A Day at Ocean World

Last weekend, a bunch of us from my school decided to go to Ocean World, a semi-big waterpark in central Korea. We did this despite the temperatures being in the mid to low 60s. The park is about a 3 hour drive from Bucheon so that meant we had to leave very early in the morning. We were supposed to leave by 6:30, but a late straggler kept us delayed until 7. The drive there was pretty unadventurous. We were pretty crammed in the small car we took.

(up bright and early)

As we approached the park, though, the excitement started building inside me. I hadn't been to a waterpark since I was in middle school so I was pretty siked about going. When we went inside, we were greeted by a couple of double-hand wavers that inspected our bags. We were given bracelets to wear all day. One bracelet acted as a key to our complimentary lockers and shoe boxes; the other acted as a payment system for the rest of the day. At the front desk, you give them a certain amount of money, and they then scan your bracelet. This bracelet acts as your debit card for the rest of the day. This is really convenient in that you don't have to leave your wallet laying around, but it's inconvenient in you have to walk all the way to the front desk in order to add more money.

(Ocean World!)

(our greeters; their hands were happy, not so much their faces)

(going to a waterpark with a jacket on...that's totally me)

The only way to the waterpark is through a maze of hallways and stairs that led you to the locker room and sauna (separate for guys and gals, of course). Back in America, people take all of there stuff with them inside and camp out at some lounge chairs by the wave pool. Not so here. You really leave most of everything in the locker because there is no lounging in a Korean waterpark. Unfortunately, I didn't have this in mind when I was at my locker so I was stuck carrying my heavy backpack all day.

Once we finally made it through the locker room maze, we finally emptied out into the indoor portion of the waterpark. The area had a small wave pool, a couple of slides, a kids play area, a lazy river, some jet pools, and some sauna pools. I was so excited that I ran to the first slide I saw and rode it about three times. After I was done with my reversal to childhood, we headed outside to a waterfall sauna; it felt so good with the cold morning air surrounding us. After some relaxation, we went uber-extreme. We rode a family slide ride (ECC fighting!), a huge drop off slide, and some others.

(ECC family! well, three of many)

Korean waterparks are unique in their requirements. Everyone has to wear a swimming cap (that's true at pools, too); at waterparks, you can just wear a baseball cap. I didn't want to ruin my only cap so I decided to wear the swimming cap that I bought last year in Korea and used only once. I think I was the only adult to wear one. Everyone also has to wear a life jacket. Not only do they require it, but you also have to pay a renting fee to use one (at least at Ocean World). Luckily, one of the managers went ahead and bought life jackets for all of us.

One of the coolest parts of the park was the extreme river (no laziness here). You get in an inter tube, and it appears that you are just going on a traditional lazy river, but as soon as you hit it, the waves come roaring after you. You are tossed and turned all over the place. You are smashing into walls and people; we had to hold on to one another so we wouldn't get separated so we had as a huge wrecking ball for the other people in the river. Waves come at both directions so there is like an explosion of people and water when caught in the middle of them.

(waiting for the waves to start)

The wave pool was also really cool; I had never seen such huge waves in my life (even at the beach). Once the waves hit you, there is no stopping yourself;no matter how hard you swim, you are thrown all the way to the back of the pool.

(in one of the sauna pools)

(Burger King lunch)

After our adventures and a great lunch at Burger King (again paid for us), we decided to take it easy and take a dip in the many hot saunas around the park. It felt so nice to feel some warmth after freezing our butts off all day. One of the saunas was a huge pool full of citrus tea (tea good for your body?). We were so relaxed by all the sauna pools so we decided that we didn't have enough energy for anything else. The kid inside of me was really disappointed, though. After we changed, made it back through the locker room maze, and cashed in our bracelets, we headed back to Bucheon.

For some reason or another, our Korea drivers decided we should go back a different route through Seoul. Unfortunately, every street we encountered in the city was packed with weekend traffic; there weren't really any roads, more like parking lots. Our three hour journey turned into a 5-hour endurance test; it was miserable, but we made it through and got to see some sights around Seoul. Our water-filled day of fun had finally come to an end.

(our view on the way home)

(kids having some fun)

(the parking lot in Seoul)

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