Garet's Everland/Lotte World TR's 2014/2015

Part 2

Next room was pretty small with only two models, Porco....

.... and his plane

It did have a nice little box art here too though

Prettty much the whole room

One last box art

Entering the final room, to on eo f the most famous Ghibli movies of them all

Again using angles and making the building bend, makes the model look small but again it almost touches the ceiling

This lady had a huge display, she pretty much was as tall as my wife

To give you an idea of the size of the building

Again trick art, this was actually a big room with all the food on the floor that went all the way back with the head sticking out but when you took a picture it almost looked 2D

That famous scene....

.... was a photo op, most of my photos were carefully taken to keep people out but the place was packed, there was a lot of people waiting to take their picture here so I snapped this picture as two people (just out of frame) traded the camera

There was a nice display of all the movie posters

So..... much..... merchandise

Korea has pretty much the complete collection to buy in comic or DVD form, finally got to see some that never made it to Western shores.

A place where you could doodle and add your artwork.

The path out....

Ponyo got a place outside, I guess it make sense to put this statue out in the open where it can get wet when it rains

What a wonderful exhibit of all things Ghibli - thanks for sharing. If Ghibli ever created a theme park based on their movies it would rival Disney for sure.

So I mentioned that Everland had construction projects all over the park. Well, that mystery building in the middle of the park turned out to be a charactorium, the swinging airplane outside has been repainted from the generic model to a Korean barbie and the building contains activities for the little children based around popular Korean tv shows: http://www.everland.com/charactorium/

While not the most exciting news I know, it's still nice to see that area getting some attention after spending I think maybe 10+ years as a giant concrete block with some random children's carnival rides put on it. It's still concrete and one of the other carnival rides are still there but it's a start.

On another note I don't get Korean crowds, lately weekdays seem busier than weekends, but maybe Everland just needs to up the thrill ride selection or start letting T Express have a standby line, the other Sunday when it rained T Express had to cut the reservation system the park was so empty and everything had walk-on. It rains on a weekday just as bad and rock spin and lets twist had 80 min lines. Apart from the safari rides which people flock to on weekends, It's been the same on some sunny Sundays lately, we hit the park around opening times Sundays and can get done my around 2-3pm skipping the safari rides and seeing around 30 minute lines in the afternoon for the flats but lately it seems the weekdays can be either super empty or really crowded. Are there any other parks where a weekend can be quieter than a Sunday?

Could be down to operations a little I guess, weekdays a few rides will open later at 1pm and even though the rain seemed lighter they didn't open T Express like it was on the Sunday. Hopefully when the water park fully opens at the end of may it'll help move some of the crowds over. The hotter humid weather will help as well, spring and Halloween seem to be busier than the summer although right now with the public holidays the park will be packed this weekend. Strange though, when I get a half day off on a weekday Lotte World is empty in the mornings, I can get the park done and the hour bus back to work by 3pm but I finally mixed it up and tried Everland and it was busier than any of my Sunday trips with my wife.

Everland's helicycles have re-opened after almost 8 months since they last were seen open, although with Friday being a day off for workers and children's day being today, its currently unclear if they will be permanently reopened with the new flume ride bringing people to the area or if like last year it will only open on days expected to be extremely busy since last time it opened was for Korean thanksgiving.

Speaking of crowds yesterday: When it was not a full public holiday, but some schools were closed, lines were reported at Everland of being almost 3 hours long across the park for most of the rides. Today looking at the app, it has been reading 20 minutes for T Express (once the hour reservation system has finished), walk-on for the bigger rides and X train in rockville (X trains minimum wait time on the app is always displayed as 10 minutes) and the family favorites, the safari rides at just under an hour, the equivalent of a quiet Sunday really.

I mention this because this photo is currently going viral on Korean facebook:

Source

The app is normally quite accurate since it's tied to the parks information boards and not the kind where user input is used. I'm wondering if it's just a very well timed photo from the chairlift after the parade/show has finished in the arena since that path can clog up pretty badly but it's still a huge crowd so I'd thought I would share it.

Update: Well that was fast, looking at the Everland Facebook page it seems many people have posted the picture there asking about the situation. Everland surprisingly aren't denying the park can sometimes be that busy but are pointing out that picture was either from yesterday or last years children's day or taken from another packed day. Apparently there are other pictures of packed ticket booths and Everland has been the subject of bloggers and people on Facebook using pictures from previous days (from Halloween/Christmas etc) to pretend the parks are busy. That would explain why on the public holiday themed around treating your children the park is surprisingly quiet.

