Extreme Horror, the Zombie Returns Powerfully

Everland and Lotte World Open Autumn Season with Halloween Festivals

Lotte World Giant Zombie

Everland Crazy Zombie Hunt

[Asia Economy Reporter Yongjun Cho] Theme parks are the first to start transforming when autumn arrives. They decorate the parks with vibrant and colorful autumn flowers and captivate visitors with various performances. However, the highlight of autumn theme parks is undoubtedly the Halloween festival. The annually upgraded festival is packed with attractions. Everland’s Blood City, famous as a horror enthusiast’s sanctuary for fear experiences, has been reborn this year as Season 6. It especially adds chills through a collaboration with art director Kyeongseon Chae from Squid Game. Lotte World’s story unfolds with zombies who escaped from Zombie Prison in 2021 taking over Magic Island and attacking even the indoor Adventure. Additionally, a realistic prison facility was created in collaboration with a renowned domestic movie set production company, perfectly setting a chilling atmosphere. The newly introduced Zombie Subway is an immersive horror content that vividly recreates the feeling of being chased by zombies in the confined space of a subway. If you have a strong heart for horror this autumn, head to the theme parks.

◇ Everland ? Horror Experience Sanctuary, Introducing Blood City Season 6

Everland Blood City 6

Everland is holding its Halloween festival until November 20. This year’s Halloween festival offers a variety of experiences ranging from family-friendly content such as gardens, performances, and attractions to the ultimate horror experience zone, Blood City, allowing visitors to enjoy Halloween in both cheerful and chilling ways.

The approximately 10,000㎡ Four Seasons Garden transforms into a Halloween-themed garden filled with colorful pumpkin sculptures and autumn flowers such as chrysanthemums, kokia, cockscomb, and dianthus.

In front of the large LED screen, a flower bed is densely planted with 200,000 bright orange marigolds, creating a Halloween Infinity Garden that seems to extend the marigold flower path shown on the screen.

Special Halloween performances that make shoulders shake are also held daily during the day, featuring the Halloween Wicked Parade with cute mischievous characters like skeletons, witches, and pumpkins, as well as the sweet and scary Trick or Treat street performances.

If you want to enjoy Halloween cheerfully while riding attractions, you can visit the Festival Train Spooky 199, transformed with a Halloween theme, or the Night Safari Tram, where you can observe the active movements of nocturnal predators more vividly.

Blood City, famous as a horror experience sanctuary for horror enthusiasts, has been newly reborn as Season 6 this year.

Blood City 6 is based on the theme story that you must take the No. 199 express train (T Express) to escape a city filled with zombies, transforming the Alpine area into a massive train station.

In collaboration with art director Kyeongseon Chae, who won the 26th Art Directors Guild Award in the U.S. for Squid Game, the dystopian train station scenery with eerie and gloomy atmospheres such as derailed trains, tracks, tunnels, and neon signs was created with an overwhelming scale reminiscent of a horror movie set, providing immersive experience.

Two actual train cars were procured and realistically depicted as trains destroyed by zombies to maximize the completeness of Blood City, and at the Blood City gate, Panasonic’s 30,000 ANSI lumen 4K ultra-high-definition projector is used to vividly project the chilling atmosphere.

On the special stage in Blood City, the Crazy Zombie Hunt performance, depicting the chase and battle between zombies and humans, is held, and giant zombies over 3 meters tall suddenly appear on the streets of Blood City to hold spooky Halloween photo sessions with visitors.

Along with the opening of Blood City 6, various customer participation events are held. First, anyone can participate by phone in the Survivor Selection Test Call 199 ARS event.

By calling the designated number, participants receive three Halloween festival-related mission questions, and all who pass receive a limited edition Blood City 6 commemorative ticket as a gift on-site.

At the entrance of Blood City, WhiteX’s secret makeup room has newly opened, where visitors can transform into various zombie characters through professional makeup. Each Blood City 6 commemorative ticket has a unique QR code that allows instant checking of lucky prize winners such as priority boarding tickets for T Express and Halloween tattoo stickers.

