Imagine Disneyland but filled with high school uniforms, indoor roller coasters, and raccoons.
That’s Lotte World for you.
Lotte World is the most iconic theme park in South Korea––the face of Korean amusement parks. With its mascots Lotty and Lorry, it consists of the world’s largest indoor theme park along with an outdoor park called Magic Island. Park goers can enjoy both indoor and outdoor spaces upon entrance.
What’s most interesting about Lotte World? The fact that it’s inside an underground subway––or, at least the entrance is. To get to Lotte World, you can take the Line 2 green subway that will lead you to Jamsil Station, a station also near popular attractions Seokchon Lake, Lotte World Mall, and Seoul Sky. If you follow Exit 3, you’ll find yourself at the entrance of Lotte World Adventure, where you can either buy tickets at the ticketing booth or enter right away with a QR code.
After purchasing our tickets, we were on our way to face the first stop of our park exploration: the elevator. Once you board the elevator, you’re immediately transported to a different world that takes you out of the once mundane underground station.
The first thing that caught our eye was the expansive glass ceiling of the indoor park. We soon found there were no lights used to power the inside throughout the daytime; everything was visible solely through the bright sunlight filtered through the rooftop.
We wandered around for a few minutes, passing by the ginormous, twenty-foot figures of the park mascots; inhaling the scent of churros, hot dogs, and all foods that are good in parks; and basking in the enormity of it all; I mean, how can they fit half of an entire park indoors?
Your arrival at the theme park also comes with your arrival at a high school––or what seems like it––as many attendees wear South Korean high school uniforms to Lotte World. While people commonly wear traditional hanboks at South Korean palaces, people also wear high school uniforms to Lotte World as an extension of experiencing the Korean culture at a more personal level. The park also tends to include discounts for uniform wearers.
Amusement Park 101: always ride the popular rides first. We indeed did wander around indoors for a few minutes, but it didn’t take us long to race toward Atlantis, one of the most popular roller coasters at Lotte World.
Atlantis is a roller coaster part of Magic Island that blasts you through a cave and around the eastside of the amusement park. To me, it was the most intense ride offered at the park.
However, Plan Amusement Park 101 was quickly shattered upon our arrival at Atlantis. It seemed like everyone had the same idea as us, as a long line quickly formed in front of the ride. Despite the wait time, we eagerly waited for our time to board the famous roller coaster.
We finally arrived at the front of the line and did the whole theme park gist––put your belongings in storage, sit in the coaster, feel your heart race fifty miles per hour.
And as all––lovely––roller coasters do, the Atlantis eased us into the ride, starting off at a slow pace, but we all knew what was coming. As the couple in front of me shouted that this was just the beginning before the ride would dash off into the playset cave, I gripped tightly onto the seat bars, refusing to let go.
Finally, it came. After just a few seconds of the car moving, it immediately blasted off, the air shoving my chest into the back of my seat, as my hair whirled into the air. I screamed as if the screaming would make anything better, as I remorsefully threw my hands up into the air––as if that would make anything better, either.
Soon after, it was all over, and our car slowly creeped toward the entrance once again. My head gradually stopped rattling, and I limped out of the roller coaster. The whole experience reminded me of why I loved roller coasters so much––and I was excited to ride even more.
With a revitalizing start to our morning, we cruised throughout the day riding much more exhilarating rides, including the famous Viking––where a boat rocks you back and forth high up into the air, forcing butterflies in your stomach. Next, we hit thrill rides like Comet Express and French Revolution, finishing our tour of the park with the hot air balloon ride that gives you a 360º tour of the indoor park.
And with the relaxing tour and one more ride of Comet Express––one of those rides that make you feel like your head is about to fly off of your body––marked the end of our Lotte trip. We boarded the subway back to our dorms and said goodbye to the magical wonderland.
This week marks the last week of the summer program, and it’s bittersweet and unreal to call it the end. The next challenge: packing in all we can before we leave Korea.