Everland have posted real pictures of today here, got to give the park a lot of credit for responding to pretty much every comment made, even if it is copied and pasted. Again I'm still surprised looking at some of the insane crowds in the pictures that the social media team are admitting that was what the park looked like yesterday. It's got so bad they've now resorted to a modern day version of holding up today's newspaper to prove that their pictures are from today.

Source

I really feel like Everland is capable of making a lot of money and providing some more rides for the hoards of guests that visit! Hopefully these little construction projects and rides are leading up to some bigger stuff.

It certainly seems like there is a major thirst by South Korean's for thrills as just about every time I see a report for this park, T-Express is usually at max capacity and lines for attractions always seem ridiculously long. That photo looks downright insane though...and this coming from a person that has seen Cedar Point close to max capacity!

I say expand this park to add more coasters and rides and then build more if you need to in order to accommodate the throngs of thrill-seeking people!

I was sad that I didn't get to go to this park during my business trip last year. I would have probably even waited 3 hours to ride T-Express had my schedule been a bit more favorable.

It'll be interesting to see how the lines play out next year, after people returned from the park and posted on social media their real experiences, the trending did a 180 with people amazed how quiet the park was on children's day especially considering the 3 hour queues across the park running up to the holiday on what weren't full public holidays.

I don't think Everland did itself to many favors with its weird operating decisions over the last year and a half only opening one half of each area in the morning for a few hours and then closing those rides and opening the others in the afternoons, combined with only keeping one or two children's rides open in the whole park meant it was very easy for pictures like the one above because it pushed a lot of people into the parades for something to do. Also there were promotions at strange times like giving all the Samsung employees extremely cheap entry on the last weekend before Halloween, one of the craziest weekends even without special offers. As I said it generally has been that weekdays are busier than weekends lately or the days before the public holiday as people try to avoid the crowds ironically enough.

It certainly seems like there is a major thirst by South Korean's for thrills.

I say expand this park to add more coasters and rides and then build more if you need to in order to accommodate the throngs of thrill-seeking people!

I really feel like Everland is capable of making a lot of money and providing some more rides for the hoards of guests that visit! Hopefully these little construction projects and rides are leading up to some bigger stuff.

Though the lines should die down when the water park fully opens, it's not like there's a shortage of people wanting thrill rides so I really think something big is needed. Looking at the line times lately on weekdays when other rides including the safari rides sit almost empty, the top spin and top scan are constantly pushing 60-100min lines and T Express also jumps up when the reservation system ends at 3PM.

What's extremely crazy, especially for a country known for its bali bali (quickly, quickly) mind space (something is popular, it opens everywhere... there's now 7 little french fry places after one did well on one street near where I live and after honey butter chips was a trend there's now about 3 shelves worth of variations in every convenience store, that and bubble tea is now everywhere) is how stagnant the parks are here.

The last time I think the whole country got a thrill ride aimed at the 1.4m people was either T Express or Let's Twist and even that runs on an extremely mild cycle (the suspended top spin has a great 13 loop cycle next door though)

The roller-coaster situation is even worse I don't think the number of roller-coasters across the country has gone up since 2008. A lot of parks like Seoul Land still sit practically the same as the day they first opened 15 years later with only little investments like a low rope course, small rides or refreshing the kids area since opening. The boomerang I believe is now SBNO.

I think the only new coaster maybe after T Express in 2008 was Childrens Grand Park this year, which recently got a Vekoma suspended clone at the expense of the old looper. Even they removed their thrill ride, (I guess they really want to take the Childrens part of their name seriously) the intamin gyro swing, it was on the concept art of the retheme but gone when the walls came down (did anybody ever ride it? I've seen pictures of it but never in action, I think it may have been installed just before the park shut for the retheme) and their drop tower has a pulley on the outside so it doesn't really "drop" (TR coming soon)

Legoland is coming soon with 2 more coasters aimed at families but it has been an extremely long time since anywhere saw a thrill ride.

The new water ride will help soak up some of Everland's lines but when the pandas come in 2016 I think they could use something in Eagle's Fortress old spot since with the pandas being near the entrance there will be a lot of people in the top of the park. If Korea's future really is wanting to be family friendly, as much as I'd love to see something along the lines of a terrain "Maverick", I think a terrain "Cheetah Hunt" would fit perfectly not only as a more intense family ride but as a nice gap between the kid coaster and powered coaster as beginner and T Express and Rolling X Train for the more extreme.

