss Frisbee and a drop ride. There's also a brand new gyro swing that left Chidlren's Grand Park before it ever opened as well. Some of my co-workers were explaining to me that essentially a lot of the smaller parks know the crowd will come regardless and most of them tend to be families so the smaller parks or even the bigger ones that aren't owned by giant corporations like Lotte or Samsung essentially stay the same for almost 10-25 years since the crowd level can stay pretty constant with each year without any significant investments as well as removing the more costly to run bigger thrill rides. To emphasis this point they got me one of the field trips to check out the local small family park. These places despite being tiny can pull in huge numbers of people with their pay to play attractions and year round operation. I've visited a few before and they normally consist of the same few things: ice slides for the winter and a plain swimming pool or bucket tipping water play area for the summer. Then there are usually a few rides scattered that require almost no-one to run them or are self-powered and rentals such as ATV's, battery cars or 4 people pedal cars etc. They very rarely use buildings and opt for tents to hold the attractions and restaurant. They are the kind of parks you never see advertised but all the locals know about it and are nearly always in the middle of nowhere down a bunch of tiny lanes where land is cheapest and the whole park's usually run with only a handful of employees. The parks then run essentially as they were built for the next 10-20 years. I know this might not interest a lot of you guys but I thought it would be interesting to show what passes for a carnival style park in different countries. The size of the car park should give you an idea of how many people tend to come here on times such as busy summer weekends. The entrance to the park, as you can see tents are used instead of having any permanent buildings put down even though the parks are here for many years with 365 operation. This almost looked like an area for a carousel that never came. Note all the lights. Despite the lack of buildings and rides that require a lot of electricity they always seems to have big light packages at these places. Rail pedal cars are usually quite common at these places as well It was $2 for a lap and yes it was open. Note they don't have people guarding the station when it was quiet and just trust that people will be honest and pay at the booth nearby (though the attendant at the booth will probably come out and help set you up.) It is highly themed at least Another common attraction at these places are the junior viking. We arrived early but when we left there were about 8 school groups using the park and this had quite a line! Chairswing 1 has won an award for best theming! More decoration and lights. The coned area is for battery powered cars when there isn't snow for the kids to drive. I was quite surprised to see a pool filled with water but I'm told it gets filled with goldfish for families to catch and take home when it is busier. The main draw in winter for the families is the ice-slides. Like the pools in the summer they are extremely popular with families looking for a cheap fun half day and these also can be found in most little parks for the winter (and some of the bigger parks like Everland) A look at the pool area, in the summer these pools are packed like sardines with families wanting a cheaper alternative to the water parks which can cost $60-70 and also hit capacity on most weekends in summer (but on the plus side you can wait in Everland for free) The pool is quite big but it needs to be with the summer crowds. The lights in the background are strange in a row like that. Again it made me wonder if they were put there for an attraction that never came such as a little train. A layout of most of the park. The bathrooms are the only building on the far left and most of these tents are for the restaurant and eating (even on this quiet day a lot of people were eating) One of them also housed trampolines which are another attraction you see at all these parks usually giving kids 30 minutes of time for $2. I've seen some of these trampoline tents wedged between houses in some of the cities as well. A view to show how much it's in the middle of nowhere. Speaking of middle of nowhere we saw a few of the U2 spy planes fly over from the nearby airbase. The "foreign" section of the menu. Even in this tiny park you can get the col-pop chicken TPR is so fond of.

Hmmm, to hop over from Korea at the end of July when it is still brand new and full of opening crowds and kids on summer vacation or to patiently wait it out and hope for some time off in 2017 during a quieter period.... decisions, decisions...

I always wondered why they didn't just turn it into the worlds most expensive scenery and have futuristic robots or cars laid over parts of the old track in public view and pretend it's a futuristic expressway. Install a fake gas station sign and pumps over the main bit like a futuristic Hill Valley.

I certainly hope so! I would like to see an update of the area to match Jurassic World. However, the old Jurassic Park is hidden there (queue entrance). Then you board Jurassic Park jeeps (test track like) put on your 3D glasses, and go on a wild ride through Jurassic World (with lots of dinosaur footage) Fixed that for you

^ Hahaha just a trax for the last 4-5 years I think. I think last time I got a ride with the water on was 2010 but you are correct it is still a lot of fun and worth admission on it's own

It really is sad that this has been the general state of all new attractions ever since Comcast took over. That was back in 2009. Since then we've had - Uni Hollywood - Kong 360, Transformers, Despicable Me, Fast & Furious. Uni Florida - Despicable Me, Transformers, Hogwarts Express, Escape From Gringott's IOA - Forbidden Journey Don't get me wrong, they're fun enough attractions, but minor variations of the same idea is getting horrendous. Try having a whole country where apart from re-themes or replacements of existing rides with a newer version, 90% of the new additions have been media based since around 2008 Everland - K Pop Hologram, Pororo 3d, Pororo 3D Season 2, Rio 4D, Pride in Korea 4D, Charactorium (Interactive screens) Lotte World - Desparados 2 3D, Beluga Talk, Wild River, Wild Wings, Wild Jungle, Underland 4D shooting, Lotte's Balloon Ride (circle-vision), Dragons shooting (although at least this has physical sets to house the screens) This on top of their already existing dynamic theater and 3D ghost house. Then again Legoland is coming soon and Universal is in development again so it's not all doom and gloom.

I also think the Academy would give it best Picture, Director, and Supporting Actor and skip right over Leo. I think he literally chooses his roles depending on Oscar chances these days. Speaking of supporting actor though after watching Creed I'd actually like to See Stallone get recognized for his portrayal of Rocky, really liked his portrayal in this one more than most of the others... although that may have been to do with him not writing this one.

Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure?

One or 2 4D rides I can deal with at Disney but Universal had way to many for my liking. You won't like Korean parks then. It's either a) keep practically the same rides from opening year since the crowds will still come or b) a ride with screens to have an easy to install in existing building new ride

Of course it's not true, they just announced that the next Spaceship Earth host will be Jar Jar Binks.

Yes, I really don't like that feature on Google. There doesn't seem to be an option to say 'Closed', just 'Permanently Closed'. Winter Wonderland was 'Permanently Closed' for most of December despite the event obviously being open and I believe Islands of Adventure's Hulk is also classed as 'permanently' closed too. I'm pretty sure that feature is from Wikipedia, not Google. Like Karla said the description is Wikipedia. The other parts are from Google e.g. Google reviews etc. For the closed status it's from google maps, if you suggest an edit you get an email from google maps saying it's under review. Ages ago I changed something on a Korean address using the feedback button at the bottom that let's you edit some of the info wikipedia style.

Any-one else notice the google information segment for The Smiler says permanently closed in a red box. The drop down box says: The Smiler is recorded as closed at this location. If that's wrong, please report it. That seems correct considering the park is closed so it is closed at that location but none of the other coasters have that status and it just seems weird they would put permanently in the box based on that description.

Just saw Alan Rickman has died: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35313604 Been a bad week for childhood memories