20 February 2007

How Can I Sing, "It's A Small World, After All" in Korean?

Deena and I came to the conclusion that Everland is the Korean version of Disneyland. Note that we say DisneyLAND, not DisneyWORLD. Disney World is much bigger (and better in my opinion, though I have not been to Disneyland yet since I am an East Coaster) than Disneyland. Everland is miniscule compared to Disney World, even though it is comprised of more sections than the one we went to.

Every time I think of anything related to Disney, the tune "It's A Small World, After All" and the corresponding ride from the Magic Kingdom pops into my head. I mentioned that I have an uncle that works for Disney and thus get in for free, so you can imagine that I have been on the ride at least 5 times and no more than 10. It sort of sticks - those little animatronic kids are cute, and they don't run "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" because it cost too much to maintain. Said uncle is working on getting me a ticket to Tokyo Disney; to my surprise, TD isn't actually owned by Disney in the States outright - they just licensed the name so the rule might be a bit different. No matter - if I don't get the ticket, I am still going.

Everland has its own share of cute, fuzzy characters, the most memorable being this really fat, round sheep that I got in a cell-phone charm version. I was going to keep it for myself, but figured my sister would appreciate it more - and she did, by the squeals of delight heard over Skype as I showed her via my webcam. Not like they walk around and give autographs to the little kids. According to Deena, Everland is very popular with the kids around the area - her kindergarten charges always talk about it and have season passes. With the different parks that are open different times of the year (including a waterpark) and the fact that its about $100 for a yearly pass it's not that expensive and a good way to keep the kids occupied, especially when school is out.

Which does not mean that Everland is for people under the age of 13. When Deena and I were waiting on line for this ride that not only rocks back and forth, but spins 360 degrees at the same time, there were plently of high school and college age kids around. There are rollercoasters a la Six Flags (none of which are like Kinga Ka, which I refuse to ride on, and Mel has been on twice in a row) but Deena and I were a bit wary of Korean rollercoasters. So after the first ride, we then proceeded to the one next door, an American rodeo theme ride (as we were in the "American" part of Everland, while the European part looks like a cartoon-y Switzerland) and proceeded to get extreme headaches, and my stomach lurched to somewhere in my esophagus and stayed there for the rest of the day.

So we decided to pursue tamer attractions, and went on a "safari" (which was kinda cool since the lions were like right up in front of the safari bus we were on in the enclosure) and looked at all the zoo animals. There was a parade (what theme park DOESN'T have one?) but the interesting thing was that all of the people in the parade were foriegners, and they all had blond wigs.

After the (sort of lame) parade, Deena and I went on the carousel. I like carousels - regardless of which carousel I am on and where I am, I am reminded of the $1.50 carousel in Central Park, near the 65th street entrance. Which reminds me - next time I am in NYC, I am due in for a ride on the carousel, since I did not get to ice skate at Wollman Rink (even though the last time I skated I was 5, at the Queens rink in Flushing-Meadows Park) this past Christmas.