Caribbean Bay

So just a note to anyone following this by dates; I'm writing these up when I feel like it so they aren't in order of when and where I went.

Yesterday I finally went out to Caribbean Bay. I'd been holding out on it because of a) the weather and b) a day when I knew I'd be able to roll out of bed at 7AM. So yesterday was perfect because I randomly woke up at around 5AM and it was predicted to be a 31 degrees Celsius day (and I can tell you now from the sunburn, it was).
I heard about Caribbean Bay through Girl's Generation and 2PM's joint music video for the "Cabi Song":

Seeing it in the flesh made it so much more exciting! Although because of the 90 minute wait for most of the rides in the video, I sadly did not get to go on them :( but it was cool to see the places where it was filmed.


How to get there:

Catch the subway to Gangnam Station on the Green Line (Line 2) and follow the signs through the complex underground shopping mall to exit #6.
Once you get to the surface do a u-turn and walk along the road, you'll see a Dunkin' Donuts across the road to your left, ignore it and keep following the road until you get to the one on the same side of the road as you.
If the giant line or red and blue buses doesn't give it away, you'll soon see the the bus station in the middle of the road across from Dunkin' Donuts. Its easy to get to by using the nearby pedestrian crossing.
Catch the Red Bus number 5002, it comes every 15 minutes, I caught the 9AM one. If you're lucky you might get a seat, if you're unlucky like me, you'll end up standing for the entire 40 minute ride.
Everland/Caribbean Bay is the last stop so don't worry about missing it. Most of the bus will be going to Everland so just follow the crowd.
You'll be dropped off at a bus station and again follow the crowd over to the shuttle bus station, it will take you on a 5 minute ride up the mountain to Everland.

Once you get to Everland follow the signs to the right to Caribbean Bay.

Just warning, the park is pretty expensive. For a day ticket it was 70,000 won, for entrance to the park after 2.30pm I believe the ticket price was around 30,000 won. If you have children its 55,000 won. After you buy your ticket you'll go through the first gate and your bag will be checked for food. If you brought food you can drop it off at the Food Deposit to the left of the gate.

Once you show them your ticket I highly recommend heading to the "Bay Coin" counter. Bay coins are a waterproof wristband with a barcode and you load money onto them instead of carrying your wallet around with you (it is a water park after all). The smallest amount you can put on it is 30,000 won which seems a lot to start with, but trust me, everything adds up. I refunded mine at the end of the day and got 4,000 won back.

The Bay coin wristband

Secondly I recommend going into any of the gift stores and purchasing one of the plastic camera/phone holders (only if you actually need one that is). They're advertised in all the stores and come in different sizes and shapes. I bought the most basic one for my little point and shoot  Lumix camera, but for those of you who want to risk taking your DSLR (I didn't, I left it in my bag) there are ones that fit your lens and can be used inside the bag. The holders are zip locked (make sure you check it every time you close it) and then double velcro sealed. They come with a line to put around your neck so you can tuck it under your life jacket. It was a nice little souvenir with Caribbean Bay logo on the top and it cost about 22,000 won for the basic one and 29,000 won for the DSLR one.

The waterproof camera holder

It was really good if you're one of those people like me who like taking photos of everything, including when you're on a ride!

On the way up to the Wild River ride

Whilst floating along on the Lazy River

I took this photo while in the wave pool, which I don't recommend. I saved my camera by a second by throwing my arm into the air just as the wave hit. But I like the photo of the life saver, so it was worth it XD

Cost wise you'll need to pay for:

Renting a locker; you'll need a 500 won coin (but don't worry you'll get it back). To open it (I got very confused) you'll need to look out for the red key for vacant ones. Once you find one, turn the key and do whatever you need to do and before you lock the door and shut it, put the five hundred won coin in the slot and then lock it and you'll be able to take the key with the coin in there.

Life jacket; costs 2,000 won (but you get 1,000 back when you return it) I recommend just getting it at the start of the day and wearing it all day. Although it might seem bulky and a nuisance, you'll get used to it within ten minutes. Its also good because you can't go into certain pools without it (the two wave pools, indoor and outdoor require you to wear them) so you can do whatever you want without having to walk all the way back to the rental place.

Food; food is pretty average here. My lunch (Carib rice with jerk chicken) was pretty awful, I love food, but I had to throw it out. Expect cafeteria style food for about 10,000 - 15,000 won range. The snacks are pretty good, I recommend them as a tastier and cheaper lunch, I had a pizza spring roll which was amazing and it was only 2,000 won!

