Everland & Lotte World TR

So here is my yearly update for Everland and Lotte World. I won't lie, i've actually had really bad luck with Everland on my past 3 trips, I still love the park but i'm probably going to take a break for 2013 (since the new ride is an expansion to the safari ride to see more of the zoo animals) and head back in 2014. The last 3 trips we've had T Express has been closed due to winds since Everland is situated on a hill-side,the ride shuts in extremely low winds especially in the colder temperatures. (http://www.everland.com/service/front/front2Pop.do) Sadly no park can help the weather but Everland seems to really struggle without its big people-eater to the point where every ride has a wait from 40-2 hour lines and I mean every ride, even the kiddy rides and chairlifts to get around the park. T Express also closes early for the fireworks nearby so if the weather hasn't improved by mid afternoon they tend not to open it at all since last time we were there the ride operators came out and sweepers went in around 3pm despite the lady at the entrance pointing at the sign that said it may open if weather improves. The q-pass option here is only available on T Express, the safari ride and the rapids and since it is a system where you show a ticket and someone hands you a pass, people tend to grab all 3 in the morning and i've seen people grab them twice if they catch the different staff member of the 2 so they run out extremely quickly.

This was also my first year trying out the water-park and I was sadly really disappointed. We opted to go on a $50 day in september instead of a $70 day in august. We had heard from the students that weekdays its pretty quiet but being teachers we had no choice but to go on a weekend after getting in and lining up to purchase the $30 dollar cash wristbands which we needed to purchase the mandatory life jackets for the pools we looked at the waiting times and they were mostly over 2-2 and a half hours with an hour wait for even the ordinary speed slides. If they were running at full capacity it wouldn't have been an issue but it turns out that on a $50 day you will only get half capacity. Most slides have mirror images, an A and B side for crowds but all B sides were closed or on slides with only one lane they would have half the slides closed, on the 4 aqua loops only ran 2 of them, and the master blaster with its 3 slides on each side (3 at the top to the middle splash pool and then 3 in the middle on each side for a total of 12) despite having water flowing down them all was only using 1 of them.

The other issue was the extreme queue jumping, despite signs saying it was against the rules we were constantly being asked to move on the safari world by ride attendants to let 2-3 people through to join the 1 person holding a spot was annoying but it was nothing compared to the water-park for the aqua-loops and raft rides, where people couldn't even ride together since it was only 4 people rafts or in the aqua loops case 1 person. Since they only let 1 raft down at a time and the aqua loop you had to have a briefing on ride position (and still surprisingly a lot of people weren't making it round the loop and had to be rescued) the line jumping of the slides easily added almost 30 minutes to each of our already 2 hour lines.

One tip for Everland is that although I love the crazy low fireworks and the show that is almost a complete rip-off of Fantasmics plot line, the top spin and top scan tend to really quieten down at the end of the day when most people watch the lights parade and night time fireworks.

On the other hand Lotte World was much improved compared to my previous visits, the second the park got busy they had their fast passes opened for every ride even the ones with no queues, they had a really huge selection of fast pass rides available and their system was the same as Disneys where you scanned your ticket and could get another in an hour or two, though the more popular rides like indiana jones rip-off and atlantis ran out quite fast, we got plenty of tickets and unlike Everland where we got 4 rides/slides done on our trip, we got most of lotte world done and never felt too rushed or worried about how to get on the rides we wanted (it also helps Lotte World has really long opening hours). One thing I really liked was the little things Lotte World added to improve even ordinary rides, there is a tram that goes round the inside of the park, for christmas the tram would stop halfway through the park, a marching band would appear and the ride operators would dance with the driver to the music. While people were watching the staff and bands, Santa Claus would appear join in the dance and then ride the rest of the tram journey with the kids before running off just before the station so the people waiting in line don't see him and go back to the mid-way to surprise the next group of kids. A little touch but it was really well done and all the staff of the attraction were really devoted to making it play out perfect each time, the kids really loved it.

Welcome to winter in Everland

New for 2011 Pororo 3D, Pororo is a hugely popular young kids cartoon here in Korea.

