Korea + Japan 04/17 – Seoul Land
Day 10
After clearing out every CD shop in the city, we found time in the evening to go to an observation deck and have a lookaround.
The view was at the top of ’63 building’, which I knew of from a KoreanTV show. It’s an obscurer/quieter/cheaper alternative to the main touristy towers.
There was also a garbage ‘art’ exhibition up here which was comprised of pathetically mundane photographs trying to pass as something they weren’t. We had some fun giving them names such as ‘woman forgets jacket while leaving london taxi’. I’m sure they’ll stand the test of time.
Day 11 – Children’s Grand Park
With the magnificence of the trip coming to a close, it was time to spend the final day dusting off the rest of Seoul’s creds. Started at the scenic entrance of Children’s Grand Park, a massive green space and took the long walk to the small amusement section right at the other end.
Grabbed some tickets for the 2 creds and ticked them off in mere minutes.
The first was a slightly off wild mouse contraption and was mildly interesting, mainly for the struggle up the steepness of the lift hill.
The Vekoma SFC clone had a rhythmic shuffle to it and was mildly interesting.
Still managed to take some time out to revisit every CD shop in the city before heading to the final park.
Seoul Land
After a long straight walk past many many vendors all selling exactly the same selection of fruit’n’veg and fried… things, we got to the ticket office for a road train that takes you to different entrances of the resort(?). There’s a zoo and other attractions here but we want the one with the creds of course.
Another tourist discount was up for grabs at this place making it dirt cheap. Cheers again.
The Koreans were out in full force again today. After a quick scout out, we resigned to being in this park for the long haul.
First up was a 2 hour wait for this large looper of unknown origin.
Half old vekoma, half jet coaster and the whole layout 100ft in the air, it was a bit something and nothing.
The other looper of known origin (Senyo Kogyo) was next with a more manageable 1 hour queue. Not sure why the popularity between these two rides was so different as they are pretty much the same beast, this one may even be slightly better with the haunted tunnel.
Half old vekoma, half jet coaster and the whole layout 100ft in the air, it was a bit something and nothing.
An hour for this weird, weird mouse ride with the wrong style track and trains. Being oddly smooth and uneventful as a ride, it didn’t really do the job it was trying to sell by appearance.
An hour for #6 Tobot Train, the last of the powered dragon saga. Worth it.
An hour for #7 Tikitoc Train. A great variation on the wacky worm layout with some brutal forces. Best ride in the park, no joke.
Finished the day off with a go on the pirate themed dark ride shooter. I got the best score in Asia.
Seoul Land took some dedication to complete with those queues, but they were never unpleasant (I can think of many places where they would be). It’s a terrible line up with a great atmosphere. Everyone’s out for a good time, just how it should be.
This was a fantastic trip overall, I can’t stress enough how much I love these countries completely regardless of their theme park industry (though that’s an added bonus of course) and it took a lot of willpower to board the plane home. Of course I was already making plans to return.