Nexon will open Maple Island, a permanent theme park based on the MapleStory intellectual property, on April 3 on the eastern side of Magic Island, the outdoor zone of Lotte World Adventure in Jamsil, Seoul. Nexon held a preview event for domestic media on April 1, two days before the opening. Built on a site of about 600 pyeong, the space brings together in-game areas and characters, attractions, goods and food and beverage, focusing on bringing the MapleStory universe into a real-world setting.

After passing the entrance and entering Maple Island, an outdoor space bordering the cherry blossoms of Seokchon Lake comes into view at a glance. Perhaps because the pink hues overlap, MapleStory’s distinctive, colorful palette blends naturally with the spring scenery. The first impression is that it links the entire outdoor area into a single universe, rather than theming just one specific facility. That is also why Nexon chose a permanent space instead of a short-term event pop-up. The structure itself reflects an intention to expand points of contact so people can continue to experience the long-running MapleStory IP offline as well.

Maple Island is decorated with the popular MapleStory areas Henesys, Ludibrium and Arcana as backdrops. It comprises 4 attractions in total, including 3 new attractions and 1 renovated attraction, as well as a goods shop called Maple Store and a food and beverage area called Maple Sweets. It was designed around the concept of “MapleStory becomes reality,” with a focus on providing an experience in which visitors enjoy the attractions, solve hidden quests and become the main character of the story.

At the center of the attractions is Stone Express, a family roller coaster. Set in Henesys, it follows a concept of setting out to find scattered stone spirits, and runs a course that circles Maple Island twice. It emphasizes being family-friendly, but riding it reveals more speed than expected. Character sculptures and large media-art pieces themed on the game continue through the queueing area, turning waiting time into part of the universe experience.

Eos Tower, set in Ludibrium, is a tower-type attraction. Pink Bean, a signature MapleStory character, is installed at the top. From the summit after boarding, Seokchon Lake and the surrounding Magic Island area can be seen at a glance. It adds a setting of defeating Blockpus with toy soldiers and heading to the top, layering MapleStory-style narrative onto the ride’s physical movement.

Arcana Ride, set in Arcana, is a spinning attraction built around a story of breathing vitality into the Spirit Tree. In the boarding area, “Song of the Spirit” plays to underscore the theme. From its exterior it looks like a slow spinning ride, but riding it delivers movement closer to a drift, offering unexpected fun. The facility’s hallmark is that it puts weight on atmosphere while also offering a twist in the ride sensation.

The existing attraction Gyro Spin was also renovated to match the Maple Island concept. A Pink Bean figure is placed in the center, combining fast spinning with movement up, down, left and right. Rather than merely adding 3 new facilities, it also brought an existing one into the universe so visitors can feel the same theme throughout the full route without a sense of mismatch.

Maple Island’s features do not end with the attractions. Maple Store displays items such as an “Eos Tower drink bottle,” a “Stone Express Pink Bean keyring,” a “Rune mini-game keyring” and a “Stone Spirit magic wand.” They are not simply character products, but items that immediately evoke the on-site attractions.

Maple Sweets sells MapleStory-themed food and beverages such as “Pink Bean waffles,” “maple leaf potato and slush,” and “honey butter maple popcorn.” It is arranged so that after experiencing the attractions, consumption of goods and food continues along a single route.

It is also rolling out seasonal expansion that includes indoor spaces. Nexon and Lotte World have been running the seasonal festival “MapleStory in Lotte World” across Lotte World Adventure since last month’s 14th, and the event runs for about 3 months until June 14. In the indoor “Hero Recruitment Zone,” visitors can use QR codes to load their MapleStory character or create a new look, and a “Find the Missing Pink Bean!” photo zone is also in operation. At night, a seasonal castle mapping show decorates Magic Castle with a MapleStory theme, and from late April MapleStory characters and dancers will be added to the parade, along with a new photo time with popular characters.

Character linkage using QR codes and online event elements show the collaboration was designed so it does not end with an offline experience. It aims for a circular structure in which a theme park visit leads to logging into the game, and the game experience leads back to another visit. Ultimately, Maple Island is an experiment to keep a long-running game IP of more than 20 years operating offline as well. The effort to expand the MapleStory IP, previously consumed in-game, into the popular space of an amusement park has moved into full swing.