Richard Bannister

During my last visit to Everland we were invited to photograph the first wooden coaster in Korea, which at that stage was under preliminary construction. A few months later the ride we'd all admired opened to the public to universal acclaim. T Express (#1255) is a prefabricated design from Intamin with a distinctly suspect name given to it by a local mobile phone company. Having said that, the connection (no pun intended) in its name is no worse than that seen elsewhere, and at the end of the day the name of a ride has no bearing whatsoever on its quality.

We had very high expectations for the new ride, and I'm pleased to say that it didn't disappoint. As the fourth model in its family it builds on the success of the previous one, and the end result is superb. It is blessed with some explosive airtime moments, strong enough to leave lap bar shaped imprints in the thighs of all its passengers, especially those seated towards the front of the train. For all its merits, though, I've got great difficulty counting it in my top five wood coasters, purely because it lacks the shake, rattle, and roll that a traditional style ride generates. As such, I still much prefer the Voyage.

Just one of three possible trains was in use today, and the resultant queue coupled with our desire to repeat the new coaster more than once left us with insufficient time to ride anything else. Having said that, Everland is a truly excellent park, which I'll definitely return to again.

This park was known as Doocoland at the time this trip report was written. Original names have been left in place in this report.

Doocoland is the name given to the amusement section of the Korean Folk Village complex, a fascinating insight into life in South Korea from days gone by. An enthusiast might plan a visit just to ride the Viper (#1256), but anyone with a passing interest in history will find themselves staying on to explore well over two hundred traditional houses from the late Joseon Dynasty as well as numerous other buildings from the period. The only proviso for foreigners is that some of the doors are quite low; as the wonderful Engrish sign says, head carefulness!