◇ Lotte World ? Ultimate Horror, Strengthened Story-Linked Performances and Experiential Content

The First-Ever Zombie Subway Premiere

The Lotte World Halloween festival, which heated up the autumn season with intense zombie content and ultimate horror, has begun. The Horror Halloween: The Expansion season runs until November 13.

This year, the horror production space within the park has been expanded to the indoor Adventure, and new performances and experiential content linked to the story have been strengthened to enjoy Halloween more immersively. Not only dynamic and thrilling horror zones but also cute pumpkin, ghost, and character-filled cutie zones for the whole family have been prepared.

This year’s Lotte World Halloween horror content is based on the story that zombies who escaped from Zombie Prison in 2021 have taken over Magic Island and are attacking even the indoor Adventure. Accordingly, the horror zone, which was previously only in Magic Island, has been expanded to the Spanish Pirate Ship and Carousel areas near the indoor Garden Stage.

Three types of story-linked experiential content guide visitors through ultimate horror. Escape the zombie-infested Magic Island through the online and offline linked escape room game “Endless Nightmare.” By calling the contact number on the emergency contact posters posted throughout Magic Island, the game begins.

This participatory content involves solving problems and completing missions according to mobile guidance, allowing players to enjoy the game while roaming Magic Island using SMS and QR codes. A surprise gift is prepared for those who succeed in the final escape mission. Since the detailed story and missions differ depending on the starting location, escape room enthusiasts should try again.

The newly introduced Zombie Subway tells the story of boarding the subway as the last escape method to leave Zombie Island. To realistically recreate the feeling of being chased by zombies in the confined space of the subway, the set is designed to replicate an actual subway, with three-dimensional sound and lighting effects. The fear and immersion visitors feel in the darkness are at their peak.

The representative Lotte World horror content, the walkthrough horror attraction Zombie Prison, requires escaping from a prison occupied by zombies. Influencer Whatsup composed the prequel story, and in collaboration with a renowned domestic movie set production company, a realistic prison facility was created, earning praise for perfectly setting a chilling atmosphere. It is highly recommended for those with a strong heart for horror.

The highlight of the horror content is undoubtedly the performances and eerie atmosphere after sunset. First, pay attention to Zombie Attack and Control Zone A, where the zombie army occupying Magic Island attacks Adventure and battles with the Steel Troops.

At night, just wandering around Magic Island allows visitors to feel the terrifying atmosphere. Magic Castle creates a chilling scene through media mapping, and the ruined Magic Island and indoor Adventure’s Control Zone are gloomy with blood-red lighting.

Attractions throughout Magic Island such as Atlantis, Gyro Swing, and Comet Express exude a spooky atmosphere. Police cars that seem to have been attacked by zombies are scattered around. The Main Bridge has transformed into the Escape Station with a train to leave Zombie Island. The central control room inside Magic Castle, which monitored Zombie Prison, has been taken over by zombies.

Additionally, three times daily, giant zombies and Steel Troops actors suddenly appear throughout Magic Island for photo sessions. Although the giant zombies do not harm people, be cautious and alert even when taking photos just in case.

If you are worried about scary horror content, pay attention to the indoor Adventure’s cutie Halloween content that the whole family can enjoy together.

Upon entering the first floor of Adventure, visitors encounter the Dream Castle photo zone and the Big Lotty photo zone in the Meeting Plaza, where characters transformed into cute ghosts mingle with pumpkins and candies, fully evoking Halloween spirit. The Lotte World representative self-photo studio, Geureolsajin Hall, located on the fourth floor of Adventure, has also renewed its five booths with a Halloween concept.

The Lotty’s Halloween Party Parade, featuring characters such as Halloween pumpkins, ghosts, Dracula, Lotty, and Lori, appears twice daily and is the most popular among Lotte World’s seasonal parades. In October, as Halloween Day approaches, a new participatory parade allowing guests to join will also be held.

Yongjun Cho, Travel Specialist jun21@