Kidzania Seoul — Attraction in Seoul

Read the bad reviews (my mistake - I didn’t). They all say the same thing and I’m here to confirm. Great concept, horrendous organization. I spent a lot of money and time for my kids to get super excited and then super disappointed. It was confusing, and I felt like not enough information was offered upfront. The experience was stressful (for me and my kids). It took me half an hour to even understand how things work. Each activity has limited spaces; you have to register for them but it will be 30min-2hours (or more) wait. However, you cannot register for any other activity while you are waiting. Your kid can do least-wait-time activities first, but run the risk that there will be no spot left in the one they really want to do (a concept hard for young kids to understand). My son was so disappointed because the first 4 things he wanted to do were all closed (as other bad reviews say, there were a lot of closed activities). Finally we found one open that he wanted to do (Firefighter), but it had a two hour wait. Instead, I encouraged him to join a different activity, but the soonest one we found was a one-hour wait. Even though he wasn’t very interested in that activity, he agreed. When it came time for the activity (paleontology) he became a bit nervous (he is 3) and wouldn’t enter. He wanted to join his sister’s activity instead (which was also her first activity after waiting one hour) but of course he couldn’t because it was too late to register. The staff told him that since he didn’t enter paleontology, and didn’t cancel before it started, he can’t join any other activities. It was so stressful and confusing. It was all too much for him; he burst into tears and his day was ruined. In the end, I complained to staff and they tried to resolve it, but by then my son just wanted to go home. The staff told me that they succeeded in registering my daughter (7) for 2 additional activities. However after waiting to join one of them, when it was time to enter, she was told that she was actually not registered and it was too late to join any other activity, resulting in her disappointment as well. When we left, my son had experienced no activities and my daughter did 2. Everyone was stressed and disappointed/unhappy. So I paid to ruin my kids’ day? 😩 In the end I have to give one star because even though it was a negative experience, and I wished we had never gone there (we wasted a whole day out of our 1 week trip to Korea), the staff did try to help me and my money was refunded. So I lost our time, and brought stress and disappointment to my kids (obviously the opposite of my goal), but at least I didn’t lose money since they refunded the...

For the uninitiated, Kidzania is basically a mock, miniature version of society masquerading as a children's activity centre. There's really no analogue that I know of for the North American (although I believe there is one in Mexico).

The pictures only paint half the picture; basically it's an indoor mall except all the stores are learning/activity centres sponsored by the actual corporations that display the logo on the storefront. For 10-15 minutes, kids get to pretend that they are actually working at the Chilsung Cider bottling plant, or learning about how the banking system works and Shin Han Bank, or putting out a fake fire in a two story building.

What's more, kids are paid the local currency (Kidzos) OR are charged Kidzos depending on what they do. Most "jobs" pay Kidzos; however, with some of the activities the kids actually walk away with real merchandise (i.e. Oddugi cup ramen) and those cost Kidzos. Like real life, you have to pay 15 Kidzos to get your drivers license, and then another 15 Kidzos to drive a pintsized Mercedes Benz around the track.

You can't buy Kidzos, the kids have to work for them. Fire fighter, hair dresser, food safety inspector, flight attendant (there's a front clip of an actual Korean Air airplane that the kids go into), Special Forces, Benz automotive designer, you name it.

Koreans take their kids futures seriously, and Kidzania is no joke. The concept is well thought out and executed and it takes at least two trips to pack everything in when it's slow. I don't know how you could even get through a quarter of it when it's busy.

PRO TIP: Make sure you cash in the "cheque" that you receive when you get your boarding pass (i.e. when you pay your admission). That cheque is worth 50 Kidzos. Even repeat visitors and locals didn't know what the cheque was for and our poor kids were slaving away at the Lotte Mart trying to save up for the ramen. I guess it symbolizes the ideal that we have some kind of support or wealthy uncle that can back us up.

HIGHLY...

Fun, interesting, and very hands-on! There are many activities; but among them, there are ones that are very popular. And, those have an extremely long wait. For instance, we had to wait for an hour and a half at the fire station. Yeah, you heard me right! It was very tiring for young kids.

The schedule doesn't make sense and is spaced out. So, no matter how well we planned and quickly moved, there was no guarantee that our kids were able to participate at the activity centers. This is because there is a limit on the number of kids allowed; and it's on a first come, first served basis. I would say the limit is anywhere from 5 to 8 kids. Most activities take about 25 minutes or so, and some don't allow the children to go in right after the previous group. There is a wait of 30 minutes, such as the fire station. I'm not sure why, but it seems like this type of schedule makes it impossible for children to participate in many activities. Nonetheless, they love being here, experiencing novel jobs or even dream jobs.

I would recommend coming here in the morning on weekdays to avoid a large crowd. The tickets are not cheap, but you can get a discount if you sign up for a membership at their website. And, with your admission ticket, you get a 3-hour free parking. However, if your stay exceeds 3 hours, then it's worth purchasing a...