Gyeongju World!!!

If you find yourself bored on a holiday weekend in Korea, here are some options.  1)  Do Nothing.  Stay in your apartment.  Order some fried chicken or a pizza if you are able.  Pizza Hut has English speaking operators that call you back and the pizza is of an acceptable quality at an outrageous price.  2)  Do something.  Go to the movies.  The latest Hollywood blockbuster is playing.  Also something roughly eight months old that bombed in America or went straight to DVD.  For example, this weekend sees the release of "Ted." A movie about Mark Wahlberg and a talking stuffed bear which has a metacritic score of 37.  37 is not good.  3) Go to an amusement park.  Koreans love amusement parks and so do you.  All of your students are constantly going to Everland or Lotte World or Gyeongju World or some other place that is made of hopes and dreams and sticky carnival food vomit.  Now if you're an aficionado, say you've been to a Six Flags, ever, you probably won't be impressed with Gyeongju World.  But, if you're bored and you know that you won't go to Six Flags for at least another nine months and quite possibly longer, Gyeongju World is a fun place to spend a Chuseok afternoon.  We went this Sunday and there were very few people.  This was excellent because the lines for the two rides I rode were very short.  I waited probably 10 minutes the entire time I was there and rode eight or nine times.  There is one ride you and I would call a roller coaster and then a bunch of smaller rides you would expect at a state fair.  The roller coaster lasts about a minute, but it is a fun minute with loops and flips and screaming.  The cost is 33,000 won and if I had to wait for an hour for any of these rides I would absolutely never go to Gyeongju World again.  As always 10 Pictures and some foolish comments, with a part two to come.

Gyeongju World

The entrance.  There was no line to get in and almost no lines for the rides.  You could just ride, get off and get back on.  A great way to do Gyeongju World.

Must be this Awesome...

Sara was barely tall enough.  This was our first time at an amusement park together.  Very romantic.

Horse Lord

Sara's trying to stop Wayne from being crushed, what she didn't realize was that Wayne was sacrificing himself to the horse god.

Dudes

Wayne and Mike waiting for the Phaethon, Gyeongju's major roller coaster.  I include this photo because it's handheld at 1/3 of a second, which basically means I am approaching human tripod status.

Octopus

Flying

Look at that hair flip.  Loving that Octopus ride.

In the Cage

Of course they had batting cages.  There was even a game where if you hit line drives straight ahead you scored points and won prizes.  I won no prizes.  

Play Time

Of course there are little sets and things all over the place so you can do this.

Free Fall

Wayne and Lindsay headed up the mega-drop.  This is pre-ride, though Wayne looks terrified to be two feet off the ground.

What a Cut Up

Another set piece, a giant axe which cut Sara in half.  Horrible.