Javascript

Monday, October 15, 2018

Disney around the World - Day 2 Part 2 - Visiting the Seoul Tower

After a great morning stroll, it was time to head to the Seoul Tower. The stairs are an option, but there's a more fun way to get there. The Namsan Cable Car! It's the very first cable car in Korea, opening May 12, 1962.


For $6 per adult and $3.50 per kid oneway, we're saving ourselves the long hike up Mt. Namsan to the top.

The six of us and 42 other passengers squeezed into the cable car for our short journey.

Looking into downtown Seoul.

And here's where it lets you out at the top. There's not nearly the number of people lined up to go down versus come up.

And a group pictures at the top.

Look what's here! There's dozens of places around the world where love locks are popular. In many places it's considered vandalism. Here though near the Seoul Tower it's encouraged with vendors even selling locks to people walking by.

And yes, there's dozens of places around the world with these lovelocks but Mickey and Minnie visited this exact one in the short "Locked in Love". It's actually a pretty good short, with Mickey and Minnie visiting a lot of the places we got to see. I'll be showcasing a few of the places we got to see too.

These are love benches. Those almost look like Christmas trees in the background with lots of ornaments.

Angled such that two people would slide together if they were sitting in one. 

And here's the Christmas trees again.

There's thousands and likely hundreds of thousands of locks on these rails. The weight of all this is staggering I'm sure. No wonder it collapsed the rail of a bridge in Paris.


Walking towards the tower, we came across these signaling towers. The kids were sprinting up to see them, then Theresa said "Those are beehives!" They stopped pretty quick.

What are you guys doing inside those beacons?

There's the Seoul Tower!

Mickey and Minnie walked by this structure too.

Hello Kitty is here! Though we opted not to pay the extra money to visit Hello Kitty Island here at the tower.

After purchasing our tickets, $9.50 per adult and $7 for Ian (Alli is under 3 and still free), it was time to go to the top of the Seoul Tower!

After posing in a green-screen area for a photo (that we never end up purchasing), we were led to the waiting area for the elevators. The area where you lined up to board was really dark. Then some projected images played over the entire wall. It was a little trippy.

And I had no idea it was coming or I would have been recording video. Thankfully other people have done it for me. And not just the outside show. Once everyone boarded the elevator, there were screens in there too, including screens on the ceiling. You might be moving at elevators speeds, but your eyes might tell you otherwise. Ian love love loved the ride up, and if you watch the video, you can figure out why.

Made it to the top! At 774 ft tall, the Seoul Communication Tower is the 2nd highest point in Seoul. And the tower was built on top of Namsan Mountain which is 800 ft tall, which makes this seem like a 1575 ft tall structure.
Just 9600 kilometers that way towards home. The kids look shocked.

Ah, makes sense. This is a shocking step. 
I couldn't tell why it was called a shocking step, and even in my research afterwards, I still can't tell. That warning label in the photo is just instructions that it's for standing only and not to sit on the steps. 

Pretty good views from way up here. 

Ian - It's the Eiffel Tower!
It sure does look like it, doesn't it buddy. We'll get there soon enough.

Hong Kong and Shanghai. Soon!

Now this is something I wasn't expecting today. A Skyrestroom.

If you've ever wanted to "go" with a view, then the Seoul Tower is the place to be.

And don't think it's just the boys who get the view. T grabbed this one from the girls room.

Looking back down Namsan mountain you can see that structure Ian and Alli (and Mickey and Minnie) were standing by, the love locks area, the top of the cable car, and if you squint you can see the bottom of the cable cars too.

Time to head back down.

On the way down I was ready for video. ABS. Always Be Smiling. You never know when I'm going to take a picture.

This time I was ready to get a video for the ride down. It was cool, but not as good as the one going up. Especially since we weren't expecting it. 


Group picture back at the bottom! Have you ever realized that Ruston is almost always holding something in picture (if I give him enough time).

We might have missed out on Hello Kitty, but Level 1 of the tower, we get to meet YooHoo and Friends! And let me tell you, YooHoo has a bunch of friends.

Who is YooHoo? I didn't know either, but he is an African Bush Baby who starred in a Korean cartoon TV series from 2009-2015. He sure is adorable, like most things in Korea.

Along with YooHoo and Friends, there is also LinLin Land. LinLin is a giant Panda from China. No special cartoons for Linlin that I could find.

The kids had a good time going around giving hugs (that's fine) and kisses (eww, maybe not) to all the characters. We just let them run around to their hearts content for a while. They've been really good so far today.

And there were plenty of places to take adorable photos.

That's an interesting shoe car. Sure, you can take a ride Ian.

Time to move along to the next adventure. It's a very full day!

2 comments:

  1. What a view in the cable car and once you're at the top of Seoul Tower. Ian probably wanted a replay of the elevator trip up to the tower...how his eyes must have popped wide open as he "took off" into space, whizzing by planets and other celestial bodies! Guess they stayed in theme with the Skyrestroom...every stop gets a view! That was a cute Mickey & Minnie "Locked in Love" short...amazing it related directly to where you were visiting (btw, never saw "love benches" before...a very appropriate name and design). Korea (and Japan) have a lot of cute characters and related doodads. Like that picture of Alli holding hands w/ her new YooHoo friend...so natural and fitting. Nice closing picture capture of the YooHoo staircase...turns a plain staircase into a colorful art piece. The Seoul Tower adventure was definitely a great experience. EOM

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ian loves all things space, so yes, the elevator blast-off was awesome for him.
      Alli really liked those cute animals. They would have stayed there all day if we had let them.

      Delete