The rice was okay, but the rest was disgusting.

Pizza spring roll, yum!

I also bought the famed "Dipping Dots" ice-cream for about 2,700 won and an ice slushy drink for about 3,000.

Little balls of ice-cream goodness!

The park is rather large, so take a good look at the map as you go by. I only spent about 5 hours there (I was by myself) and saw all of it but didn't go on about 5 of the rides. If you're going to be there for an entire day with a group of friends, I recommend renting out a hut and using it as a base, they have a nice floor to sleep on and a large safe inside. Some of them even have balconies to watch over the park from and privacy shades.

My favourites:

The Lazy River, anyone can go on this without lining up. There are several entry and exit points and you can use it as a tour guide of the park. If you wait long enough, a child will discard one of the floating rings, so jump on it quick and relax as you float away! Some good points to get off at are:
-The indoor pool/aquatic centre, you get to go through a cool underground cave and pass by a polar bear and great white shark!
-The miracle spa, there are three different spas here and a foot spa. Sit here in the relaxing warmth, but take your life jacket off before you get in or a lifeguard will get his megaphone and yell at you!

The underground cave

The rides are fun, and if you're willing to wait from 20-90 minutes for a 5 second ride then do so. But the best part of the park are the lazy river and the wave pool.

The Wave Pool:

The wave pool is easily the main attraction. I counted roughly 16 lifesavers/wave breakers watching over this pool. I can see why, at peak it may be holding a couple of hundred people and you'll be shoulder to shoulder with several people as you float in there. If you go towards the deeper end it thins out but you'll occasionally be kicked by a small child.

I'm not 100% sure about this, I watched and waited to try and figure out the pattern so I think it goes like this; there'll be 10 minute segments with 3 minute intervals of waves, then 10 minutes of calm. The foghorn goes off at the start and voice over starts (I assume announcing what is about to happen). Then the lifeguard wave breakers will start waving everyone out of the yellow area and blowing their whistles.
When they all blow their whistles together and put their lifesaving boards up in the air, thats when the waves are about to start. The foghorn will go off again and the wave will go every 3 minutes. Here's my video of the wave breakers doing their job:

 

The wave pool was possible my favourite, although I'm a strong swimmer, I enjoyed just floating there with the life jacket on as the waves rolled by.  I love how everyone screams, its hilarious. The waves aren't very big at all, I'd hate to see how they fared in the ocean in Australia.

 The Skull Bucket:

This thing is fun to stand under, but the cascade is rather strong, so don't underestimate it!

                               

Some tips:

1. Wear a hat. Some days they enforce the "Wear a cap or hat rule" somedays they don't. But if not for the sake of the rule, wear it for the sake of not having a sunburnt face.

2. Wear copious and I mean copious amounts of sunscreen and put more on after 4 hours. I only put on one layer and while I waited in line for 40 minutes I got sun burnt shoulders. All the lifeguards here are extremely tanned, the Korean girls all cover up completely to make sure their precious white skin won't tan.

3. Don't carry a bunch of crap with you, eg. towel, shoes, wallet, sunglasses. For most of the rides you'll have to take off your sunglasses or glasses and your hat. Just wear the lifejacket and wear the waterproof camera holder if you bought one. You won't need shoes.

4. Girls, wear board shorts or a skirt. The Korean girls are pretty modest and most wear them and also long sleeved mesh or see-through type tops to cover up. You don't have to do this, but for the sake of not feeling to self conscious I would recommend this.

Here are some photos of the park, overall it was a great way to cool off, but be very careful if you don't want to get sunburnt or tan too much. Travel time is around an hour and a half if you include catching the subway to Gangnam and from there to Everland/Caribbean. You can get back to Seoul the exact same way you got there.

I highly recommend going there any day to cool off and definitely go with a bunch of friends. Going solo wasn't as much fun.

The entrance

Skull Bucket in use

The Surfing Ride

Tower Raft and Boomerang Raft, they both had a 90 minute wait

Aqua Loop strangely only had a 20 minute wait, but you couldn't wear anything but board short and just bikinis, lest you get stuck in the slide.

The cute tandem life savers.... lol

P.S, if you get sunburnt like I did, I recommend going to your nearest Face Shop and buying the "Aloe Fresh Super Moisture Gel" and slathering it on the area 3-4 times a day. Your sunburn will go away within 48 hours.