An Everland Halloween

So we had some friends come out to Korea who hadn't been to Everland for almost 7 years and wanted to go out and visit. I decided to quickly grab some photos before they arrived. Since Halloween is normally quite busy, it's not something i've photographed for TPR before.

 

I went to try out the new Super Flume ride but unfortunately had a really bad experience with a queue jumping family. The Korean man and his wife decided since they had young-ish children (the height restriction is a meter) that they could let some of the family (including adults) wait outside the ride and then rang the family when they had waited out the 70 minute line to increase their group (I understand a bit of Korean being married to one.) Despite all the signs saying no queue jumping, once they got to the end of line they rang the rest of the group who pushed past over 1 hour of switchbacks and when they got to me (about 2-3 mins from riding) I refused to let them pass. The man started screaming at me (in broken English) that it was none of my business, I had to be a gentlemen, that this was Korea (I pointed out the signs that said no cuts in Korean and also a world-wide policy of theme parks) and then using the excuse the little girl had needed the bathroom and calling me out on that. The man then was screaming at me to shut-up when I said no and tried to jump the fence to hit me. This was all right next to the station where the operators and staff did nothing.

 

Here's the thing though, if I'd seen some people with children leave the queue to run them the bathroom, of course I would have let them back in. Some-one not going before they get in line happens sometimes but for the whole line nobody went past me to leave and they were using their phones to constantly inform the rest of the group where they were in the line. They had never set foot in the line and even if it really was the younger ones needed the bathroom that's not an excuse to then skip the complete whole line when so many other families are patiently waiting.

 

With the guy getting more and more angry and wide-eyed and only one young girl on the staff trying to defuse the situation, I ended up apologizing to him and giving a deep bow that I hadn't let his family "go to the bathroom", I didn't want to see some-one like the staff get hurt because of a situation I made and it seemed like the only way to get him to calm down even though the people had already gone past me by this point that he wasn't going to stop. The staff then put the group on the next boat and tried to put me right behind them so I had to ask to wait a few boats because I didn't want the guy waiting for me at the exit.

 

Being in Korea, i've got used to a lot of line jumping but to deliberately time it to skip the whole line was not something I was OK with. It was also disappointing when my wife spoke to management later that although they apologized for the staff's lack of action in a violent situation, they informed her that they hand out passes when people leave the queue to let them back in and that they'd asked the staff at the station about the incident who had said the people had a pass which 1) nobody left the line in the first place so how did they get the pass that said they left? 2) if that is the case and whole groups can leave for over an hour for the "bathroom" why have signs throughout the line saying you cannot cut in line? and 3) They had nothing like a pass when they tried to cut. It might have been taken away at the entrance of the ride instead of the station but then why did the station staff say they saw a pass when we spoke to management? Everland management have promised to email me sometime this week though, so I'll see what they say but was I in the wrong? Should it be different for a family that cuts than groups of teenagers?

 

Anyway I've been too negative and this is probably going to be my last Everland TR for a while. I'll still do TR's for the other Korean parks but I feel like after 6 years of doing these TR's and with pandas for 2016 and a hotel for 17, I feel like I've photographed everything that needs to be seen. It was funny having our friends out from 7 years ago to find out that nearly all the new additions were either things that were already there in other attractions (the new safari ride's animals including the white lions, zebras, giraffes and elephants were originally on the original safari) or things the park already had. (another chairlift, another two 3d/4d rides etc)

 

To counter my negativity, I would like to say that the park was running fantastically, you've probably seen from some of my previous TR's we've had some opening hour headaches or rides that we couldn't go on for most of the day due to selling out very fast. For the first time in forever, T Express had no reservation system which meant I could use the single-rider line more than once. It was having a few hiccups due to them letting 2 trains worth of people onto the platform, that by the time they spotted a single-rider seat the gates had already swung shut. Groups moving around also meant a few empty rows that could have sped up the main queue but the T Express crew were hauling and trains were constantly flying out and our group only ever saw 1 or 2 people using the single rider line which meant we never waited more than 3-4 trains so it was definitely worth it. The 4 other bigger rides of the park: Hurricane, X-Train, Double Rock Spin and Let's Twist also didn't seem to have anyone else using the line, so if it's thrill rides you want, you could have all 4 done in no time at all. Most of the other rides and safari rides don't have it so it may be best to hit those first in the morning when you visit.

