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2021-22 Korean Parks - Fastpass-ish Lotte World in a very busy day

Y. Kim

Mega Poster
- Chapter 0, Before the report -
This year, I'm having a hard time with my academics, and due to COVID I was not able to visit any theme park/ amusement parks for 1.5 years. For me, riding roller coasters and having a good time at theme parks is a great refresh.
So I planned several trips to my local parks. Of course the park with 2 familiar B&Ms, Gyeongju World and new for 2021, Lotte World Busan. There will be some more small park reports like E World or Skyline Luge park. If possible, I'd like to go to Everland (a park with T-Express) and Lotte World Seoul.

2021
July 10th :Gyeongju World
July 11th :Skyline Luge Busan
September 20th
October 17th
November 17th
December 2nd
Gyeongju World (I'm going monthly - Home Park)

December 3rd: E World (Daegu)
January 30th: Lotte World Seoul
Someday in 2022: Lotte World Busan
 
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Chapter 1 - July 10th Gyeongju World Amusement

I was very excited to go to my home park as I didn't visit for 1.5 years.
So, I wasn't able to sleep until 3, and woke up at 6:30 AM


Just a train to Gyeongju City

Long Time No See!!
Though I passed there a lot, I could not go to the park... So frustrated
But this time so happy to go there with my friend

Normal wristband price for student is about KRW 39000, but SNS like of that park made the price 25000 KRW. Cheap Visit!

Entering the park... ran to Draken but find it spiting, just posting that it will open after 10:30. Oh no. Even no train was testing at 10 AM

So...Just an air race. Good start for today! (walk-on)

After the ride, this monster started testing trains. Soon to open
But... Zamperla 360 frisbee was testing at 10:10

Umm. Let's just go to another B&M, an old school invert - Phaethon
Nerd Shot 1
But find it testing... Don't know when it opens, so just 1 more flat
Another Zamperla frisbee called Tornado. Too much airtime due to loose restraints - An intense start

Opened in 10:20 so time to grab some rides
nerd shot 2
Ride #1 on Phaethon (5min wait)- Back Seat (row 8) - Why is it became rougher??? Found several rough spots and a few headbanging. Doesn't feel like a B&M. Feels like smoother Vekoma... A bit disappointed - but to see good points, the back seat led great airtime on Zero-G roll and great whip on corkscrews! Whippy and fast-paced invert but headbanging... No....



As time elapsed time for giant B & M
1 train ops...no..... 2nd train was in storage for all day....

iconic ring
nerd shot #3
Grabbed ride #1,#2,#3 at row 1,2,3 each.
Row 1: Great hanging on holding brake, Great view, more wind, less airtime
Row 2: Okay hanging on holding brake, mediocre view mediocre airtime
Row 3 : Great and fresh weightlessness, less holding but faster and much forceful drop.
Lots of G's slapped on the bottom of the drop which was forceful.

Just a Zamperla 360 frisbee. At the top, it feels meh as the ride stalls there for a few seconds.

Enough ride - Phaethon again - re-ride #3
This time I got row 1 - NICE!
Feels like dropping or crashing into grassland below+ much forceful in many elements. Plus a great and clear view. As it does not stop for 1km, it feels quite endless but it is not boring. Drop- Loop- Zero-g roll - cobra roll - banked airtime hill - overbanked turn - corkscrew - banked airtime - corkscrew - banked airtime - helix - Final brake run. Non-stopping thrill! so fun!

- breather- pirate ship - which rather caused a nausea.
Why not !! Draken again! (20 min wait on all 3 rides)
Another 3 rides! Front - Middle - Back
This 63m was very refreshing and forceful - A happy experience.
Next we grabbed a quick meal, and got to ride 1 more ride on Phaethon - ride #3,
(15min wait)
This time row 4 in the middle. Smoother and less headbanging than back. I WANT FRONT SEAT

Next we rode drop tower and tagada, just a breather. I added 1 more ride on Klake.

Next for Draken. 15min wait. For better force, I rode row 3.
Happy to ride 2 B&Ms in a park 30miles away from my home.

