Hello all! It’s Celeste again checking in from Seoul, South Korea. The first time I wrote you all, it was about a week after I landed in Seoul. In a few days, that week will have turned into a month. The past month has been packed with fun adventures and sweet memories I’ve made with friends, and today, I want to share one of those memories with you.
Last weekend was Chuseok weekend. Chuseok is a huge national holiday in Korea, akin to our Thanksgiving in America. This year, the 3-day celebration fell on September 12th-14th, giving us Thursday and Friday off from class. Due to the holiday, many restaurants and shops were also closed, so me and my friends decided to go to one place we knew was open 365 days a year: Lotte World.
Lotte World is one of the most famous amusement parks in Korea. I’ve wanted to go for years now, so the holiday was a perfect opportunity. My friends and I arrived at the park a little before 9:30AM, which was when it was set to open. Right when we walked through the entrance, the atmosphere immediately changed. Cheesy as it sounds, it really felt like we stepped into a wonderland. As I stared out at the scenery, I finally understood what the world’s largest indoor amusement park felt like.
Cue the rides and delicious snack foods. From The Conquistador to Flyventure, from Gyro Spin to The Adventures of Sinbad, everywhere we turned there was a unique attraction to experience. Apart from the physical sensations of the rides themselves, a lot of them had really pretty and interesting scenery to look at. Of course, we took snack breaks in between rides. (Hello popcorn chicken and Dippin’ Dots!) After what felt like forever going up and down the floors of the Adventure Park, it was time to head outside to Magic Island.
Magic Island is Lotte World’s outdoor portion of the park, an island complete with a castle built on an artificial lake. Even better, Lotte World implements a Halloween theme from September to October, which meant the entire place was decked out in zombie decorations. Halloween parades were periodically held throughout the day, and the nighttime was no exception. We spent most of the night watching zombie performances, and even getting some pictures with the cast!
Overall, even though we spent 12 hours at the park, we weren’t able to ride everything we wanted to ride. In fact, we barely made a dent in the outdoor rides. This only leads us to one possible conclusion: we’ll be back very soon for another adventure. And next time, we’ll start outside!
Celeste Oon is a 2019 Global Ambassador majoring in linguistics and East Asian studies. Celeste is studying at Korea University in Seoul, South Korea.
Don’t get left behind. Read more about Celeste’s experience in Korea>>
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