Kaeson Youth Park - North Korea

[wikiverse]

I recently went on a trip to North Korea and visited the Kaeson Youth Park.

It is centrally located in Pyongyang - a short drive from Kim Il Sung square, next to the Arch of Triumph (photos taken from the top of the Arch). Here is a google maps link for anyone interested:  https://goo.gl/maps/sRmidMu3WRk

The park is fairly small and only open in the evenings.  It is next to Kim Il Sung University.  The park is mostly moderate thrill rides aimed at the university students.

You can see from the entrance that Pyongyang is a very safe city - there was no high fencing, just a simple rolling gate with no locks.  That bathroom tile aesthetic in the buildings is extremely common in North Korea.  They will tile the external walls of 30 Storey buildings on every floor.

The park had a really fun suspended flying coaster with an egg-beater lift hill.  I'm not sure of the model, but it was a really smooth, really fun ride.  It has two inversions.

You load onto the ride in a standing position and the operator closes a cage over you.  You're tilted into the flying position by a large steel bar just before the lift hill.  The two inversions are fairly intense considering you're not actually strapped into the cage, but they whip you around so fast you never really feel like you're gonna fall.

They also had 3 Zamperla rides, a Disko, a Power Surge (i didn't photograph it but you can see all three rides in a row in this pic), and a Frisbee (with the most terrifyingly loose restraint I've ever experienced). 

In addition, there was some dodgem cars (the Korean's are really violent drivers), A small pirate ship, and an S&S Shot 'n' drop.

There was a burger place inside the park (which was closed) but there were a bunch of street stalls outside selling snacks and soft-drinks.  Unfortunately, while foreigners can visit the park, we aren't allowed to buy stuff from the local stores since they only accept the local Korean currency (North Korean Won) - which foreigners are not allowed to use.

Foreigners can pay in Euro or Chinese Yuan.  We had to pay 10 Euro Entry to the park, and the individual rides ranged between 3 and 5 Euro each.

The park was quite empty - probably about as busy as you would expect Luna Park Melbourne to be on a random Friday night. It was National Day on the Sunday, and a Long Weekend, so people had a bunch of other stuff to do.

I didn't have a lot of time there and I wanted to go on most of the rides, so I only managed to get a few photos (and some videos). I only took my iPhone, so I apologise for the quality. I've got a couple of videos, if people are really interested I can upload them but they're really just of the coaster and the general park.  If I can get more photos and videos from the people I was traveling with, I'll upload them too if people are interested.

[Slick]

Awesome stuff! Out of curiosity, which tour group did you go through for your North Korea trip and how long was your tour?

[Tin Foil Hat]

Nice! Looks like a Zamperla showroom!

[pushbutton]

I'm very surprised to hear there's a theme park (of sorts) in North Korea. I thought any kind of fun was strictly prohibited there.

I'm also very surprised you were able to travel there. I certainly didn't think of it as a tourist destination! 

[wikiverse]

13 hours ago, Slick said:

Awesome stuff! Out of curiosity, which tour group did you go through for your North Korea trip and how long was your tour?

I booked with Young Pioneer Tours and did a special 10 day tour specifically for National Day.  There is no tour where the amusement parks are part of the itinerary, but our Korean tour guide was a little bit awesome and we basically nagged her to take us one night before dinner.  We really only had about an hour or so there since it's not an 'official' thing and all activities have to be cleared with the government.  So it was something special I thought I would share.

[Noxegon]

There are actually four amusement parks in Pyongyang. 

Mangyongdae Funfair, Taesongsan Funfair, and Kaeson Youth Park all date from the eighties – though the latter was levelled and rebuilt with a collection of Zamperla rides around 2010. The flying coaster you saw is a Zamperla Volare – not a type that's generally known for its comfort, but the one in the DPRK is remarkably good; I enjoyed it.

Rungna People's Pleasure Ground opened in 2012 – after my trip. It has a Reverchon mouse.

If anyone wants to do the parks I'd recommend going through Koryo Tours; in 2011 they were able to set up a private trip for me and a friend that took in the (then) three parks and all the major tourist sites in a week.

[pushbutton]

5 minutes ago, Noxegon said:

There are actually four amusement parks in Pyongyang. 

Mangyongdae Funfair, Taesongsan Funfair, and Kaeson Youth Park all date from the eighties – though the latter was levelled and rebuilt with a collection of Zamperla rides around 2010. The flying coaster you saw is a Zamperla Volare – not a type that's generally known for its comfort, but the one in the DPRK is remarkably good; I enjoyed it.

Rungna People's Pleasure Ground opened in 2012 – after my trip. It has a Reverchon mouse.

If anyone wants to do the parks I'd recommend going through Koryo Tours; in 2011 they were able to set up a private trip for me and a friend that took in the (then) three parks and all the major tourist sites in a week.

There's other major tourist sites as well as the theme parks? Wow!

[Noxegon]

Why wouldn’t there be? Every country has things to see. 

Here are the photos from my trip:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150275910020915.379351.672525914&type=1&l=57064d93cb

The one thing I didn’t get to see was the Mass Games, which by all accounts is the most elaborate show in the world. I’d recommend watching a British documentary on the subject, which is very well made:

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0456012/