Everland Resort opens at 9:30AM so I planned to leave Seoul around 8:00AM for the 1.5-hour travel. Utilizing the subway, I arrived at Jeondae Everland station of the Yongin Everline line around 10AM. Free shuttles to the resort are picking up park-goers from the passenger terminal near the subway station. Everland Resort is South Korea’s largest theme park and located in Yongin, a city in Gyeonggi-do.
It was a Saturday and the perfect weather let Koreans joined the horde of tourists visiting Everland Resort. From the jam-packed bus alone, you can already predict how heavy queues would be. Luckily, I booked my Everland day pass ticket via Klook Travel. It save me few minutes queuing for the ticket and allowed me to go directly inside the theme park.
Before the Everland ticketing booths are beds of colorful bloomed tulips. They were beautiful it will require you to stop and take a picture. But queues are piling up and I wanted to get my first dibs on my goal, the T-Express ride. Theme park information guides are available on different languages and I had several minutes analyzing the locations of the attractions.
The paved walkway from the main entrance is flanked by lampposts decorated with butterflies. Walking towards the inner parts of the resort will let you marvel on the structures that are usually present on fairytales. Add to that the Magic Rose Tree, a big tree standing for 13 meters with colorful flowers creating a fantasy scene during daytime.
My quest for the T-Express continued so I traced my way to the European Adventure. One of the walkways was still covered with cherry blossoms that time. Not that full but you can still see petals falling from the trees. First ride for that day was the Space Tour Vehicle, a Ferris wheel ride with a twist. When I joined the queue, it seems that there was something wrong on the ride, it’s not moving! The defunct ride was revived by Samsung using Virtual Reality goggles for guests to view the landscapes as if the wheel is working fine. I was scammed!
The moment I glanced on the signage of the T-Express ride, I instantly searched for the end of the line. Fixing my backpack, I rushed to the end of the line to join the queue. 70 minutes was the estimated waiting time. I spent more than an hour queuing just to experience the most talked-about ride in Everland Resort.
T-Express has the steepest first drop for a wooden rollercoaster in the world at 77-degree angle having a top speed of 104-kilometer per hour. The attraction has 3 trains with each can accommodate up to 36 passengers. The trains ascend a steep rail to reach the maximum height of 183 feet. The first drop is at 151 feet and will definitely make you scream your lungs out. After the steep drop are numerous bumpy drops and swift turns. It was an epic ride even if the ride has no vertical loops.
Still on a high from the T-Express experience, I join the queue for the Sky Way. Everland Resort is on a vast hilly area and walking is a bit tiring. Sky Way is one of the attractions that can bring your from the European Adventure to American Adventure. The ride offers stunning and aerial view of the theme park and serves as easier way to navigate the resort.
Just outside the terminal of the Sky Way on the American Adventure area are heart pumping rides like the Double Rock Spin, Let’s Twist, Rolling X-Train, Hurricane, and the Columbus Adventure. Observing the park-goers riding the attractions, it seems that they were enjoying even if they’re being tossed up in the air. I’ll be such a loser if I wouldn’t try them so I joined the line for these attractions, except for the Rolling X-Train having crazy extended queue.
Double Rock Spin is a pathetic ride that exerts powerful spins and rotations while synching with the music. It’s a thrilling ride that executes several full spins while rotating at a height of 20 meters. Let’s Twist on the other hand, is an fan-like ride with the ‘blades’ having the seats. An exciting ride that lets you experience spins on different directions. After that, I queued for the Hurrican ride. Hurricane, compared to the first two, has a rotating disk connected to a bar that sways from left to right up to a height of 19 meters above the ground. Don’t miss the force from the megaton-grade tornado ride on your Everland visit.
Everland has it’s own version of the famous Viking ride Anchor’s Away, the Columbus Adventure. The attraction has two replicas of the Christopher Columbus’ first voyage; Niña, and Santa Maria. Queue on both ends for the ship to experience a dizzying ride that falls from a height of 33 meters at a 75-degree angle. Put your hands up in the air as the ship sways from north to south. Another exciting ride I wasn’t able to try is the Thunder Fall, a rafting adventure in Magic Land mountains.
If time permits, drop by Safari World at the Zoo Topia section of the park to take a safari trip and make a close encounter with lions, tigers, hyenas, and bears. Animals and their number at the Safari World are: lions (17), panthera tigris (5), white tigers (6), hyena (2), brown bear (12), thibetanus (3), and white leo (2).
Everland Resort also features themed festival depending on the season. During my visit, Tulip Festival was held at the Four Seasons Garden at the Holland Village of the European Adventure. The garden showcases bed of flowers in season which was, during my visit, tulips. If you still have time to spare at the theme-park, wait for the daily Moonlight Parade at the European Adventure.
Everland Resort is really large covering a land area of 100 hectares having five themed areas: Global Fair, American Adventure, Magic Land, European Adventure, and Zoo Topia. A day is not enough to explore and try every attraction of the resort. In terms of food options, Global Fair offers countless cafes and restaurants for you to grab some while enjoying the park’s attractions and facilities.
To ensure a thrilling and fun experience for everyone, Everland Resort asks every park-goer to monitor etiquettes in enjoying Everland’s attractions and facilities. Some of them are: (1) do not cut lines, (2) don’t bring gas burners and picnic mats, (3) and respecting and following Everland staff, among others. The complete etiquette can be found on the theme-park guide.
Tickets are priced at 54,000KRW for adults and 43,000KRW for children. For you to avoid the line in buying tickets to Everland Resort, grab discounted Everland tickets from Klook Travel. The park opens from 9:30AM to 10:00PM, local time.
How to Get To Everland Resort
The easiest way to reach Everland Resort from Seoul is via subway. Hop on the train on the station nearest to you and transfer to Yongin Everline at Giheung Station on the Bundang Line. Ride your way to the last stop of the Yongin Everline on the Jeondae Everland Station. Make your way to the shuttle terminal for free shuttle bus rides to Everland Resort/Carribbean Bay.
