Downtown Amusement

September 4, 2009

Lotte World Magic Island Reflections Night - Seoul, South Korea - Daily Travel Photos
(Seoul, South Korea)
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There's nothing like an amusement park squeezed directly in downtown, well, anywhere. Welcome to Lotte World, a Disney-esque attraction complete with its very own fairy tale castle and hordes of vomiting teenagers. Half-price after 7pm!

If you're keeping score at home, technically, this photo shows the outdoor portion of Lotte World called, Magic Island. Much like Disneyland, the inexplicable popularity of a monorail has taken hold of the Lotte administrators. If someone can explain to me why 1 rail is better than 2, I'm all ears.

Notice the tall tower, slightly right of center. That's the tallest free-fall ride I've ever seen in my life. I have unnerving suspicions the Koreans will use that device in reverse for their next rocket launch attempt.

lotte world night seoul lake view
Lotte World Magic Island Apartment Background  - Seoul, South Korea - Daily Travel Photos
(Seoul, South Korea)
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Apartments fill out the background of Magic Island located within lovely 석촌 (Seok Chon) Lake. This photo was taken directly on the opposite side of the lake from the previous photo. I mention this because I hope you appreciate the incredible amounts of walking I'm doing for you, the audience.

Notice the blur of lights below and to the right of the castle. It appeared to be a ride created by a team of designers most likely harboring rage from being locked in cages as children. Imagine a spinning jump rope, then imagine sitting in a chair attached to the jump rope. I believe the word that comes to mind is: sadistic. 32,000 Korean Won (~US$24) for a ticket to torture and fast path to vomit? I'll take 2!

jamsil night apartments cityscape lake
Lotte World Magic Island Wooden Deck - Seoul, South Korea - Daily Travel Photos
(Seoul, South Korea)
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A full 360 degree walk back to the original photo position, however, a deck and random Korean woman are present. If I may be so bold, notice the shutter speed for this photo and realize that the woman is nearly tack sharp. Somehow, this woman barely moved for 13 seconds! Say what you will about Koreans and their mind-numbing array of spicy fermented vegetable side dishes (see Kimchi museum) but I'm willing to wager, there are few women in the developed world that can stand perfectly still for 13 seconds when death is not on the line.

Continuing in a series of real-time (non-archive) photo posts started September 1.

lotte world lake viewing platform seoul night

2 Comments - Downtown Amusement

1) omar -

have you figured out why mono is better than regular 2 rails? :) funny that I've made myself the same question before. Nice pics btw...glad #1 is the mexican ballet

cheers from guadalajara, mexico

March 25, 2011
2) TravelGuy -

Omar... unfortunately the mystery continues as to why a monorail is preferred over a conventional double rail train ;-)

March 26, 2011