Chilling, thrilling experience at water parks
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Super Boomerango at Ocean World, the water park at Vivaldi Park in Hongcheon County, Gangwon Province, is the nation’s first six-seat, 68-degree slide. / Courtesy of Ocean World
By Kim Rahn
Summer has already come, and so has the season of water parks.
Many water parks across the country have opened their outdoor pools and slides, with updated systems and facilities.
Caribbean Bay
Caribbean Bay, just next to Everland theme park in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, has opened most of its outdoor slides and attractions.
Mega Storm is the water park’s newest and most popular attraction, introduced last summer.
“Figuratively speaking, Mega Storm is a combination of a roller coaster and a pirate ship ride,” an official of Everland Resort said. “While ordinary water parks use water pressure to gain momentum in an ascending section, Mega Storm uses a magnetic field with special materials on the slide and in the tubes, raising the instantaneous speed to 50 kilometers per hour.”
Riders go down Mega Storm in a circular tube that can carry up to six people at a time, starting from the boarding deck 37 meters above the ground. They experience multiple thrills during the 355-meter, one-minute slide, and on the final section, they nosedive into an 18-meter-wide funnel-shaped structure for a gravity-free experience.
Other attractions include Tower Boomerang Go where guests riding in a tube surge toward a 19-meter hill at a 90-degree angle, as well as Tower Raft slides and Adventure Pool, where a large bucket pours out 2.4 tons of water whenever it becomes full.
“June is a good season to visit the water park because the water temperature in the outside pools is set at 28 degrees or a little more and there are fewer visitors than at peak season,” the official said.
Tickets as well as beach chairs can be reserved through the water park’s mobile app.
Guests enjoy multiple thrills including sharp drops and sudden rises on the Mega Storm, a 355-meter-long water slide at Caribbean Bay in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. / Courtesy of Caribbean Bay
Ocean World
Ocean World, the water park at Vivaldi Park Resort in Hongcheon County, Gangwon Province, has opened all of its facilities.
Topping the number of visitors among domestic water parks, Ocean World has adopted new facilities including a glamping zone where visitors can camp in luxury and go swimming.
It also expanded the “quick pass” system, with which those who have purchased admission tickets online in advance can enter the locker rooms directly without having to queue up to get their tickets issued.
The theme park operates free shuttle buses through early October to carry visitors from Seoul and nearby metropolitan areas. Those who make their reservations by 5 p.m. on the day before their visit can use the buses.
The buses operate on 20 routes including those from Ilsan, Bundang, Incheon, Gimpo, Anyang, Suwon and Uijeongbu. The schedule and location of bus stops are available on the park’s website, www.daemyungresort.com/oceanworld.
Lotte Water Park
Lotte Water Park in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, has opened all its facilities for the season.
Forty-three attractions in four zones will be available, including Water Coaster, the nation’s longest water park at 300 meters, as well as Racing Slide, a 120-meter-long slide with eight lanes, Giant Boomerango, a tube ride with its repeated sharp drops and rises, and Rapid River, a 370-meter-long tube course.