California Trip 7/6--7/10

[Voxelmatic]

Hey Alveys,

I'm taking a trip this summer to Southern California for my first time. I already made a basic plan, but I'll need some help finalizing it. Here's my schedule:

Saturday: Arrive in Cali around 12 at LAX, check into the Sheraton Universal, spend the rest of the day at Universal Studios Hollywood. No quick queue, must do rides are Revenge of the Mummy, Studio Tour, Transformers: The Ride, House of Horrors.

Sunday: Knott's Berry Farm. All day, no Fast Lane. Must do rides: All coasters plus Timber Mountain.

Monday: Six Flags Magic Mountain. 11:00 to close, Gold Flash Pass? Must do rides: All coasters that I can, priority Full Throttle, X2, Apocalypse, Ninja, Tatsu, Superman, Goliath. Also Lex Luthor. Parking and admission is already covered, I have a Gold Pass.

Tuesday: Six Flags Magic Mountain. Opening to around 2:30, no Flash Pass. Must do rides: All coasters missed Monday, plus a re-ride or two. Then drive down to Disneyland, stay there until around 11 pm, check into a hotel there.

Wednesday: DCA from opening to around 2:30-3:00, then Disneyland until around 6:30. Catch overnight flight back home from LAX at 9:00.

 

Is there anything I should change with this order? And also, what order should I do the rides to get all the ones I want to ride in?

 

Thanks for all your help.

[lake]

Hey Alveys,

I'm taking a trip this summer to Southern California for my first time. I already made a basic plan, but I'll need some help finalizing it. Here's my schedule:

Saturday: Arrive in Cali around 12 at LAX, check into the Sheraton Universal, spend the rest of the day at Universal Studios Hollywood. No quick queue, must do rides are Revenge of the Mummy, Studio Tour, Transformers: The Ride, House of Horrors.

Sunday: Knott's Berry Farm. All day, no Fast Lane. Must do rides: All coasters plus Timber Mountain.

Monday: Six Flags Magic Mountain. 11:00 to close, Gold Flash Pass? Must do rides: All coasters that I can, priority YOLOcoaster, X2, Apocalypse, Ninja, Tatsu, Superman, Goliath. Also Lex Luthor. Parking and admission is already covered, I have a Gold Pass.

Tuesday: Six Flags Magic Mountain. Opening to around 2:30, no Flash Pass. Must do rides: All coasters missed Monday, plus a re-ride or two. Then drive down to Disneyland, stay there until around 11 pm, check into a hotel there.

Wednesday: DCA from opening to around 2:30-3:00, then Disneyland until around 6:30. Catch overnight flight back home from LAX at 9:00.

 

Is there anything I should change with this order? And also, what order should I do the rides to get all the ones I want to ride in?

 

Thanks for all your help.

 

We managed to spend the entire day at Universal Studios yesterday. The waits were about the same all day with

Mummy- 20-30 minutes

Studio Tour- 40 minutes

Transformers- 50-60 minutes

House of Horrors- 20 minutes

 

LAX is 30 minutes away from USH (without traffic) so you wouldn't even be arriving at the hotel until 2:00ish. Then, it would take another 45 minutes to park your car, check in, walk over to the park, buy tickets, get inside. That would only give you 3-4 hours (depending on operating schedule) to do the rides you wanted. You may want to find a way to get more time out of USH as it is a park you can definitely manage to spend all day at if you wished.

[rcdude]

I'll give you some advice as a local.

 

General: As this is the weekend immediately after 4th of July, the parks may be slightly busier than normal (at least on Saturday and Sunday). As a result, I would suggest the following plan:

 

Saturday-Universal Studios Hollywood

Sunday-Six Flags Magic Mountain

Monday-Knott's Berry Farm

Tuesday-Disneyland Resort

Wednesday-Disneyland Resort

 

If you can modify your hotel reservations, I would stay near USH on Saturday and possibly Sunday, and near Disneyland the rest of the trip. If not, you may have significant traffic to contend with.

 

Universal Studios Hollywood: If your flight lands at noon, plan to be at USH between 2-3 P.M. (you may get there earlier, but with no traffic its probably a 45 minute drive from LAX to the park anyway). Fortunately, the park is open until 10 P.M. on the day of your visit, so you should still be able to get everything done. Regular lines throughout the park are typically 45-60 minutes on weekends (possibly longer for Transformers), but Revenge of the Mummy and Transformers both have single rider lines that rarely exceed 20 minutes, so you shouldn't have a problem with those, and House of Horrors generally doesn't get a significant line. In addition to what you have listed, I would also add Jurassic Park to your must ride list (it has a single rider line if needed), and if you're a show person see Waterworld as well. You can choose which of the remaining attractions you want to do while you're there.

 

Six Flags Magic Mountain: Get a Gold Flash Pass and you will only need one day here and won't have to worry about it being a weekend. The park opens at 10:30 A.M., so be there by 10 A.M. (I'd leave the hotel by 9:15 at the latest). Assuming Full Throttle won't be included on the Flash Pass in its first summer, ride that first, then go rent your Flash Pass. Make a counterclockwise circle around the park, doing each ride as you get to it (access Ninja and Superman from Tatsu, not from Gold Rusher). Aim to reach X2 about 4 P.M., as the line will be shorter then and it is not included on the Flash Pass (except with an upcharge). As all the coasters except X2 and the kiddies (and likely Full Throttle) are available on the Flash Pass, you should have no problem doing all of them and getting re-rides on your favorites. For Lex Luthor, use the single rider line if it is open as that ride is not included with the Gold Flash Pass. Any of the other non-coaster rides are either included or don't typically get long waits. The park is open until 9 P.M., so even if you do move to an Anaheim area hotel you could probably get there by 10:30 P.M.

