The fifth of May is a special day in South Korea, Children’s Day. Merlin Entertainments has chosen this day for the opening of their newest Legoland theme park: Legoland Korea in Chuncheon. The brand new park, that already soft opened last Sunday, contains three dark ride entries.
Legoland Korea, located approximately 75 kilometers North-East of the capital Seoul, is the world’s 10th Legoland theme park. It contains classic attractions such as the Lego Miniland, driving school, scenic railway and an observation tower. Among the attractions are three classic Legoland (semi-)dark rides.
Ninjago The Ride is a interactive dark ride that can be found in almost every Legoland park. The ride is based on Lego’s Ninjago franchise. During the ride riders can score point by throwing balls towards Lego characters projected on large screens. The ride uses a unique interactive system that does not contain guns. Instead, guests have to make a throwing movement with their own hands which are registered by sensors. The ride was developed by Triotech and ART Engineering. All eight installations of the ride are very similar, if not exactly the same.
A newer dark ride is the Lego Factory Adventure Ride. Riders will join Professor Brick on a thrilling adventure through the LEGO Factory. Halfway through the ride, guests face a screen on which they will be transformed into a unique Lego Minifigure based on their attributes which will copy their movements. Lego Factory Adventure Ride is the second installation after the version in Legoland New York. It was developed by Holovis and uses a ride system by ETF Ride Systems.
Also present in Legoland Korea is the Dragon. This rollercoaster starts with an extensive dark ride section that takes riders through scenes in a midieval theme. Riders will eventually come face to face with a dragon, before the start of the rollercoaster. The Dragon is a semi-dark ride that is present in all Legoland theme parks. Though the rollercoaster type may vary in the parks, the dark ride section for the rides is comparable with each other. The first version of the Dragon opened in 1997 in Legoland Billund (Denmark) as Dragen.
