Lotte World! (Guys it's really Disneyland!)

What a beautiful last morning in Korea! The sun is shining through the windows, it's clear and blue and probably only freezing! Sadly this is my last morning here with Lana and Steve. In a few hours I'm off to Incheon Airport to spend the day window shopping at Burberry and my other favorite shops that I cannot afford (last night I dreamed a bought a $1,000 lady gaga handbag???)

But before I left I just had to fill you in on last night! I was surprised by Lana and Steve with the BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER! After spending a lovely day with them at work, making bday cards and eating cake with the kids (I'm getting really good at Hello Kitty and Pororo), they said "Surprise! We are going to Lotte World, Happy Birthday!"

Now let me fill you in...

For those of you who forget, Lotte brand is like THE brand of South Korea and Japan. They make hotels, apartments, chocolate, fast food, you name it. They have a theme part at their headquarters called Lotte World--besides a mall, and ice rink, and food, they have the theme park--the biggest indoor theme park in the world, actually.

There are two main characters, Lotty and Lorry, who are raccoons who look suspiciously like Minnie and Mickey. Once we were inside, suspicions were confirmed--this place is Disneyland in disguise. There are different lands (Magic Island with the castle is outside--that's fantasyland). There's a tomorrow land monorail, an adventure land with a jungle cruise, a spanish style mission house, a toon town eatery, and a central square with concerts and a laser show. Oh plus real rollercoasters.

Sounds epic, right?

It was! Omg--Steve discovered that when I go to Dland I become a child again. I was skipping, jumping--some of you know the signs. Our first ride was "Jungle Adventure" which was a water ride much like Jungle cruise but you go a bit faster in a large inner tube.

Then we went along the adventure-esque passage to the monorail and took a ride round the park. We were determined that Pharaoh's Fury looked the coolest and got in line.

This ride is INDIANA JONES! No joke! You start out in a British looking museum and professor's study. You then proceed through the Sarcougagous into a cave, where you watch a film on the Pharaoh's Curse.

Then you hop aboard adventure cars and go on the Indiana Jones Ride but Egyptian themed. It was so surreal, I can't even describe.

Then we went outside, and got pics of the Magic Castle.

We went into Fantasyland, but it was a bit scary--it was like Alice and Wonderland ride on crack. With clowns. It scared us so we went back inside and straight onto The Adventures of Sinbad. Yo ho mateys, this was Pirates of the Caribbean (but with a bigger drop!) It was so much fun.

We ended the evening with a Hot Air Balloon ride around the park. It was quite peaceful, actually.

What I really loved about Lotte World was its attention to detail. Like Disneyland, it incorporated design even into the lines you waited in. And look at the trash cans....

A hard core Disney fanatic would say they look pretty darn familiar.

I would go back to Lotte World again. In fact, 8 million people visit it a year--it's a huge attraction in South Korea and all of Asia. What a fun day to have right before I get on a long plane journey home.

I will update a few more times, post jet-lag, with more top 10 lists. My 50th post will be my last.

xoxo,
Antonia