 

Knott's Berry Farm: If you are not getting Fast Lane, I would not recommend visiting this park on a weekend. I would also not recommend getting Fast Lane unless you will want to ride everything at least twice, as Xcelerator and Timber Mountain Log Ride (the park's two best attractions) are not included. Standard summer hours are 10:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M....plenty of time for this park. If you have to drive from Universal City, allow at least an hour travel time in case of traffic. If you have a Cedar Fair season pass, you can get in 30 minutes early for ERT on Sierra Sidewinder and GhostRider or Silver Bullet, and if so I'd take advantage of the offer. If not, pick one of the three to ride, then head to the Boardwalk and go from there. In general, GhostRider has the longest line in the park and the Fiesta Village attractions have the shortest waits. Sierra Sidewinder and Pony Express will have slow moving queues, so ride early or late. Silver Bullet's line moves fast with two trains and no stacking, and Timber Mountain Log Ride is usually the highest capacity attraction in the park. In addition to what you have listed, I would add the Calico Mine Ride and Supreme Scream to the must ride list. Food inside Knott's Berry Farm is not very good and is quite expensive, so leave the park and eat either in the Marketplace (home to the Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant (if you want to eat here, do lunch or get it to go...dinner often has 60+ minute waits for a table), T.G.I. Friday's, and a couple quick service restaurants), or walk down Beach Boulevard or La Palma a block or two to find many other options. It is rare for Knott's to experience extreme wait times, but summer waits can approach an hour at the more popular attractions even with good operations.

 

Disneyland Resort: Buy a two-day park hopper. Both parks open at 8 A.M., so be at the rope drop 15 minutes early. I'd recommend starting each day at the park that doesn't have Extra Magic Hours that morning. I'd also recommend minimizing park hopping as much as possible (i.e. do everything in one park, then switch to the other, and only switch back if necessary to make a show or due to closing (DCA closes before Disneyland)). I will list my ideal plan for each morning, followed by some general tips.

 

Disneyland: At rope drop, head to Space Mountain and ride. Next, backtrack to Star Tours and ride or get a Fastpass (ride if the wait is below 25 minutes). Cross to Indiana Jones Adventure and ride (use single rider if wait is more than 10 minutes and you don't mind splitting your group), or get a Fastpass. Do Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Caribbean in that order, then return to use your Indiana Jones Fastpass. If you are lucky, you'll get all this done by 10 A.M. Do Matterhorn Bobsleds, then Roger Rabbit's Car-Toon Spin (get a Fastpass and get your Gadget's Go Coaster credit while waiting), then you are pretty much free to explore the rest of the park as you see fit.

 

DCA: At rope drop, ignore the Radiator Springs Racers Fastpass line and instead use the single rider line...you'll likely be on within fifteen minutes. Ignore the rest of Cars Land for now and head to Paradise Pier. Grab a California Screamin' Fastpass, then ride Toy Story Midway Mania, Goofy's Sky School (single rider available), and The Little Mermaid before redeeming your Fastpass. If you want a re-ride, grab another California Screamin' Fastpass (as of my last visit, California Screamin' was not connected to the DCA Fastpass loop and will not count against Fastpasses for other attractions), then get a World of Color showpass if you plan to see the show. Ride or Fastpass Soarin' Over California, then ride or Fastpass the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Except for Grizzly River Run (warning: you will get fairly wet), I would not consider anything else at DCA a must ride, so feel free to ride what you feel like, re-ride your favorite attractions, and return to DCA when ready. If you are a show person, I would not miss Aladdin, however...it is the best theme park show I've seen anywhere.

 

General Tips:

 

-The Disneyland Resort is a surprisingly easy park to visit when crowded, provided you have a plan of attack. I've gone on holidays and still managed 30+ attractions in a day (including all the E-tickets and several re-rides).

-Fastpass is available at the following rides: Disneyland: Autopia, Indiana Jones Adventure, Roger Rabbit's Car-Toon Spin, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Star Tours; DCA: California Screamin', Goofy's Sky School, Grizzly River Run, Radiator Springs Racers, Soarin' Over California, Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Indiana Jones Adventure, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Radiator Springs Racers, and Soarin' Over Californa tend to run out of Fastpasses by mid-afternoon (in RSR's case, within an hour of opening).

-Single Rider is available on: Disneyland: Indiana Jones Adventure, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Splash Mountain; DCA: California Screamin', Goofy's Sky School, Grizzly River Run, Radiator Springs Racers, Soarin' Over California. Except for Soarin', single rider is often quicker than Fastpass if your group is small.

-If you want to do the Fantasyland dark rides, go during a parade when the lines for most of them shrink significantly

-Fantasyland and Toontown at Disneyland close early for the fireworks, and Paradise Pier at DCA closes early for World of Color

-If you want to see Fantasmic, go to the second showing if you can. It is often possible to arrive ten minutes before showtime and get a good viewing location (standing room only).

-Unless you get to World of Color early and can stand toward the front of the viewing area, you'll get a better view by watching from Golden Zephyr or the bridge.

-If you need to kill time for a Tower of Terror Fastpass, the animation building is worth checking out.

 

Finally, if you need to make a 9 P.M. flight out of LAX, I would leave Disneyland by 6 P.M. to allow for traffic delays.

 

Have a good trip. While Southern California may not have the most spectacular parks out there, it does have a solid collection of parks that appeal to all demographics within a reasonably small area.

[Voxelmatic]

Thanks for all of the help guys. Unfortunately, I'm meeting up with friends the Sunday of Knott's, so I can't move that. But Universal is open until around 10 the day I get there, so I don't think I'll have trouble with that. If I need to, I can bail out for Fast Lane at Knott's, but I already have a basic plan. And since I only need Gold Flash Pass for SFMM, I'll just get that done that Monday and head down to Disney the next morning.