Ever SM Town

Development

Ever SM Town is a theme park space and content production project created by SM Entertainment and Everland. The collaboration was established through a memorandum of understanding signed in August 2022.

Everland, which is operated by Samsung C&T Resort Division, announced on September 21, 2022, that it would work with SM to create an artist experience area blending SM’s narrative. The MOU covers what was described as the world’s first experience content based on the metaversal origin story of SM Culture Universe, reflecting SM’s core values and vision for future entertainment. It also includes plans for theme park space and joint content production.

The project, named Ever SM Town, opened on October 1, 2022. SM announced via Twitter that new experimental content using the intellectual property of artists like Exo, Red Velvet, NCT, and Aespa would roll out at Everland in Yongin, Gyeonggi province, starting October 14. At launch, the park integrated augmented reality, video zones, and photo zones into major areas. These areas included rides such as the Hurricane, Bumper Car, Amazon Express, and Music Garden, all designed to introduce the SM universe.

The bumper cars were themed around NCT 127’s fourth studio album, 2 Baddies, released on September 16, with members’ names wrapped around the ride. Additional experience content using IP from NCT Dream and Aespa began in October. Visitors could encounter artist-experience spaces and the SM world in various forms while moving through the park.

Following the announcement, Everland’s official website saw its highest record of instantaneous, simultaneous access. The hashtag “Everland” trended on Twitter in real time. On opening day, about 1,000 people gathered at Kwangya@Everland, forming a long queue, and same-day sales sold out within half a day.