Seoul Trip 2016: Day 1 ~ Everland

September 12, 2017

So our Seoul Autumn adventure officially starts with a trip to Everland!

During my first trip to Seoul, I told myself I would never go to typical touristy spots. I want my trip to the city be a different one, away from the crowd of tourists. I also told myself I would never go to amusement parks, because I won't be able to experience the true culture of the city.

Well.... for my second trip to Seoul, I had no choice but to delve in to the norm. 😂


Since Mel wanted to do the amusement parks thing, and because I am a very supportive friend, I agreed with the plan. That's how Everland got to our itinerary! It's Halloween time so I think the park would have extra spooky attractions for its visitors.

I realized this is the second time I've been in an amusement park during Halloween🎃



How to go to Everland from Seoul

There are several ways to get there:
  • By subway. This is the cheapest way to go. This is how we went there actually. It will be very useful to have the Subway Korea app (iOS) on your phone. To get to Everland, you need to get off on Jeondae station. If you check the map, it's still a bit far from Everland itself. You'll have to ride a shuttle (it's free!) which stays just walking distance from the subway station. 
  • By public bus. Obviously we didn't try this route, but based on a quick google search, there are a number of buses that you can ride that will go to Everland.
  • By tour bus. There are a number of package tours for tourists that cater transportation to the theme park like this one on Trazy, It even already includes the entrance ticket to the park!


We rode the subway from our hostel. From Jongro-5 station, we rode to Jeondae station to Everland, which was around ~3 hours of travel. 



Pretending to read the paper.
The text was written in Hangul. 😂
Since we left our hostel around late in the morning already (thanks to Rey haha), it was already afternoon when we arrived to Jeondae station. It is the last station in the train line so you won't really miss it. 
The view at Jondae station. 
We got a little lost locating the shuttle to Everland (tip: go to that parking area where you see buses lined up). Once we were on board, we were like kids excited to go to the amusement park! (actually there were a lot of kids and teens on the shuttle with us 😂). The Everland shuttle periodically arrives in the area to pick up visitors coming from the Jeondae station, which is really convenient for everyone. 대박!


After a few minutes, we finally arrived at the gates of the park! 💗

Hello Everland. 😍
Even just outside the park, I was already enjoying myself. Autumn trees were all around! It all felt like a dream, like I was in a drama. It felt so surreal looking at these orange-leaf trees!



Since it's already afternoon, we opted to buy night tickets. This was more exciting because it's Halloween season! It's gonna be a spooky night ahead! :D Entrance for night tickets begins at 5PM so we had to stay for a while outside. 

another Everland tip: present your passport at the counter to gain some foreigner discount! 😊





After waiting for a few hours, we finally got in!

Halloween wonderland!
One thing I like about theme parks is that it makes you feel like you are in another world, like you are in a dream and all the buildings looked like there's something good for you inside. I couldn't help but just stare at all the buildings absorbing all the wonderful details of the structures. 



There were pumpkins everywhere!



We walked and looked around for a bit. Then we felt hungry, so we looked for a place to eat. This is where our feet lead us. 



Surprisingly, the food there was actually cheap! We helped ourselves with some Korean food!




I immediately got so full halfway of my meal, and I actually wasn't able to finish that soup (huhu now I'm craving for some 순두부찌개 /sundubu jjigae/). 😋

So, here's a funny story that we have during this Everland trip. We all wanted to see some pandas so we looking at the Everland map searching for attractions that involves pandas! We finally found one (I won't say which one for now). After that delicious meal, we went to Sky Cruise, a cable car ride, to travel faster to our destination.






It was nice to ride the cable car during the night. You'll be able to see a great view of the theme park below.


After a few minutes, we arrived! Can you read the title of the attraction on the photo below?

If you still don't get the joke, then read on. :D
So we went to fall in line and waited for the show to begin. While waiting, there was this cute kid wearing a pumpkin costume that was smiling at us. We waved at him and said 안녕하세요 /annyeong haseyo/ and he waved back. We even high-fived with him. 귀엽다! 💗


We were so preoccupied with this cute kid that we were still not realizing something. When the line finally moved, we were actually sprinting to go to the stage so we'll have good seats. That's when we realized the audience with us consisted mostly of kids.