But.... After a ride, the queue has grown to 40min. So, time to have last ride on Phaethon.
Almost no queue compared to visit on 2019.10
As it has a station system that doesn't allow for waiting for the next train at the station, I calculated people ahead and led a group to go front.
After a LROT on phaethon front seat, me and my friend became tired. So we decided to go home,
I don't like that Golden Horse water ride. I'd rather choose Phaethon.
Phaethon+ GH water ride+ Draken
See you next time Gyeongju World...

Total ride count
Dragon race 1
Draken 7
Tornado 1
Klake 2
Mega Drop 1
King Viking 1
Tagada 1
Phaethon 4
= 18 !!! Staying at the park for 6.5 hrs, I grabbed 1 ride per 20-25 min. So productive day.
My health app said that I walked 10km on the day.
For me it was the best day ever at my home park.
Lower crowd due to COVID variant though it was weekend. Faster operation for Draken (1:40->1:15~1:00 after gate opening) But social distancing rules led less people per ride (Draken led 18~20 in for a ride instead of 24, but later on the day it led 24 in.)
Refreshing day, with most of my stress gone!!
 
Chapter 2 - July 11th Skyline Luge Busan

This weekend I wanted to just take a rest. So one more activity. Newly opened Skyline Luge ride in Busan.
As I had a great experience at Sentosa, Singapore with Universal Studios Singapore and Skyline Luge, I went again in Busan.
With the location next to Lotte World Busan under construction, I was able to see it from a different view.
Park is almost complete - I'll post it on a separate post.

A 10 min train ride from my house! Happy to find that many facilities are built near my house.
A luge that has a Lotte World Castle background. So pretty.
Grabbed a 3 luge + 3 Skyride for KRW 26,000. A bit expensive. I wish I reserved 4 luges instead for KRW 30000.
Luge Station

As 1st rider required safety procedure, it took 15 min wait.
There are total 4 trails, 2 of which are open. The right one is faster as it has more straight sections than the left one.

So pretty. 2nd ride took 20 min wait due to a lot people on upper station.


Last Ride of the day - Walk on!
What's that light on the castle??

Very dark while riding ride #3. So fun to navigate the track with pretty lights and fresh air at night.
Day ended, unfortunately... I wanted more rides but my fault to buy only 3 rides. I'd definitely visit again later!

Review: Very fun to ride Luge and go down the track with simple control. While I ride, I checked the speed, and it was about 30km/h max. Still slower than a coaster, it's very fun.
If you would like to visit Lotte World Busan, I recommend this Luge facility next to the Lotte World. Very fun!!

But, a bit overpriced than Singapore Sentosa one.
Umm.. Just to say this made my day happy!
This weekend with Gyeongju World and this thing, I was very refreshed and even happy!

Next up, water park TR or Lotte World Busan!

Likes and replies for these 2 posts will help me a lot! Thanks for watching my TR
 
Part 3: A Short but Sweet Visit to my home park

My normal plan was buying Lotte World Busan Season Pass, but the park is having issues so it is delayed to next year.

So, it is Chuseok Holiday in Korea, I planned a short visit to my home park to enjoy some B&Ms and to see Gerstlauer Family Shuttle update.

This time, I just wanted a refresh, so I'd got After 3 Discount, which is worth KRW 30,000.

Taking 30 min train and 20 min bus, I arrived at 2:40 PM. Too much queue for ticket office, and low staffing made me stuck there for 20 minutes. MEH.
Crowded day due to Korean Chuseok Holiday, but not as crowded as before COVID holidays.

My first choice was Draken.
Wait time was advertised 1 hour, but due to COVID, this park uses 1/3 switchbacks than normal days. So I waited only 25 min to the station. Besides, ops were great. They were doing 2 train ops, dispatched 1 train per 2:30, so they unboarded and boarded guests in 1:40 at the station. Great work Gyeongju World.
This time I skipped 2 trains as I was just single rider. When the operator called for 2 seats needs to be filled, I directly grabbed the chance, and skipped 2 trains (5 min) Middle Seat, but LOOSE RESTRAINT! The ride op was not able to staple me, SO MUCH AIRTIME though I was riding in ROW 2. Maybe the most aggressive airtime I've got. So fun!

Re-riding Draken. This time longer line :( Waited 45 min and got a row 3 edge seat ride.
To say, the airtime made me scream a bit. So refreshing though I waited long line.
Let me say that this thing has much steeper 2nd drop than Griffon, the original one. Lots of airtime I got in row 3. I was happy.

