Richard Bannister

On paper at least Seoul Land appears to fit very much into the category of only for the credit whores. This just goes to show that you should never judge a book by its cover. True, the four coasters and a powered were nothing to write home about, but we had a lot of fun exploring the rest of the park. Best of all, the Americans were pandered to by the presence of not one but two branches of Dunkin Donuts, which sold all the usuals as well as the local speciality; positively disgusting green tea donuts.

Black Hole 2000 (#1083) covers a large area around the front of the park, with the brake run neatly over the front gate. If the ride was less painful this might have worked to the parks advantage, but it probably is more fun if you've got shorter legs than I do. My abiding memory of it is the amount of effort needed to raise the restraints in the station; the overhead bars were very heavy, and it seems improbable that children would have been able to open them unaided.

The best coaster in the park was also an oddity. Crazy Mouse (#1084) looks like it might be an in-house design built with parts scavenged from other coasters, particularly Arrow/Vekoma models. Amazingly it works rather well, making up for its somewhat lacklustre design but a complete absence of jarring. Westerners should beware that you will probably not fit in the back row of the car, but the majority of the locals (an indeed the children this ride is aimed at) will not have a problem.

Columbia Double Loop Coaster (#1085) had the same rolling stock as the Black Hole 2000, and this cannot be considered as an advantage. Having said that, it did ride somewhat better than its brother as the trains are better able to take loops than corkscrews. Once was still more than enough mind. That left just the Rudolph 2 Loop Coaster (powered) and the Kiddy Coaster (#1086). The latter was a tight squeeze but everyone seemed to manage it. The layout was a figure eight, not unlike a big apple, but with a small drop before the big one and no trim brake. With a train full of adults that meant some serious forces in the final turn which are unlikely to help with the maintenance bill.

We tried a pretty limited target shooting ride, a little different only because the guns worked in the ride station complete with red laser sight. The reader should be able to interpolate what happened when a group of coaster enthusiasts entered the building! There was also a rather unique Haunted House being guided by an actor who kept leaping out at the school children in front of us and making them jump. We decided to join in in the interests of good international relations. The Shot'n'Drop ride was also a lot of fun, especially for the photos off the side. One of the car seats was occupied by a full size mannequin presumably for the hallowe'en season.

Quite a few of the group finished up the morning with rides on the Sky-X sky coaster, not least because the pricing was very competitive compared with what one might expect in Europe or the USA. It was intriguing to see absolutely no locals riding it at all; in the first two hours in the park we were not even sure it was open, but sure enough, it was. As my fourth sky coaster I knew exactly what to expect, but quite a few of the group were doing their first one, not least Emily, our long suffering tour guide. She liked it, but noted that her legs were shaking afterwards which was not normal; yes it is! I've yet to meet the person who can ride a sky coaster without shaking afterwards.

 

Marine World was a late addition to the trip, as a replacement for Dreamland which no longer has any coasters. It is a testament to the standard of organisation and adaptability of this trip that it was possible to re-plan on the fly so that everyone could get one more coaster in. Magic Space (#1087) is not exactly a destination coaster to put it mildly, it being uncomfortable enough to cause pain even before the train started moving. Nevertheless, we wouldn't have known that with absolute certainty without riding it ourselves, right?

 

Our last park in Korea was a small amusement area buried deep within a fairly large park; it was a good ten minute walk from the entrance to the amusement area. The operators insisted that we have two people in each seat on 88 Train (#1088 not deliberate, I swear) which was not very comfortable if at least possible with careful arrangement of big and small. By the end of the first inversion I was beginning to think that this ride might defy my predictions and actually be a good coaster to remember Korea by, but the two corkscrews quickly disabused me of that notion.

 

In the last five years I've travelled to numerous theme parks, sometimes with friends, sometimes with clubs (which can be thought of as larger groups of friends). I've been watching the trips put on by the good people at Theme Park Review for some time, waiting for something to catch my eye. Korea was the one, and despite its late announcement I had enough holiday time to make it happen.

This trip has been the single most enjoyable club trip I've ever done for many reasons. If I had to narrow it down to one point I like, it is the idea of mandatory meeting times where the group can decide if we leave a little earlier than originally planned. This is genius and a major improvement on situations seen on previous club trips where large numbers of members end up spending (involuntary) hours in the bar waiting for a set departure time. The idea of consensus among the group (at least where possible) without dictation from above is an important part of the concept of a club. Certain other groups might do well to remember that.

Organising trips in countries with limited English is challenging, and it's a credit to Robb and Elissa that this trip came off as well as it did. Chances are very good that I'll do another TPR trip in the future. Until then, er, flap flap flap.