Pre-show

Doc Brown is making a flux capacitor for the blue penguin

Here's where the flux capacitor will go

Theming touches

Pororo, the hero of the show, the kids went crazy when he appeared

Interesting note, even though there are booster seats a lot of children were still quite short, any seat with the penguin cover couldn't be sat in so the theater is only ever half full.

Before the 3D film started some people in costume came out, our students who went on a field trip to see this were really disappointed there was no meet and greets available

Only a cut-out to pose with

This was new, I think it's a kids cafe, it was pay to use so I didn't really look into it.

New for 2012, the 3rd chairlift this one a gondola

Station #1

Station #2

Also new Madagascar stage show, this was also up charge so I didn't see it.

Sorry forgot to include the ride rules for Pororo

Lots of people

We finally found the end of the safari ride line because there was a certain bear to see.

Huh........

Since this is Korea, they have taught a bear to dance Gangnam Style

Since the chairlift had a 40 minute wait to take you halfway up the park, we walked.

The ferris wheel is permanently closed but instead of being removed it's been left as a memorial.

This sign in Korean says after 18 years of service Eagle's Fortress was retired, maybe it's also been left as a memorial since it sits on the hill slowly having the tress grow over it.

but the english sign promises hope

The flume ride has some strange rules for the ladies.

Night at Everland

Forgot to include the Ferris Wheel memorial photo

Lotte World

Sad news, the donkey is no more.

They'd upgraded their desperados to become 3D

They really did have fast pass for everything, and for all those moaning about disney enforcing their windows look how short the window was on the lotte world rides

They had a new fountain show but the whole theater was empty except for me, I wonder if the new talk to the white whale attraction will go here, since it seemed a shame the theater was so empty.

It had fire

an angel thing

and lots of water

It really wasn't very interesting, most of the time it was just a small water fountain I had to wait 10 minutes just to take these "interesting" pictures

Finally after 3 years rode the balloon ride and got this signature shot

No drunk, pregnant women

Lottle World had a lot of angry bird merchandise.

I'll end this update with my photos from the balloon ride

Thanks, I'll make updates to the Park Index when I have some free time.

3D Desperados II, I like it.

I was mistaken after a visit to the goddard groups facebook page it seems the new beluga ride is in a different place from the fountain show. As much as I found Lotte World much improved and with a huge selection of fastpasses this year, I do wish they would relax the rules about not queuing in the actual queue lines and making people wait outside the entrances, even with this new ride they have people waiting in the walkways and during peak weekends it can be really crowded and a lot of people use it to line jump.

[vimeo]

Hey I'll be making a trip to Seoul later this year and is the line-jumping at both Lotte World and Everland really bad? Also, is T-Express closed very often?

Great TR! Enjoying it a lot.

And I laughed when i saw this shot, forgetting

what the attraction actually wasn't (Disney), there.

And I like the "open hill" part of what I suspect is the start of this ride?

Hey I'll be making a trip to Seoul later this year and is the line-jumping at both Lotte World and Everland really bad? Also, is T-Express closed very often?

It can be quite annoying but it doesn't impact the ride times so much I feel, I hear the park is dead most weekday mornings and stays that way until mid-afternoon when people from schools start going once class has finished. However i've been on weekdays where there are tons of children on school trips so you never know, sometimes it can be dead and other times its busy but mornings are generally quiet. T express closes more in the autumn and winter since its colder it runs in much much lower winds, it was 20C yesterday so now there is warmer weather again hopefully it won't be closed so often. They normally close it during January or February for the month anyway to give it it's annual rehab since its so cold then it can't run that often anyway, now it should be open quite a lot until winter comes round again, I think i've just been super unlucky this year. Keep in mind the ride and line for it will close early to make sure there is no-one on it once the fireworks show starts.

Hope this helps.

Appreciate your help!

Sure hope T-Express is open while I am there because it'd be a real bummer to go all the way and find it closed? Nonetheless Everland still looks like one awesome park!

Does Atlantis Adventure tend to get closed in chilly or snowy weather as well? Or for that matter the outdoor rides in both parks?