T-Express is usually at max capacity and lines for attractions always seem ridiculously long.

It used to advertise as one of the only roller-coasters to run 3 trains a few years ago but now it runs a reservation system from opening until 3PM so there isn't a standby line anymore. You grab a ticket from a booth around the park (many people don't read the map and run to T Expresses booth and wait ages.... but there's a lot of empty ticket kiosks aorund) and then jump in line. Times aren't staggered though so if you go at the start of the hour you'll hit a big line.

Korean News

The Korean Government will decide if they will approve the reopening of the worlds biggest cinema screen and lotte worlds aquarium this week, early signs point to a reopening despite another incident in the shopping mall again, this time faulty sprinklers going off: http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2015/05/113_178351.html

It certainly sounds like they have some very bizarre operating procedures.

I would be somewhat reluctant to go without the aid of one of my work colleagues in Seoul despite the fact that it looks like there are signs in English. I asked one of my South Korean colleagues if he had ever been to Everland and he said that while he had heard of it, he had never been. I think that he was impressed that I had even heard of it! I told him that we would have to change that during my next visit.

And honey butter chips? Sounds amazing!!!

It certainly sounds like they have some very bizarre operating procedures.

 

I would be somewhat reluctant to go without the aid of one of my work colleagues in Seoul despite the fact that it looks like there are signs in English. I asked one of my South Korean colleagues if he had ever been to Everland and he said that while he had heard of it, he had never been. I think that he was impressed that I had even heard of it! I told him that we would have to change that during my next visit.

 

And honey butter chips? Sounds amazing!!!

Granted I've only popped in when I've been in the area for a few hours and haven't spent the better park of a day there yet but as I said earlier, the whole park really does seem to be going through a refresh and the operations are much improved to be more like the Everland I remember when I came to Korea 6 years ago.

Being a foreigner is probably better than being a Korean for Everland lol, there's a ticket booth just for English speakers which is normally a lot emptier and quicker than the main ticket booths for buying tickets and getting in, plus they normally give foreigner discount of 20% there (I think it's 20). Pretty much every sign is in English around the park and a lot of the areas have English speakers around. T Express has an English speaker to explain the reservation system, just as I said don't fall into the trap most people do and run to T Express and end up lining up at T Expresses ticket booth when there are much emptier and quicker ones around the park.

The ticket booths are pretty important to get to quickly if you want tickets to the Madagascar show while you get T Express.

There are different booths around the park for different things, information ones are generally for show/T Express tickets, K pop show has it's own booth as does the kids cafe and the ones in the safari area are for special personal car tours. The one down for the riding the camels/ponies also does show tickets/T Express tickets however on my last trip.

Nice empty booth

Usually busy booth

Just got back from the park, it was a fantastic day, so glad Everland is much easier to get around and enjoyable again. Today I finally remembered to go up and take pictures of Eagle's Fortress so I will have the TR up sometime this week.

Lotte World's aquarium was allowed to reopen today:

At a glance, employees outnumbered visitors at Lotte World Mall's aquarium on Tuesday morning.

 

The same was true at the movie theater.

 

Many tables in restaurants and coffee shops remained empty, while security officers in black suits with two-way radios stood on guard.

 

"It looks nice," said Lee Chun-sik, 73, a traveler from Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province, looking at the aquarium. "I don't think this building has problems in safety. Instead, one problem I found was traffic congestion on the way to here."

 

There were naysayers as well.

 

"I'm still doubtful over the building's safety," said a salaried woman living near the mall. "I will stay away from the building for a while."

 

Employees were eager to see more customers.

 

"I still don't see a notable increase in the number of customers," said a cashier at an Italian food restaurant on the way to the theater's ticket office on the fifth floor. "We have suffered from a significant sales drop since the suspension. I hope the reopening will bring many people to this floor."

 

Employees at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant on the same floor looked desperate. Nearly two-thirds of tables there remain unoccupied during lunchtime.

 

"The reopening is like a glimmer of hope for us," an employee said. "I believe this building is safe. So I want many people to come here and enjoy it."

 

Lotte seems determined to make the mall accident-free. The nation's biggest retailer launched a safety management committee in February, which is committed to monitoring the safety of the mall around the clock. The company has also promised to relocate its control tower and the offices of its chairman and founder to the skyscraper that will be completed next year, a move intended to dispel lingering safety concerns.

