2022 update.
Despite this park having had a long journey to completion (hard to believe the original opening date was 2015!) LEGOLAND Korea is only a few weeks away from the grand opening. Technically it is already open, in a soft opening period with tickets only available to friends, family and annual pass holders.
As some of you know I've been involved with the park for the past couple of years. I've been to the site twice now, once late last year to oversee Miniland's installation and again last month to help with the handover. Although I never found time to do a full trip report I was there for the soft opening and wanted to summarise my thoughts on the park:
Picture taken at the end of the first operating day from the Lookout Observation Tower. On the right is the Hotel with Brickstreet (the parks entrance) and the Factory Tour ride (regrettably I didn't get to see it) located underneath. Bricktopia (newer version of the Imagination Centre) is on the right. Miniland is in the centre with LEGO City Behind it. Pirate Shores in the top left corner and Ninjago World below it. The Castle is out of shot at the back of the park.
The location of the park is stunning. I got the chance to ride up in the parks observation tower a number of times and it's by far the best observation tower I've ridden. The horizon is beautiful from all angles. Korea is covered in mountains and the area of Chuncheon (the city in the background) is one of the few flat areas around. as such there was a lot to see with no boring spots.
Getting to the park is also an experience. The bridge to the island is held up in the middle by a massive portal structure. Driving through it really feels like you are leaving the city and entering another world. Especially at night when at certain times in the evening the bridge is lit in multiple different colours.
At this time the park is the only property on the island, but the local council (who have a master plan for the whole site) have proposed multiple other developments including hotels, shopping and dinning area's much like the Disney Village or Universal's City Walk. There's already a high speed rail connection just on the other side of the bridge. It'll be interesting to see what gets built over the next 10 years now that the anchor attraction is open.
Regarding the park itself, the LEGO parks have a reputation for being cookie-cutter style parks that have almost the same layout and ride line-up no matter which you visits. In many ways this is definitely true. Rides like Ninjago, The Dragon, Driving School, Boating School ect. are almost copy paste versions that exist at other parks. But I don't think there's any issue with that. A child growing up in Korea is unlikely to be traveling outside of their country for a Theme Park trip. So having a relatively nearby park in Japan (or soon to be China) with the same rides doesn't actually make any difference to them. What's important is that the parks reflect what that local audience expects to see, which is why Miniland, the heart of the park, is always a unique experience.
I'm too closely attached to give a fair review of Miniland. But the feedback from others seemed really positivise and I think it mainly comes down to South Korea translating so well to the Miniland format. Immediately visible when entering the park is Seoul, Korea's most famous city. Full of tall and distinct buildings that are very colourful at night. To the left is Busan, representing the industrial aspects of the country. in the centre is Gangwon. This is the region the park is located in, fittingly putting the local area of the park at the very centre of the park. This area is a blend of city and the mountains that dominate most of the country. A Temple area represents some of the more rural parts of the country and includes some very traditional eastern buildings (which translate really well to LEGO). The finale area, Jeju, is a volcanic island in the south of Korea that both fits in and is very distinct with a more tropical feel.
I wish I had pictures to share of Miniland but on arriving home I discovered I'd barely taken any (that weren't of a half finished state), besides this close-up of the previous shot:
Although I previously said the rides are very similar across the LEGOLAND parks there was one thing I found very interesting if your only experience of a LEGOLAND park is Windsor. Seeing a new park that all fits into a masterplan highlights many of the changes that have taken place since the Windsor park was built. There's a stronger identity here that when you enter LEGO City, Pirates Shore, Ninjago and the Castle you have been shrunk down to fit within a LEGO set. walking through these area's there is a very chunky feel to the buildings and life-size minifigures are far more common.
Take The Dragon coaster as an example. In many ways (track and train aside) it's almost identical to the Windsor version. You enter the castle through a drawbridge, follow the same queue layout up into the battlements and through the towers. The LEGO set style makes everything feel bigger, while actually being smaller. The towers aren't large enough to fit more than a few people inside, which means it clearly isn't a like for like copy. But it still feels like the same space.
This similar but different feel continues to the ride itself which has replaced the human proportioned characters with LEGO built Minifigures. Yet scene for scene it plays out the same. Up until the Dragon scene when the ride makes use of the newer, more dynamic train design to drop under the dragon model and enter at speed into the lift hill. A nice addition, although I know it's not the first version of this ride to do it, just the first I'd ridden.
I'm not sure if either style is better. Personally I'm an old school fan of Windsor's emphasis on impressive LEGO models placed in settings that are based on the sets. A style that is still used in areas here like Brickstreet and Bricktopia (the creative areas of the park) and the Mythica area recently opened in Windsor. But it was refreshing to see a park that had a consistency of all these area's being produced at the same time.
Anyway I hope you enjoy this update and a few of my thoughts on the newest LEGOLAND Park. I recommend checking out some of the videos starting to be uploaded now and in the coming weeks.
