BUSAN — On autumn nights, the scariest place in Busan is Lotte World Adventure Busan. The park has turned its mining village into a zombie infection zone and added an escape mission that sends participants across the empty grounds after closing time. As horror experiences become a mainstream outing option, the park's autumn festival "Zombie World" has been built out into a program spanning live shows, missions and themed set design.
The night escape mission "Z-TRACK Season 2" will be held on the 23rd. On the 31st, the park will extend operating hours until 11 p.m. and stage a horror cosplay contest and an EDM party. The festival runs through November 22.
50 Minutes in a Closed Park: Become a Survivor and Escape
"Z-TRACK Season 2" is a nighttime trekking experience staged across the entire park after it closes for the day. Participants take on the role of survivors stranded in the infection zone, collecting stamps scattered throughout the grounds while evading the infected. The time limit is 50 minutes. Completing the mission counts as a successful escape.
This is the second season of Z-TRACK, which debuted in August this year, with a wider range of missions and beefed-up staging of the infected. The event runs in five rounds on the 23rd from 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Participants enter through the main gate at the time slot selected during advance booking. The experience is open to those aged 13 and older, and a free zombie makeup event is offered before entry. Ticket prices and booking details are available on the Lotte World Busan website.
On that day, "Zombie World: The Beginning" will move up to 6 p.m. and "Big Daddy Zombie Night" to 7 p.m.
Open Until 11 p.m. on the 31st: Cosplay Runway and EDM Party
The park will stay open until 11 p.m. on the 31st only. At 5 p.m., a horror cosplay contest with a total prize pool of 3 million won (about $2,100) will be held in front of Lorry Castle. Contestants chosen through advance applications will transform into horror characters — ghosts, zombies, demons and monsters — and perform on a runway.
At 9:10 p.m., the "Horror Night EDM Party" begins at Royal Garden Plaza. Zombies emerge to the sound of sirens, and flash mobs, live DJ sets and special effects including lasers and sparculars turn up the heat of the night.
A Mining Village Overrun by Zombies, Plus Mission-Based Experiences
The Underland zone layers a horror narrative over its existing mining village theme. Under a storyline in which visitors search for a cure in a mine overtaken by Big Daddy and his zombies, each space from the entrance of the restricted area to Big Daddy's laboratory carries its own staging.
Beneath the Giant Digger, the park runs an escape experience called "Gwimun (Ghost Gate)-Z Protocol." Players must find clues and escape within a time limit from a laboratory haunted by the first zombie infectee. "Gwimun: Cave of Evil Spirits," which opened in April last year, also remains in operation. Visitors search for hints in a space modeled on an abandoned mine and complete a final mission; about 4,500 people took part during the month of September.
Live Shows That Carry the Zombie World Story
Every day at 6 p.m., sirens sound in the Underland zone and the infected appear, including a zombie standing 2 meters tall. "Zombie World Photo Time" lets visitors take pictures with the zombies. Photo Time runs every day except Tuesdays and Saturdays.
At 7 p.m., "Zombie World: The Beginning" depicts the outbreak of the virus and Big Daddy's experiments with a cure. At 8 p.m., "Big Daddy Zombie Night" plays out a chase between Kyle, a survivor who has escaped the mine, and the zombies, told through horror performance and rock musical. Both shows are dark on Tuesdays.
An official at Lotte World Adventure Busan said visitors can enjoy horror content in a variety of ways, from the park's distinctive staging to escape missions and face-to-face encounters with zombies, adding that the park plans to fill autumn nights with entertainment through vivid staging and a range of performances.