Valkyrie was testing whole day.

Look at that line for Klake. Approx 90 min. And new Valkyrie.

After this, the time was 4:25 PM. I needed to go home at 5:30

Draken had longer queue than last 2 rides, maybe about 60 minutes.
So what about Phaethon?
The sign said it was 60 min wait, but ended out with only 30 min wait. Tho it has 1 train only, but the ops were super fast. When train arrives, they dispatched only in 1:30. WOW. Hitting theoritical capacity.
I wanted front, so I let several groups behind me go, and I took the next train.

So it was great. Running really fast this time. Foot Chopper is great and totally fast paced, exciting ride.
It was 5:15 PM, so I filmed some off-ride and went back home.

Today
ENTRY : 15:02 EXIT 17:25

Ride Count
Phaethon × 1
Draken × 2
=3 coaster rides total.

I wanted a refresh with coasters, so I was not interested in any flat rides: Klake (360 frisbee) had very long line overflowed in the street (approx 120+ min) and King Viking(nausea maker) had an overflown line. Both ride has low capacity, so I skipped. Besides, coasters were operated very well, so I choosed B&Ms.

Busy park :( Great Operations :)
A short but sweet visit.
 
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A brief 3hr After-Vaccination Day Off

Yesterday I got Pfizer vaccine, and my body became fine, so I went for half-day visit.

1st ride. Valkyrie.
New for 2021.10
Got row 9 after a 40m wait. (Many school are in school trip, so more crowd than weekend...)

Row 9 was great. For the drop it has decent amount of airtime, and it's pretty whippy. For the backward run, it's even whippier. So much forceful lateral and airtime from this small family coaster. but the capacity is HORRIBLE. (5min/dispatch) 7.5/10.

Next Draken row 3 after 1hr wait
Just a fresh air, though failed to get loose restraint. 2nd drop is even whippier than 1st one.

Last Phaethon
huge line ough. waited 55 min and got a single seat left on row 1. IDK there's less head banging than last time.

Got 3 big coasters (+1 new cred) in 3 hrs. Too much crowd due to many schools are in school trip, and shabby operations (phaethon 6min/dispatch, draken 3min/train) so it was a bit disappointing. Still a fresh vaccine dayoff due to great coasters.
 
After the test, it's a coaster time!

Dec. 2nd Gyeongju World After School


I was in test for 4 days. So, I was in a big amount of stress. So what to do? Why not go to the park? So I booked a ticket with Naver Pay with KRW 26900.

After the test, school ended 12. So directly go to Busan station, and took KTX train. Took 27 min. first class, KRW 14500.



SRT First Class. So comfy.

Arrived at Gyeongju, and took 2 buses. (50min)

Entered the park at 14:20, and Draken was closed for cold weather until 2 PM. So, it was just opened. but 1 train ops :(
Different from last time, the student groups are all quitting the park. So, I do not need to expect 60+ min wait! Yeah!


As a local coaster enthusiast, I had total 3 rides on Draken. 2X row 3 left wing seat (my favorite seat) and 1 ride on row 1 left wing seat. It was running a bit slow due to cold, but the ops were quite fast.
1st ride - 45min wait. That queue house was all filled.

2nd ride - 35min wait. Queue was shortened.

3rd ride - 15min wait. No one was in queue house.

I wanted to try 4th ride, but I was bored by simple layout it was. So I moved to ride Valkyrie and Phaethon, and something happens.

I went to Valkyrie, and there was only 1 cycle wait. I grabbed last remaining row 9 seat. Great airtime on hills, and backward was always feels strange and fun.

But after I ended riding, the ride op closed the entrance... I asked her why, and got the answer "If the weather is too cold, the hydraulics pressure becomes too low, and there's a risk of valleying." So, I had a hope that if Phaethon can operate, and ran there.


Literary no one was there. I thought the ride was closed, and the theme made me a bit scared.

There was NO line, surprisingly. When I queued up, the announcement+BGM said "Unbuckle your seat belt, and push up your lap bar. Have a good time in rest of your day in Gyeongju World." Which means, the train has just arrived. The ride op said "This is LAST TRAIN of today." I asked why, and he said the weather is too cold to operate. Though park closes at 6, ALL coaster close at 5. So, lucky last train of the day ride on Phaethon. Row 7 ride.