 

The company plans to host a variety of events to attract people to the building and defuse the anxiety. Yet many say it will take time.

 

The two recreational facilities were reopened to the public after nearly five months on Tuesday, ending a business suspension imposed in December by Seoul City following a series of accidents ― including a water leak at the aquarium, tremors felt in the theater and cracks on the mall's floor ― that stoked fears over safety.

 

By coincidence, these accidents took place at a time when the safety of the mall and its associated 123-story skyscraper, which is still under construction, were called into question in the wake of sinkholes that appeared around them last year. The mysterious sinkholes have made the mall a place to avoid for many.

 

Seoul City gave Lotte the green light to reopen the facilities last week following a lengthy safety review at the facilities in question. The approval came out with several conditions attached, which include monthly safety inspections of the mall's structure and regular safety monitoring of the aquarium and cinema.

 

Seoul City warned that another major accident will lead to the complete closure of the mall.

Source: Korea Times

Should hopefully have my Everland TR ready to go in a few hours.

Here's my Everland TR, sorry it's my lengthiest TR yet (and my TR's are pretty lengthy). Honestly after all my complaints over the last 18 months, we had another fantastic day, it really seems like Everland is back to the way it used to be apart from T Express's reservation policy. It makes such a huge difference when everything is open as opposed to half the park open in the mornings and half in the afternoons.

The park was a little busy to the point where I finally tried out Everland's single rider policies but we never felt rushed like on our previous trips, we had time to look around, try out snacks and really, really, enjoyed ourselves. We normally go in June when Caribbean Bay has all the flumes open which can draw some of the crowds away but since it was my wife's birthday we went this week since if you go within 7 days of your birthday you get a coupon book to jump the lines with 4 queue passes and 4 tickets to the older of the two safari rides among other things. Sadly this got suspended a few days before our visit due to it being too popular but it's a perk we are lucky to have had before so no complaints here.

I'll let the pictures do the talking, since it's a lengthy TR i'll break down the parts so you know where to scroll to:

Part 1: Entrance, new mascots, Lost Valley and 2016 construction

Part 2: Eagles Fortress and 2015 construction

Part 3: T Express, new additions and the gardens

If the park is busy, this ticket booth will be your friend.

The park was busy but not overly crowded, on the busyness scale I'd give it a 4/10 (there's a reason I mention how busy it is but you will see that when you get to T Express) As I mentioned lately Sundays have actually been quieter than most weekdays but that'll maybe change when the water park fully opens and the weather changes from pleasantly hot to sticky hot.

It's the 30th anniversary of the rose festival. Also check out Everland's new mascot.

My wife wanted a picture with the new mascots, she sold it to me by telling me people would want to see a picture of the new mascots. They were mostly being ignored at opening as people participated in the Lost Valley rush.

Everland's main street

I've always wondered what is housed behind this facade.

It wouldn't be a trip to Everland without a picture of the tree.

Pororo got a new film but apart from another poster like this one, nothing has changed.

The entrance is still the same.

The new mascots in topiary form.

The 2016 construction area.

I bet you can't guess what is coming soon

All the people on the daily Lost Valley dash.

The construction area runs all the way from the top of the park to the bottom of Rockville.

I've never understood the Lost Valley rush, every time we go to Everland, everyone tells us we must run to Lost Valley. I get it's the parks most signature attraction but people run to it wait 30 minutes for it to open and then another 30-40 minutes again for the people ahead of them to ride.

When it opened it did get 3-4 hour lines but it's 2 years old now. If it gets 2 hour lines these days chance are the lines are that long across all the park. Maybe when the new flume ride opens people will start to run there instead. Honestly Lost Valley can get through people so fast that i've never seen the line go above an hour on an average day. The old safari ride normally has a longer line since it can't get through as many people.

We always hit the line around 1-1:30 when people are eating if we ride. I timed it this time and we waited 18 minutes. When everyone else is running to Lost Valley do yourself a favor and get a T Express ticket and get the family dark rides done at the bottom while everyone else is waiting for Lost Valley.

The queue is full of animals to look at, Naked Mole Rats always remind me of Kim Possible.

Could Lost Valley be the most Elissa friendly line ever?

After queuing up next to these screens for 10 minutes and seeing every hair of fur on the animals bodies I really want a UHD tv. Well played Everland.

