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| Actresses dressed as fairytale characters march in a parade at Lotte World Adventure. A multimedia parade show, the first of its kind in Korea, which begins at 8:30 p.m. and runs for 30 minutes every night. / Courtesy of Lotte World Adventure |
By Lee Hyo-sik
Lotte World Adventure, a theme park in southern Seoul, has been attracting larger crowds this month because of its nighttime multimedia parade and show "Let's Dream."
Lotte has organized the special event in commemoration of its 25th anniversary, which fell on July 12.
The theme park invested 15 billion won ($14.8 million) over the past two years to create the show, which features state-of-the-art multimedia and special effects. Over 250 actors, actresses and other staff from all over the world are involved in each show.
Mermaids, Aladdin, Monsters and other famous cartoon or fairy tale characters appear in the parade, riding diversely shaped cars illuminated with ultraviolet lights.]
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| An aerial view of the night multimedia parade show "Let's Dream" at Lotte World Adventure in southern Seoul |
The show reaches a highpoint when 25 large flying lanterns are deployed into the sky. A wide range of holograms, a three-dimensional photographic image created by laser beams, are added to create a fantasy world.
Lotte selects eight children each night to ride in parade cars dressed in costumes of famous fairy characters such as mermaids and Sinbad.
Taylor Jeffs, the creative director of Let's Dream, said Lotte World Adventure is the world's first theme park to combine a multimedia show with a parade.
"What is more unique about Let's Dream is that flying lanterns are introduced indoors, which requires a great deal of expertise. The show has been very successful since it was launched on July 1 and it will be even more so in the coming months," he said.
Ho Sun-hye, spokeswoman for Lotte World Adventure, said the night multimedia parade has been drawing large numbers of family visitors.
"Children love our parade because the 30-minute show takes them into a fantasy world they have never been before," Ho said. "On top of Korean visitors, we are attracting a greater number of Chinese and other non-Korean tourists. The parade has been helping us raise our profile as Korea's leading entertainment center."
