Page 60 - 2015 Travel Guide to California

CA.THEME PARKS
GOLD STRIKER ROLLER COASTER at California’s Great America, Santa Clara, below.
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, next to the new Levi’s Sta-
dium, is all about rides. Diversions range
» FIND YOUR
FANTASY
Children’s Fairyland
fairyland.org
Universal Studios Hollywood
universalstudioshollywood.com
Disneyland
disneyland.disney.go.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
Knott's Berry Farm
knotts.com
CityPASS
citypass.com
from scream-inducing (Flight Deck, a roller
coaster, has one 360-degree loop and a zero-
gravity roll) to family-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 passengers 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 and SkyScreamer (a
swing ride), the park also is home to a
number of animals, including Jocko the
walrus, who starred in the 2004 movie, 50
First Dates, and Brandon the reticulated
giraffe, who was named after San Francisco
Giants slugger, Brandon Belt. In 2015, park
officials are expecting to add Dare Devil
Chaos Coaster, a roller coaster that takes
passengers upside-down in both forward
and backward directions.
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
58 2015 T R AV E L G U I D E TO C A L I F O R N I A
dozens of different species of marine life,
including dolphins, sea lions, walruses,
polar bears and beluga whales. It also is
one of only two places in the world where
emperor penguins are kept in captivity.
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). In the summer of 2013, the park also
opened a hotel; the lobby has a giant pit of
Legos with which children can play.
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, Universal
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 attrac-
tions or online at citypass.com.
SANTA CLARA CVB