When I start something new there is no stopping me.
I go to a Korean movie theater, I want to try them all.
AND when I see something that says "Gold Class" and the price tag for that movie is 30,000 won per person - well, I am intrigued to say the least.
In fact I was so intrigued that I bugged & begged Hubby to go to a 10:55PM movie with me just so we could try it out.
True Story.
10:55PM - That is in the evening folks - AKA - NIGHTTIME!
For those of you that know me you know this is well past my bedtime.
By the way, curfew for American soldiers that live on post is 1AM.
That's right you heard it directly from me - my 40 something Army officer of a husband has a CURFEW!
Crazy I know.

Anyway after a few minutes (he will say it was hours, but truly it was like 5 minutes) of me bugging him and calculating the time trying to convince him that he would be in on time and if not we could stay at our friends house if we didn't make it to the gate on time - he finally caved - like any good husband would do (anything to make me stop talking!)

For those of you that live here, you are going to thank me for being the guinea pig.

We bought our tickets on line here.
And we went a little early to figure it all out.
We picked our tickets up in the VIP line.
We got a super nice black envelope that held our receipt and we were directed upstairs to the VIP area.
This is the VIP lounge.
Very nice.
We totally felt like VIPs.

Only the 'cool' can enter.

Once we were seated in the lounge our waitress brought over a menu and ask us if we would like our complimentary snack and drinks now or when the movie began.  Here is the menu:

They also have another menu.  You can have lunch or a light dinner.  Prices were pretty average.  You can even order a bottle of wine for the movie if you so choose.

Hubby lounging in the lounge:

If you are in the lounge early, when it is time for your movie to start they come get you.

Inside the theater there is not a bad seat in the house.
 Each set of 2 chairs have a little table with a buzzer to call the waitress.  I believe you only have waitress service for about the first half hour of the movie.

Here is a sample of the complimentary snacks and drinks you get.
A bowl of nuts,  an egg tart each and a drink of your choice.
However you cannot get soda and popcorn.
If you want that you need to go downstairs and get that yourself.
(We did - what is a movie without soda and popcorn?  Come on now!)

What you are really paying for are the chairs.
The super comfy reclining chairs.
AND they will bring a blanket to you if you ask.
So, if you are at a REALLY late movie (say like a 10:55PM movie) and it is really boring, you might just be spending 30,000 won for a nap.
Good thing the movie we saw was NOT boring and I stayed awake the entire time.
(In case you are wondering we saw The Impossible - great flick based on a true story about the tsunami in Thailand back in 2004 - kind of hit home for us - we were in the same area of Thailand 5 years later, same dates, on vacation celebrating Christmas, 3 boys, they were missing a girl...anyway bring LOTS of tissues.)

All in all Hubby and I had a great movie experience.
Was it worth 30,000 won per person?
I think not.
If you are dating and you are trying to impress your date, do it.
Dive in and get the "Gold Class" package. 
Arrive early, enjoy the lounge. 
Oh, and you should probably spring for a nice bottle of vino too.

And yes, Hubby and I made it back to the gate with 10 minutes to spare.

                                                                                    I hate to admit this....
                                                       It is something you might have a hard time believing.
                                                                                    I'm a little ashamed.
                                                                             You are curious aren't you?

Confession: This past weekend was the first time I have gone out into Seoul and watched a movie at a Korean theater.  EVER.

Seriously.

Shocking I know.

When we lived here before movies at the theater on post were FREE.  That's right, they were FREE!!  So we really had no reason to go off post and pay for a movie.

This time around the movies are not free. (Dang it...I really liked that perk!)
 
They are still cheap, ($5USD) but the movie theater is a 'post' style movie theater.  You know, 1950's auditorium style.  The post movie theater kind of reminds me of the auditorium from my High School, but smaller...not that I went to high school in 1950's, heck I wasn't even born in the 50's,  But I'm sure some of you know what I am talking about.  So anyway, since the movie theater on post isn't free anymore I don't feel as obligated to frequent the theater as often...and since the movies off post aren't much more money than the ones on post ($5 vs. 8,000 Won - or $7.52USD) and it is a MUCH NICER theater with ASSIGNED SEATS, cheaper drinks/snacks...PLUS you can get Jagermeister Energy drink at a movie theater in Seoul.  I mean really..what more can one ask for? 

I did a little research and I found out that the movie theater at the Coex Mall is supposed to be the nicest theater in all of Seoul....some say all of Asia.  I can't say as I haven't been to them all.  In fact I have been to none of them.  How about this...I'll let you know if I find a nicer one.