 

This weekend was also the last weekend for the outdoor section of the water-park and with temperatures of 23C, lines sat at 20 minutes for almost all flumes so timing it for that weekend would be good. The weekdays were walk-on but half of the slides were also closed. The water-park was at capacity most days in the summer with lines of 2-3 hours so trying to time it for end of season is definitely the way to go.

Halloween is always one of the busiest times for Everland

Updated to include the new mascots

The tree all decked out for Halloween

This was new this year, I wasn't sure if it was temporary to celebrate the 70th anniversary since Japan but it seems pretty permanent

It had sold out by the time we passed again in mid afternoon

It's mostly some interactive screens

The main floor

This used your body for a cannon battle

A korean game where you take a "test"

I failed, seems about right.

An example from the third round

The VR room

These screens made you use your arms and jump to take a picture. My wife took it seriously.

Whereas I went for Korean Regal Harry Potter with a beard.

Once your time is up in the museum you get shown a 4D CG film called Pride In Korea of a famous king (who could catch arrows out of mid-air and fire them back at the enemy) and some-one else. It had English subtitles

I headed up to see what was left of Eagles Fortress

It was a lot more visible than my June update

It's all been cleared out now

The size of the clearing

This was where the station once was.

I'd seen some Korean bloggers mention it but the pictures confirm it, a hotel resort is Eagle's Fortress's replacement.

A few weeks ago some newspapers reported that Global Village had been retired permanently. I was going to post it but waited to see for myself. It's listed as closed on the sites schedule and it was shuttered when we visited with no signs offering any clue. They could put up a sign saying refurbishment but that worked out so well for Eagle's Fortress for 7 years

There's a new fun house/playground to replace the old OZ one after the accident.

Construction is coming along nicely.

It was just a blank concrete pad when we were here in June.

Speaking of updates, here is the panda exhibitions construction site.

Edited September 17, 2015 by Garet

Part 2: Thunder Falls, Miniature Garden and Halloween

The other 2015 addition

An overview of the queue area

Going down....

....and.....

.....sploosh

A rarity for Korea, a water ride that actually gets you wet.

A look at the boat, the stickers on the back of the characters are starting to peel off already from the water.

Interestingly enough I noticed this when I got off, could this ride be the next one to drop the standby line and adopt a reservation only line in the future?

Managed to catch a boat on the backwards drop at the same time as the main drop.

This had opened 2 days before we visited: a small miniature Everland in the gardens. The gonodolas actually move over the water.

A static T Express

And Lost Valley. There's also a little train, you can see the trackss at the bottom. Interestingly enough the trail was the original red train and not one of Thomas that currently circles the gardens.

A mini version of Everland's big wheel. Unlike the real thing, this one actually turns.

The halloween decorations are pretty kid friendly. There was a garden more aimed for adults near T Express.

The parade was just finishing as we arrived.

This area becomes Walking Dead Square at Halloween.

Does anyone remember the skeleton with a bow-tie episode? No? It's probably in season 6.

Maybe the area comes more alive at night because all we saw was a couple of pictures like this. There were a couple of zombies, but more Zombie nurse or Zombie soldier outfits than walking dead zombies.

The sign where they normally display information about T Express's reservation.

The Horror Mazes are ticket based at around 5 dollars each, they can sell out quickly. I believe Everland uses the same 3 attractions each year.... Horror Maze I

Horror Maze II

and Horror Safari. Since this one can only run for 2 hours it can sell out pretty fast.

A quick look around the zombie garden next to T Express. In October on certain Fridays and Saturdays it becomes a paid entry area for the Horror Club with guest DJ's.

You do get a nice view of T Express when you trek up to the top.

Great TR. Some great decorations for Halloween.

2 photos of a wider view of Thunder Falls entrance that I forgot to post since I didn't take my camera on the ride, they were on my Iphone and I forgot about them.