Travel Diary Seoul (South Korea) #5: Lotte World, tickets, flagship attractions, magic pass

In Seoul, there is neither Disneyland nor Universal Studio, but two other amusement parks that I have never heard of: Lotte World and Everland. Since Everland is further from Seoul with (almost) a roller coaster, we chose to go to Lotte World instead, which has the advantage of being in Seoul itself and having a fairy-tale side like I like it

The park is located in the heart of the Lotte shopping center. Lotte is a huge Korean group, which has a lot of shopping malls, a Lotteria fast food chain… and they are even expanding in Southeast Asia. As a result, the amusement park also has mall fake air

Let me explain: there is an underground part on 4 floors, inside. You go from one floor to the other thanks to escalators (or elevators), like in a shopping center. And the second part, more magical, is outside

Where to buy the tickets?

We tried to buy the tickets on their Korean site (thanks to Google translate) because there is a 35% discount when you buy online – but we were blocked at the payment stage because of the lack of support for 3D Secure

However, as we get out of the subway near Lotte World (Jamsil Station exit 4), we see a fountain (copy of the one in Rome)

and then we see an “information center” for tourists and I was able to ask for a coupon of -20% for 4 people. I put it below if you can’t find this center. Don’t hesitate to use it

You can choose to buy the tickets including the visit of the “folk museum” (or not) => I highly recommend the visit of the museum. And after 4pm, there is a cheaper ticket (-2€ – knowing that the park closes at 10pm-23pm)

Travel Notebook

As soon as I enter an amusement park, my state of excitement reaches its peak. I remain lucid enough to immediately look for a map of the park. It is even in English please! This is important because it is super badly indicated inside the park

JB and I are very surprised to see so many teens in the park, unaccompanied, on a weekday. Tickets are still expensive (plus 40€/day with discount). We will understand later that there is an annual pass (which costs around 100€) and the teenagers love to come here with friends. They have understood this and have set up a booth of Etude House – an affordable cosmetics brand – in the park, and the teens go there mostly to touch up their makeup

Level 1F

As soon as we arrive, we see this dome which gives a lot of light. At the corner, we see hot-air balloons going around the park

+ hot-air balloons just for decoration

It’s super nice!

We opt for the Fly Venture attraction. There’s a huge curved screen in front of it, and our row of chairs moves over it. Add a little wind, artificial rain… and you really feel like you’re flying like a bird

Up next door, the Conquistador attraction attracts a lot of teenagers. It’s a giant swinging boat. This kind of attraction makes my heart ache, I think I did it only once when I was 5 years old and I couldn’t stop shouting “help” 😀 Never again in my life!

JB proposes me to go on the hot air balloons but given the speed of these and the long list of attractions to do, we zap

At the same stage, we do The Adventure of Sindbad, we sit on a boat and go from one stage to another, there is even a little moment of fear when we go down from one level in the dark. The adventures of Sindbad are told in The Thousand and One Nights. Be careful, Sindbad has nothing to do with Aladdin 😀 I don’t really enjoy this attraction because I don’t remember much about his adventures, just this little detail given on his Wikipedia file: “We learn that merchants harvest diamonds by throwing big blocks of meat in the valley, blocks that the birds bring back to their nests: the diamonds stick to the meat and the merchants harvest them by bringing the meat back with a rope. In order to get out of the nest, Sinbad attaches himself to a piece of meat, taking with him a large bag of precious stones”

Then, we make the 3D Desperados, which the little ones really like. The idea is to shoot the bad guys on the screen with a laser gun. Each time we shoot, our number is displayed and we know where we shot. Unfortunately, the 3D technology of this game is quite old and the shots aren’t very accurate

We also made another game based on the same principle: Dragons Wild Shooting, but this time, instead of having only one screen, we’re taken from one screen to another. Overall, we’re disappointed by 3D games with laser guns here, the technology isn’t up to the level of Toys Story experienced at DisneySea in Tokyo

Level B1F : Underland

We went around in circles before finding the secret passage to go down one level to Underland

Nice view on the ice rink

It’s time for lunch, as most of the main attractions are closed at lunchtime. We decide to take an all-you-can-eat buffet (of salads and other healthy dishes). The restaurants on this floor communicate with the real shopping mall => so they can serve both park visitors and those who go shopping. Two birds with one stone!

In any case, all the fast food restaurants in the park are well known brands and the prices remain the same => hence the “shopping mall” atmosphere. But I prefer that than having to pay twice as much and eat a disgusting dish like at Disneyland Paris

Then we go to the Wild Jungle attraction. Like Fly Aventure, our seats are raised, above a huge screen and where we feel like we are in a 4×4, exploring Indiana Jones style. The 3D effect is great, the vibrations and other effects (wind, sounds…) really make us believe we’re inside. There are two other attractions next door, based on the same technology: Wild Wing and Wild Valley but we don’t do them, having already a little headache because of the 3D

Magic Island

It’s time to get out of this “mall” and explore the fairy-tale part of the park, i.e. Magic Island. There isn’thing in the castle, I warn you. But next to it, you can see the tower of the GyroDrop 2 VR game

He makes us climb up to 70m and then releases you. You have to have a good heart. Only JB goes there. Since the real bungee jumping I did at the integration weekend at my school, I don’t do this kind of game anymore. I feel like I’m killing myself, and it’s really, really unpleasant 😀

I put here the video I took for JB (we can see him waving at us). I think that those who watch the attraction scream more than those who participate lol because we really have the impression that they are going to crash against the ground 😀

