Gyeongju World — Attraction in Gyeongju-si

A hidden gem 30min by bus from Gyeongju station. This park is unknown even to Korean people and is far less busy than rival Everland and LotteWorld. Yet it proposes some of the greatest coasters in South Korea : Phaeton and Draken. It also has a great totem and some nice water ride. The tickets are cheap and the queues are fast even on busy augudt days (30-40min in the most popular rides).

Now for the negative aspects: almost nothing is translated in English. In fact, you might be the only foreigners visiting. In summer, some of the water ride like submarine splash are only available from inside California bay park, which is frustrating. Although it is funny to watch people in a water ride with life jackets. Pretty much like everland and lotteworld, the ride management is a disaster. It is a blessing that this park does not attract big crowds, because with a departure only every 6 minutes or so, both Draken and Phaeton can only process around 180 people per hour. It is a shame, since if the managers used the others trains and took advantages of the stopping stations, or just checked passengers faster, both of these modern coasters can handle 600 people per hour easily. The other rides also suffer from the same slowness issues.

Luckily so far Gyeongjuworld is not crowded, and the rides are absolutely delightful and smooth. If you are looking for sensations rides in Korea, forget LotteWorld and Everland, Gyeongjuworld is the place. If you go off season, the slowness most likely won't be a problem.

Finally, if you are into water parks and don't mind wearing a life jacket in a swimming pool, you can also enjoy neighbor California...

Smaller and more manageable than Everland, better-maintained than Lotte World. I would've liked an English guide map, but it's not hard to find one's way around. Lots of food options, from dongkass/tonkatsu to takoyaki and chicken/ddok skewers. Excellent ice cream, a nice artisan donut shop. Large picnic area with plenty of shade, tables, AND grass spots to put down a blanket. Seats arranged around rides to give not only parents but waiting riders rest.

Some areas of the park are loud (well, duh, it's a theme park with roller coasters and thousands of visitors) but there are quiet corners, much appreciated by neurodivergent me and my kid. Staff are friendly and efficient. I didn't see much myself in the way of parades or shows, but there is a large bandstand with daily performances and we did see a magician/juggler doing his schtick in one of the central plazas, allowing people in a long ride line to have something to watch! A plethora of statue/picture characters scattered throughout the park, no costumed characters to interact with. Landscaping is lush, lots of shade trees thoughtfully placed.

We visited on a busy, sunny, Saturday in May, so wait times for rides were averaging an hour or more. It may very well be less busy on an average Tuesday - will report back next time. We didn't see either Draken Valley or the water area while we were there, but will also review them next time.

We had a ten thousand won 'group rate' entry fee: regular adult admission is 30. If I understood the cashier correctly, a year pass is only 180 thousand, so if you live close enough to Gyeongju, that sounds like a good deal for a lot of...

I went on a misty Saturday in Sept 2018 where the forecast was for rain. The water park was closed and I spent about 7 hours in the theme park (1 pm to 8 pm).

Overall this park is small but has some mighty thrill rides. There are 2 big roller coasters (Draken and Phaethon) and maybe 5 exciting flat rides. I really enjoyed Krave (I think?) which was a fully inverting pendulum spinning ride. I also enjoyed their Disco Pang Pang even though I couldn't understand the announcer. There are some kiddie rides as well, and could see small kids enjoying this park.

Lines were pretty ok on the day I went. Both roller coasters had lines of 40-50 minutes, and the popular flat rides (Krave, Tornado) had 30-40 minute waits. Keep in mind I went in the off-season on a particularly gloomy day.

I had one meal from a hot dog restaurant which was priced pretty well. I got 2 foot long 'loaded' hot dogs with 2 soft drinks for 12500 won.

Ride admission on my day was 29000 won. The signs said ride admission should have been 42000 won, so I may have gotten a discount for going in the off season. Not sure what happened there.

The park is easily accessed by public busses from downtown Gyeongju, and is only a 20 minute ride.

Overall I had...