Hanam Starfield with a baby: things to do, including the Daheuk firefly pop-up where you can see real fireflies
We stopped by Hanam Starfield for a family outing and ended up checking out
the firefly pop-up by insect YouTuber Daheuk!
April 9, the day we visited, was actually the opening day of the pop-up.
It only runs through April 19, so it’s a pretty short event.
If you want to see the fireflies, I’d go sooner rather than later.
The Hanam Starfield firefly pop-up is held in the South Atrium.
If you’re trying to find it by nearby stores,
it’s between Ahn’s Bakery and Starbucks,
one level below the Mercedes-Benz showroom, near the Patagonia store.
The space is actually pretty big, with different zones to explore,
including insect and reptile exhibits,
sand art activities, and the firefly experience.
We mainly came because we wanted our baby to see fireflies,
so we went straight to buy tickets first.
There was no wait on a weekday, but on weekends,
I heard there was a pretty long line last year
when the pop-up was at Starfield Suwon.
The firefly experience ticket is 6,000 KRW, or about $4.
That’s 1,000 KRW more expensive than when it popped up at Starfield Suwon last year ^^
The experience itself lasts 5 minutes!
You go into a dark room, watch for a few minutes, and then exit.
Since each session is only about 5 minutes long,
they run as many as 30 sessions a day.
You can’t reserve in advance,
so tickets are first come, first served.
We got tickets for the 15th session,
then waited a bit until it was time to go in.
This is what the ticket looks like.
As expected, every person needs their own ticket,
and for infants, they start charging admission once the baby is over 12 months old.
My daughter was 11 and a half months, so she got in free—huge win.
That said, babies without a paid ticket can’t take up their own seat,
so they have to sit on a parent’s lap.
You need to arrive at least 5 minutes before your session
and line up at the entrance.
For example, if your entry time is 1:52 p.m.,
you need to be lined up in front of the dark room starting at 1:47 p.m.
That’s when they go over the instructions.
This area is for the sand art activity.
I’m not totally sure what sand art actually involves, but
it looked like a decent way to keep kids entertained
while spending time at Hanam Starfield. The price is 5,000 KRW.
There’s also a free exhibit zone off to one side
where anyone can look at insects and reptiles.
There are some creepy ones too, like lizards and snakes,
plus preserved insect specimens, and honestly the quality is really impressive.
I think elementary school kids who love nature and animal observation
would find this especially interesting.
We also checked out rhinoceros beetles.
There were turtles too!
My daughter is still so little that she didn’t pay attention
to the insects at all, but the turtles
were big and moved around a lot, so those definitely caught her eye.
On one side, they were even offering lizards for adoption/sale(?).
They were seriously tiny and adorable.
And the prices were lower than I expected, which surprised me.
When it was finally our time, we lined up in front of the dark room.
A staff member came over and told everyone to turn their phone brightness down as low as possible
and make sure their camera flash was fully off
before going inside.
Don’t wait until you’re inside—adjust it in advance!
Even with them repeating this over and over,
someone still managed to use flash in the dark room…
Ready to go in already~
One thing to note: some babies cry when they enter the dark room, so if your little one gets too upset, it may be hard to stay for the full viewing.
Inside, the room is truly pitch black,
but at first they keep a dim red light on until everyone is seated.
There’s one long table in the center,
and the firefly enclosure sits on top of it, covered with black fabric,
so you can’t see anything right away.
There are low stools set up on both sides of the table,
so each person sits down individually
and watches the fireflies right in front of them.
Once you’re seated,
there’s a little jewel box placed in front of each seat.
Inside that box is a glass bottle
with a few fireflies in it.
Once the red light goes off too, you open the jewel box
and finally get to see the fireflies glowing—tiny little sparkles in the dark.
As you watch the fireflies,
you listen to an audio docent narration provided by YouTuber Daheuk.
The species on display here
is called aebaenditbul, said to be the smallest firefly species in Korea.
After closing the jewel box,
you get to observe the main enclosure for real. There are supposedly 3,000 of them!
They’re inside a glass enclosure, and the soft green flickering light
looks so mysterious and beautiful.
I thought these little fireflies were all alone,
but turns out they’ve got 3,000 friends!
It was so dark in there that you really couldn’t see anything except the fireflies,
so I’m not even totally sure how much my daughter actually noticed the lights,
but I’d like to think she saw them at least a little.
If you’re visiting Hanam Starfield with kids,
I definitely think this Daheuk pop-up is worth doing at least once.
Even if you’re not going with a baby or child,
it’s not every day you get to see fireflies
right in the middle of the city, so I’d still recommend checking it out.