Theme Parks Roll Out Children’s Day Events With Safaris, MapleStory and Fireworks

Major theme parks in South Korea are stepping up Children’s Day programming on May 5, offering expanded attractions, content tied to popular intellectual property and large-scale fireworks shows.

◆Everland targets families with revamped safari and kids club

Everland is promoting an “Ever Kids Club” theme day aimed at children and parents. Across the park — including Panda World and Sky Garden Road — it is running 10 hands-on programs such as “Little Animal Explorers” and “French Little Chef School.” While children take part, parents can leave them with instructors and take a break at nearby cafes. Everland is also offering promotions for three-generation family visits, including special discounts and priority boarding passes for Safari World.

Everland said its animal-focused “exploration course” has been upgraded with a newly renovated Safari World after about a year of preparation. The park added natural features such as waterfalls and ponds and focused on improving animal welfare conditions. It also installed high rocks designed to stimulate lions’ instincts and created habitat-based themed areas, including a lions’ “Savanna Grassland” and a tigers’ “Predator Forest,” to help preserve wild traits and allow visitors to observe more dynamic behavior. A “Walking Zoo Stamp Tour,” where visitors seek out animals such as giraffes and elephants while learning about ecology, is also being offered.

Everland is also highlighting nighttime entertainment and water attractions. “Wings of Memory,” produced in collaboration with Canada-based circus production company Eloize, features an art circus performance. The multimedia show “Guardians of Light” combines thousands of fireworks with drones and 3D video.

Starting May 1, Caribbean Bay is additionally opening “Mega Storm,” described as one of the water park’s signature thrill attractions. Through May 28, Everland visitors can enter Caribbean Bay for free from 1 p.m. under an “Ever to Cabi” event.   ◆Lotte World rolls out MapleStory, Cookie Run and Star Wars tie-ins

Lotte World is staging parkwide events built around the MapleStory IP. At Magic Island, it has opened a roughly 600-pyeong “Maple Island Zone” as part of the “MapleStory in Lotte World” festival running through June 14, recreating key in-game villages. New attractions including “Stone Express” and “Arcana Ride,” along with a gift shop, have drawn long lines.

A daily signature show, “Let’s Play! Lotty’s Adventure Parade,” is held at 2 p.m. on the Adventure 1st-floor parade route and now includes new elements themed on MapleStory’s toy kingdom “Ludibrium.” Characters including Orange Mushroom and Slime lead the procession, with toy-concept dancers such as Pink Tenny and Blockpus. The boss monster “Pink Bean” appears atop a Ludibrium-themed vehicle with special effects including gears and propellers. Lotte World is also running a twice-daily photo time, “Smile with MapleStory,” at 12:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. around the Adventure 1st-floor meeting plaza.

Lotte World Aquarium and Seoul Sky are also hosting collaborations. The aquarium is working with “Cookie Run” through June 7, decorating the venue with an undersea palace concept and offering an augmented reality stamp tour that includes limited-edition photo cards. From May 1 to May 10, aquarists will stage underwater performances twice daily, and an “Aqua Family Camp” overnight program is also being operated. At Seoul Sky, a “Star Wars”-themed experience space is being offered, and a large character parade is planned on May 4 for “Star Wars Day.”   ◆Legoland extends hours, adds lights and fireworks for a five-day special

Legoland is holding a “Children’s Day Special Day” from May 1 to May 5, extending operating hours to 9 p.m. With night operations, visitors can take in views of Uiam Lake and downtown Chuncheon from the 43-meter Legoland Observatory. At 7:30 p.m., 2,000 Lego LED lights in Miniland will turn on at once. Fireworks — billed as the festival’s highlight — are scheduled for 8:30 p.m. on May 3 and May 4 across the park.

The park is also offering participatory events aimed at children. At the Bricktopia Lounge, a “Build Contest” themed “Make Your Own Ninja” will select a daily winner at 4 p.m. and award a special prize. To mark Ninjago’s 15th anniversary, Legoland is running a stamp tour offering limited-edition badges and an SNS event, “Find the Ninja,” across Miniland.

Performances are scheduled both indoors and outdoors. The “Whip Around Dance Party,” previously held outside, has moved to the indoor Bricktopia Performance Theater with upgraded staging, lighting and video effects. At 8 p.m. daily, “Ceremony of Ninja” will be held at the Brick Street outdoor stage, ending the day with a pledge ceremony to become a brave ninja. 



* This article has been translated by AI.

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