It was already starting to sprinkle and the weather forecast called for rain, so we decided to head to the outside part of the park, Magic Island, before the rain hit.
The lines were still really short at that time, so the first ride we hit up was the Gyro Drop, one of those drop-you-into-freefall rides. I'm not big on rides, but Joyce and the others convinced me to give it a try. The "Gyro" part was only on the way up (it slowly spun in a circle while climbing), though the descent was a straight drop. There was no line after we finished, so the others went again immediately. Once was enough for me, so I hung back and took a few pictures with the organizer's fancy camera.
Next was the Gyro Swing, which was easily the most terrifying ride I went on. It was essentially a circular Viking that went up to about a 90 degree angle and also spun you around. It took a few swings before I was able to stop tensing up and just relax, and after that it was pretty fun. In an odd coincidence, it started raining as we were getting on, but stopped as soon as we got off. Just long enough to completely soak us while flying through the air!
Next we got in line for the Ghost House, partially because it was starting to sprinkle again. A few people decided that they weren't that interested and went their own way, and we never saw them again. For reasons I can't remember now, we chose not to stand in line for the Ghost House and instead see the Samba Parade at 2 pm. A couple people had already gone inside, however, so we waited for them to come out. Joyce and I briefly considered the bumper cars nearly, but decided that the line was too long at the moment. The two people in the Ghost house came out a short while later and said that it had been pretty lame - something about following a cat through a house while watching "scary" video clips.
With our group (mostly) reassembled, we headed inside the main park to watch the Samba Parade. It was kind of neat, with a ton of beautiful/handsome and fit foreigners (and a few Koreans) in a wide array of colorful costumes. I took a lot of pictures, but unfortunately most of them came out blurry.
After the parade passed on the way to the nearby stage, the organizer tried to get us to come to the stage with him, but he moved too fast and we quickly lost track of him. We quickly gave up, and the six of us that had stayed together got in line for the Conquistador, a fairly standard Viking-style ride. It was the first really enjoyable ride for me, mostly because it was a lot easier to just go with it and have fun. Of course, we were in the middle instead of the far ends, but still ;)
Some of us were curious about the Tomb of Horror and Mirror Maze attractions, though unlike the other rides, these were listed as games and required an extra 3,000 won ticket per person. Most of the group balked at this, so we gave up on the idea.
Taking a chance on the rain, we went back outside to see about riding Atlantis, a small car-style roller coaster that zips in and out of a castle. Unfortunately they had to shut it down because of the rain, so we got in line for the bumper cars (Metro Madness!) while we waited for the weather to change. About halfway through the wait the rain stopped, and two of our group who weren't interested in bumper cars got back in line for Atlantis. The bumper cars looked kind of lame - eight cars in a big, ovular track with a divider that seemed to encourage taking laps - but when we got in the cars it was actually pretty fun. Joyce and I got each other a few times, which was good!
The line for Atlantis had grown while we were on the bumper cars, and we had to wait a little while for the staff to do a few test runs, but the wait wasn't bad (maybe 30 minutes). Apparently a worker had died on the ride a few years back during a test run because he hadn't used the safety equipment properly; lamentable, but it does go to show just how important it is to follow safety protocol at all times. The ride itself was quite fun!
Next, following the advice of the "Exciting Thrill Mania" tour in the guidebook, we went to check out the Comet Express. We were quite confused about this one - the guidebook just said it was an "exuberating space train where the seats spin freely" - but we couldn't see any nearby ride that matched that description. After we got inside the building, we discovered that it was actually underground, with a second line in a science/space-themed area. (Lotte World had a lot of these 'hidden' or two-stage lines where we thought we were almost in, just to find another line! I'm sure these are common everywhere, but I haven't been to an amusement park in ages, and it annoyed everyone in the group too.) The ride was sort of like a dark, teacups-style roller coaster, only we couldn't control the seats. This one was hard on my stomach because the ride made a lot of sharp, unexpected turns, and marked the beginning of a building nausea problem.
Following that, we briefly considered riding the Bungee Drop (very similar to the Gyro Drop, only it "bounces" you three times), but since it was already 4 pm we instead chose to get some lunch.