I loved both those parks. T- Express is still my favorite woodie.

Everlands Teaser website for the 2013 expansion to the safari ride: http://www.everland.com/web/lostvalley/teaser/main.html Click the word valley to see the pictures. As much as I would love it to be a rhino rally kind of style ride at the end, I do remember them having similar artwork when they expanded the tiger safari to include the elephants, giraffes and zebras and in the end that just turned into a 180 bend around a small giraffe and elephant pen with the zebras on the outside of the curve being added to the original route. Although all those animals were removed after 2 years ready for this expansion and they were doing a lot of land clearing on my visit last spring so this could be a pretty big expansion. If i can snag a weekday morning off, I may try and go grab some pictures of the new upgrades.

Everland opened the new lost valley safari ride last saturday, it turns out it's a second safari ride and not an extension/upgrade to the existing one. There are a few pictures in these news articles: http://www.yeongnam.com/mnews/newsview.do?mode=newsView&newskey=20130426.010420723160001#none and http://www.kookje.co.kr/news2011/asp/newsbody.asp?code=1600&key=20130426.22029184513

My co-workers went to check it out this sunday but since it was the first sunny weekend since it opened I opted out. They text me when they went to say that fast pass ran out within half hour of opening (the boyfriends/husbands sprinted down across the park to get them) and lines were 5 hours long later in the day. They also reported they saw someone trying to sell the fast pass tickets he had to families who had come for the new ride, but couldn't justify a 5 hour wait with their children, although they said he was trying to avoid staff and when they told someone at the gate they replied staff were on the look-out for touts (I wish everland would upgrade to a fastpass system where people don't just walk up to the counter and ask for them, i've seen so many people hand the admission tickets to their friend and try again or try and approach the other member handing out tickets if the original member they approached is busy). Again this was the first sunny weekend since it opened so i'm sure it was extreme this weekend and maybe lines will die down soon, but I still see lines of almost 2 hours on the old safari ride so I think it'll be popular for a while. If your interested in this ride either go on a weekday when most families will be at work and the park is a lot quieter or make this your first ride to go to, it's a lot of families on weekends and when T express runs 3 trains it can be a people eater so it normally doesn't have a big a line as the safari rides (i've never seen t express over 2 hours except during halloween or special events)

This was the only photo I got from my co-workers, for all those moaning when disney started enforcing windows, everland was only offering a 20 minute window. Although I don't know if it was being enforced, they were afraid of missing their window and having to get in line.

Appreciate your help!

 

Sure hope T-Express is open while I am there because it'd be a real bummer to go all the way and find it closed? Nonetheless Everland still looks like one awesome park!

 

Does Atlantis Adventure tend to get closed in chilly or snowy weather as well? Or for that matter the outdoor rides in both parks?

I hope no-one minds the double post or me bumping an old topic but I got some new information that I thought might be useful for you but I was given this website by my co-worker today since their english website doesn't have one, it's a list of which rides are down for rehab on each day so you can check to see if T express is down before you go: http://www.everland.com/service/front/frontTime.do?method=holiday&siteCode=CT00101

Its written in korean but since most rides don't have a korean translation if you can't read korean just plug it into google and it will give you the rides name in english quite easily. T express is even easier to be found since T isn't translated into korean at all so just look for the T, darkened box means closed/rehab. Although in the 3 years i've been here T-Express has always had its rehab at the start of the year in feb-march for 2 weeks, that's the only time i've seen it closed for rehab the other times have all been wind. It seems to be open more in the morning than the evening since because of the fireworks, it has to close early if there is high winds in the afternoons they tend to just keep it closed to avoid people rushing to it before the fireworks start.

