Day 3 in Seoul (II): Everland!

First, let me start off with the journey there...

So it took us approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes to travel to the most far-off place on our itinerary, the Everland Resort... For any normal person, after 2 hours of 'destination-less' travel (from multiple train transfers), by the time you have reached your final destination, whatever psyched excitement and "omg-so-fun" feelings have naturally already worn off.

But... our final verdict is...

EVERLAND RESORT IS WORTH YOUR TIME AND MONEY!

5 Reasons to Visit Everland

(Picture taken on the cable car down to the main theme park area)

1. It's beautiful! Located on a downward slope/in a valley of sorts, it feels like an out-of-this-world experience. The air is extremely fresh and cool, even with the sun beating down on your skin. The entry area is elevated, and as you explore the park, you realise you're venturing downwards into something that's like a valley. Super exclusive theme park in a very natural hilly landscape, something you won't see in Singapore.

2. There's exciting activities, rides and shows for every age group. Even toddlers, and small children (who can't hit the minimum height requirement in any theme park) have something to do. They can check out animals at the safari zone, visit the petting zoo, and some milder children rides. (More on this later!)

3. It's better and cheaper than Hong Kong Disneyland.

4. Everland allows you to get up close and personal with many animals in perfect safety! Some animals include white tigers, lions, bears, hyenas and giraffes. Even though you're in very close proximity with these animals (supposedly predators), you feel safe and the animals appear trained, so they just do their own thing, and you watch them through a moving, transparent-glass-window bus/safari vehicle.

5. CHEAP FOOD. Okay it's not that cheap. Everything in Everland costs normal uninflated prices and same as the prices in central Seoul. You can get churros within the theme park for 3,000 won which is about S$4, and hot coffee from about 2,500-6,000 won which is pretty standard Seoul pricing. Verdict: You can eat and drink merrily without feeling overcharged. You can also be like us and buy kimbap take-out to eat there.

***

So... here goes! 

Getting There

A shot when we were nearing the theme park.

Tip: Dress comfortably and wear sneakers if you can when you're heading for Everland. Be prepared to walk an area almost two times (or more) the size of the whole of the Gardens By The Bay. Heels are completely out! If you need to wear heels (say, you love taking shots of your outfits and outfits just don't look as good paired with sneakers), do bring an extra pair of flat shoes. :)

My own comfy outfit: A floral tee, high-waist shorts and Vans sneakers. A thick jacket is a must because nights in Seoul in May get pretty cold (especially at the Everland area which is deserted other than for the theme park). The city area of Seoul is less chilly at night and if you're wearing shorts, it's pretty bearable. 

Here's our train guide to Everland: We changed a few trains, and it can seem really confusing initially but when you're in Seoul, you'll get a hang of the train-changing by the 2nd or 3rd day. 

Starting our journey from Myeongdong Station (Line 4) --> Chungmuro (Line 3/Line 4) --> Yangjae (Line 3/Sinbundang Line) --> Jeongja (Sinbundang Line/Bundang Line) --> Giheung (Bundang Line/Everline)

At Giheung station, get off the Bundang Line (you are required to tap out of the station's gantry) and head towards Exit 4. Walk to the Everline station at Giheung, board the Everline and get off at Jeondae Station (the last station). The trip will be about 14 stops from Giheung to Jeondae.

Cute Everline train carriages! It looks and feels like the LRT at Choa Chu Kang and the Sengkang/Punggol area, so Singaporeans will feel right at home.

At Jeondae station, go towards Exit 3, cross this long overhead bridge which overlooks the beautiful stream (pictured below) and get to this bus stop.

Toilets are located at this area. Board the shuttle bus to Everland!

Following our route, you should get there pretty easily! An alternative route involves taking a express bus there from Gangnam Express Bus Terminal (if I am not wrong), however, it was not convenient from where we were going to Everland from, so we took this route.

The Everland Experience

Tickets purchased! Show your passport to get the foreigner discount. We entered the park in the evening (5pm) so it was generally less crowded.

