Children's Grand Park () or Seoul Children's Grand Park is a park complex in

Gwangjin District Gwangjin District () is one of the List of districts of Seoul, 25 districts of Seoul, Seoul, South Korea. It is located on the north bank of the Han River (Korea), Han River on the eastern end of City of Seoul, Seoul. The district was split from ...

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, South Korea. Facilities at Children's Grand Park include hills and hiking trails, Zoo, garden, and an amusement park. Children's Grand Park is a leisure facility for families, offering a botanical garden, amusement facilities, and diverse performance events. The facility first opened on Children's Day (May 5), 1975. It has a number of attractions for children, including a Marine Animal House with seals and polar bears, a Small Animal Village, and a Parrot Village. Nearly 62% of the park's total area of about consists of trees and grass and various facilities.

History

Seoul Children's Grand Park is an eco-friendly park, because it obtained

ISO 14001 The ISO 14000 family is a set of international standards for Natural environment, environment management systems. It was developed in March 1996 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations ...

certification and was designated as an educational experiencing place by Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education for operating various educational programs for children. Seoul Children's Grand Park was originally the royal tomb for Empress Sunmyeonghyo, who was the Queen of the last King, Sunjong, of the Greater Korean Empire. In 1926, the tomb was moved to Yangju-gun (currently the city Namyangju) in

Gyeonggi Province Gyeonggi Province (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Seoul, the nation's largest city and capital, is in the heart of the area but has been separately administered as a provincial-level ''special city'' since 1946. Incheon, ...

when King Sunjong died. In 1970, by order of President

Park Chung Hee Park Chung Hee (; ; November14, 1917October26, 1979) was a South Korean politician and army officer who served as the third president of South Korea from 1962 after he seized power in the May 16 coup of 1961 until Assassination of Park Chung ...

, construction of the park started and opened the following year. On April 20, 2005, six elephants escaped from the Children's Grand Park, causing chaos in the parking lot, shops, and houses, and injuring a 52 years old woman. On March 16, 2009, that incident was also featured on the Discovery Channel's Destroyed in Seconds season 1 episode 31 at the time. Among the South Korean celebrities,

Lee Sang-woo Lee Sang-woo (; born February 13, 1980) is a South Korean actor. He rose to fame in the 2007 television drama ''First Wives' Club'', and has since played leading roles on '' The Road Home'' (2009), '' Don't Hesitate'' (2009), '' Life Is Beautif ...

and Kwak Do-won, who were late because of this incident, mentioned this story on the air. Inspired by this incident, Kim Tae-won who's the lead guitarist/songwriter of Boohwal, rearranged a part of Ennio Morricone's work, ''Gabriel's Oboe'', and created the second half and releasing the song ''4.1.9 The Elephant Escapes'' () on July 5, 2005. On February 12, 2015, an accident occurred in which a zookeeper was bitten and killed by two lions at the zoo's Ferocious-Animal Village during the day. In April 2021, the park reopened to the public following eight months of renovation. The park now features 14 rides including a roller coaster, a Viking ship ride, a merry-go-round and bumper cars. The zoo is inhabited by 90 animal species and provides several educational programs that promote the importance of nature and wildlife conservation. At 2:50 on March 23, 2023, a Grant's zebra named Sero () escaped from the Children's Grand Park and he roamed through residential areas and city streets.

Service hours

Between 5 a.m. – 10 p.m. (05:00 – 22:00) Opening time of the main entrance, rear gate, Guuimun, and Neungdongmun (05:00 – 22:00) The zoo is open from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. (It is subject to change depending on season and weather.)

Fees

Entrance is free, but fees for facilities such as the zoo and amusement park vary according to facility. * Free admission of park entrance * Fee charged or the use of Park Facilities

Animal show

Operation

*Year-round

Time

*April ~ October → 11:30 – 17:00 on weekdays (every hour) / 11:30 – 18:00 on weekends (every hour) *November ~ March → 11:30 – 16:00 on weekdays (every hour) / 11:30 – 17:00 on weekends (every hour)

Note (contact info.)

*For senior citizen and patriot/veteran: Fee for child. *The handicapped (including group) 5,000 won for adult / 4,000 won for teenager and child. *Event time is subject to change. *Admission fee for adults older than 19 year-old

Fee for the use of park facilities

Facilities

Parking facilities

*Main entrance parking lot: 153 parking spaces *Rear entrance parking lot: 252 parking spaces *Guuimun entrance parking lot: 315 parking spaces

Location

Address: 216, Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

(

Neung-dong Neung-dong () is a '' dong'' (neighbourhood) of Gwangjin District, Seoul, South Korea. Overview Neung-dong was historically a densely populated area encompassing several surrounding villages, with approximately 300 households during its peak pros ...

)

Public transportation

* Achasan station * Children's Grand Park station * Bus: 130, 302, 303, 320, 370, 721, 2221, 2311, 3216, 4212, 9403, 3500, 9301, 119

Cultural references

* '' Two Mules'' (1975) * '' Destroyed in Seconds'' - Elephants Go Berserk (2009)

Gallery

Seoul Childrens Grand Park Main Gate.jpg, Main Gate Grant's zebra in Seoul Children's Park.jpg, Grant's zebra on the 24 December 2015 SeoulChildrensGrandPark-zoo.jpg, Tiger in the zoo SeoulChildrensGrandPark-botanicalGarden.jpg, Botanical garden SeoulChildrensGrandPark-zoo-elephant.jpg, Elephant show at the zoo SeoulChildrensGrandPark.JPG, Autumn in Children's Grand Park

References

*Kidsfuninseoul. (n.d.). "Children's Grand Park Seoul." Retrieved from https://kidsfuninseoul.wordpress.com/playing/amusement-parks/childrens-grand-park/ *Lee, H. S. (2015). Measurement of visitors' satisfaction with public zoos in Korea using importance-performance analysis.''Tourism Management,'' 47- 251–260. doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2014.10.006 *LifeinKorea. (2015). "Seoul Children's Grand Park." Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20150506012905/http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Travel2/454 * *Seoul Metropolitan Facilities Management. (2015). "Children's Grand Park." Retrieved from http://new.sisul.or.kr/global/main/en/sub/park.jsp *Korea Tourism Organization. (n.d.). "Children's Grand Park." Retrieved from http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=1051832

External links

* {{coord, 37.546, N, 127.08, E, display=inline,title Amusement parks in Gyeonggi Province Parks in Seoul Gwangjin District 1973 establishments