Visit South Korea: Lotte World

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Lotte World was not on our itinerary for South Korea, but when my oldest son requested we go there, we figured, "Why not?"

We bought "Foreigner" discounted tickets off of Klook, which included one Magic Pass ride per person.  

We caught the train to Lotte World, and had to go to a specific entrance to redeem our tickets.  We went on the Wild Jungle and Wild Wing Rides, both of which had fairly short waits.  They were essentially "virtual" rides, where you watch a huge screen and the ride car moves according to what is on screen, so you feel like you are spinning, falling, or flying through the air.

Then we went to look for more rides.  The area we were at, Underland, consisted of more "kiddie" rides, so we went to look for the big kid rides . . . which turned out to be not so easy!

Eventually we found our way to the Adventure area, which consisted of a number of rides, a small food court, and shops, all indoors.

There are multiple levels in Adventure, which we eventually figured out after looking for rides, and for the most part, lines were pretty long, so we pretty much just ate lunch and watched the parade in Adventure.

There is very limited seating in the food court area, which was very surprising considering the number of people at the amusement park, so be prepared to scramble for seats!

Parade is show on the big screen

The food options were limited, but I thought what we ordered was good.  

We were satisfied, and ready to go to Magic Island - the outdoor portion of the amusement park.

It was very difficult to even find out how to get there!  After getting lost a few times, we finally found the bridge to get to Magic Island.

We happened to go during Halloween festivities, so the park was decked out in ghoulish decor.

It was amazing how many people were there.  It was just a sea of tweens and teens at Magic Island.  I saw very few adults and young kids (they were mostly at Adventure).

Lines were crazy long for both food and rides, but fortunately we had a Magic Pass each for the rides.

The rules to redeem the Magic Pass had changed, and after searching online and asking people around the park, we finally figured out that you simply had to go to the Magic Pass entrance, show your ticket, and the park employee manually writes something on the ticket to show that your Magic Pass has been used.  Not as technologically advanced as I thought it would be, but it worked.

My oldest son loves rides so he was the one who made use of the Magic Passes to ride a few things at Magic Island.

As it was getting late and started to rain, I helped him use up a Magic Pass, and we went on the Atlantis coaster.

The castle was lit up with Halloween images, and it was pretty neat.

Lotte World packs a lot into very small spaces, and I imagined the rides to be more spread out across a bigger area.  The small area made it feel way more cramped, considering how long the lines were.

There is of course a Disney vibe, and many of the rides are a take on classic Disney ones.

We got lost a lot, and didn't get to do as much as we had hoped, but it was still something to experience.  

Lotte World
240 Olympic-ro

Songpa-gu, Seoul, South Korea

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Visit Seoul: Seoul Sky

Since we were at Lotte World, we couldn't pass up the chance to visit Seoul Sky.  

Standing 123 stories (555 meters) high, it's the tallest building in South Korea, and the 5th tallest in the world.

We visited on a day when we saw lots of school groups go in, so we thought we should purchase a Fast Pass, but the employee said they were not selling Fast Passes because it was not very busy.  We instead bought premium passes to get a drink (or ice cream!) in the lounge.

On the way up to the observatory is a Holnik exhibit - an "Earth Traveler" character, and it is embedded in movie scenes and displays leading up to the elevator entrance.

The entrance to Seoul Sky was super neat.  You get escorted into a room on the 117th floor to watch a short film about Seoul Sky, and the screen rises to reveal the view (you can watch an IG reel here).

The views were incredible!  Even though it was an overcast day, to see all the buildings, homes, the Han River, and even Lotte World Adventure from above was just spectacular!

I was so intrigued with just how packed the city was with buildings after buildings after buildings.  

We went to the 123rd floor to redeem our drink coupons, which also allowed for ice cream.

Ginseng Tea

I had a Ginseng Tea (ginseng is super popular throughout Korea), and the kids got ice cream.  I was expecting a single scoop of ice cream, but each child got 4 scoops in a fancy dish plus a cookie!

With multiple levels of viewing, we didn't encounter any mass crowds, and the windows are all large and clear for optimal viewing and photos.  

Seoul Sky is definitely a must visit for amazing views of South Korea!

Seoul Sky
300 Olympic-ro

Songpa-gu, Seoul, South Korea
 

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