The Ultimate Battle of the Roller-Coasters: Everland vs Lotte World

Korea is chock full of both amusement parks and water parks, including a cheese land and a poo poo land! But of the dozens of parks that will entice visitors to their gleaming golden gates, two stand out as the most famous: Everland vs Lotte World.

Despite the fact that your idea of a perfect day might involve exploring the digestive system, the most famous parks in Seoul actually resemble an experience more like Disney than worshiping insects, or taking selfies with life size teddy bears.

Yes, we are talking about Everland vs Lotte World. The two largest parks in the capital city of Seoul, South Korea. The two most thrilling parks, the most well known, the ones that offer the best rides, and the ones that draw the biggest crowds.

This is the Ultimate Battle of the Rollercoasters:
Everland vs Lotte World

In this post we’re going to answer the big question. Which park is better? Everland vs Lotte World. We’ll examine and compare the key aspects of each park including size, rides, height limits, price, ease of travel, adventure scale, food, crowd size and fun!

If you are looking for a much broader list of amusement parks and more, that covers the entirety of South Korea, check out our list of 101 Actually Fun Things to do with Kids in South Korea.

Full Everland Review: How to Have the Best Day Ever at Everland Korea with Kids

Full Lotte World Review: Everything You Need to Know About Lotte World Adventure with Kids

Which Theme Park is the Biggest?

Winner: Tie

Everland is the largest theme park. But, so is Lotte World.

How’s that?

• Everland:

Everland is the largest theme park in South Korea and covers a huge area. 245 acres to be precise.

A huge part of this area is forest, hills and gardens, but notwithstanding it’s bigger than both Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.

• Lotte World:

But, Lotte World is the largest indoor amusement park, even though it only covers 32 acres.

Those 32 acres are tiered wonderlands of fun covering 4 levels of indoor rides including hot air balloons running on a track along the ceiling, an ice skating rink in the middle of the excitement, and a sub level exploration journey.

Plus, it has an outside portion as well.

Which Theme Park has Better Rides?

Winner: Lotte World

• Everland:

43 total attractions

Everland doesn’t match one single demographic, but it also doesn’t cover multiple demographics either. This is not a one size fits all theme park. Everland has an extremely polarizing lineup of rides, and it’s hard to see how one single guest would enjoy all 5 themed lands.

– Zootopia and Magic Land are for the kids
– American Adventure is for the teenagers and adults
– European Adventure is a mix of the two with nothing appealing to both crowds
– Global Fair is for people that want a break

• Lotte World:

53 total attractions

While Lotte World has its fair share of teen rides, most of which are located outdoors, the entire indoor amusement park is geared towards a younger crowd.

Not to mention, with only a fraction of the space that Everland boasts, Lotte World packs more attractions than a park 7x bigger.

Which Theme Park has the Best Roller-Coaster?

Winner: Lotte World

• Everland:

The T-Express is the largest wooden rollercoaster in the world! It rises 183.8 feet in the sky, and this thriller reaches speeds of 104 kph/64 mph! It takes up a huge portion of European Adventure and is a worthwhile trek to reach it.

Riders must be 130cm tall

• Lotte World:

The French Revolution is located indoors and circles around the indoor pavilion as guests listen to the screaming fits of its passengers. It boasts rotations of not just 360° but all the way up to 540° at 70 kph/43.5 mph.

Riders must be 120cm tall

Which Park is Better for Kids?

Winner: Lotte World

• Everland:

Magic Land at Everland does not disappoint for young children. It’s packed full of attractions for kids, and has more than triple the number of rides than any single other section of the park.

However, it’s the only section of the park geared towards kids rides.

There is also a full fledged zoo at the park, which can definitely make the price of admission worth your while, but it doesn’t have rides. It’s a zoo.

The rest of the park is pretty much off limits for little ones.

Transversely, most young adults and teens would not enjoy their time spent at the zoo, nor Magic Land.

While we are on the topic: What is the Best Ride at Everland?

Our pick would be the Championship Rodeo. This ride is a conglomeration of Tilt-A-Whirl and Space Scrambler. It’s a simulation of a rodeo where you are spun and bucked and whipped around in your carriage while listening to rodeo honky tonk music.

You are left dizzy and giggling, and begging for another go round.

• Lotte World:

At Lotte World, while there are rides with height restrictions they are mostly relegated to the outdoor sections and the ones inside are intermixed so there is no feeling of constant disappointment as you make your way through the amusement park.

