Seoul Children's Grand Park, Urban park in Gwangjin District, Seoul, South Korea
Children's Grand Park covers about 530,000 m² in Neung-dong, Gwangjin District, and roughly 62% of it is trees and grass. It holds a zoo, a botanical garden with 402 plant species and 5,506 specimens, an amusement park with 14 rides including a roller coaster, and an outdoor music hall. The photograph shows the Ferris wheel's white struts and gondolas in yellow, green and red, with a white roller coaster track curving below.
The park opened in 1973 on Children's Day, built on the grounds of a former golf course. This transformation made it one of Seoul's first large public spaces designed specifically for young visitors.
The park opened on Children's Day, May 5, 1973, and that date remains its busiest day, with 735,000 visitors recorded on Children's Day 1977. The zoo houses 90 animal species and runs educational programmes such as vacation animal classes and insect classes on alternate Saturdays. A 2023 escaped zebra named Sero became a local talking point.
The park opens early and stays open until evening, making it convenient for morning or afternoon visits. Bring comfortable walking shoes since there is plenty of ground to cover on foot.
On 20 April 2005, six elephants got out of their enclosure here and wandered through the car park, shops and nearby houses, injuring a 52-year-old woman. The escape was later shown on the Discovery Channel series Destroyed in Seconds, and Boohwal guitarist Kim Tae-won released an instrumental piece inspired by it, 4.1.9 The Elephant Escapes, on 5 July 2005.
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