So, trying to see a movie here in Seoul is not as easy as in the states.  You don't show up 1/2 an hour before the movies start to buy your tickets.  You order your tickets online several hours or DAYS in advance to guarantee you get a good seat.   Seriously, people around these parts PLAN their movies outings.  I ordered our tickets online more than THREE HOURS EARLY and this is the text they sent me:

We had to sit on the 2nd ROW!!  NO JOKE!!  Did I mention I ordered tickets more than 3 hours in advance?

To order tickets online anywhere in Seoul go to this website:
Cine in Korea
and you will see how easy it is.
They like it if you have a Paypal account.

This is the entrance to the movie theater.

And then you have to go down stairs to get to the ticket box.

All Korean movie theaters have little ATM type machines where you can buy tickets and print tickets.  We tried to print out tickets there but I couldn't figure it out so I when I went over to the information desk to ask how to print out the tickets they ask for my ticket code and printed them for me.  Easy peasy.

After getting our tickets we headed over to the snack bar for some yummy popcorn and we were intrigued by what all they have to offer.  As you already know you can get Jager Energy drinks, but did you know you can also get a Jager combo for a mere 14,000 won! 

It seems a little crazy to me that the Jager combo is less expensive than the Asahi combo!

And check out their nonalcoholic combos - this has got to be the best kept secret in Korea.   They are AFORDABLE - for movie prices anyway!  2 pretzels, 2 sodas & a popcorn for 9,500 won!  I'm super excited about this!

We ended up buying a popcorn combo...2 types of popcorn, 2 sodas and a hotdog for 12,000 won!
That is right...2 types of popcorn!
Cheese and caramel baby!
I liked the cheese more and Hubby liked the caramel more.
He says it is because I am cheesy and he is sweet. 
I'm not sure I agree with that. 

Isn't this bucket of popcorn AWESOME!?! 
Oh and the popcorn.... 
A M A Z I N G ! !
It was so good I wanted to go out and buy butter popcorn when we finished this bucket, but I resisted.
This way I have another 'new' thing to experience the next time we go to a Korea movie theater.

OH....I almost forgot to tell you.
There was NO CANDY counter!
How great is that?

Welcome to Korea where temps don't get much higher than freezing on any given day from Dec-Feb.
Yesterday it was actually warm, 34 degrees F, but it started snowing early in the day and it didn't stop till sometime in the middle of the night.
If I had not made reservations for the show Miso it is possible that last night could have turned into a  'Dexter' night.
(We just started season 7 of Dexter, and OH MY GOODNESS.  I'm so rooting for Dexter.  Don't judge me.)
ANYWAY...back to MISO!
Of course had to catch an outside train.
The deck was covered.

We took line 2 to City Hall Station and went out exit 2 (don't listen to other blogs, they renumbered the exits -WHY?!?!), this is what we saw to our left:  

And this is what we saw to our right:
The Deoksugung Palace.
(Doesn't it look magical with all the snowflakes?)

To get to the Chongdong Theater you will need to turn right at the corner of the palace and follow the palace wall until it ends - at this point you will come to a 't' intersection - you will see The Seoul Museum of Art on your left  - and a street on your right - continue going straight for about another minute you will see the Chongdong Palace on your right:

How it works...you make a reservation on THIS WEBSITE. 
You do not get seat assignments until you arrive at the theater and pay for your tickets.  The box office opens 1 hour prior to the show. There are 2 shows a day 5 & 8PM, ever day EXCEPT Monday.

Hubby and got to the theater early, paid for our tickets and headed out for a little grub.  We stopped at the first place we found a little Korean hole in the wall. (We continued walking straight past the theater and it was the first restaurant on the right.)  The food was YUMMY!    We got some kind of spicy boiled chicken.  (You will see the menu on the next "not quite right" post.)  This entire pot was 23,000 won and it was more than we could eat.  If we had not been going to a show we would have ask for a to go box.

            After dinner we met up with our great friends to get our Korean culture on at the Chongdong palace!
Miso is a love story set up in the Joseon Dynasty  - girl loves boy, another boy loves girl, girl goes to jail and is beaten because she loves the wrong boy - love prevails in the end!  The costumes are traditional, colorful and beautiful! The choreography was fantastic, the lighting great, the orchestra was spot on. There was laughter, crying and everything in between! There was Korean traditional dancing & opera style singing!  Just fun, fun, fun! Overall I think we all had a great time at Miso and would recommend it to anyone above the age of 12.  

After the show it was snowing EVEN MORE!  Here we are in front of the ice skating rink at City Hall. We considered skating, but the line was FOREVER long - we decided in the end that we will go during the day and take the kids...