Since the ride was closed for over 4 months due to the risk of foot and mouth, we decided to ride to see if anything had changed.... turns out nothing had.

The painting of a hunter and a line moving across the rock and becoming the line head is a really simple effect but a really nice one.

Everland's famous talking elephant only talks to Korean celebrities apparently.

The white lions pictured here are a big draw for Lost Valley. I'm pretty sure they used to be on the old safari ride a long time ago. The regular lions are cleverly positioned so they can be seen from both safari rides at one point.

The giraffe feeding seems to be a favorite for most visitors.

Its funny considering how much people love the amphibious aspect of the ride, how short the water part actually is.

These cheetahs never seem to come down off their perch, maybe they are scared of their rhino pen mates?

This porcupine had a brief love affair with a pooper scooper. The others including an albino were too lazy to move.

With the flume ride demolished and the new one not yet open, the rapids were pretty busy all day with people wanting to cool off.

Part 2

Eagles Fortress update time, looking over form the skyway entrance, nothing seems to have changed.

It wouldn't be a TR by me if I didn't find at least one new ride sign.

The fence behind Hurricane is new.

More of the new fence

Can any eagle eyed readers see what's different?

After almost 7 years it's nice to see they finally replaced the sign that said "under refurbishment"

The station still stands

Hmm is that a digger I see?

The old display has seen better days

Tree's blocked my view so I decided I needed to head up the pirate ship to get a better view of the area.

Dirt..... where there should be overgrown track and trees.

A digger!

The digger had moved by the time I'd got off the ride. Honestly the best places to see the construction was through the trees on the road above Everland when you drive in, or from the top of lift hills or rock spin but obviously you can't take cameras on those.

I'm going to cheat and skip ahead in my TR, it wasn't until much later I found that by going into the rose garden, you looked up straight into where Eagles Fortress used to be.

Cut track

They've cleared out a pretty big chunk of land and trees.

It's been years since I went up this path so I decided to ride the breakdance

I rode X train to get a view of the construction (you're welcome) since when I looked from T Express it was too far away and i gout allocated to the backward facing part of rock spin. From the lift hill you could see a pile of track and supports sitting on the site but it wasn't clear how nicely it was dismantled. Considering it was a pile and not overly neatly snacked I'm going to guess not very.

KFC has come to Everland, kind of surprising since nearly all of the food outlets in the rest of the park seem to be run in-house.

Finally tried out the single-rider passes, it's amazing how many people walk past the signs at the entrances and have no idea they were there. Like the instructions said, you really need to approach a staff member since each ride has different policies and otherwise the staff just assume you're hanging around the area for your friend. Let's Twist I was made to wait near the exit and Rock Spin near the control booth. X Train was a bit awkward since you were given a ticket by the staff at the entrance and then had to go up the very narrow exit ramp and hope you made it to the top before guests came down it. For Hurricane I resorted to jumping and waving my arms at the staff to ask them since so many people stand around the line talking to friends or watching the ride they were blocking the gate.

It's worth asking staff at the entrances of rides if you don't see a sign just in case, T Express for example had it but I didn't see a sign (I could have missed it) There may have been more rides but I was with Jin on those together so I didn't check.

I found it funny that so many people ignore the signs, they announced me as a single rider over the P.A. systems on all the rides I used it on as you boarded. I guess to explain to disgruntled guests in the one hour lines why some-one got to show up at the exit and just walk on.

Let's Twist still has a mild cycle

However this still does 13 loops and is far more intense than any park normal top spins i've been on.

Heading down we hit the 2015 construction site

Apparently it will feature a backwards drop

For a ride that is supposed to open in July I was really surprised to see they were installing supports for a lift/drop now.

Seems the helicycles are permanently open now and not just for public holidays anymore

It's got a little overgrown in it's 18 months of being closed.

The fun house has been removed since the accident.

With Eagles Fortress being ripped out and the helicycles open, the big wheel is now the last SBNO ride.

One of the construction sites turned out to be this new food hall.

The menu it's a order and then go to the specific counter type of restaurant.

T Express: coming up in part 3

Part 3

Oh hello T Express

The reservation system is still in place, you can see the times here displayed, it's not a staggered system, there are 4 different time slots. Aim for hitting the line around half past-35 minutes past the hour and the line should be pretty short.

