A Lotte World Tradition

A popular activity to do among friends in Seoul is to go to spend a day at Lotte World. My friends and I picked the perfect Spring day to go when the cherry blossoms were in their peak bloom. It is somewhat of a tradition to go to Lotte World and dress up in school uniforms that you can rent from various stores near the amusement park. We went to one that had various Gangnam High School uniforms that we rented for the entire day for 15000 won ($11) and then we headed over to Lotte World which was about a ten minute walk from the rental place. We were instantly amazed at what was in front of us. The first thing you see is the huge Disney World like castle in the middle of an island. The beautiful cherry blossoms surrounding the park and tons of people stopping to take pictures. Half of Lotte world is inside and half of it is outside on an island called Magic Island in the middle of a man made lake. We took so many pictures together and individually in awe of just how pretty our surroundings were. Everywhere we look there were couples and friend groups also wearing their high school uniforms having a fun day just like us. 

The rides were amazing, not terrifying, but still crazy enough to scream your heart out on a drop or loop. My friends and I rode as many rides as we could, and we were lucky we picked a day that was not at its busiest. My favorite ride was the Atlantis, one of the parks most famous. Being someone who is scared of roller coasters, the ride was incredibly fun. It was the first ride I raised my hands into the air and let my arms be thrown back by the intense wind on the many drops. 

In between rides, park goers can find delicious food stands on the Magic Island and go indoors for many different snacks and cuisines. My friends split off half and half to get Chinese food and the others to get Mexican food. There were so many options for us to pick we also got ice cream on the Magic Island before going back and getting on a few more rides. We ended the night riding the same three rides over and over until the park finally kicked us out. We sadly left the park to head back to the rental store to return our uniforms. 

I would recommend Lotte World to anyone visiting Seoul. It is a great way to spend a day of fun and memories. By taking Line 2 to Jamsil station, once exiting the train station Lotte World is only a few minutes away by walking. This was one of my favorite days out of all of my study abroad experience and am so happy for the memories I made there with my friends.