Lotte World is the biggest indoor theme park in the world, and I’ve watched enough Korean variety shows and dramas to want to know what it looks like inside… and I’m really glad that I got the chance to go and experience the rides!

We actually got our tickets from Trazy.com, since they had a ‘discount’. We also originally wanted to go before school started but the day we went there were so many people that it just totally put us off from going. In the end, Stef, Marcius, Yvonne, and I went on a Monday – and there was still a surprisingly large amount of people, more than I thought there would be. But I know it could have been a lot worse!

There is more than one entrance to get into Lotte World. One is connected to the mall and is underground, and another is above ground. Since we had the foreigner discount coupon from Trazy, we  had to go to the entrance above ground. There was a lot of construction around the area when we went so it was a bit confusing. Also if you have the Trazy ticket remember to print it out!

So the park is divided into sections: there’s an outside section, and then five floors inside. Since it was supposed to rain that day, we decided to start off with the outside section before the rain came. I mentioned previously that one thing that I don’t appreciate about South Korea is the bipolarity of the weather. While we were waiting in line for the rides it was so hot and sunny!

We decided to try to go on all the ‘thrill’ rides since we didn’t really care for the family or kid’s attractions. Upon entering the park we realized that there was an app for Lotte World called MAGIC PASS similar to Disneyland’s FASTPASS program.. except it didn’t work for all the rides we wanted to go on. So we ended up not even using the app at all.

The outside section is called ‘Magic Island’. Once we went in there was a big castle (kind of like Disneyland but not as impressive), and we took some pictures on the photo spots.

So the first ride we went on was the Bungee Drop, kind of like bungee jumping (hence the name).  The lines were reasonable, but still quite a wait. One good thing about Lotte World is that everything is so much closer together, and there’s so much more stuff to look at. It made it a lot easier for us to snack while in line since there were snack stalls almost everywhere, and we were actually allowed to eat while waiting in line (unlike at Everland!)

While at Magic Island we also went on the Fantasy Dream (we just went on this because there was absolutely no one there.. little did we know it would be filled with creepy stuffed animals and toys), the Gyro Drop, Metro Madness, and Atlantis. We also wanted to go on Gyro Spin (or at least they did since I can’t deal with spinny rides or else I’ll get sick) and Comet Express but they were closed for maintenance ):

I ended up getting this strawberry slushy for 2500KRW since I was thirsty. It was really refreshing for the hot day since it was kind of fizzy and wasn’t too sweet. Stef and Marcius ended up getting hot dogs and corn dogs, and Yvonne also got a corn dog as well.

I think the outside section took us the longest to get through since there seemed to be the most rides we had to get through outside, and there were probably more people outside too.

We also tried these little buns with custard fillings shaped in the faces of the Lotte World mascots!

And I also got a sprout clip that makes it look like I have a piece of grass growing out of my head.

After (finally) getting through the outside section, we headed indoors and grabbed a popsicle.

Then we headed up all the way to the 4th floor and went on Pharoah’s Fury, which was totally not what we expected at all.. but it was still fun 😛

Then down to the third floor for Jungle Adventure, which was also not what we thought it would be – we wanted to go on it since it was a water ride but it wasn’t as exciting as it could have been.

Then down to the second floor for French Revolution. I think we waited for this roller coaster for the longest… and I thought the line totally wasn’t worth the wait! While in line I went and got some fries covered in onion sauce. And they really were quite good!

Finally down to the first floor. At this point we were getting a little bit hungry, so we got dinner after we went on The Adventures of Sindbad (which I thought was kind of pointless since it’s a story ride told in Korean and none of us are completely fluent in Korean). We just went to a food court style place, and even though the food was a bit on the expensive side it was definitely more delicious and filling than the food at Everland.

Then we went on The Flume, which is similar to the log ride at Playland back home, and right before we went down to the underground level we caught the parade that goes through Lotte World! We were quite surprised because a majority of the people in the parade were foreigners.. I guess that’s where foreigners work if they can’t speak Korean but they want to live in Seoul?

By the time we got underground it was getting close to closing so a lot of people had already left. We had a good view of this one guy just skating around on the ice rink and we wanted him to do tricks.. but he didn’t end up doing any, haha. There are 3 of those rides where you sit and you go through an exciting journey through water, in the air, and through a jungle, like Fly Over Canada in Coal Harbour. I went on one and decided I couldn’t go on any more because I was feeling nauseous (I get motion sickness really easily). They went on one more before deciding it was probably good to head home since everything was starting to close already.

And we were really lucky because it only started to rain when we headed home! So no rain for the entire day except for the walk home.

My two favourite rides hands down were Atlantis and The Flume, Atlantis because of its (very unexpected) speed, and The Flume because of this one guy who scared us right before the second drop.

If I were to compare Lotte World and Everland, I think I like the rides at Everland more but the experience at Lotte World was definitely better. It’s just structured better, everything is closer together, and the food is more accessible and wallet-friendly.

Either way, I’m glad I got to go to 2 of the 3 theme parks in Korea that I wanted to go to while I’m on exchange here!