You might have heard of Lotte World, but have you heard of Everland?

I didn’t know what Everland was until I arrived in Seoul! My friends told me that it’s a theme park owned by Samsung, and it’s located outside of Seoul and a good day trip destination. Luckily for us, trazy.com (Korea’s #1 Travel Shop, they also advertised this at our international student orientation) had a discount that went from $60USD to $36USD – 40% off! I saw that we had to buy the ticket before March 31st but didn’t realize that we didn’t have to go before March 31st… so we went on March 28th. Which was a Monday, but Stef and I didn’t have school and everyone else just decided to skip their classes.

The package came with a shuttle bus, so we arrived at Hongdae Station exit 4 at 9:05am and got on the bus (meaning we had to wake up really early). Their method of checking who was supposed to be on the bus wasn’t that great since we couldn’t find some people’s names… but we all got on the bus anyways. Everyone except Jay since he didn’t buy the ticket in time (you had to buy 2 days in advance), but honestly he could have gotten on the bus as well…

The ride took a lot less time than we thought it would be. But it was a great opportunity to take a nap!

We got off the tour bus at parking lot #5 (which is where the bus terminal and the subway station is) and took a shuttle bus to the main gate. You need to remember which parking lot you came from because you’re going to need to go back to that one to leave.

Buying the tickets online was definitely a good idea, since we got to skip the lineup to buy tickets and just went inside! Plus it was Monday so there were definitely less people than there could have been.

It just so happens that this year is Everland’s 40th anniversary, and right now they’re having a tulip festival inside as well; there were some really beautiful gardens full of tulips so we took lots of pictures there.

We went inside and since Jay wasn’t here yet we just decided to go on some of the smaller rides – Let’s Twist (which is similar to Hell’s Gate at the PNE), Spooky Fun House (a kid’s haunted house which wasn’t scary except for the beginning when Yvonne scared me..) and the Royal Jubilee Carousel (a merry-go-round).

Everland is divided into different sections (as are most theme parks) but we didn’t go around it strategically nor did we study the map beforehand… which bothered me a little bit but that’s okay.

We ended up having lunch at this burger place – but I didn’t buy anything since I had bought 2 kimbaps from the GS25 underneath SK Global, knowing that food would be expensive. They did have ketchup though so I took a little bit home to eat with my eggs.

After Jay arrived, we went to go on the other rides. Samsung Everland is famous for the T Express, which is South Korea’s highest, fastest, and steepest roller coaster. It’s also a wooden roller coaster, South Korea’s first one. It’s also the world’s fourth steepest, ninth fastest, fourth tallest, and sixth longest. It also recommends you stretch before the ride to avoid getting injuries…

…it was really fun. Even David, who’s scared of roller coasters, managed to throw his hands up in the air!

There were a few gondolas/ski lifts around the park so that people could get rest while moving to their next destination, and enjoy the view of the park at the same time. We took one but it moved really slowly (as expected), but I liked that there was a net underneath us so that if anyone dropped anything then it could be retrieved. Also good for families because the strollers can be brought up too – they get hung on the back!

We also went on other rides like Thunder Falls (a log ride where David screamed really, really, loudly) and the Amazon Express (a water raft ride) – both times my shoes and seat of my pants got wet T.T But it was worth it because it was fun. And luckily Kiven and I both had rainjackets so we stayed (relatively) dry!

There were lots of snack type things there so I got a strawberry slushie thing. But then we went on a spinny ride right after that and I felt sick so I had to sit the next ride out T.T

At around 6pm Vivian realized she lost her camera so we had a whole situation of trying to find her camera, but luckily David and Jay found it at the Championship Rodeo ride because she left it in the cubby (and the guy working there checked all the seats but didn’t check the cubby…)!

Also, the good thing about Everland is that they have designated spaces for you to put your bags so your stuff doesn’t actually go on the ground. And Korea is a relatively safe place too, so I don’t worry as much about leaving my things while I’m on rides.

Eventually, we split up because Vivian, Jay, Stefanie, and Marcius wanted to ride the T Express again so the rest of us just ate, then took some pictures in the gardens – Everland looks totally different at night.

There were also some night parades and (apparently) fireworks too! I also think the LED flowers from the Dongdaemun Design Plaza got moved to Everland so they were in their own separate area as well.

We eventually left at 8pm without them since a lot of people still had homework and needed to study. It took us so long to get home by subway, maybe 3 hours? We were all so tired by the end of the night, I really pitied the people who had to keep studying.

I’m really glad that I had the chance to go to Everland at a discounted price, and had good company for the entire day; it might have taken us 3 hours to get back home, but it was definitely worth it.