After the last train, the ops lock the lap bar, and send train to storage area.
So, no coasters after 5PM. MEH but safety is no.1 priority.
Rode Zamperla 360 frisbee's last seat, and quit the park.

Ride count - Spent 2hr 50m.
Draken X3
Valkyrie X1
Phaethon X1
Klake X1

I had only 5 ride on last weekday visit, but this day was much better experience. Faster operation, less crowd. Though I cannot ride coaster after 5, it was still fun.
Next up, E World School Trip, in Daegu.
 
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Dec. 3rd E World in Daegu.
Yes. New Park. New creds.
I wasn't expected too much in this park, because all the coaster looked old. 2 Japanese made coaster, and a Vekoma boomerang, all of which made in the 1980s.
Took a tour bus at 8:30 in Busan, and spent 2hr to go. KTX is much better, but it's a school trip...
Saw the ride operation panel on the website, and disappointed at first.


Mega swing 360 - Closed. Camelback - Closed. Yanolja Skydrop - 11:30 open (actually opened in 12)
Staffing issue. Yes. That made fewer rides to open. 1 cred, Camelback, a Meisho jet coaster with tons of airtimes, was spited.

Entered the park, waited for Gondola lift.


Why do we need to wait for such 30 min for gondola? Can we walk? and teacher said NO.
30 min WASTED.
Arrived at Daegu 83 tower, and found Observatory closed, Skydrop closed, and ice rink closed. What? Nothing opened. Haaaa.......

So led my way to the main park.


The first ride was Music Express, a Matterhorn fairground ride.

Just fun, but I didn't know that my friend was that heavy. LOLOL

and found boomerang opens at 13:30, and one another coaster, Hurricane operates only 3 hours a day. Yes. The very infamous roller coaster which had an accident of ride op got hurt...
Yep. Closed., …

So we went to 83 tower again, and finally got to ride Yanolja Skydrop, a Funtime drop tower. Its ride height is 80m, and due to terrain, its total height (terrain height+ride height) is 213m.



That looks reallly high.
So rode it, and it stopped midway to speed up. and it reached 80m. But, why is it not drop? Yep. They hold us in 80m to let us enjoy the view.
Looking at Daegu in 213m was awesome. It was surprising that the park was in middle of the busy city. and enjoying the view,the sound of hydraulics releasing, and it SUDDENLY DROPS. Due to Funtime restraint only holding my lap, it floated a lot. Just ejected out of the seat for rough 3 seconds. Maybe 2nd best ride of the day.

Next up was Ice Rink. The school provided us ice rink ticket, and 83 tower ticket. So, use it!
But... it was my 1st experience on ice skating. So I fell and fell..... I had 4 laps, and I fell fell and fell. So, I thought that riding roller coaster is much better, but my friends all wanted to skate more. So I decided to ride Skydrop one more while my friends skate.

Skydrop 2nd ride - with my another friends. Surprisingly, ONE SEAT was left and I skipped all the line. Good air!!
Now I went back to skate rink, and met friends, and go for a coaster whore.



"Hurricane Roller Coaster", made by unknown Japanese manufacturer.

While we wait, the ride op said this closes on 14, and it closes queue on 13:50.
So arrived there at 13:45, and we were safe. Got the last remaining far back seat.
Umm... good pull on the drop, and loop was pretty smooth. But corkscrew? the transition before the corkscrew was just a Head and NECK BANGER. I got dizzy after riding it. And, Why is there a trim brake between two corkscrews? That's why I don't like old loopers.
Meh. maybe 5 out of 10, but still fun enough.

Next up is Vekoma Boomerang.

The star attraction of this park is a standard Vekoma boomerang??? Weird.... waited about 50 min (what? 50min for boomerang? I'd rather ride Draken instead)
It had a bit slow ops and the line was slow. Fortunately, the line was cut in front of me, and got a chance to choose the seat. My friend wanted middle, but I wanted FRONT, so got separated. Yes. Front seat. Car 1 seat 1.



