San Francisco Theme Parks?

[Timmyuk]

Hi guys

 

I am visiting my brother for 2 weeks in April and I'm looking for recomendations for Theme Park related stuff to do in the San Francisco area, can't visit the US without a TP trip, i do have a hire car so happy to travel a few hours or more if its worth it?

 

Looking forward to visiting the US again, i have only been to Florida before, Tampa, Orlando, Keys.

 

Thanks

 

Tim

[Team Thriller]

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom isn't to far from San Francisco. Also Great America isn't far either. Each one is maybe around half an hour without traffic.

 

--James

[Timmyuk]

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom isn't to far from San Francisco. Also Great America isn't far either. Each one is maybe around half an hour without traffic.

 

--James

 

thanks for that

 

But are either of them any good? and if not is there any worth travelling a bit further for?

 

Cheers

 

Tim

[gisco]

What do you consider good? What I like may not be what you like.

 

As far as big parks go those are the only two that are close to SF. Depending on where you are in the bay area SFMM is 5 hours away.

[Hercules]

^ I agree. Not really sure what you like. I have been to both Great America and Discovery Kingdom, and I would have to go with Great America.

[Sir Clinksalot]

Don't forget about Gilroy Gardens and Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

 

Gilroy Gardens is absolutely gorgeous. They only have 2 coasters, but it's a nice "park" day nonetheless. Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk will give you that authentic sea-side park feel and is really fun.

[larrygator]

But are either of them any good? and if not is there any worth travelling a bit further for?

 

Cheers

 

Tim

 

The key to getting your answer (and this goes for anyone not just you in particular) is going to be for you to do a little bit of research on the area and tell us a little bit about your preferences for parks/rides.

 

You really need to give a little more insight into what you enjoy if you expect good feedback from the TPR community. We are not mind readers. Everyone has different tastes so what might be "good" for one person might be "great" or "rubbish" to another

 

Please look at some of the Photo Trip Reports that are in the Park Index to get a better feel for the parks in the area:

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

California's Great America

Santa Cruz Boardwalk

Gilroy Gardens

 

Then try to ask some more specific questions from there, to get better responses.

[Team Thriller]

Of all of them. (This was back in 04 though) Six Flags is my best choice for coasters. If that's what you are looking for.

 

Gilroy Gardens is the most beautiful.

Santa Cruz feels the most tradition and classic

Great America is a little bit of all of these.

 

--James

[Timmyuk]

Sorry for not being very specific on my preferences, bit of a silly question without saying what i'm looking for.

 

Quality of rides really, Smooth coasters, they don't have to be harsh to be forcefull, Flat rides like KMG afterburners, water rides if the weathers good.

 

The Girlfriend (fiance by the time we leave SF) is not keen on tall rides like drop towers and we both like well themed rides and well presented parks, we also prefer a park with a nice atmosphere, would take nicer atmosphere over better rides, and preferably lots of old people so i feel young at 28

 

Does that help?

 

Looks like Gillroy Gardens could be worth a go considering the above points and Six Flags assuming for Coasters? if its a nice enough place.

 

Thanks guys

[Goliath513]

Discovery Kingdom has Medusa, which is very smooth, yet intense, fast, and thrilling. They also have V2, my favorite impulse coaster. Roar, their GCI, is one of my top 10 woodies, and is running as smooth, fast, and great as ever. They also have an SLC and Boomerang which need no further comment. Tony Hawk Big Spin is also pretty fun.

 

Great America has Flight Deck (Top Gun), which is one of the most powerful and intense B&M inverts around. It rivals the Batman clones which I have ridden and is much more thrilling than some of the newer B&Ms such as Talon. Invertigo, despite being a Vekoma, is the second best coaster in the park. The other rides range from mediocre to crap. Vortex and Grizzly are absolutely terrible, Demon hurts more than any other Arrow looper I've ridden, and Psycho Mouse is just a standard mouse ride.

 

For flats, SFDK has one of my favorite rapids rides, whereas CGA has a decent log flume and some water slides. Both parks have a top spin ride (CGA got theirs last year from Geauga Lake). CGA has a great Intamin drop tower, and SFDK has a fun Huss spinning Frisbee.

 

SFDK beats CGA in terms of atmosphere the way Busch Gardens beats Cedar Fair. CGA is Cedar Fair - enough said. SFDK also has some great animal shows.

 

Bottom line - I would go to SFDK given the choice. They have 3 great coasters and some more decent coasters. As compared to CGA which has 2 decent and mediocre coasters, and the rest are pure crap. CGA has better flats, but SFDK has some good ones too and great water rides. the original section of the park feels almost like Busch Gardens when you get up the hill beyond the main coasters.

 

Enjoy your trip to SF (I'm on the bus to the airport currently in SF as typing this).

[Sir Clinksalot]

Well, looking at your "atmosphere" and what your girlfriend wants, I'd say go for Gilroy Gardens.

 

In fact, I'd actually say that if you have time for 2 parks, do Gilroy Gardens and Santa Cruz. You could EASILY spend a full day exploring Santa Cruz and the boardwalk. The drive from Santa Clara to Santa Cruz is AMAZING.

 

Doing those two parks will give you a nice bit of both the atmosphere (gilroy gardens) and some fun coasters and flat rides (SCBB).

 

Plus Gilroy Gardens has the best spinny ride EVER (the garlic tea cups).

[ebl]

^ Agreed about SR (State Route) 17, the road that connects San Jose and Santa Cruz. A beautiful road indeed.

 

Another idea, if you're into trains at all, is to visit Roaring Camp in Felton. It's off SR 17 and one of its trains actually goes down right to the Boardwalk. I have not ridden that train personally (shame on this railfan), but I have ridden the one from Roaring Camp into the redwoods.

