Children's Day vacation

What an awesome weekend! Yesterday was Children's Day, a national holiday, so we got the day off. It also happened to be my school's anniversary of foundation so I got Monday and Tuesday off, too! Friday was Steve's birthday so we had a party for him at our house. We saw Iron Man 2 on Sunday, and went to Everland amusement park on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Everland was a lot of fun! We had only planned to go one day but decided to stay another day, partly because we got there so late on Monday, but mostly because we were having such a good time.

What it is: Everland is the biggest amusement park in South Korea. The park has themed areas, very similar to Disneyland. There are roller coasters, arcade games, souvenir shops, food, animals, parades, and more.
Getting there: We took the subway to Suwon Station (line 1). From there, we took the city bus no. 66. You can also take any 66 bus (66-1, 66-2, etc). The bus ride took about an hour and 15 minutes. Update: We went to Everland and Carribean Bay again recently and discovered a direct shuttle bus right outside Suwon station that only took 45 minutes. A round-trip ticket is 8,000 won (one-way is 5,000).

Cost: One day admission costs 37,000 won. But with the coupon at the bottom of this page, foreigners can save 6,000 won.

Food: The food was similar throughout the park: chicken, hot dogs, burgers, churros, etc. There were also a few sit-down restaurants. The food wasn't crazy theme park prices, but about what you'd pay outside the park. One thing that Everland has over Disneyland is beer! They had Korean beer for 3,500 won per pint, and Hefeweizen or Schwarzbier for 7,000 at Holland Village.

Highlights: We spent most of our time at Zootopia. This part of the park had live animals such as monkeys, bears, giraffes, sea lions, and much more. The big thing they were advertising was the "Herbivore Safari" so we waited over an hour to ride in a tour bus through a maze of animals. It was pretty cool. I would try to sit on the drivers side next time, because the bears do tricks and the driver throws them food on that side.

Another cool thing was the "Mystery Mansion." We couldn't understand anything the creepy gargoyles were saying, but the awesome optical illusions surpass language barriers.

The best roller coaster was the T Express, which is the world's steepest wooden roller coaster. This is a must-do if you love a thrill. Another I tried was a coaster with two full revolutions, Rolling X Train, which was less extreme, but still fun.
"Holland Village" was also a super cool area. There was a live cover band, food, good beer, and a gorgeous garden nearby.
There are also parades with different themes throughout the year. This time of year was all about Spring, and at 8pm we saw an amazing light parade called "Magician of Spring."