From 17 April 1976 to 200 million visits on 19 August 2013

The park opened as Yongin Farmland on 17 April 1976, a botanical garden, zoo, and safari with only a few rides, after earlier sites in Anseong and at today’s Korean Folk Village were opposed. In March 1996, on the twentieth anniversary, it took the Everland name, a shift some likened to a caterpillar, but one the essay later calls wise.

In 1995 the speedway opened; in 1996 Global Fair was added, and a mid-1990s summer opening of Caribbean Bay is placed in the same growth. In 2006 it became Everland Resort. Cumulative visits passed 100 million in 2001 and 200 million on 19 August 2013. T Express arrived in 2008, Lost Valley in 2013, and Panda World in 2016. Those counts and dates stay as stated.

A theme still hard to name, and a 2017 expansion that fizzled

Unlike parks with a single clear theme, Everland’s zones are said to sit apart, with no castle-or-globe landmark and thin parade stories. Magic Land looks aged; after Earth Village was removed, only Mystery Mansion remained as a dark ride, a shortage felt more in winter when T Express and Thunder Falls close. From the 2010s, parades and stage shows thinned, and floats more than ten years old are set beside a 2008 Tokyo Disneyland accident. That comparison stays with 2008.

A plan into 2017 for a leisure town twice the area of Yeouido was postponed and then fizzled. The essay also notes flowers from the Farmland years, and crowds heavier in April, May, and October than in an ordinary summer. This page stays with those dated visit counts and that diagnosis, and does not invent a later official attendance tally or an unfilled improvement scheme. The same Korean report, at fuller length, is on CampusDown.

Sources

1. Korea has many theme parks; most regional ones have not done especially well. The park followed here is Everland, at 199 Everland-ro, Pogok-eup, Cheoin-gu, Yongin, operated by Samsung C&T (formerly Cheil Industries and Samsung Everland), placed as the country’s largest, with Lotte World Adventure as a comparable domestic giant. Opened Saturday, 17 April 1976, in what was then Pogok-myeon, Yongin-gun, as Yongin Farmland (Yongin Jayeon Nongwon, 龍仁自然農園). Early on: a botanical garden, a zoo, and a safari, with only a few rides. First planned for Anseong, then for the land that later became the Korean Folk Village; both sites opposed by residents; ended up in Pogok-eup. March 1996, on the twentieth anniversary: the Farmland name dropped for Everland. The shift to an English brand was not an easy decision; some objected that the new name sounded like a caterpillar; the company decided with a view to the world market. By the 2010s a nature-centered policy had become somewhat empty, so looking back the choice is called a wise one. In 1996, the year of the renaming, Global Fair, with buildings from around the world, was added at the entrance. In 1995 the speedway opened, then still called Yongin Motor Park. A summer opening of Caribbean Bay — called in the essay, at that expansion, the world’s largest water park — along with lodgings and a golf course, is placed in the same mid-1990s growth, when visitor numbers rose sharply. On the thirtieth anniversary, in 2006, it became Everland Resort, placed as the country’s largest complex of its kind; the word “resort” apparently added to distinguish the park from Samsung Everland as the group’s governance apex. The resort holds the theme park, Caribbean Bay, Home Bridge lodgings, the Glen Ross public golf course, the Hoam Art Museum, and, the essay says, the country’s largest snow-sledding slope, in a setting of Seokseongsan, about 500 meters high, and a lake. Cumulative visits passed 100 million in 2001 and 200 million on 19 August 2013; those counts stay with those dates. Later additions: Rocks Ville, rock-music theme, 2004; Aesop Village, mottoed as the world’s largest picture book (Aesop’s fables), 2005; T Express, Korea’s first wooden coaster, 2008; Lost Valley, an amphibious safari, 2013; Panda World, 2016, the fortieth year since opening and the twentieth under the Everland name. A plan, into 2017, to expand into a leisure town twice the area of Yeouido, with a luxury hotel, an aquarium, and an arboretum, was first postponed and then fizzled. The overall theme is hard to name. Unlike Disneyland, Universal Studios, or Legoland, no single clear theme and no signature landmark on the order of a castle or a globe, so little to stand in front of for a photograph; parades can feel thin in story beside parks with well-known film or animation characters. Five zones — Global Fair, American Adventure (placed as some 500 years of American history, from Columbus to Rocks Ville), Aesop Village, European Adventure (a European garden and buildings, plus T Express), and Zootopia — are said to sit apart; Magic Land (a magic theme) is also named. A main theme built around the Raini Friends mascots, worded as a land of fantasy, is placed as having made the whole even vaguer. Magic Land is compared to a 1990s amusement ground; new rides such as a cookie house, Thunder Falls, and Magic Garden are called not enough; Aesop Village standing on its own made Magic Land look older still. Indoor dark rides, which carry a theme better than a coaster and can run in the rain, are scarce: before Earth Village was removed there were two, Earth Village and Mystery Mansion; afterward only Mystery Mansion remained. In winter, long closures of T Express and Thunder Falls make that shortage felt more sharply. Against Lotte World, the impact of most rides is weaker, with a distinctive character mainly in T Express and the safari; after Eagle Fortress was demolished, Gyeongju World gained Phaethon, and the removal of Earth Village further thinned what felt unique to Everland. Rides such as Double Rock Spin, Columbus’s expedition, and Rolling X-Train are placed as not much different from Seoul Land. From the 2010s, entertainment thinned: the Aesop Village section quietly dropped from the Carnival Fantasy Parade, which had had thirteen floats, and the Venice section lost staff; Princess Thumb and the Splash Parade, which ran until 2016, and band shows on the windmill stage, ended without prior notice. Parade floats, except Shooting Water Fun, are said to be more than ten years old, with slow reinvestment. A 2008 accident at Tokyo Disneyland is cited: during a daytime parade, “Disney Dreams on Parade Moving On,” a three-meter, 300-kilogram piece fell from a Buzz Lightyear float in front of Cinderella Castle, almost causing a serious injury; the float had been used for five years, and a fixing part broke. The essay asks whether floats older than ten years can be called safe. That 2008 comparison stays with that year; no later official safety finding is added. From the Farmland years, much care went into flowers and trees, even the leveling of a whole hill; when flowers bloom the park is full of them nearby. Popularity comes from the safari, Lost Valley, and seal shows, rather than as a first stop for animals, where Seoul Grand Park or Daejeon O-World would serve better. Many kinds of outing are gathered: safari, rapids, sledding, skiing, a museum, racing, swimming, lodgings, a PC bang and arcade, even urban legends. The 55th Infantry Division’s nickname “Everland Defense Command”: medical and chemical units have trained on the grounds; in the past its soldiers could enter free like annual members; the Third Field Army band and honor guard have performed on the parade course. Crowds heavier on fair weekends in April, May, and October; lighter in summer unless a holiday of three days or more, because Caribbean Bay sits next door. The assignment asked for a revitalization plan; the core diagnoses these problems and records the postponed expansion; this page does not invent a later official attendance tally or an unfilled improvement scheme.

Last updated: 14 November 2026