Most Popular Water Theme Park in Korea - Caribbean Bay 2014
12:16
Outside of Caribbean Bay
Good Morning Everyone!
Now, let me just share with you some tips or rather things to note.
1. GET DISCOUNTED TICKETS
If you are a local or a foreigner residing in Korea with a local bank card, you can get discounts depending on the respective bank. KEB Bank offers Caribbean Bay tickets for ONLY 10,000KRW!! Alternatively, you may check out the website here for all promotions and events (Korean only).
PROMOTION FOR STUDENTS IN KOREA!
For all students studying FULL-TIME in Korea or exchange students with a Korean university student ID card (excluding language program students), there is currently a promotion from June 28 to July 18 for a fixed price of 25,000krw! You have to first register online as a member on the website, login and download the coupon highlighted in the red box! Select either 평일 for weekdays or 주 말 for weekends. You have to make an online reservation first, and bring your student ID card and show the coupon that you can download (or screenshot) to your phone!
2. HOW TO GET THERE?
Well, it's either you rent a car to drive there if you are planning to stay the night at one of the resorts or pensions. Or the usual way for locals is to take the public bus from Gangnam Station or Jamsil Station, No. 5002 or No. 5700 respectively. (Refer to map below)
Or, if you are willing to pay more for comfort.. you can take the shuttle bus that are available at different locations (Seoul Cityhall, Dongdaemun History & Culture Park, or Gangnam) at a price of 12,000krw for a two-way ride. No one-way tickets available. The shuttle bus will bring you to Everland and Caribbean Bay is right beside. Please call and reserve seats (at least) a day in advance. And you will pay cash only after you board the bus, to the tour guide.
Personally, my friends and I opted for this shuttle bus because we did not want to travel all the way down to Gangnam (given that I am walking distance to Seoul Cityhall and my friends lived in Hongdae). Plus, we figured that we would be so tired after a day at the Caribbean Bay and we cannot imagine going through all that public transportation to get back home. And trust me, you will be very tired after a long day out in the amusement parks.
Since we departed from Seoul City Hall, we had to be there by 9:30AM. We arrived at about 11AM and stayed the whole afternoon in Caribbean Bay till 5PM. And the bus will leave Everland, Caribbean Bay at 6:30PM.
As my friends who had went previously (and according to the internet), told me that there are spin dryers for you to spin dry your towels. But as from my most recent trip there, there is no more spin dryers and instead, they replaced with disposable vinyl bags for your wet swimwear/towels. Well I guess that's really nice of them too, hahas.
4. PUBLIC (COMMON) SHOWER | JJIMJILBANG STYLE
If you had ever been to a public bath (aka Jjimjilbang) in Korea, you should not be surprised. Once the clock strikes round 4PM~6PM (when all outdoor activities in Caribbean Bay closes), you would be experiencing a whole bunch of naked ladies walking across the locker rooms and queueing up for the shower areas. Yes, there are no cubicles like those you would see in Singapore or elsewhere. If you are uncomfortable, or do not wish to wait for long queues, you may opt for what my friends and I did. Because by the time we walked around to return our life vests, we are pretty much dry (credits to the hot sun). We simply went to the restrooms (where they are cubicles and doors) to change out of our swim wear, dry ourselves and change into comfortable dry clothings. Viola! A quick wash of my face at the basin and touch up of makeup. VIOLA! Since we are taking the shuttle bus back home anyways, we showered when we got home instead :)
5. BAY COINS
Instead of carrying cash around, you can get this bay coin wristband. For individuals, I remembered there is a choice option of 30,000won | 50,000won | 100,000won. Since we don't think we are spending much, the 3 of us shared one 50,000won wristband. For any unused amounts, it will be refunded back to you when you return to the bay coin service centre. FYI, besides the counter in Level 1 (the moment you enter), you can simply go up to Level 3 (where the theme park is) to get it. It has less people; I guess everyone is very excited to get started the moment they enter lol.
Bay Coin Wristband, and I got really tanned (in this pic)
6. ONE-PIECE OR BIKINI ONLY
One of the top reasons that I thought I had to blog about Caribbean Bay was about this. I was first warned about this rule by a fellow Singaporean who went to Caribbean Bay twice, and told me about her frustrating (yet hilarious) experience at one of the rides. If you are going to Caribbean Bay, you will then realise that this ride has the shortest waiting time ever. Probably a maximum of 10~15min.
Aqua Loop @ Caribbean Bay
The reason is simple. Only a ONE-PIECE SWIM SUIT or BIKINIS are allowed on this ride. Guys would have no problems with this usually. But for girls, this is the main issue. I was warned of this rule, and I specially bought a bikini for this since I do not have own a one-piece swimsuit. To my utmost astonishment, they said that my bikini was too lacy and thus, forbidden to ride. Basically, the only appropriate swim wear should be like this:
Simple Bikini with no frills, laces or decorations
Apparently for girls in bikinis, NO skirt or lacy or ribbony bottoms are allowed. For tops, no frills or lace or decorations are allowed. I was really upset because I had the right bottom but they insisted my top was too 'lacy' or rather with frills. But to be honest, it was only a bandeau top with a flap of cloth over. This was what I wore:
Floral Bikini Top from F21
So I thought my bikini top was simple enough.. ohwell. Next time, I shall bring my speedo-alike one piece swimsuit from Singapore instead!! That's the safest for sure, lol.
7. NO EARRINGS ON RIDES
So for most of the rides, especially for Aqua Loop, they strictly require you to remove all earrings piercings that you have. This is to prevent them from dropping on the slides during the ride, and it may hurt other riders who are following you. I had a total of 5 ear piercings and I had to remove them all T.T Thank goodness for the waterproof pouch that I had that I could keep it in them!
8. GET A WATERPROOF POUCH
Caribbean Bay itself sells it, and I read prior to my trip that it costs 20,000won there. Decided to just buy it online beforehand, and guess what! I got mine for only 7,900won including delivery fee! Plus, delivery was super fast, I received it the next day I made my order. If you're wondering, I got mine from GMarket here. It is really convenient, I could text my siblings and show them pictures of me at the water theme park, while waiting for my rides. Took pictures with the phone too, since I used more of the GoPro for video-taking instead. So, I strongly recommend to get one if you are going to the water theme park or even the beach :)
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Some pictures to end off the post,
Surfing Ride; Similar to the one in SENTOSA Singapore (?)
My favourite ride of the day, Tower Boomberang Go!
Tower Raft (sorry for the blurred photo)
Little kids on excursion! How cute!
Yumi going for the Wild Blaster!
Fresh (and dry) photo of us before we kick start the rides!
Ending off with a group selfie at the Wave Pool!
That's all for my post today.
I hope these little tips help some of you somehow or another!
Til then,
irenesiah
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