We stopped by Marcos Kitchen and got pasta, omelets and quesadillas (Joyce brought her own lunch of fresh vegetables), then got in the hour-long line for the Flume Ride while we digested. This one was a four-person water boat ride with a jungle theme, and was fairly tame aside from two steep drops. It also took pictures as we went down, and I looked like a stoned zombie on our photo (mostly because I was focused on staying relaxed - I was having fun, I swear!) One of our group bought her boat's photo for giggles, and we said good bye to another member around 6 pm, so we were down to five people.
Next we took on the Giant Loop, which, unsurprisingly, built up to a 360 degree loop forwards and then backwards. The biggest challenge was finding the way up to it; we went up the exit stairs only to find out that the entrance was through the nearby arcade. We then had to get directions inside the arcade to an almost hidden staircase up to the ride itself. Thankfully there wasn't a line, probably because no one else could find it either!
After the Giant Loop, we took on the French Revolution on the second floor, a corkscrew/looping-style roller coaster. We waited another hour for this one, though at least it didn't have any hidden lines. Joyce and the other women had to take off their earrings for safety reasons, so we knew this one was serious business. This one was probably #3 on the terror scale after Gyro Swing and Gyro drop, but mercifully brief at about two minutes. It was here that I noticed that my nausea was becoming a serious issue that wasn't going away on its own.
Next we went up to the third floor for Jungle Adventure, another water ride complete with creepy animatronics of monkeys, elephants, adventurers, and a shoot out in the middle east (huh?) The ride was on a big, circular, six-person boat with an inner tube-style bumper around the outside that made it spin around unpredictably whenever it hit a way. It was actually pretty tame after the others with no drops at all, and we only got a tiny bit wet (after signs that said "You may get wet" followed by "You WILL get wet"), but it really made my stomach act up.
Everyone then headed up to the fourth floor for the Pharaoh's Fury, but I wisely decided to sit that one out. I had a killer headache by that point, though thankfully two of the women in the group had Advil. I downed the pills at a water fountain, then got a plain hot dog at New York Hotdog so they wouldn't wreck my stomach. I had to eat very, very slowly however, using the meditation techniques I'd learned at Hwagyesa to stay calm and relaxed while the nausea worked itself out. It took about 30-40 minutes to get through my hot dog, though I was feeling a lot better afterwards. The group found me right after I finished, and while it was getting late (around 8 pm), they weren't really that interested in eating, so we went in search of one more ride.
Before going on another ride, we stopped in a very cool illusion-themed art museum. All of the paintings had some way you could interact with them to make a neat photo, like giving yourself angel wings, (accidentally) destroying priceless artwork or holding back a lion from grabbing a zebra. Joyce and I got some interesting shots here :)
Our last ride of the day was on the basement floor, and it was the 4D Shooting Theater. We waited about ten minutes for the next show, then got our 3D glasses and went inside. The theater had moving seats to simulate the feel of a ride, and each one had a light gun that we used to play a group shooting game on the screen. A dwarf gave us some quick story and shooting tips (in Korean, of course), then turned us loose on a mine cart ride infested with bats, goblins, skeletons, mummies, and a lich as the final boss. There were also piles of gold to shoot for bonus points, and shooting the dwarf gave penalty points. With 38 people in the theater it was super chaotic, and I had no idea which of the colors or symbols was mine. After the game they did a run-through of everyone's score from best to worst, and somehow I ended up with the lowest score, which my companions got a big laugh out of.
It was getting close to 9 pm by that point, so we finally called it a day and went our separate ways. The only two rides we didn't go on that we'd considered were the Bungee Drop, the Drunken Baskets (teacups) and the balloon ride along the ceiling, so it was a full day all in all. I wouldn't have gone on half of the rides without the group encouraging me to try them, so I rode my first roller coasters today and had fun. The Gyro Drop and French Revolution were a bit too much for me, but overall I had a great time trying some new things. None of the lines were longer than an hour, which is pretty good compared to a lot of amusement parks. Even with the rain, nausea and headache I had a very good experience at my first amusement park in at least a decade!
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