 

But the Giant Dipper at Santa Cruz is a must ride in my opinion. The Morgan trains (the very first Morgans, too, BTW) aren't the greatest, but you still get good pops of air, and the ride's beginning is classic.

 

Eric

[Timmyuk]

Thanks for all the input, thats alot of information.

 

I think realistically we will probably only get the time to do one park which makes this decision quite hard, Gillroy and Santa Cruz sound great for atmosphere but the temptation of Six Flags DK and Great America for big rides is just too much, Medusa and Top Gun (sorry, flight deck) both sound great at either park, i'm a big fan of B&M Coasters and would like to try out some of these. Think my real priorities are becoming clear now, atmosphere would be great, B&M coasters would be better

 

So Six flags or Great America?

 

Might be able to squeeze in a trip down Route 17 to Santa Cruz anyway on top of this, but its a time thing really, won't know until we are there, but for sure either Six flags or Great America?

[larrygator]

^Remember Six Flags Discovery Kingdom also includes the animal shows/exhibits. Not sure if you or your finace would enjoy that aspect.

[Sir Clinksalot]

You could "technically" do Great America and Santa Cruz on the same day. They are only 30 miles apart. I would do CGA in the morning/early afternoon and then drive out to Santa Cruz for the evening.

[Timmyuk]

You could "technically" do Great America and Santa Cruz on the same day. They are only 30 miles apart. I would do CGA in the morning/early afternoon and then drive out to Santa Cruz for the evening.

 

That sounds like the plan, even though i think SFDK actually sounds like a better park, i think the combo of CGA in the morning then Santa Cruz in the evening is better as a whole, especially as we are staying south of San Francisco so we are very close to CGA already and further from SFDK.

 

Whats Santa Cruz like as a place? the Boardwalk sounds good obviously, i'm sure i used to have a mountain bike called Santa Cruz!

[ebl]

^ The Boardwalk itself is in a not-so-nice neighborhood, actually---at least it wasn't when I was last there. But the atmosphere of the place itself is like a traditional beach boardwalk. The sights, sounds, smells, etc. make for a fun time.

 

Eric

[CreditCrazy]

I would go with SFDK. It is by far the best park in the area.

 

CGA shouldn't even be thought about.

 

Gilroy Gardens is the nicest park, but can't fill up a full day.

 

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is a nice park, and I agree with everyone about the drive to it, but it's almost like every ride there besides Giant Dipper (which is great) is a carnival ride/flat

[Timmyuk]

SFDK only it is then, i really can only squeeze one park in, we have loads of other stuff already planned, but i have convinced the girlfriend we can fit just one in, the conversation with her went something like, "come on its the US of A, surely the natural home of the theme park, atleast one trip has to be squeezed in somehow, and its my birthday while we are out there too"

 

Does Medusa still looks like this, it just looks unfinished

 

http://www.rcdb.com/ig617.htm?picture=9

 

That's a car park coaster in it's finest form

[Goliath513]

^ Medusa was repainted after the 2007 season, so it looks new again. It is still a parking lot coaster, but the surroundings are not as bare. The ride has a very well landscaped queue area and a nice looking station. It is by no means your typical parking lot coaster because of this. Also, all of their coasters (with the exception of THBS, of course) have been repainted within the last year. The park is definitely above the quality of your typical Six Flags park!

[Timmyuk]

Sounds good, re-paint and all, always a shame when a park let things look tatty over time, looking forward to it.

 

They could of atleast removed the car park lines underneath it though lol

 

Silver star at Europa park in Germany was a bit of a car park coaster but i was not dissapointed by that at all, so my experience of car park coasters so far is all good.

 

http://www.rcdb.com/ig1414.htm?picture=17

 

And its an over road Coaster too

 

http://www.rcdb.com/ig1414.htm?picture=20

[jray21]

I also think SFDK would be best. They have good rides, and the animals are a great plus. As posted before, Great America is not so great anymore, with the exception of top gun/flight/deck. Gilroy is incredibly beautiful, but not so much fun for me. Santa Cruz is nostalgic, but definitely a carnival with a few more things thrown in. Just don't take the Ferry from Pier 39 to Vallejo. You have to take the city bus in Vallejo to get to SFDK, and that is highly NOT recommended.

[bobbinbop20]

yeah SFDK is a better choice i was just there about a 3 weeks ago and i just wanna say everyone heads for medusa first, so i went the opposite way and went to the V2 and roar area first, the end result was 14 rides on V2 without leaving the station =] and then by the time you get to medusa everyone has already done that so the line isn't long at all, also since they have all the animal shows there and everything even if the park seems really crowded the lines for coasters are only like 10 minutes at the worst.

[Timmyuk]

We got down to SFDK friday of the easter weekend and it was an all round success, Roar was a little rough for my liking but the rest were all good, Medusa was very smooth yet still forcefull and the queue times were minimal all day even with what seemed like a busy park, it seems all the shows keep people busy.

 

Now back in the UK but had a great holiday in California, top notch all the way

 

Cheers for the advice

[packfanlv]

Ok people. I don't want to start a new thread just to ask this so I will put it here. I am visiting Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk tomorrow after Gilroy Gardens.

 

Is it worth me buying a unlimited ride pass at the boardwalk to get multiple rides on the Giant Dipper. I am/have visiting/visited 11 parks this week including Disneyland, DCA, Knotts, CGA, SFDK and the above mentioned parks so I will ride plenty of flats. Should I just pay the money and get the three boardwalk credits and walk around for atmosphere, or invest more money and try to make a few hours out of it?

 

Thanks for the help.