It's Tongdo Fantastic!

Last weekend, in an act of totally unanticipated generosity, our boss, Mrs. An, took us to a nearby amusement park about an hour outside of Ulsan. Given that we document just about anything outside of our normal routine on this site, here's a quick overview and review of our day at Tongdo Fantasia.

Hmmm....remind you of somewhere? As you can tell from the above photo, Korean amusement parks definitely have a western feel. I think I would have preferred a make-believe Korean temple, but I suppose a fairytale castle will have to do.


And what amusement park would be complete without their very own costumed characters roaming about? These ones are definitely the cutest ones we've ever come across - if it's one thing the Koreans do well, it's cute.


For those of you who know Shayne well, it'll come as no shock that the above ride was one of our first stops. This is the biggest coaster the park had to offer (out of 2, if you don't count the kiddy-coasters), and it was surprisingly good. It had 5 corkscrew rotations, 2 loop d' loops, and a drop through a narrow cave opening that had even Shayne ducking his head. Now if it can scare Shayne, you know it's a good ride.

We considered taking this "coaster" for a spin, but decided to save our workouts for the gym. I mean, who's ever heard of a coaster you have to peddle yourself?

Shayne and Mrs. An on one of the tamer thrill rides.

After all the excitement, we decided to kick it down a notch and indulge Shayne in a long-time dream...to paddle a duck boat. As you can imagine, Shayne's fairly easy to please.

Us covering up our anxiety with smiles, and hoping the 9 year old girl in the other boat doesn't drop our new camera into the lake.

Mrs. An had enough excitement after one trip around the lake, so she jumped out to take a picture and let Shayne paddle to his heart's content.

Next we checked out the local house of horrors - always good for a laugh if not for a scream. This one did not disappoint.

Spooky.

After all that we were getting pretty tired and decided to call it a day. Well, to be honest I was getting tired - Shayne was hankering for another few laps in the duck boats, but I wasn't having any of it. I run a tight ship.


On the way out we did get to enjoy one more (and totally random) diversion: a Michael Jackson impersonator. Poor guy - he seems more into his performance than his onlookers. I guess the Koreans don't appreciate 80's throwbacks as much one would have thought...or not thought...does anyone think about these things?

Anyways, overall I'd have to give Tongdo Fantasia a 7 out of 10, as far as Korean theme parks go - mainly because it had a decent rollercoaster. So, if you ever find yourself in Yansang with nothing to do, check it out. ;-)

Until next time,
Jo