This was the sign when we came back from lunch, I'd heard friends complain about it before but this was the first time we'd encountered it. It was kind of surprising since the park really didn't seem busy to me and on all my previous trips with the reservation, T Express was running 2 trains and didn't sell out. Today was 3 trains but tickets were gone sometime around 12-12:40, 3 hours after opening

As I mentioned before, it's an easily exploitable system since there are multiple ticket booths around the park and all you have to do is show your ticket without any scanning, you could easily get away with a lot of tickets. Everland also has never had a problem with people getting more tickets later (I ask every time when I get off the ride and they always tell me O.K.) Again even though I'd heard friends complain, I've never seen it so my wife normally grabs a ticket for the next time slot for me while i'm in line since she doesn't want to ride (they also have never said it's a problem) but ironically from a guy who rides about 3 times by knowing when to get in line and where to get tickets, I think Everland needs to get a scanner system for the tickets going and limit it to one per person to make it more fair.

We inquired about single rider and they had it, but you still needed a reservation ticket and I wouldn't recommend it. If you can visit the park often like I can then maybe, but if you are only going to get one or two chances to ride on a visit, just go in the middle of the time slot and choose a seat you want.

I understand the logic of not letting single riders go without a reservation since they don't want people to flood the queue pass line (where single riders go) when reservation tickets run out but there must be a way to control it. It seemed a shame that I needed to take up valuable reservation tickets to take up what would have been an empty seat anyway. The queue pass line is pretty long and wide and sees very very few people go down it anyway, there must be some way they can allocate single rider passes separate.

With the passes you have to turn them in at the station since they are one time use for all the rides and get another one anyway, there must be a way to allocate them and control the flow.

I actually found my first two rides some of the roughest I'd ever had on T Express. The staff were trying to rush a 3rd train onto the ride so they were filling up trains half empty so they could cycle it faster. Both times they bundled the single riders into the empty car near the back since it was close to the queue pass area and with the train not weighed down it rattler a lot more than any of my other rides.

Again I wish there was a way to run the single rider without needing the reservation ticket, I saw so many empty seat on this trip. However at the speed they needed to get the trains out to keep 3 trains cycling there wasn't much time for grouping riders up unfortunately by the look of things.

My 3rd ride was the hands up fun I remember though. All credit to Everland again, after all my complaints about operations last year this was the first time I have seen 3 train operation in a very long time and the op's were hauling ass. Last time I rode many years ago with 3 trains we stopped on the MCBR on both my rides but that didn't happen today.

One of the restaurants has some of the Madagascar characters drop in at certain times when you eat there.

The festival train got a re theme into Thomas.

Either Madagascar is leaving this year or it seems the temporary show with the park mascots that occurred this Christmas will be a yearly thing. Madagascar tickets were still available on this visit unlike my previous visit when they seemed to be gone quite early.

We popped into the gardens while the park was busy since my wife had really wanted to look around and I wanted a better angle of Eagles Fortress's construction site.

I've always enjoyed this area of the garden a lot more than the back garden near the hostel.

Everland's new mascots

and again

Entering the back garden

Everland's hostel

These look really pretty at night apparently.

Even the carousel had single rider

My wife went single ride but ended up on one of the rock it yourself horses on the outside.

One of the very few places you can still see the old mascots is inside the Small World knock-off. They'll probably replace these posters soon though.

Everland's own matterhorn. Also it was really hot outside and a nap in the boat in the nice cool building seemed like a good option.

The temporary looking concrete block area of the park finally got a refresh after I think about 10 years of being a concrete path with one or two random kids rides plonked down on it

one of those kids rides got a nice repaint of its roof

The charactorium

I didn't take pictures inside but it's a huge building filled with lots of interactive things for kids theme around popular Korean children's shows/stuff.

The area looks so much nicer now

The other kids ride got a re theme to make it a lot less generic.

I mentioned earlier Everland had installed a campsite, it took me a while to find. It's in a quiet section in the middle of the park tucked in a corner across from the powered coaster and spooky coaster.

It's a bit too expensive for me.

It looked nice but also pretty empty.

Since T Express became reservation, we've tended to arrive at opening and haven't seen the night show in a long while but if you like pyrotechnics and lots of low fireworks over you head definitely check it out.

These photos from an earlier trip, they've updated it to include the new mascots but the effects are the same.

