Vivaldi Park Ski World: Huge Ski & Entertainment Complex Near Seoul

Vivaldi Park Ski World, run by Daemyung Resort, is a very popular ski resort in Korea due to its proximity to Seoul. It takes 1.5 hours from Seoul by bus and the resort provides free round-trip transportation from Hongik Univ. Station, Myeongdong (Lotte Hotel), CALT, and Seoul Station every day during the winter season (November-March).

It is also the most visited ski resort in Korea for 8 consecutive years. What set it aside from other ski resorts are its trendy restaurants, stylish buildings, varied entertainment, and nightlife. All these add to the enjoyment of the resort-goers. Besides skiing and snowboarding, there are SO many activities here.

Vivaldi Park is also the largest lodging resort in Korea with over 1,900 rooms. There are several accommodation types – Oak, Pine, Cherry, Maple, and Park Hotel. We stayed in the Oak Family Room because it has been refurbished recently. This building is also the nearest to the ski slopes. I’ll show you the room in a short while.

Contents:
1. Getting to Vivaldi Park Ski World
2. Oak Family Room
3. Ten Ways to Enjoy Vivaldi Park Ski World
4. Summary
5. Tour Recommendations

Getting to Vivaldi Park Ski World

Getting to the resort from Seoul is super easy with its free shuttle bus. You can book it online with a pick-up location most convenient to you. We chose Seoul Station for its later time at 10 am. We took the subway from Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station (near our hotel) and reached Seoul Station in less than 30 mins. Exit 15, however, is quite a long walk that took us 20 mins with our luggage in tow.

Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station

The bus arrived on time in front of Lotte Mart. The staff from Winterfriend (operator of the shuttle bus) was there to assist in the boarding. If you have not booked your ski lesson at this time, you may do so with a Winter friend. They offered a reasonable ski package at KRW 85,000 that includes everything you need to enjoy skiing (gear rental, lift ticket, and 45-minute lesson).

We took a nap on the bus. Before we realized it, we had arrived at the resort. Haha! The excitement slowly built up as we saw the ski slopes and lifts. The resort looked much bigger than our expectations. We took our luggage to Oak Building. The official check-in time was 3 p.m. It was still early but the staff was so nice to give us our room key (although the room was not cleaned yet). We dropped off our luggage in the room and headed for lunch.

Oak Family Room

The resort has seven buildings for accommodation – Oak, Pine, Cherry, Maple, Noblian, Youth Hostel, and Park Hotel. Noblian is only available for members of Daemyung Resort. Oak, Pine, Cherry, and Maple are apartments with two room types – Family Room and Suite Room. The former is a studio with a bed, kitchen, and living room all-in-one and a separate bathroom. It can accommodate up to 4 pax. If you have over 4 pax or prefer more space, you can consider the latter with 2 bedrooms.

Oak Family Room

As per the resort regulation, you can only choose the bed type – Double, Twin Bed, or Ondol (without bed) when you check-in. In Oak Wing, the Family Room is an Ondol Room with a double bed or twin beds with an extra futon for 2. Ondol? What’s that? It’s a heated flooring that allows guests to sleep on the futon (on the floor) comfortably even in winter. Personally, I find that the futon is rather thin compared to those in Japan. However, V who slept on the futon commented that it’s quite comfortable.

We chose the double bed and also requested for ski slope view. Tadaa! This is our room on the 12th floor (nothing to shout out actually, haha!) The design is modern but simple. As the room has been refurbished, it looked relatively new. There is a queen bed, 2 sets of futon bedding in the wardrobe, a living hall with sofa and TV, a dressing area with mirror and hair dryer, a dining area with table and chairs, a bathroom, as well as a small kitchenette with rice cooker, induction cooker, electric kettle, fridge, and utensils.

Oak family Room

The bathroom has a toilet with a bidet, shower cubicle, shampoo, body wash, hand soap, and four hand towels (big bath towels like those in hotels are not provided here). The room also has a small balcony where we can enjoy the beautiful ski slope view at any time of the day. In the corner of the room, there’s a drying rack too.

