Lotte World and finally some swimming February 4, 2011

Today’s adventure was Lotte World, which is a small amusement park. It has an indoor section with smaller rides and shows, and an outdoor section with the bigger thrill rides. We stuck to the indoor section since the kids were too short for most of the rides on Magic Island. It was Lunar New Year’s Day so almost everything was closed. We headed out to Lotte World on the Subway. No issues with the subway this time We got on the train and went for 14 stops to Jamsil. The subway comes up into the mall. Most of the stores were closed, but there were a few open. Lotte Department Store was closed which was a bummer because I wanted to go there. We bought our tickets to Lotte World with a special foreigner’s coupon their website had, and all 4 of us got in for only 78,000 Won! We rode the escalator up and the kids were very excited. It is quite similar to Disney World, only smaller and a little more scary. There is a kids’ section that the kids were just a little too old for, but the next group of rides were a little old for them (ie scary).

The first ride we went on was the carousel…Mira’s favorite. We really wanted to ride the balloon ride that goes around the top of the indoor dome, but couldn’t figure out how to get up there for a while. By the time we figured it out, the wait was at least an hour. That was a bummer as we really wanted to ride that one. The next ride we went on was The Conquistador, which is one of those large pirate type ships that sways back and forth. Brett loved it. Mira hated it. The next ride we went on was Sinbad, which was essentially like Pirates of the Caribbean at Disney World. Only scarier. Mira covered her eyes and plugged her ears through the whole thing. Brett watched, but he thought it was scary too. So, a thumbs down on that one! Mira was pretty unimpressed at this point.

We ventured to the second level and got fast passes for The Pharoh’s Fury…didn’t even get one for Mira on that one. Then we went to a 3D Motion Theater show. I forget what it was called, but it was egyptian themed. Mira wouldn’t go for that one either, so Brett and I went. It was essentially a 3D movie with the seats that move and it made you feel like you were on a roller coaster ride through an Egyptian tomb. It was pretty cool, but scary things jump out at you from the screen like spiders, mummies, and skeletons. Yeah, Mira wouldn’t have like that one either. Brett loved it.

The place wasn’t too busy when we first got there, but it started filling up pretty quickly after noon. The wait for the rides got longer and longer. We rode the tram that goes around the indoor dome, watched a small parade, and re-rode a couple of rides the kids liked. We went back to our fast pass time for the Pharoh ride. Brett and I went on that. It was pretty lame. So glad we didn’t wait in line for that one.

There was a flume ride we wanted to go on, but the wait was at least 45 minutes so we skipped it. It was a dinosaur themed area it went through. There was an awesome looking indoor roller coaster that went all around the indoor park, but the kids were about an inch too short for it. Darn it! There was a Jungle Ride that we didn’t do too, that Mira probably would have hated. There was Tomb of Horror that we skipped, and a Room of Mirrors that we didn’t do. The waits just got too long and we were getting tired. All in all, I think we were there around 5 hours or so.

The kids’ favorite thing was this play space that had a 3 story ball shooting room in it. There were air guns everywhere that shot foam balls all over. It was crowded, hot, and crazy so we only spent about 20 minutes in there. The kids loved it though! It was Alice in Wonderland/Queen of Hearts themed.

One of the cool things we tried was this weird ice cream. It looked like soft serve, but came in bizarre colors. They had it at Lotte Mart too and Adam really wanted to try it. Looked gross to me, but they did have chocolate. Once we got it though, it was really good. It seems more like hard ice cream that they extrude so that it looks kind of like soft serve, but it’s all jagged looking. All the flavors had tiny chocolate chips in them. We all really liked it. We’ll have to go to Lotte Mart and get some more before we leave!

We made the trek back to the subway and rode the train back to City Hall stop. It was early enough, so we said we would take the kids swimming. And frankly, sitting in a hot tub was sounding good to me too! We went down to the pool and fitness center. We put our stuff in a locker in the changing room, and checked out the pool. There is a decent sized pool, that is 1.3 meters deep the entire length of it. Too deep for my kids to touch and we didn’t bring any floaties or anything. They also have a smaller version that I think is intended to be a hot tub on one side and a cold tub on the other. Well, the ‘cold tub’ was perfect for the kids depth wise, and big enough for some actual swimming. So we sat in the hot tub (which was much cooler than American hot tubs, so you could sit in it for a LONG time) and the kids played in the cold tub. Even though it was called the ‘cold tub’ it was heated and nice. Someone online had said the pool wasn’t heated here but that is definitely not true. It was wonderfully warm! To me, if I were bringing my kids to Seoul, I would not stay at the Somerset as they only have an outdoor pool. And it’s more expensive.

We weren’t sure what we’d do for dinner since most of the restaurants were closed for the holiday. We asked the front desk if any pizza delivery places were open and they were! So we ordered a cheese pizza from Pizza House. Well, actually, the front desk ordered it for us….talk about service! It came maybe 45 minutes later and was really good. The sauce on it was sweeter than most pizza sauce, but other than that, it was just like home. The kids ate 3 pieces each! Mira was still hungry after that, so ate a mini hamburger left over from Bennigan’s. She must be due for a growth spurt.

Today the kids are hanging out at the hotel with Adam. They’ll be doing homework and then swimming again. I’m heading to Insadong for some shopping – hopefully the stores are open!

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