Kids will be able to ride on attraction after attraction with only skipping a handful as they make their way to the next one.

While we are on the topic: What is the Best Ride at Lotte World?

Our pick would go to Drunken Basket. These are traditional teacups, but instead of simply spinning you around and around while also being in a cup that spins, the platform also rises 45° into the air (at least that’s what it feels like.)

It’s a super fun and unique twist of a simple ride that makes it all the more fun!

Which is Easier to Get to: Everland vs Lotte World?

Winner: Lotte World

• Everland:

Taxi, or subway, plus bus or a direct bus.

Even if you are located within Seoul it can take two hours to make it to the entrance to the park. It’s got 245 acres, so there is no way this is going to be convenient to get to. You’ve got to go to the hills, literally.

• Lotte World:

Direct subway exit in the center of the capital city, Seoul.

Which Park Costs Less to Visit?

Winner: Tie

• Everland:

Price: Children 3-12 & 65+ ₩46,000 | Youth 12-18 ₩50,000 | 18+ ₩57,000 | Babies under 36 months Free
Foreign Visitor Discount through Voyagin
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• Lotte World:

Price: Children 3-12 ₩ 44,000 | 12+ ₩ 56,000 | Babies 36 months and younger Free
Foreign Visitor Discount through Voyagin
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Everland vs Lotte World: Who Has the Best Food?

Winner: Toss Up

• Everland:

When it comes to food at Everland vs. Lotte World, Everland definitely has the more unique choices.

At Korea’s Everland’s, most of the food is themed towards the land that you are in. Burgers in American Adventure, Alps Kuche and Pasta in European Adventure, and Oriental food in the Global Fair.

Much of the food is unique to the park, and you’ll see lots of snack, popcorn, and ice cream treat carts. What you won’t see are chain restaurants.

• Lotte World:

Remember, Lotte World is run by a businessman, not a theme park enthusiast.

Here you’ll find nearly all chain restaurants – exactly the opposite of Everland. Twosome Place, Smoothie King, Panda Express, and TGIFridays to name a few.

Does Lotte World or Everland Have More Thrill Rides?

Winner: Everland

• Everland:

Everland has 11 rides with imposing height restrictions that excluded one if not both of our 8 year olds.

But what’s more, is that our 6 month old couldn’t participate in hardly any of the kiddy rides either.

• Lotte World:

Lotte World has 9 rides with imposing height restrictions that excluded one if not both of our 8 year olds.

The difference between Everland vs Lotte World is that at least at Lotte World, the rest of the rides included our little one and we could ride as a family.

Which Theme Park is More Crowded?

Winner: Lotte World

• Everland:

Everland receives 5.85 million visitors annually, and when that many people are spread out over 245 acres that makes a big difference when it comes to crowds.

 

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Have you ever had to escape a locked pit where savage dino raptors are trying to eat you? They were under the control of Samsung scientists but something went awry with the mind controls. • Yeah, that’s what going to Everland has in store for you. It’s Korea’s largest theme park! • We came out unscathed, enjoyed some peanut butter roasted squid, a handful of rides, fed the birds, and listened to karaoke from the ride operators. • Super. Duper. Fun. Times. ** ** ** ** #diapersonaplane #diapersinkorea #korea #koreakids #squid #seoul #themepark #amusementpark #bestofkorea #koreagram #temporaryexpats #summerschool #summerinsouthkorea #globalcampus #funinkorea #koreaisawesome #ilovekorea #familytravelpodcast #familytravel #lifelessons #worldschooling #reallifedinosaurs #escaperoom #everland #everlandkorea

A post shared by Diapers on a Plane (@diapersonaplane) on May 31, 2019 at 3:13am PDT

• Lotte World:

Lotte World receives 7.3 million visitors annually, and all those people are packed into a condensed and teeny tiny space!

Everland vs Lotte World: Which Theme Park is Ultimately More Fun?

Winner: Lotte World

For our family, with a younger age demographic, when it comes to the Ultimate Battle of the Rollercoasters: Everland vs Lotte World – we enjoyed Lotte World the most.

Are you team Diapers on a Plane? Do you agree with our assessment? What is your favorite theme park in the world?

What is your favorite type of ride at an amusement park? Do you seek more of a thrill seeker roller-coaster vibe, or do you like to be spun around until you are so dizzy you can’t see straight?

Be sure to check out all the other fun things we did in Seoul! Like, visiting Everland’s companion waterpark Caribbean Bay, Eating bugs in Korea, and our favorite night market along the Han River: Bamdokkaebi!