In the case of lotte world their english website normally has suspension listings on their english page for each attraction. Mainly the outdoor rides close in rain but i don't think i've been in snow but both parks tend to close their outdoor rides sometimes even in the lightest of rains Everlands information: http://www.everland.com/web/multi/english/everland/attractions/popup/pop_attraction_standard.html and lotte worlds: http://global.lotteworld.com/app/attrctn/safetyguide.asp

I was given all this information because my school is closed for the morning on monday so i have 6 hours free in the morning but sadly I think Everland is just too far to get too in that time, i'd have about an hour in the park before going back to teach afternoon classes but lotte world i should get at least 4 hours to finally experience a week-day.... sadly its forecast rain. If you visit go in the mornings opening is the magic hour when it's pretty quiet in the parks, both parks sell after 4pm cheaper passes since both parks tend to close around 10-11pm, those tickets are really popular for families after work and students so the parks don't quieten down in the evenings as much as you think.

Just got back from Lotte World so here's the park index update for the new rides:

The new 4d shooting theatre (that's its name) was really fun but it was strange that they only upgraded desperados into a 3d shooting theater last year since this felt almost the same, both rides have you sit on something that moves slightly, you have a practice round and it shows who did best and who did worst then the real movie where it shows your rankings at the end. Unlike desperados though it suffered like some of the other lotte world lines of having no set queue line, since it only takes 40 people every 10 minutes i'd hate to try and line up for it on a busy day.

The fountain show I posted earlier seems to have disappeared but I forgot to check that area of the park to see, it's not listed on the website anymore, the dynamic theater on the 4th floor (the 3d simulator) also isn't listed but was still there when I visited however it was closed. With 3d desperados, the 3d haunted house movie outside and 4D shooting gallery I wonder if they'll opt to remove their 4th 3d ride.

I didn't visit the new talk to beluga attraction since the park was dead and it's right in the middle of the young children section I didn't want to be a creeper. Also no-one was riding it and I didn't fancy a 15 minute conversation with a korean speaking computer graphic.

They had the new check-in desks the goddard group have been promoting so heavily but honestly I barely noticed them, the only difference I can see is the glass is gone, it didn't feel like a "luxury hotel check-in" you still lined up in a cattle pen and got called to a numbered desk to get your ticket, instead of shutters on glass they had pulled down blinds for the closed desks but it was nice to not try and talk through a speaker to the person behind the glass but over an open counter.

Empty lines in the morning, people seemed to push and run when the gates opened but all the big rides were empty outside, I have no idea where everyone was running to.

Sadly Gyro-drop has fallen prey to the scream shields that were installed on gyro swing a few years ago, it really does take something away from the ride especially on hot days. Also note the holes on the bottom of the seat where seat belts used to be.

Wakiki wave is no-more, seems like a disko will be the new ride for 2014

Lotte Worlds customer service has really improved since I moved to Korea 3 years ago, even when the park is dead they run their fast pass system so you still have an option if the park gets busier later. Whereas Everland has got more SBNO rides since I arrived and tends to run half capacity, Lotte World have built and built on their service each year

They added a trick art museum next to Pharoahs Fury but i'm not sure how permanent it is.

Not sure how clear it is looking at the first car but French Revolution had more padding than it did before (I think)

The signature shot was out of order

For some reason a lot of people just set-up picnics here and never moved, I passed the same groups from when the park opened to when I left to return to work at 2pm

New area for 2013

Underland is actually just themed entrances to the shopping malls restaurants that already existed, Lotte World guests MUST enter and exit through the themed door and shopping mall people must enter through the shopping mall normal entrance.... why?

Lotte World has a no re-entry policy, I went out the shopping mall entrance of the restaurant to use the bathroom just outside and almost got stuck not getting back in, the restaurant manager had to track me down. There was a sign in korean next to the restaurant lotte world entrance but I had just assumed it meant ticket holders only beyond this door, not you must also exit through this door. My girlfriend almost made the same mistake when she wanted to go check out the shops while I was eating.

New ride

Sorry for the blurriness I used my iphone and lighting was bad

Sinbad on the website but in the park most signs said sindbad

I can't remember the last time Atlantis was an aquatrax, I think most of my visits in the last year it's just been a trax.

