Public transport between Great America and Six Flags DK

[MichaelD]

Hi all,

 

Being from Down Under, we're a bit nervous about driving in the US. We're planning 3 days in the San Francisco area, staying adjacent to Great America. One of the days we'd like to go to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, but public transport options seem fairly limited, and we don't want to move between areas just for the one park.

 

The best option I have been able to find so far seems to be an Amtrak combo train/bus which takes 2 hours each way, but which has us arriving at SFDK at 10:45am and leaving at 5:15pm.

 

With the park open 10:30am - 9pm on the day we plan to visit (a Saturday), we'd love to spend more time in the park if we could.

 

I get the feeling a taxi ride would be prohibitively expensive.

 

Any suggestions, anybody?

 

(By the way, we will use Gold QBots to at least make the most of our limited time in the park given we're going on a Saturday).

[pianojohn]

I did this same trip last summer but stayed in the city of San Francisco. Getting to GA was fairly easy on two trains.

 

The trip to SFDK was not so much. I took 2 trains than had to transfer to 2 different buses. Make sure you get a transfer after each leg. I know I was able to use the transfer going bus to bus.

 

Try to following sites for all the info you should need:

 

http://www.bart.gov/

 

And on the Six Flags Website:

 

BY FERRY

High-speed catamaran ferry service is offered from San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf at Pier 39. For schedule information, call the Blue & Gold Fleet at

415-773-1188 or Baylink at 707-64-FERRY.

 

BY TRAIN

Amtrak serves Six Flags Discovery Kingdom via Thruway Shuttle from the Martinez Station. Bus transit time is 20 minutes. Call 1-800-USA-RAIL for information.

 

BY BART

Vallejo BartLink offers transportation to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom from

El Cerrito Del Norte BART station. Call BART at 510-236-2278 (for train information) or BartLink at 707-648-4666 (for shuttle information). No Sunday service.

[MichaelD]

^ Thanks for your reply John.

 

From what I could make out, the big problem is that BART terminates a long way away from Great America, and getting between BART and Great America is the tricky part of the trip.

 

Our problem is that we're staying next to Great America, not in the centre of San Francisco.

[tkkyj]

I've never done it myself, but I looked into it once... I think you can take VTA (San Jose lightrail) to a CalTrain station, which could get you to a BART station.

[tkkyj]

IMO, even considering your caution about driving in the U.S., I would still recommend you just get a car. I would get frustrated waiting for all of these connections...

[cal1br3tto]

I've researched using Amtrak to get to those parks and SCBB. It looked pretty doable to me if everything worked out. Personally, I'd be afraid of either getting lost walking from the stations to the parks, or getting confused while attempting to use public transportation to cover that distance.

I might try this in the distant future, so it's great to see that similar things have been done.

[haiderodes]

I have visited SFDK twice over the past couple of years and have ONLY used public transportation. It always works well for me.

 

The first time I did ferry from the Embarcadero at San Francisco to Vallejo and then the city bus to the park. The second time I did BART from SFO to Oakland and then a bus to the regular city bus to the park. I liked the ferry the best as it involved the least amount of transfers.

 

Coming from Santa Clara you can easily take CalTrain or a bus north to the BART and then use either of the routes I used.

[Zonga]

Because it is the weekend, the transportation is a bit limited. I honestly think your best bet would be Amtrak. The Capitol has a station about a five minute walk from the Great America entrance. Then it's a ride up to Martinez where you transfer to the bus.

 

Also consider that Amtrak is the nicest way to travel in the Bay Area. There is always plenty of seating, very safe, and even a cafe car. Plus you get some great views of the bay.

 

The transfer from Amtrak to the thruway bus sometimes takes less time than advertised because the bus only has to wait for the train. So you may get to Discovery Kingdom earlier than advertised. Also, the Amtrak bus stop is at the Discovery Kingdom passenger drop off, so it is much more convenient than a city bus.

 

As for the time in the park, the 10:45-5:20 should be enough time to tour the park...especially with a Q-Bot. You would have more than enough time to get on all the coasters plus take in a few shows.

 

Also try checking out http://511.org/ for more Bay Area transportation information.

[MichaelD]

^Thank you all (Zonga ++). It seems as if Amtrak will be the least stressful option.

[shpm5150]

If I were you I would also just get a car if possible. From CGA to SFDK it's about two hours just by car and that's without traffic. Also Vallejo isn't exactly a safe city. SFDK is right off the freeway so if you have a car it's an easy in and out of the parking lot back onto the freeway.

 

And on another note 10:45-5:20 will be plenty of time at SFDK. The Killer Whale show and Dolphin show's are usually always crowded and during that time the coaster lines usually shorten up. Anyway have a good trip.

[Double0Kevin]

One thing to remember and take note of, anything that was "normal" in the past no longer has any relevancy. The park has been MUCH more crowded this year with less popular rides like Boomerang having lines up to an hour throughout most the day on weekends. The Dolphin, Shouka(whale) and Tiger shows take people off the midways for about 30 minutes which isn't enough time to ride just one coaster before dumping 3,000+ people back onto the midways and into the queue line. Also those shows are worth seeing if you haven't.

 

Q-Bots will help but if you really want to see everything you would probably have to stay later than 5:20. I would say avoid the fears of driving and rent a car. It's only about a 1.25 hour drive on a Saturday as there is never any traffic and its a relatively simple drive as SFDK is one of the easiest parks to get to from the freeway.

[MichaelD]

^Thank you, Kevin.

 

This is most useful information. We've already booked our Amtrak return ticket, but if things are not going well at the park despite Gold Q-Bot we'll stay late and use a taxi to get back home.

 

Not the cheapest solution, but cheap in the scheme of things given the $ spent getting there in the first place.

[itnotfair]

I see that you have already booked your tickets, so my advice will be a bit late for you, but for anyone else planning a trip and looking for a cheap solution, the BART worked great for me when I hit SFDK earlier this year. Though there are a few transfers to deal with, the conductors and busdrivers in the Bay area are very helpful and will make sure you get to where you want to go. Anyway, I'm so jealous! I haven't been to CGA since I was like five, and all I remember is the double decker carousel. Have a great trip!

[MichaelD]

Just thought I'd update you all on the outcome of our visit to SFDK, having just returned to our hotel room.

 

Getting there via Amtrak was fine, albeit quite lengthy. We got up at 6am, left our hotel at 7:30am, got on the train just after 8am, and after a long delay in traffic with the bus crawling to the park from the freeway off ramp, got to the park at 11am.

 

Getting from the bus stop, through the metal detectors, through the turnstiles, picking up the QBots and processing our annual passes took us until 12 midday. The bus was scheduled to pick us up at 5:10pm.

 

Lines were ominously long already (as if the entry crush didn't already make it obvious that the day was going to be busy), but...

 

We had ridden all the coasters once within an hour AND stopped briefly to eat something along the way.

 

We then very leisurely rode and rerode everything else we wanted to ride (my daughter was quite distressed with the heat requiring frequent rest and hydration stops) and happily made our way home, stress free.

 

Walking onto the flume ride to cool off nearly instantaneously with a 90 minute line was almost life-saving all on its own.

 

So, with all the odds stacked against us;

- a stinking hot day (100 degrees Farenheit)

- arriving well after opening

- in peak season

- on a Saturday

- with limited time available to ride the coasters

QBot Gold made our visit to SFDK an absolute pleasure.

 

Sorry if it sounds like an ad for QBot, but frankly we'd finished in the park in the same time as it would have taken to get one ride without the QBot Gold. That says a lot.