A note to all foreigners: Walk further into the Everland ticketing area to buy your tickets from the FOREIGNER COUNTER. The queue for native Koreans was very long, and no information was given that there is even a foreigner counter. We only realised it after we queued for about 20 minutes and purchased our tickets while speaking in Mandarin Chinese (because the staff member could only speak Korean or Mandarin Chinese). The foreigner counter has English-speaking staff, and... NO QUEUE.

Grab a copy of the Resort Guide at the entrance! You'll need it. 

An especially interesting experience at the K-Pop Hologram Concert. You have to see this when you're there! It's a 3D experience (almost felt like 4D actually) that lets you feel as though you're really seeing the artist on stage performing right in front of you.

The Hologram Concert shows different artists at different timings. So you have a choice of Psy's concert, 2NE1's concert or Big Bang's concert. We watched PSY, and here's a shot I took before I got stopped by a Korean-speaking staff. Hahaha. The Caucasians just pretended they didn't understand and continued taking photos, even though the staff member was very enthusiastically violently using hand signs to show that they can't take photos.

The concert is interactive (as though the artist is really there) and you can participate! The kids in the Hologram concert absolutely loved it, and were dancing along with gusto to Gangnam Style.

A digital board that updates every 5 seconds with the estimated waiting time at each exhibit! Super, super awesome! Every theme park has to have this!

Photo taken while on the cable car. Everything looks... really, really beautiful.

This is the "valley" I was talking about earlier. The main play area of the theme park is located down here.

They have the cutest merchandise.

Safari World

As the name suggests, it's a safari, and they load us humans up a "viewing bus" and send us into the safari! This is a must-see attraction! 

With over 20 white tigers in the enclosure... Safari World really comes up tops and impresses with a very interesting concept. Tourists will get to get up close with all the animals, from the safety of the bus.

Hyenas. They looked at us with eyes like "there's my dinner in the bus". The Lion King truly depicted them accurately. They look just like the hyenas in The Lion King animated movies!

That's how close we were to them! About 2 to 3 metres away. 

Hi guys. I am Bear.

Amazon Express

Another must-see attraction in Everland! Similar to the Safari World, this Amazon Express features different animals (those that you can see in the Amazon).

Fennec Foxes

This is probably the coolest part of our bus-excursion in the Amazon Express exhibit. The viewing bus can travel on both land and water! Here's the big splash when the bus entered the water!

The staff member (in the bus) feeds the giraffe while we're near the enclosure, so we get to see the giraffe up close when it sticks its head into our bus! Plenty of interaction with the animals here. I also learnt that a giraffe's tongue is dark purple and really looks quite gross 15 centimetres from your face, hahaha. 

Got some cotton candy for us to enjoy while waiting for the daily Moonlight Parade!

Everland Moonlight Parade

Lots of singing and dancing. It felt like Chingay! Extremely happy and enthusiastic dancers and singers. You have to catch this Moonlight Parade which runs every day at 9pm.

The Magic Garden & Nearby Attractions

The flowers here are all real!

The Rose Garden

The light set-up really looks like a fairytale. It was a light show of sorts, accompanied with very nice musical-style music.

Ending off the post with a full-body shot of us (taken by a very helpful and funny Korean guy) at The Rose Garden! As you can see, JS is wrapped up like a dumpling (shirt and thick parka zipped up, jeans and boots) while I'm in my t-shirt, shorts and thick parka unzipped. 

Well, I was really underdressed for a tourist. A lot of the female Koreans were in shorts too and didn't seem to think much of the cool air at all (while I was practically freezing)... The wind at night at Everland is very cold (felt like 10-12 degrees), and we were shivering and hurrying around the park as it got colder (8pm onwards). So, if you're going in May and staying in Everland until closing time, do wear jeans! 

Frankly speaking, there's so much to say about Everland... It completely blows your mind when you're there. Every single thing is breathtaking, and every exhibit is pretty fun. We didn't manage to take any rides, but our time at Safari World and Amazon Express made it all worth it.

Everland is WORTH IT, WORTH IT ALL!