Lotte World have really been busy opening rides this year! After the dark ride that I visited only 2 months ago they've opened 3 new attractions (i'll try and get out to photograph them for Larry soon) but for now here are the new rides:

Dragons wild shooting is a dark trackless shooting ride: http://www.lotteworld.com/app/attrctn/view.asp?cmsCd=CM0012&ntNo=42&pUseYn=Y&pPstnCd=&pCategCd=&pVisitDt=2013-08-27&pSrc=&pSrcTemp= I'm kind of curious why they chose trackless cars since all cars follow the same route, from a mechanical/throughput/financial stand point is there any advantage.

The second is lotte's balloon ride http://www.lotteworld.com/app/attrctn/view.asp?cmsCd=CM0012&ntNo=43&pUseYn=Y&pPstnCd=&pCategCd=&pVisitDt=2013-08-27&pSrc=&pSrcTemp= I haven't been on it in action yet but saw the inside, It looks quite like the set-up to Niagara's Fury at Niagara Falls.

Finally outside they have just opened their new Disko this weekend, after visiting Cedar Fair for naming advice it's been called..... Gyro Spin, however unlike its named cousins Gyro Drop and Gyro Swing thankfully hasn't been required to install scream shields. http://www.lotteworld.com/app/attrctn/view.asp?cmsCd=CM0012&ntNo=44&pUseYn=Y&pPstnCd=&pCategCd=&pVisitDt=2013-08-27&pSrc=&pSrcTemp=

Has Lotte World always been no re-entry? I really thought I remember going through the mall, grabbing food, then going back into the park. Kind of a bummer.

Has Lotte World always been no re-entry? I really thought I remember going through the mall, grabbing food, then going back into the park. Kind of a bummer.

I'm not sure, I feel I had done the same in the past, it seems like a recipe for disaster to have a no re-entry policy when you have just opened up themed entrances to the mall restaurants with open doors that lead out to the shopping center. There's some-one sitting by the lotte world entrance to check for tickets of people leaving their tables but they tend not to watch to see if any people from the lotte world entrance have accidentally gone out the mall door, It definitely confused me, i'd only gone out to find a bathroom. I think as long as you go back to the same restaurant and play the ignorant foreigner card they will probably let you back in.

The park has great customer service but I have to wonder if the policy was for exactly what you said, too many people going out into the mall for food and shopping which they'd rather see be brought in the park (although since these are chain restaurants for both mall users and theme park users I wonder who gets the money for it, anyone know who would be taking in the profits here?)

One of my favorite korean theme park bloggers (http://szsup.tistory.com/) recorded everlands new summer fireworks show, since I always mentioned it before how impressed I was with the night fireworks, they are so low and as you can see by the cameras of other guests you actually sit pretty close to the stage.

Both parks seem to be doing a lot better in managing the summer crowds this year, although i'm still not fond of the multi-hour wait in the water parks (especially when the park is only running 2 slides out of 4 for half capacity), they have now started handing out paper wristbands with return times stamped on them for some of the slides but only when the slides wait time is over an hour. Lotte World have now added single rider to their swinging ship and there was a man who was pulling single-riders out of atlantis's line and putting them in the line with the fast passers to help fill seats, and Everland have now added fastpass to their log flumes but have also made it so now each member of the group has to be in line for all fast passes across the park 1 ticket to 1 person and signs stating it has to be that way (my main grumble with it last year was someone would run ahead with all the tickets to show they had 4 people but then would hand the park entry tickets to a friend who would claim more resulting in them being gone super early in the day, although I only saw this happen once or twice but at least now there are signs and people making sure no one is trying to claim multiple tickets).

Although sadly the signs advertise that the fast passes for everland will only be running for july and august (despite the fact the rides do have multiple hour waits all year round) and the water parks was just for august, I really wish they'd take Lotte Worlds new policy of always running the fast passes even when the park is almost dead or at least on busy weekends, lotte worlds is disney style, of only being allowed one every hour or so, and its available on most rides as opposed to 2 or 3 in Everland which are ticket based and so you have to do a mad dash around the park at opening to grab one of each. on the weekend we went the fast pass we got from the log-flume from walking from opening at 10am was for 4:30-5:00 which was one of the last time slots.