Some of the lines on Wednesday after I encountered 20 minutes all of Sunday for the bigger rides and practically walk-on for championship rodeo and the pirate ship, as I mentioned in my TR Sundays really are quieter than weekdays these days but it's amazing just how much busier these days.

I'm curious why so many of the thrill rides are hitting such big lines on weekdays this year. Hopefully Eagle's Fortress massive land clearing can be filled with something to help knock the lines down.

Well that didn't last long, previously the government warned any accidents in the complex could result in another close down, although they have passed this one as not major it won't help the safety concerns or visitor numbers, there's a few aquariums in Seoul already and a new one opened recently, it's going to be really hard for them to pull in numbers with the safety concerns:

Two workers electrocuted 3 days after reopening

 

By Jung Min-ho

 

Concerns over the safety of the second Lotte World are not dying down as another accident took place Friday when two construction workers were electrocuted while working at the problem-ridden leisure complex in southern Seoul.

 

According to Lotte, a short-circuit failure at a concert hall construction site on the building's eighth floor caused a spark, which burned the workers' face, arms and legs. The company said the workers were hospitalized but their injuries were not life-threatening.

 

The accident occurred only three days after the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) allowed Lotte to reopen its aquarium and movie theater, where operations had been suspended for five months due to safety concerns.

 

At that time, Lotte assured the city government, saying the building "is now safe." Showing confidence, the company also adopted the "one strike out law," Wednesday, which would punish people responsible for any accidents.

 

Staffers at the second Lotte World's aquarium in southern Seoul welcome visitors, Tuesday, when it reopened after a five-month shutdown from safety problems.

 

Two people in charge of the concert hall construction project lost their jobs immediately after the accident, a Lotte official said.

 

"We are very sorry to have caused everyone anxiety," the official said. "We will try our best to prevent similar accidents from happening."

 

However, few believe the company is capable of keeping its word on safety anymore. A resident of Jamsil, where the complex is still being built, said a series of safety accidents have already created pervasive distrust among local people.

 

"It will be very difficult for the company to remove growing distrust of the building," Lee Son-young, 35, said. "Almost every Jamsil resident I know says they feel the second Lotte World does more harm than good for the community."

 

The mother of two children added such negative publicity is especially strong among mothers. "I often visit Lotte World Mall for shopping. But visiting its aquarium and theater still concerns me," she said.

 

What worries people more than incidents is the nonchalant attitude of Lotte and the SMG, she noted.

 

The exterior of Lotte World Mall and the skyscraper that is being built

 

"Lotte has performed poorly in handing the accidents. People are more concerned because the company tried to cover up some of them," she said.

 

After the latest accident, an SMG official said the city government decided to give a verbal warning to the firm.

 

"We will not give serious punishment such as a shutdown because it was not a major incident," the official said. "We will urge the company to pay more attention to its safety management."

 

The incident bodes ill for the managers of Lotte World Mall, who are striving to regain public trust that they have lost since its opening in October.

 

The new leisure complex has been embroiled in more than 10 safety incidents. Several workers fell to their deaths during the construction of the annexed skyscraper; a crack was found in one of the fish tanks; and moviegoers complained that they felt tremors and external noises while watching a film. Two visitors were also struck by glass doors, which fell onto them.

 

In response, Lotte launched a safety management committee in February. The company also promised to relocate its control tower and the offices of its chairman and founder to the skyscraper that will be completed next year.

 

Many worry that there might be more incidents to come.

Source: Korea Times

One of Koreas most popular TV shows 무한도전 aka Infinite Challenge recently went to Everland and did a number of challenges again including trying to eat ramyeon and do make-up on T Express as well as a ride on Double Rock Spin. Last year 2 members of the show had to leave due to being caught drink driving. They recently gained a new 6th member to the team after running the show with 5 members. To celebrate, the first episodes he appeared on had them re-doing old challenges which involved some very old challenges they did years ago on T Express. Here's the clips:

Note: If you look very carefully during the POV shot just as they are about to go over the first drop you will get quite a good view of the massive land clearing where Eagles Fortress used to be thatI mentioned in my TR.

Make-Up Challenge:

[youtu_be]

Ramyeon Challenge (This one doesn't last very long):

[youtu_be]

Double Rock Spin:

[youtu_be]

Thanks for the updates. I guess I'm at least glad to see them doing something with Eagle's Fortress. Even if it's officially ripping it out with no hope of reopening.

Thanks for the updates. I guess I'm at least glad to see them doing something with Eagle's Fortress. Even if it's officially ripping it out with no hope of reopening.

