When I heard there was going to be a Pokémon World Festival here in Korea, I knew I had to check it out! So I grabbed my camera, my boyfriend and made the 2 hr journey over to Incheon’s Triple Street mall.
When we arrived, we were greeted by an adorable assembly of Pikachu statutes surrounded by people dying to snap the perfect selfie with them. Luckily it wasn’t overly crowded, so we were able to take our pictures and move on to the more interesting parts of the festival. We didn’t know EXACTLY what to expect, but were were promised carnival games, prizes, free swag and, of course, dancing Pikachu.
Unfortunately, what we found were mini Pokémon themed carnival-like games that were for kids ONLY. There were games like plinko, dice, a giant jenga set and a water gun shooting range. The games were super easy and made to play in a matter of seconds. The point is to play every game and fill up a stamp card to receive a free Pokémon water bottle. The character on the bottle changes every week, and this time it was Pikachu! I don’t think I saw any kid over the age of 12 playing the games, though I was desperately searching for at least one kidult who would give me the green light to throw my shame out the window. Alas, no such luck. I really wanted that bottle. Sadness.
My boyfriend felt sorry for me, so we decided to try the second way to get free prizes. This method required us to download and app and “check-in” to various hotspots in the mall. It was kind of like a scavenger hunt, so you were given general areas where the “check-in” points would be, but you have to find the exact spot yourself. It was super complicated and not set up very well. Eventually we figured out that it was a point based game that you have to play multiple times to increase your score. Meaning you have to pretty much do the entire scavenger hunt once a day for a chance to win anything at all. Hard pass.
Feeling a bit annoyed, we decided to lift our spirits by checking out the Pokémon pop-up store. Unfortunately it was only open the first week of the festival. So in our final attempt to satisfy our Pokémon needs, we went to claim our free Pikachu balloon. All GONE!!!
Needless to say the odds were not in our favor, so we decided to go check out the Pikachu Dance. We got pretty good seats and the dance was so cute, it somehow made the whole trip worth it. We also found a Pokemon mini maze to run through and a bunch of blow-up Pikachu figures to take pictures with. It was definitely an interesting experience to say the least.
Essentially, the whole festival was just an event to promote the grand opening of the Triple Street outdoor mall. The mall itself is massive and completely geared towards accommodating families. There are rooftop playgrounds, plenty of toy stores, a movie theater, soccer fields and even a cafe that has a bunch of photo zones to take pictures of your kids. The layout of the mall is super spacious and there are plenty of elevators, all to accommodate families with strollers. It’s fantastic… if you have kids. Otherwise, you’re surrounded by running screaming children and getting nipped in the heels with strollers all day.
All in all it was an uneventful eventful day. If you have kids, definitely check out the event before it’s over. They will definitely have a blast. If you are kidless, maybe take a pass on this one unless you really want to take some Pokemon themed pictures for your Instagram or see a dancing Pikachu. You can catch their performance at 1:00pm, 3:00pm & 5:00pm. Until next time…
- When
- Saturday, April 29th ~ Sunday, May 21st
- Address
- 인천광역시 연수구 송도동 170-1
- Phone
- 032-260-1230
- Website
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