Vekoma boomerang's 5.2 G feels really intense. Front run was just fun. and the loop hangtime was great. I waved my hand to my friends who were at the line. They also waved their hands. And there comes backward run. Having experienced Valkyrie, family boomerang's backward run is pretty fun, I didn't know what to expect. and it dropped. I still shaked hands to my friend while on loop hangtime. And a cobra roll pull was pretty fun. Though it;s boomerang, it's pretty smooth and intense.

Day ended.
Sky ride X1
Yanolja Skydrop X2
Music Express X1
(Ice Rink X1)
Hurricane X1
Boomerang X1
=6 rides in 4.5 hrs. not as efficient as yesterday.
+2 NEW creds.

Overview: Though park was dead, it was fun, with my friends.
Many ride closed was a bit meh...
and I want to ice skate much well.
Though Gyeongju World yesterday was more thrilling experience, E world was still fun to spend a day!
If I have a chance to come back, I will come at night to see great views, and get night rides on each coaster.
 
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I had the opposite issue with the coasters there: I rode Camelback, but Hurricane was closed. This was back when it was called Woobang Tower Land. I'm surprised it's still going.
 
This was back when it was called Woobang Tower Lan
The company that operates the park was changed to E Land company, and that company had better finance status than former Woobang. So they installed new rides, and the park is running pretty well.
 
Jan.26 Gyeongju World: Short but sweet coaster-ish visit

Entered at 11:50. Pretty late. Busy day.

Draken was spiting until 12:30, though the park had scheduled to open it at 12:00.
Due to too low temperature, it ended up opening at 12:45

Doing the testing at least 10 cycles. Took 30 min to wait for the test.

A rare photo - Block Check !
I was surprised that 2 trains can be stopped at the top.

Rode Draken 2 times. One on front and one on the back.

But the queue became very long, and they operated ONE TRAIN, I stopped riding Draken. Why did they put one train back though they tested both trains :(

Next up is snow sled.
it has a chair lift to the top

Phaethon. Soon to ride.


Arrived at the top and waited 10 min.
View is very nice.

Is that a snow sled? it feels like a water sled. It is so splashy.

Next up: Phaethon, the fast-paced BM invert.


Aww... Waited 50 min and got the FRONT SEAT

B&M beauty. Yellow B&M always looks great.

I am a big fan of dive coaster. It gives me 2+ consecutive seconds of flojector airtime when I seat on the back. I wore a thick jacket that day while on that, and got a loose restraint(ops said that they cannot pull me down more) and it was the best airtime I got on my whole life.


No water splashdown

Valkyrie's queue became 10m shorter so got to ride with 20m queue. Back seat means great airtime and whip.

That's it. I just wanted to go to home park, and I went there without any plans. Though it was busy, I was glad to ride thrilling coaster near my home.
 
Lunar new year means holiday.
This means a theme park day for me.
Last chuseok, I went to my home park. I was a bit bored with that.

This time, I am going to Seoul every week, and I decided to give me a holiday - a park day
"Lotte World Adventure Seoul"
I am hyped on Lotte World Busan near my home, but that thing's opening day was not decided yet. So, why not go to Seoul to enjoy Lotte World?


This has 3 RARE creds.
Atlantis Adventure - The ONLY Intamin Aquatrax
French Revolution - INDOOR Vekoma MK1200
Comet Express - Rare indoor Intamin Spinner


I got to ride 2 of them, but missed the comet because of long wait time. Though I got a Magicpass Premium 5 (Fastpass) for KRW 47000($40), Comet Express required me to wait 20 more minutes even though I had magicpass premium.

Now let's go to the details.

After hanging out with my friend, I entered there at 4PM. My train was in 8, so I was in a real hurry.
"Lotte World Adventure" Seoul
Entered the park, and got amazed by how warm the charm was.


First and second ride: French Revolution(후렌치 레볼루션), an indoor Vekoma MK1200 with Magicpass
pov for introducing layout:

very long standard queue...90 min for just a decent Vekoma....???
Yayyyyyy magic pass !!!! skipped 90m queue at once!!!!

Very great looking train! It was decorated as eagle.
Back was filled with magicpass riders, so I chose front. got the back seat (row 13) for the next ride.
Only 2 people can wait per row in the station. So no wait for next train.
It hits 70km/h on there.

