Everland

For the uninitated Everland is a theme park in South Korea.

It has a certain Disney-esque feel what with their ugly mascots and seasonal themes. Naturally these affairs are best enjoyed in a stress-free environment when you can relax and stroll about the different zones at your ease.

So, basically we spent a day herding small children from point to point. I had  sore throat from the end: "Let's stay together now", "Stay with your partner." "oh god I've lost one Where is XX? Let's catch up now." "That's not a giant hornet."

Giant hornet? Where did they even hear that term? They were just bees. -_-

Anyway, after getting everyone their badges we shuffled them onto the bus where it felt like 'mom-time' as I went around making sure seatbelts were buckled, bags were placed and we hadn't lost anyone. (I spent the rest of the day doing the same and helping everyone with their cardigans as well.)

After a bus trip where (miraculously) no one threw up (not even me) we were shuffled off the bus with no clue what to do next. Seriously, that was my biggest problem and it added an awful lot of unnecessary stress. We had no itinerary and were told nothing. I could write one now of course, but that's a bit late isn't it?

 

Nevertheless, I'll summarise. First we had lunch, then we took all the children to a safari ride and a seashow. Photo ops were interspersed along with a train ride before some 'free time' where we took the *children on a few rides. (*So, no rollercoasters for Aoife.)

Lunch was an unnecessarily stressful experience, I ended up not sitting down or eating  much of my kimbap. There were bees, lots of bees so I think there must have been a nest in the vicinity, and I had to keep shooing them away from the children because y'know.

Then we took the kids to this. It was actually quite fun. (Sad too, in a way looking at those animals.) But the kids loved it, and the tiger bus we rode. XD

They had a liger, which was pretty damn cool, but he was sleeping in a rock crevasse that shielded him from us. (Clever Beast)

They also had trained some of the bears. A couple came and walked on their hindlegs next to the bus which was admittedly freaky to see.

They had other animals too, trying to remember here, beaver, chameleon, goose etc.

After that we took them all to the sea show which I must admit to enjoying. Even though it was in korean I could understand how ridiculous the 'story' was but the animals were well-trained and it was impressive to see. I have absolutely no idea why there were randomly chickens though...

The best part of that was probably the little otter though. It skittered out, rode a swing and sailed a little boat and everyone there went asdfg!!

There were official pictures, *buries face in hands*, toilet trips, rehydrating of the kidlets and much much herding. Cats would have been easier. Them  I could have packed in a box and continued on my merry way.

We took our groups on a few rides in the latter half of the day. Let me wrack my elderly memory for it now. The Peter Pan, (Good fun actually. C:) The Magic Swing (Also, quite a good one, especially for the kids), Kingdom of Cars (Just for little kids), The Royal Jubilee Carousel (Completely with terrrifying impressively sneering steeds), The Festival Train (Lots of garden to see and who doesn't like trains?) and The Global Village.

In the Global Village I sat with two of the girls and we identified all of the countries. What I cannot possibly explain is how horrifically nightmarish I found the whole thing. A part of me wanted to leap out of the boat and wade to the exit. Not too bad you say?

Oh, the things I suffer. (Note my perfect seriousness)
After we got all the feral kittens children hoarded back onto the bus we headed back whereupon I discovered that all travel medication has the same effect on me when I fell asleep and hit my head against the window....multiple times.