Now let’s move on to the more interesting section.
Ten Ways to Enjoy Vivaldi Park Ski World

As I’ve told you earlier, Vivaldi Park has a plethora of activities, many eateries, and great facilities. Best of all, they are all connected to the basement – including the accommodation wings and Ocean World. You can enjoy all of them conveniently and warmly even in winter!

1. Skiing and snowboarding

No doubt the main activities in a ski resort are skiing and snowboarding. There are 11 slopes with mostly gentle gradients (2 beginner, 5 intermediate, 3 advanced, 1 expert) that are perfect for families to learn skiing together.

Ski lessons in Korea are cheaper than in Japan. Hence, some people choose to learn skiing in Korea first before enjoying in Hokkaido later. Lesson fees for skiing and snowboarding offered by the resort are as follows (rate as of 2019/20):

  • Family (2-4 members): 2 hours KRW 248,000, 4 hours KRW 336,000
  • 1 to 1: 2 hours KRW 248,000, 3 hours KRW 288,000, 4 hours KRW 328,000
  • Ski gears rental: 2-3 hours KRW 12,000, 4 hours KRW 17,000
Skiing and snowboarding

There are 3 lesson times: 1) Morning 10am – 12 noon, 2) Afternoon 2pm – 4pm, 3) Night 7pm – 9pm. Booking of the lesson is, of course, super easy too. Just head to the counters in the ski school 30 minutes before the lesson to register. There are also several private ski lessons operated by third parties with guaranteed English-speaking instructors such as JSKI.

2. Snowy Land

Snowy Land is the biggest snow sled park in Korea. From traditional sleds to tube sleds to mobile rafts to snowy play zones, it’s a SUPER FUN place for everyone. If you have kids, you must NOT miss this! It’s located on the mountain and hence we need to take a gondola to reach the park.

Snowy Land is usually opened in early to mid-Dec every year (the opening date will only be announced in late Nov). This year, it was opened on 6 Dec 2019. Its opening hours are 10 am – 4:30 pm (day pass) and 6:30 pm – 10:30 pm (night pass). During the day, it’s a huge snow playground. At night, it turns into a beautiful walk away with thousands of real candles lightening the snowy street.

I’ll share more about Snowy Land in another post. You can book discounted tickets to Snowy Land on Klook that include round-trip transportation from Seoul and gondola tickets. No child price, the ticket is priced at ~S$33 and it’s very reasonable. You can play the entire day here! Even though there is no re-entry, there are restaurants and lockers for you to eat, rest, and keep your belongings to fully enjoy yourselves at the park.

3. Ocean World

Ocean World is a HUGE water park located next to the ski area (also accessible by the B1 underground mall). The park covers 120,982,200 sq ft, which is 14 times bigger than a soccer field! Designed to look like an oasis in the middle of the Egyptian desert, it offers many thrilling and exciting attractions.

Even though the outdoor area is closed during winter, the indoor area is also massive with pools, slides, a jacuzzi, hot baths, and Jjimjilbang (Korean Dry Sauna). Water is heated in the park, hence we felt very comfortable even in winter.

Ocean World

Our favorites are the wave pool and lazy river with fast-flowing currents. After the play, we took a dip in the hot baths (in the bath area). So relaxing! The admission ticket also includes the Jjimjilbang. Unfortunately, the park closed at 7 pm and we didn’t have enough time to check it out. Before I forget, the park also has a food court and Burger King. Admission ticket is priced at ~KRW 30,000 and you can purchase it at the resort.

4. Family Sports

There are various family sports in the B1 underground mall such as Bowling, Billiards, and Table Tennis. The rates are even cheaper than in Singapore! We went bowling at night. The rate is KRW 5,000 per game and shoe rental is KRW 1,500.