Review: indoor coaster so head chopper was great. Not predicting what to come next was strange. The steep drop and the loop was so great with pack a punch of airtime, and the last helix was fun,too.
Screenshot_20220131-131529_YouTube.jpg
Screenshot_20220131-131541_YouTube.jpg
Front: Great headchopper. Great view. less airtime. So tame. Just a family coaster with a vertical loop
Back: Airtime machine. Floaty from start to finish. great drop before the vertical loop. Due to steepness of the drop, and pull of the train, it gets a great ejector on the back. So abrupt airtime and a vertical loop- what an intense ride. and the final 540 helix was intense, and the drop before it was very intense on the back seat. This is a total back seat coaster.

Going to magic island~~

overflown Atlantis line-90m wait


Next up was Atlantis Adventure (아트란티스) 2 times
It had 90 min standby wait, but I skipped that with my magicpass premium.
The only launch coaster in Korea. Lotte World Busan will have 2 more. I think Lotte loves launch coaster.
so close!
brake run
station
rode that with motorcycle position. It has motocoaster seat with Intamin T-bar

Front row !!
that elaborately themed castle.
0 to 72km/h in just 1.5 seconds. Very intense launch.
Though there's not that much airtime due to the nature of tight restraint, it was very abrupt and intense.
rode it 2 times, and go for Bungee Drop, a ride similar to S&S air drop tower. I got an app magicpass that every people in the park can use 3 times.

This launches me to the air and gives me an airtime, and drops back. total 3 times. Fresh airtime

and rode swinging tree. Used magicpass offered for everyone.
the centrifugal force made my blood go to feet. It was fresh, but made my feet bad.

Next I waited for Gyro Swing (Intamin, 25m standby wait)
It was the only standby wait as I booked 6 magicpass in advance and used 3 app magicpass offered for everyone.
the ride itself was fun, but it was too short. Duration is only 100 seconds. Still got a fresh airtime.

8th ride: Atlantis with magicpass premium
small train.
small train means tight layout
Totally rode it 3 times.

Review: VERY intense Intamin launch coaster. Normally launch coaster has swooping layout rather than tight layout. But this breaks that stereotype. 1643556683606.pngFirst the launch itself is 0 to 72km/h in just 1.5 seconds. My back was pulled on the seat on that duration.
1643556730890.pngand the top hat had very abrupt direction change on up and down-but no airtime.
1643556777621.pngThe turns were very intense and I felt the pace.
1643556842639.pngand the 1st drop was very steep. Got an airtime there.
1643556880919.pngand the turn - curved a lot. The left bank was so abrupt.
1643556913919.png
pause before LSM lift.
1643556949732.png
LSM lift - pretty fast and feels like Maverick lift
1643557029226.png
2nd drop and valley- vey intense
and the turns and final drop was very fun. and the abrupt stops adds to more intensity.
castle!
Next ride - Pharaoh's Fury
a Lotte version of Indiana Jones

got one magicpass which was cancelled by other people while waiting Atlantis.
queue line
The story is explorers ride the van and explore Egyptian pyramid.
museum-like queue
this goes to Pyramid.
Station
Ride (Permitted to take photo unless it drops)
Review: The ride felt like I was actually exploring the Pyramid. Lots of elaborate structure and animatromics. Though people say it's not well maintained, it was still heavily themed.

LROT: French Revolution back seat
It gives me intense ejector and floater airtime, and abrupt change of G's
The train looks weird.

bye bye lotte world see you later.
going home with nearby high speed train station.

ALL used

total ride count
Atlantis Adventure X3
French Revolution X3
Pharaoh's Fury X1
Swinging Tree X1
Bungee Drop X1
Gyro Swing X1
= 10 rides in just 3 hours.

Review
Though Magicpass Premium 5 was expensive for me, it saved a lot of time. Skipped all the line except for 1 standard wait on Gyro Swing. New credits and new experience was happy to me. Lotte World Seoul has great one-two punch coaster lineup like Gyeongju World. Though I expected lots of airtime on Atlantis, it did not gave me that much, but I think Atlantis's intensity can be never found anywhere in Korea. Rather, back seat of French Revolution gave me lots of airtime because of the steep drops, and that was surprising. I totally like this park, and willing to come back someday.
Day ended.
 
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