Then, it finally clicked.

This is just a mascot show for kids!!!! 😂

We were so ashamed of ourselves to come to that realization that we immediately left the venue even before the crowd were able to settle in. As soon as we got outside, we laughed out loud and just made fun on how stupid we were for thinking that real pandas would appear on that stage.

After recovering from that epic event, we began searching for the Halloween attractions. We went to this Halloween village that looked so dark and spooky. We saw this stage wherein one by one, people in costumes went out and followed people to scare them.

A post shared by 카트 (@katalinarosario) on

Since it was getting colder (we realized later that the temperature went down to -1C that night), it was beginning to be a challenge for us to walk around the park. The strong wind didn't help. We came upon this VR Adventure attraction and decided to check it out since we didn't have any attraction in mind to visit.




This was my first exposure to the Virtual Reality technology. They made us wear the VR glasses and  headphones while sitting on a moving couch. It was too late for me to realize that the video they were playing for this attraction is a horror flick. I had my eyes half-closed the whole time because there were a lot of jump scares in the video. 😖

After that VR Adventure, we passed along the main Halloween attraction - it was some kind of Horror House. I am such a scaredy-cat so I was hesitating to go. But since this is a very rare chance, I agreed to come with my friends. When we went and talked to the staff of the horror house, they told us that tickets were already sold out. I secretly let out a sigh of relief. 😅

By this time we were already running out of things to do inside the park. We just went inside these toy stores to warm ourselves because it's really beginning to get cold that night!



We were looking at the map when Mel said he wanted to try the roller coaster. Everland's T Express is a record-breaking roller coaster. According to Wikipedia:

It is the world's fourth steepest wooden roller coaster. It is also the world's ninth fastest, fourth tallest, and sixth longest wooden coaster, with El Toro being the third tallest.
Since we didn't get to see the Pandas, we thought we should experience something astounding out of our Everland trip, and that roller coaster ride would be the perfect fit. Rey didn't want to go (he has low tolerance towards the cold) and told us he'll just wait for us in the store. As a supportive friend (😅), I accompanied Mel to that roller coaster!

My hands were beginning to feel clammy because of the nervousness. Well I enjoy roller coasters, but during that time I was not sure if I would be able to survive it. LOL. We were actually among the last batch to ride it for that night. 

When the ride started, it felt like my soul was dangling behind me the whole time.

It. Was. Insane. I can still recall that feeling when the train went through the curved parts. Adrenaline sure kicked in and I screamed my lungs out. When it finally came to a stop, I couldn't feel my hands anymore, and I already have a runny nose. 

When we got back, Mel and I were pleasantly surprised that we don't feel that cold anymore. Well with what we have experienced on the roller coaster, I think the cold rushing wind was not the worst part. I felt great actually. Looking back now, I am super glad I was brave enough to indulge in that experience. It was an unforgettable ride.

Our last stop was a bit chill. We just went to the Rose Garden attractions. It was so beautiful during the night!







Special thanks to Mel for taking this photo. I had to endure a few seconds of shame
as I posed before some other tourists who were also in line in the area. HAHA! #parasablog

After going around for a bit more, we quickly headed back to the park entrance because it's only several minutes left before the last train of Jeondae station leaves! After riding the shuttle again, we briskly walked back to the subway stations (the other Everland tourists were also running haha). Good thing we made it! Else, I think we'll be stuck for the night there. 

It was a really tiring day, but I had so much fun! One of my favorite rides was the Rotating House, even though I got a bit dizzy after. It was a quick visit, so I hope I'd be able to come again, this time during the day, and in Spring perhaps. 😊

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2 (mga) komento

  1. Mah friends who were able to go here said its better than Disneyland. Well, maybe because the rides are for adults too? I am so inggit!!! And I laughed at your pic in the train reading the newspaper hahahah!

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    1. I guess your friends are right about the rides. With the rollercoaster alone, it's better than Disneyland! xD

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