Agreed, seeing it sitting their for 7 years was a reminder I arrived in Korea just a little too late. I really hope it is replaced with another roller-coaster. There's no guarantee it will be but with T Express reservation only for half a day, it does leave people who couldn't get tickets with only X Train right now in terms of roller-coasters. I know Lotte World doesn't exactly have that much choice either but at least you can line up for those at anytime. If it was replaced by a new roller-coaster and they want to make that reservation only, I'd hope they would at least then remove it from T Express since it won't be the headliner anymore and give people another place to go.

After only opening with only 2 outdoor slides last year, it seems Lotte World's waterpark is finally ready to open the rest of the outdoor slides for the 2016 season tomorrow. The 2 slides of the outdoor waterpark opened last week and now the map has been updated to reveal all the attractions to finally complete the water park: http://www.lotteworld.com/inc/module/etcDownload.asp?fno=6

New waterslide coming to Everland's waterpark: Mega Storm

[youtu_be]

That may be the Coolest water slide That I have ever seen. This and an Intamin woodie are one hell of a combo.

This one was a little buried under all the MERS panic (the parks are all walk-on and completely deserted right now) but there was another incident in Lotte World 2, not sure this one is their fault or related to construction but again it's not really helping settle the public unease right now:

A fire was put out minutes after it broke out at a branch of Lotte Mart located inside the second Lotte Tower in southern Seoul, early Monday, company officials said.

 

This was the latest of a series of safety-related incidents at the 123-story skyscraper since its partial opening in October 2014.

 

No casualties were reported during the fire, but some 70 people watching movies at the time in the same building had to be immediately evacuated, officials added.

 

"The fire was extinguished before it became bigger. Fortunately no one was hurt, and not much financial damage was incurred," a company official said.

 

광고

An investigation is underway to determine the exact cause of the fire. Company officials suspect that it was caused by an overheated refrigerator in the grocery section in the second basement of the discount retail chain.

 

Firefighters and company safety authorities arrived at the scene immediately after the smoke detector alarm went off.

 

Upon being reported, police and firefighters from Songpa Fire Station conducted an on-site inspection to determine if any safety lapses contributed to the incident.

 

All refrigerators are being inspected, officials added.

 

"We are sorry for the incident. We will try our best to ensure the safety of the visitors by preventing such incidents from recurring," said a company official.

 

However, few are inclined to believe the company's hollow apology because it has failed to implement proper measures to fix problems amid repeated "accidents" since October 2014.

 

Monday's fire occurred only a month after two construction workers sustained burns to their faces and limbs while working on the eighth floor of the complex on May 15, three days after the reopening of the complex.

 

At the time, operations of the tower's aquarium and movie theaters had barely resumed after being slapped with a five-month suspension by the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) over leaks from the water tank and shaking from an unidentified source in the theaters there.

 

Earlier, two customers were hit in the basement mall by a two-meter glass door that came off its hinges.

 

In February, Lotte launched a safety management committee vowing to make safety its top priority, but many have cast doubts on the efficacy of the move so far.

 

A Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) official said that the incident is regrettable, especially following the warning the city government gave to the firm and the subsequent shut down.

 

"We urge the company to pay far more attention to safety management. It is still recovering from a loss of public trust due to the past incidents," a city official said.

 

Construction of the skyscraper is scheduled to be completed next yea

Source

So with Everland soft opening Mega Storm this Saturday, they've updated the site with Mega Storm's micro site: http://www.everland.com/web/intro.html

It could be nothing but I find the slide in the bottom left interesting. It could just be an artists representation of the ordinary tube slide but the colors and type of tube are completely different. I would think nothing of it but if you look at the entrance building there's a sign that says -mpest (I'm going to assume Tempest) that isn't present on the building currently whereas everything else in the picture matches up. Could this picture have accidentally revealed something to come to the water park next year?

One of my students showed me how to get the links for the Korean version of google street view, in Korea they have both an airplane mode and a street view mode so here's the link if you've ever wanted to walk around Everland

Everland: The street view is almost 5 years old and the airplane view over 6 years old, so quite a bit of the park has changed since then but it's still an interesting look around. Eagles Fortress' photos were taken not only before it was torn out but before the area had become overgrown.

Walk around the park

Fly-Over

Lotte World: These views are even older and taken in 2009, sadly not street view.

Fly-Over