5. Advanced Activities

There are also advanced and trendy activities in the resort such as K1 Speed, Legend Heroes, and VR Adventure. K1 Speed is the world’s premier indoor go-kart facility. K1 Speed in Vivaldi Park is also Asia’s first location (not available in Singapore yet!). Rates are KRW 33,000 and KRW 59,000 for one and two races respectively. Each race consists of 12 laps and all equipment will be provided. In this game, you’ll only race with your own group or on your own if you have no companion. Hence, you don’t need to worry about competing with others.

Advanced Activities

Another game that we highly recommend is Legend Heroes. It’s a screen-sport facility featuring several sports such as pitching, soccer, archery, batting, shooting, bowling, and so on. You feel like playing real sports with the filmed screens and sounds! This is SUPER FUN! The rates are KRW 15,000 for 60 mins, KRW 20,000 for 90 mins, and KRW 25,000 for 120 mins. We played for two hours on our last day after we checked out (while waiting for our return bus to Seoul).

6. Amusement Park for Kids

At the B1 mall, there is a small amusement park with various rides, merry-go-round, and bumper cars that are suitable for kids.

Amusement Park for Kids

7. Game Arcade, Karaoke, Cinema, PC Game, Sauna, Claw Catcher

You’ll be amazed to know that there are also game arcades, karaoke, cinemas, computer games, saunas, salons, souvenir shops, various claw catcher machines as well as 24-hour coin-operated laundry in this resort.

8. Ant World Indoor Playground

Opened in 2018, Ant World is a unique indoor play area for families with young kids to spend quality time together. Attractions include slides, an RC car, a café and etc.

9. Enjoy Local Food

I must admit that I’m very impressed with the eateries here. There are many restaurants in the underground mall, Main Center, and apartment buildings. Burger King, Starbucks Coffee, Domino’s Pizza, Dongmoon Express (Halal food), Chinese Table, Sala Thai, Michaewon Korean Restaurant, etc.

Enjoy Local Food

Our favorite restaurant is Vivaldi Pub, located next to the bowling area. Here, you can try the famous BHC Korean Fried Chicken – one of the most popular Korean Fried Chicken brands with over 1,000 stores since 2004. The popular flavors include Crispy Chicken and Sauce Chicken. To try them both, simply order the half-half option. Vivaldi Pub also serves delicious Korean food at affordable prices. They are super yummy!

10. Visit the supermarket

Vivaldi Park operates a big supermarket named Good & Goods with several stores throughout the resort. You can buy frozen food such as pizzas and dumplings, processed food as well as instant noodles to cook in your room. You can also buy snacks, alcohol like beer and soju, juices, soft drinks, coffee, fruits, toiletries, etc. Reasonably-priced too!

Visit the supermarket

Final Word

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our 3D2N stay at Vivaldi Park Ski World. The size of the resort itself already wins hands down. The ski building and accommodation towers are linked via the basement. The basement, in turn, houses several restaurants, a supermarket, and an assortment of activities. The adjoining Ocean World does double duty as a water park and Jjimjilbang in winter, hence there’s A LOT to do even if you or your travel party doesn’t want to hit the slopes.

Additionally, the resort offers a free shuttle bus with numerous pick-up points, making it very convenient to travel to the resort. Price-wise, everything is pretty reasonable here – including the accommodation, food, and activities. We paid ~S$175/night for an Oak Family Room in the low season (breakfast not included). Vivaldi Park Ski World has everything we need for a perfect vacation! It’s suitable for first-timers or beginners to learn skiing but can be somewhat boring for advanced skiers.

The Good

  1. 1.5 hours travel time from Seoul makes it day-trippable with a free shuttle bus.
  2. Lots of indoor activities and restaurants.
  3. Snowy Land is super FUN!

The Bad

  1. Mostly man-made snow, it didn’t snow at all during our stay.
  2. Beginner slopes can be quite crowded.
  3. A lot of things in Ocean World are chargeable including lounge chairs, life vests, and towels.
  4. The service staff can’t speak English well, and the lack of signs in English can be frustrating.

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