Seoul Searching | Children's Day at Lotte World Mall.

Children's Day may have long been over, but this will always be Yue's favorite Korean holiday. After all, he has been part of this occasion for two years running.

In Korea and Japan, Children's Day is celebrated every 5th of May. Parents often give presents to their children, as well as spend quality time with them. More often than not, the children are taken on excursions to zoos, museums, parks, and other venues with kid-friendly entertainment.

Last year, I took Yue to Seoul Forest, where he fed deer by hand, went bird-watching, and enjoyed the beauty of nature as we strolled around. This year, we chose to go to the Lotte World Mall because we heard there'd be lots of fun activities on Children's Day. And true enough, there was already a great buzz happening when we arrived at the place. Kids were crowding around the mascots that made a surprise appearance at the Lotte Department Store!

Miniso mascot, and the Miniso pop-up store at the first floor.

Dokkaebi!

Snorkmaiden!

Playful Moomintroll!

The house-cleaning hamster, Ebichu!

More Children's Day photos after the jump!
Yue did not miss the chance to take photos with the mascots, especially Snorkmaiden and Moomintroll, whom we are huge fans of. After the photo op, Snorkmaiden ushered us towards the Moomin Shop, where some of the toys and collectibles were on sale.

Wooden toys.

The plushies were on sale at just 8000 won if I remember correctly, and I told Yue he can get anything from the pile. He chose Moomintroll, of course!

Plushies!

We then continued our mini-shopping spree at Uniqlo, where we bought UTs, and at the Nike store to check out the latest Jordans and Kyries. Too bad they didn't have the Kyrie 3 pair that I wanted!

Uniqlo - always the place to go, even in South Korea. Haha!

Jordan 6!

Then we headed over to the Miniso at the third floor, where we bought a few items - including these BoniCrew plushies.

Gotta get 'em all!

They weren't available at this particular Miniso store when we visited last winter during the height of Goblin's popularity, so I was more than thrilled to see all five characters - Mr. Buckwheat, Grim Reaper, Dokkaebi, Tricat, and Poipot - in-store, waiting to be purchased.

From L-R: Tricat, Poipot, Mr. Buckwheat, Grim Reaper, Dokkaebi.

Yue checking out the RCs.

Satisfied with our purchases, Yue and I made our way to the nearby Lotte World Tower, the 123-floor building which officially opened a month before our spring trip to South Korea. We were hoping to visit the Observation Deck and get a majestic view of Seoul, but alas, there was a long and winding queue at the super-speed elevator heading up to Seoul Sky. Yue knows I hate waiting in line, so he suggested we go to the park in front of the tower because he saw a lot of kids heading that way.

Photo credit: Korea Times.

Turns out, there's a Lego Festival, and Yue was beyond the moon when he saw the life-size Lego creations displayed all over the park.

Motorcycle built with Legos!

Not-so-micro Microfighter!

Lego fan is happy!

The festival also featured activity areas, where kids can play with bricks and display their Lego creations. More than four million Lego parts were made available to visitors during the festival, and kids and even kids-at-heart can build to their hearts' content.

Yue getting ready to rumble! :)

Lego geek. :)

Some of the creations displayed at the park.

Big bricks!

Families enjoying Children's Day.

We stayed at the activity area for about an hour or so. Yue did not want to leave without finishing his own version of the Lotte World Tower, haha! It was a good thing we stayed at the park long enough to catch Lego Batman and Joker doing rounds at the festival. Yue had his photo taken with them, of course!

Batman!

And Joker!

As we made our way back to Jamsil Station, we chanced upon these musicians and mascots parading around the department store. They stopped near the Avenue L exit (or entrance, lol) for a performance, and for photo ops with the kids. Yue made his way through the crowd so he could get closer to the mascots for his own photo op. Because there's no such thing as taking too many pictures, haha!

Parade of characters.

Happy monkeys!

Yue enjoyed his second Children's Day celebration in Korea so much that he's looking forward to the festivities next year. I wonder where in Seoul will we be celebrating next? :)

Good night from Yue and Moomin! :)

To get to Lotte World Mall, take the subway to Jamsil Station (Subway Line 2), Exit 1, 2, 10, 11.

Lotte World Mall
05551, Olympic-ro 300, Songpa-gu, Seoul(Sincheon-dong 29)
Tel. +82-2-3213-5000