Sadly I found out after our visit for my birthday but it's handy to visit the information/guest services and show them id that proves your visiting on your birthday (although I believe up to 7 days after your birthday is also ok), you will get 4 free jump-the-line passes for any ride and 4 jump the line tickets for the old safari ride but not lost valley safari ride (since that ride is still pulling in up to 4 hour lines) and i'm told it is a free service by my korean girlfriend, i'm going to definitely check this out next year. Oh and also 4 tickets to feed some birds if you want to feed them. I'll try and get more information on this service next time I visit if anyone wants the information.

After a visit to both this year, Lotte World has become my go-to park, it seems quite easy to fit in everything and get in re-rides but i've found everland on weekends i tend to find no lines with a nice waiting time by mid-day.

I was at both parks on weekdays last year around the same time as your visit (Sept. 5-7.) I didn't get to either park until later in the afternoon for various reasons, and visited Everland twice, because I found out that they were starting their Halloween haunt the next day (Friday), and I also wanted more rides on T Express, since I hadn't realized that it closed early.

The lines were quite short on everything at both parks, at least compared to what you have experienced -- although I didn't try for the safari. The big coasters at each park -- T Express and Atlantis Adventure -- had about 40 minute queues during peak times, but were also shorter later in the day. The other coasters were under 30 minutes. Some of the bigger flat rides at Lotte World had 15-30 minute queues. Otherwise, everything else was close to walk-on. Even the haunted mazes were walk-on by later in the evening, but it was also the very first day of the season.

Everland has some really wierd policies. After a disasterous evening trip in the winter where it turns out that they now shut down half the park a few hours before closing (and even then they were alternating ride times so each ride was only open for half the day in the open areas) we decided to foresake the usual winter trips and plan on going in the spring instead.

I'm going to go with my camera and do a full TR of the new rides soon but I was just curious if any other park has this kind of fast-pass policy. From what i've gather from contacting the park to ask and from the english maps as well as peoples blogs T express and the log flume on weekends are fast-pass only rides once the line hits 60 minutes. Once the line hits 60 minutes you have to have a fast pass to be allowed to queue in the 60 minute line. Apparently they sell out super early since everyone makes a mad dash to grab them once the park opens. You get a ticket that tells you what hour to come back and join the line, I really hope it's wrong but i've heard about this on other blogs in korean and saw it on an english blog too (http://gdaykorea.blogspot.kr/2014/04/everland-t-express-roller-coaster-seoul-korea.html) and a korean blog. If you don't have tickets to join the queue you have to wait until after the fast-pass times have ended (3pm for t express and 5pm for the flume)

Heres some korean blogs about it: sorry I can't translate but here's the links where you can see in pictures nobody is lining up outside t-expresses entrance where you would normally wait http://www.witheverland.com/385 and the flume where you can see people in line waiting to be allowed in line after 5pm when the fast passes end http://www.witheverland.com/328

I really hope i'm wrong and there was just some confusion from mis-translation but i've also heard from some co-workers who used to go in the evenings that now go in the mornings due to the new policies. Apparently their are two dashes: people to grab fast passes (queue passes?) for t express and daddies who sprint to grab a spot at the new lost valley safari ride which opens half an hour after the park while the mums walk the children down (from previous experiences of the other safari ride the line cutting is unbelievably terrible despite signs saying it's against park rules the staff generally allow it with families)

This policy is only weekends so if you ever fly out to Everland definitely visit on a weekday if you want re-rides. However for people like me who can only go on weekends it's a policy to be aware of.

Edit: Forgot to add their new show/ride thing the k-pop hologram is also ticket based, imagine something like turtle talk but instead of the computer animation interacting with guests its a recorded hologram of a famous korean singer/band performing as if it's real. Instead of standing in the line and waiting for the next show (they go every 30 minutes) and letting people in until the theaters at capacity it's another ride where you need to visit a ticket booth to get an allocated time for which show you can see. This one makes a bit more sense to make sure you see whichever hologram you are most interested in but another reason to make sure you hit the park early since its another attraction you won't be allowed to line up for if it has sold out.