A publication shared by JB & Anh (@tourdumonde5continents) on June12, 2018 at 5:21 PDT

In the distance, we can see the Lotte tower. Our friends M. and J. recommended us NEVER to go there because the tower is built in an area where there are many dolines (or sinkholes in English)

There are other attractions on Magic Island, such as Bungee Drop, or the Atlantis flagship attraction but there is too much queue (under the sun too)

We will only go to Ghost House. It’s a very successful 4D movie, where we follow a cat in his exploration of a haunted house. He meets all kinds of ghosts and has to do everything to get out of this house. Not only it scared me too much but the end is sad!!… All day long I kept thinking about the end of this attraction that haunted me and having my heart squeezed

Magic PASS

I forgot to tell you about the Magic Pass system, the equivalent of Disneyland’s Fast Pass. There are several machines where you can request a Magic Pass: either a central machine on level 1F, or the machine in front of each attraction. At the time we visited Lotte World, all the machines in front of the attractions were out of order. So we had to download the Lotte World app and book the Magic Passes directly on our phone (after scanning our tickets)

Unlike Disneyland, here there are an impressive number of attractions that accept Magic Passes

Each person is entitled to 3 Magic Passes during the day

And if you are too rich, you can buy Magic Pass Premium which gives access to the attractions without having to make a reservation

I strongly advise you to download the app because it also allows you to know the waiting time for each attraction (and if it is open/closed)

Level 4F

At level 4F, we could enjoy the excellent Pharaoh’s Fury. The decoration is better than the other attractions and even if it isn’t very scary, we really feel like exploring the ruins of Egypt

Right next to it is a photo space called Lotty’s Photo shop. There are several set-ups/studios with the light in focus to take professional portraits. I can even do it with my iPhone!

If you need a free passport photo (white background) or a Harcourt style photo (black background with soft light), come here!

We end up at the Dynamic Theater, which broadcasts a film in 3D + vibrations. It’s nothing extraordinary but apparently this movie has different purposes, so if you watch it twice in a row, you’ll probably get two different versions

Level 2F

I saved the best for the end: French Revolution 2VR, because magic passes don’t exist for this attraction and at the end of the day, we finally accept to queue for 1 hour. It’s a roller coaster with a tight loop and some very scary turns. It has “French” only of name

The detail that makes this attraction even more impressive is that it passes between the walls and in the middle of the park’s decorations

That is to say, you can cross a quiet bridge and see a loop over your head, and people screaming

For this attraction, we can offer you an RV helmet (virtual reality). You can choose, or not, to wear it. I wore it and it scared me less because I only saw it as a fight against the aliens and only underwent the loops and so on

While JB, who doesn’t wear a helmet, tells me that passing between the park’s sets, or passing through a hole that you think is tiny at first… is super scary. And I think that those who like thrills will have to do this attraction without a helmet. By the way, a little girl, in the age of 10, did it and at the end she was crying in her father’s arms

Apart from these attractions, the park also offers a parade in the early afternoon and another at the end of the day

There are other very fun photo corners..

Folk Museum

We are about to return when suddenly, we remember the museum to visit, within the park. We hurry to go there and frankly, it was as satisfying as the looping of French revolution

The museum is big enough to show us the evolution of architecture and also the art of living of Korea from one era to another

We can see for example the reconstitution of the inside of a tomb

Superbly crafted miniatures depicting scenes from everyday life or special celebrations

JB makes a face in the picture because he is too tired and wants to go home, while I am in admiration of the miniature palaces. I love it!

We can even disguise ourselves..

… observe a wedding in miniature

I really liked this small village in mini version

We end up in a restaurant within the museum, eating bulgogi and bibimbap. Very tired but happy of our day, we take the subway to go back home

Practical advice

Go on weekdays. We have a maximum of 10mn of queue for most of the attractions. On the other hand, plan to do French Revolution, Atlantis, Pharaon’s Fury and Ghost House as soon as you arrive because there is always a lot of queuing (between 30mn and 1h30 even during the week). We couldn’t do all the attractions because some of them are reserved for children, but we could have done all the adult attractions if we wanted to, in one day.
Between noon and 1:30 pm, most of the flagship attractions are closed and you are obliged to go to lunch
Never pay full price, there are always discount coupons. Go to the tourist offices to ask for a coupon of -20%. If you manage to buy online, the discount is -35%.
Download the app before coming, to take full advantage of the attractions and be able to book Magic Passes. There is free Internet in the whole park.
You don’t have to finish your drink before making an attraction. There is always a place to store your drink (and pick it up later).
Don’t forget to take a map of the park as signs are rare.

P/s

Before going there, true to myself, I learn a lot about the park, the attractions, in which order to visit etc. and I come across a site in English that only speaks… about amusement parks

The analysis is so professional (on the atmosphere, the characters of the park, the quality of each attraction, the number of loops of each roller coaster…) that it amuses me a lot. The funniest part is the comments, some people ask“you went to Korea just to go to Lotte World?“, others say “thanks for the article, I’ll probably never go there, but it’s cool to have such a detailed description of the park”

Well, before you ask us the same questions

We aren’t amusement park enthusiasts
We aren’t going around the world TO visit amusement parks but I would actually like to visit all the Disneyland around the world
I know that you will probably never go to Lotte World, nor to Seoul (especially if you don’t watch Korean dramas, or don’t like cosmetics), so I’m taking you on a virtual tour of Lotte World through this article.

Did you like this article? Discover all our Seoul & Jeju travel diaries:

Practical Guide to Seoul
Seoul Shopping Guide
Guide to Cosmetics to buy in South Korea

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