The Lotte group, operator of a number of shopping, hospitality and leisure businesses in South Korea – including the nation’s leading theme park – has revealed new details about its upcoming family resort in the city of Busan.
Lotte’s Magic Forest is reported to be on track for a mid-2021 opening. It will feature design by longtime Lotte collaborator, Hollywood-based Legacy | GGE (formerly the Goddard Group).
“Since 2011, we have enjoyed an incredible friendship with Lotte,” says Yaeli Chung, Legacy | GGE’s managing director for Korea, adding “’Lotte’s Magic Forest’ will mark our 10th project together, by-far our largest and most complex collaboration to date.”
The first phase of the theme park project will cover over 100,000 square metre and feature over a dozen family rides and attractions. These will be anchored by two signature rollercoaster experiences. There will be six themed zones, each one inspired by a different element of nature. The park’s design will be completely unique from the operator’s flagship Lotte World theme park in Seoul, which regularly draws over 7 million visitors per year.
“Our guiding concept here was to create Asia’s first European-style theme park, and to immerse guests in the charm and wonder of a magical garden environment,” explains Marcus King, Legacy | GGE’s senior director of project management.
Lotte’s Magic Forest will be located in Busan’s Osiria district, adjacent to the company’s existing East Busan Lotte Outlet Complex. The new park will accompany a host of other attractions to be constructed in the nearby area, including a hillside luge run, and an expanded retail mall. Site work is anticipated to begin this summer, with construction following in early 2019.
