Page 58 - 2014 Travel Guide to California

CA.THEME PARKS
THE INVERTIGO ROLLER coaster
at California’s Great America, right.
Other Bay Area Parks
The San Francisco Bay Area is home to two
other popular parks: California’s Great
America (in Santa Clara) and Six Flags Dis-
covery Kingdom (in Vallejo).
Great America is all about rides. Diver-
sions range from scream-inducing (Flight
Deck, a roller coaster, has one 360-degree
loop and a zero-gravity roll) to family-
» FIND YOUR
FANTASY
Children’s Fairyland
fairyland.org
Disneyland
disneyland.disney.go.com
Universal Studios Hollywood
universalstudioshollywood.com
California’s Great America
cagreatamerica.com
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
sixflags.com/discoverykingdom
Legoland California
california.legoland.com
SeaWorld
seaworldparks.com/en/
seaworld-sandiego
CityPASS
citypass.com
56 2014 T R AV E L G U I D E T O C A L I F O R N I A
friendly (the Carousel Columbia is the
world’s tallest double-decker carousel). In
the summer of 2013, the park opened the
Gold Striker, the tallest and fastest wooden
roller-coaster in Northern California. The
coaster climbs over 108 feet and sends pas-
sengers shooting at freeway speeds of up
to 54 m.p.h.
The vibe at Discovery Kingdom is more
eclectic. In addition to rides such as the
Medusa roller coaster, Boardwalk Bumper
Buggies and SkyScreamer (a swing ride),
the park also is home to a number of ani-
mals, including Tava the African elephant,
Jocko the walrus and Shouka the killer
whale. In 2014, park officials are expecting
to add Tsunami Soaker, a family-friendly
water ride that incorporates hand-oper-
ated water cannons.
San Diego Area Parks
San Diego and its surrounding suburbs
also comprise a great region for theme
parks; two family favorites are SeaWorld
and Legoland.
Out near Mission Bay, in San Diego
proper, SeaWorld is a sprawling homage to
nearly dozens of different species of
marine life, including dolphins, sea lions,
walruses, polar bears and whales. It also is
one of only two places in the world where
emperor penguins are kept in captivity.
Arguably the most famous resident of Sea-
World was Shamu, the name of the first
black-and-white killer whale brought to
the park in the 1960s.
In the nearby community of Carlsbad,
Legoland is dedicated to tiny plastic bricks
(dubbed “Legos”), and boasts mind-bog-
gling Lego replicas of famous architectural
icons (the Statue of Liberty and the Taj
Mahal among them), as well as dioramas of
seven areas of the U.S. The park incorpo-
rates rides and eateries, and is home to the
Model Shop, the headquarters for the park’s
10 master builders (a window allows guests
to witness these professionals at work).
CityPASS
Once you’ve decided where to go, try City-
PASS for saving some money: In Southern
California, it knocks as much as one third
off the price of admission to Disneyland,
Disney California Adventure Park, Uni-
versal Studios Hollywood and SeaWorld.
The Southern California CityPASS is a single-
admission card that’s good over a 14-day
period and allows you to skip most ticket
lines. In San Francisco, CityPass offers sim-
ilar discounts (for attractions such as the
California Academy of Sciences and the
Exploratorium), and is good for nine days.
Buy your CityPASS at any of the above
attractions or online at citypass.com.
PARTHRB/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS