Transcript of Podcast #20: Amusement Parks in SoCal
In Attendance: Aimee Jiang (she/her) & Hugo Sanchez Hernandez (he/him) & Maryam Hassani (she/her)
Aimee: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the GIC podcast. My name is Aimee Jiang. I’m the International Student Support Officer for Graduate Division. And I am super excited about the topic today. I have talked about this in a few of our other podcasts because, I’ve been really looking forward to this one. We’re gonna talk about amusement parks. some of the most fun things that I do in Southern California are going to amusement parks. We’re going to specifically talk about Six Flags, Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm, Universal Studios Hollywood and LegoLand. But I will say there are quite a few other options in the area. These are just some of our favorites. I know there’s quite a few zoos during the summer some of these places also have water parks, or there are water parks outside of the amusement parks, and there are some other amusement parks in the area, that people also go to. These seem to be the most popular ones. I’m gonna have my co-hosts introduce themselves so I’m going to pass it over to Hugo. And then, Maryam.
Hugo: Hi, everyone. My name is Hugo Sanchez Hernandez. I am a coming sixth year in the Psychological Science Doctoral program. So yea,. I’m so happy to be here Aimee. Thank you so much for having us.
Maryam: and I’m Maryam. I’m a first year, I’m a first year PhD student in the Informatics. And I’m a GIC mentor this year, and I’m happy to you talking about some excitements.
Aimee: Yeah, I think you guys signed up for this one pretty quick. So we clearly all love to go out and explore the local area. The first part that we’re going to talk about is Six Flags Magic Mountain, And so one of the things with a lot of the passes, parks down here is they have passes. So what’s the difference and is it worth getting a yearly pass for Six Flags versus getting more like a day pass?
Maryam: Yeah, I can start on that, Six Flags is my specialty. So in Six Flags you can have different types of passes. So you can either get a one time pass and you can get to the park once, and that’s it. You can get a yearly pass like, pay it all at once for a year, and just go, go through as many times as you want, and this differs between so Six Flags has two parks. One park is like the train rides, and everything, and the other part is the water park. They’re next to each other. One pass, one of the yearly passes, you can only go to the amusement part of it, like the rides. But with another type, like a gold plus platinum pass type, you can go to water park as well. It has a third option as well, which is a monthly payment. So you basically pay subscription, like a subscription. So for the Six Flags I would strongly suggest getting either the gold yearly pass or platinum, because the parking fee, I can’t exactly recall the number, but adding the parking fee to the daily pass, makes it almost the same as a yearly pass, which includes the parking and some other benefits that comes with the pass themselves. So for Six Flags, I suggest getting a yearly one or the subscription one, both would potentially work. yeah.
Aimee: Yeah, I think the parking is always really expensive at any of these parks that we talk about. So if you’re like, I’m only going to go once. That’s fine. But if you’re like, I would really need to get out. I really want to have something routine. I think one of the nice things about passes that I’ve noticed when I get one for different parks. Is it actually incentivizes me to actually go and get out of the house. And I think in grad school that could be really hard to do. So you’re like, I spent the money on this, I need to go. And so it does kind of encourage you to go out too. So just another benefit to getting an annual pass. So for Six Flags what, what do you expect in the park? Like what should you prep for when you’re getting to, before you go?
Maryam: Oh, yes, Hugo, go ahead.
Hugo: Yeah, definitely. One thing to always look out for is, I think there is also a calendar for being able to check, you know how busy the attractions will be, you know, for the for every day of the current month, for example. So you’re able to kind of go to a specific website where you’re able to kind of track what days are going to be a little bit less packed than others. And and that’s really important, just because sometimes you want to go on a specific day in summer, and then you can see on the calendar, oh, that’s gonna be like one of the busiest days maybe I want to like reschedule. Another thing I do recommend is always checking the website. See what specific rides or attractions are available, just because I know that every time I’ve gone there’s always like one better than the next, that’s unavailable, or that’s under maintenance. And sometimes, if it’s like one of your favorite rides, your like disappointed. So I definitely recommend looking ahead of time and seeing what rides are going to be available for the specific day that you are, are planning for. Because I think it kind of helps you understand what like to expect going in there, and also might help you, maybe reschedule if necessary. If you know, there’s like specific rides you really want to go to, but it might not be available. unfortunately, that’s just like the reality of what happens. so I definitely recommend looking at those things ahead of time like. And I believe so what I believe it’s called the Crowd Calendar. The Six Flags crowd calendar. So just go ahead and Google that on the website. And then you’ll be able to take it to to that link where it kind of gives you that information on how busy things will be.
Maryam: And I’ll add, if you want a few things to that check the weather report and check the website when it’s raining, because it doesn’t necessarily close. But it’s been a time when it was not updated. I’ve been there and just had to drive back. And the food is not allowed in the park. They would not let you take food in unless you have a dietary restriction. So consider this. And, and also install the app before going to the park, you might not have access to the Internet there.
Aimee: Yeah, most of these parks have apps, and they’re usually really helpful for kind of navigating around. Some of them you can order food on depending on the park. So I always recommend downloading the apps ahead of time. So we talked about kind of the crowd. Do you have a specific time of year or day of the week that either one of you would recommend going? I usually don’t recommend summers.But that’s just me.
Maryam:. I love the Halloween one. The Halloween fest in the Six Flags is great. I suggest going midweek rather than the end of the weeks, like weekends. And also the New Year theme, decoration is pretty cool.
Hugo: The Halloween Halloween is so much fun. And that’s right, I think I’m the same, Aimee, when it was like summer, like, you know, it’s gonna be super packed. But I’m so stubborn sometimes I’m like, Oh, it’s summer. I wanna I want to make it happen during summer, even though I know it’s going to be like the worst days. So yeah, really much any, there’s really no difference from what I’ve noticed in terms of how busy it is on a weekdays versus weekends during summer, but I think like during the regular year, there are differences. So there’s always way less people on a weekday. If it’s not summer. So yeah, so just keep that in mind.
Aimee: Yeah. And I always think, too, especially if you’re getting used to U.S. holidays. It’s really important to check the U.S. holiday calendar. Even as someone who grew up in the U.S. I sometimes forget. And I tried to go to one of the parks. I think it was Disneyland. I tried to go on a holiday. That I forgot was a holiday. It was like one of those random holidays that I didn’t really get school off for. But I didn’t have class that day, and I remember getting it being like, why is it so busy. And then everyone was like, it’s Memorial Day, and I was like, oh, just totally slipped my mind. So holidays tend to be busy, any kind of holiday season, or if it’s like spring break and a lot of the local schools are out. It can get busy and kind of random times of the year that you might not expect too. We talked a little bit about the water park, and you needing kind of the separate pass. Have either of you been to the water park? Any recommendations.
Maryam: I’ve been there once. They say it’s cleaner done raging waters. So that’s a plus. But it doesn’t have as many rides as you think it would. But it’s pretty fun in hot summer days. So I suggest going there once, and it’s worth getting the pass that includes the water park, which is the platinum. But it was fun.
Aimee: Yeah, I think some of the water parks, too, aren’t open all year long. So you definitely want to check the dates on those things because I was telling Hugo earlier before we started recording, I always think about going to a water park during the summer, and then by like October, I’m like, Oh, I’ve missed my chance because all the water parks are closed. So you definitely want to check on those dates. Any other recommendations, ride recommendations or anything else about Six Flags?
Hugo: Yeah, I also wanted to mention that some of the passes that we kind of talked about, they have like secret perls to that I wasn’t even thinking of until, you know, I was like looking a little bit more into it, and some of them include things like food and merchandise, merchandise discounts like a percentage of discounts on those things, and some of them also include, like it passes to like skip the lines like I know that the platinum pass included one skip the line pass, and then some of the other passes include that even more so. I think those are always like really nice things to have in there included. If you are considering that because I think sometimes when you do go during a busy day, those would definitely have saved a lot of time. So yeah, just just a few additional things that are included in those passes.
Maryam: And also about the ride, I think, as a student Zipcar before you have a car. Zipcars are the best options to go there. You can pick it up and just drop it off and make sure to go earlier in the day. If you wait until afternoon to go there, probably you’ll have a line to get in and to get in line for even the each of the roller coasters. So either at the when the park opens up and you’ll be surprised how many people are already ahead of you. So
Aimee: Yeah. And if you have questions on Zipcar, Maryam and I have another podcast on how to rent a car and we talk about Zipcar in that. But that’s a great option. It is further away to the point where you wouldn’t want to try public transportation, you would definitely want to find people to carpool with, if you don’t have your own car rent a car and and make a trip out of it. So next part we’ll talk about is Disneyland, and this is one of my favorite parks, and there’s 2 parks with Disneyland. There’s Disneyland, which is the original Disney Park and then there’s California Adventure which is just acrossed, there’s like a little walkway. It’s just across from there, they’re right next to each other. Similar to how Six Flags has the water park and the kind of main park. How much are tickets and are tickets for both parks are there passes? I know annual passes are something that’s been kind of a a weird subject with Disneyland people for a while because they have them sometimes they don’t have them available sometimes. Does anyone want to talk about tickets, passes?
Hugo: Yeah. So I think for Disneyland and California Adventure. I think the tickets are the same for either park, if I’m not mistaken, so there is no difference in the pricing for those parks. I know Disneyland offers so many different ticket options, like a variety of like combinations that it’s hard to keep track of like everything, but I know they have some options to purchase like a multi-day ticket. Like I know, like the 2 day ticket, for example. So you buy a a 2 day ticket, and if you wanted to do like a each park for each of the 2 days. I know that cost about like I believe like $285 per person for an adult, and $270 for child. And then you also have the option to purchase that 2 day ticket, but a park hopper, which means be able to kind of hop from one park to the next, and that one’s a little bit more expensive, about $60 more expensive, and then each of the tickets increases from there like you have a 3 day ticket, 4 day ticket, 5 day ticket. And so I definitely recommend looking at the specific pricing for that, because all of them can vary quite a bit, not just in terms of like the park per day, but also park hopper. And so that also seems to sometimes functionate quite a bit too, depending on the year and the time of the of the year. So I definitely recommend being super, like making sure to like look at that super closely, because you never want to be in a position where I think you’re, I, I think I’ve made the mistake in the past where I’m assuming the prices and then I really oh, wait and change so much like I said I’m so yeah, just make sure to look at that support closely. But they do offer a lot of like multi day ticketstickets a lot. I feel like a lot of people do take advantage of.
Aimee: Yeah. And because the multi day, if you buy like a 5 day pass, it’s cheaper per day, because you’re purchasing more than one day. So there are some benefits to that. But yeah, the park hopper is usually a $60. Add, and the, and the price does fluctuate during the busy seasons, like the summer and Halloween and the holiday season at the end of the year. I believe the tickets are more expensive on some of those days. You also want to make sure that you get a reservation, because during covid and they introduced reservation system because of crowd control, if you, if you were at Disneyland before it was even busier. So if you were like, Wow, it’s still really busy. Here it is. But it was worse at one point in time. And so, even if you have an annual pass. You still have to reserve what day you’re going into and what park you’re starting at, because the Park Hopper, you can’t hop parks until after I think 1 pm. Unless they’ve changed that. But last time I was there in May I couldn’t change park until after 1 pm. So you select which park you’re starting in. So okay, one day, I want to start Disneyland. If I’m doing a 2 day, maybe the next day I want to go to California Adventure first. So I definitely recommend you take a look at that. Annual passes, though, keep an eye out. Sometimes they have a Southern California pass which is cheaper. You don’t get to go during the summer, so I am currently blocked out on my pass, as we record this in July but I’ll get to go back, I think in September is when I open back up. The annual pass, for SoCal also doesn’t include a weekends, but I actually don’t like to go to Disneyland on the weekends because it’s usually way busier. I really like to go during the week, and one of the benefits with passes is, there’s less pressure to be there all day long, because if I’m going to go for a few hours. Go watch a show, have dinner with friends. If I’ve gone enough times it pays for itself, and, and there’s a little bit less pressure to to be there all day. One thing is, if you have kids with you, I believe it’s if they’re under 2, they’re free. After that you do have to pay. So keep that in mind. Sometimes there are discounts for some of these parks for kids. And then attractions so California Adventure and Disneyland attractions. Does anyone want to talk about the differences between the both of them?
Maryam: I’ve never been to.
Aimee: We’ll have to take you.
Hugo: Yeah, so they do. I think they both do a good job of you know, having different sections. That kind of appeal to different demographics a bit, I will say, you know, in terms of attractions, Disneyland has more of the classic Disney rides and so it includes, like a lot of like Disney classic movies like, Pinocchio, Aladdin (he meant Peter Pan), Snow White however, it also has a new Star Wars section, Disneyland does, and I know that’s like a big appeal for so many people. It’s a really wonderful, a little section part of Disneyland where really does feel like you’re in like the setting of like the movies. And it’s really cool. So it includes the Star Wars section. Disneyland California Adventure does include, I would say perhaps more, more in terms of quantity, more higher thrill rides. It does have a a pier, and then it has, like a roller coaster. That’s really more for adults. However, it does have dedicated kid sections as well. I think one of the most popular rides there is probably, or sections is probably the Cars Land. I know that one is always super packed when when I go, I don’t. I think that the attraction for cars I’ve forgotten what the name is (Radiator Springs) of the attraction. That’s like the busiest ride ever in that park. I feel it doesn’t change, unfortuantely.
Aimee: That line is always really long. It’s like a 3 hour long line.
Hugo: It’s insane
Aimee: You can pay for quicker access, but it’s expensive, especially if you’re going in a group. It’s quite expensive to get it used to be called the fast pass, like a lightning lane now I think it’s what it’s called. If you go right when the park opens and you head straight there. You might be okay to get in. But that’s usually a pretty long line.
Hugo: Otherwise you have the, you have to definitely wait quite a bit, I think. I think my favorite ride honestly. A personal favourite ride across both parks is probably Soarin Around the World. This used to be called Soarin Around California. You’re basically kind of sitting down and projected upwards in in front of, like a huge like, basically, you have huge like screen projector and kind of giving like a virtual tour. It used to be around California, but now it’s around the world, and it’s, it’s a, it’s an Imax. And there’s so much like aerial footage. It’s just like a really awesome experience. And you get to feel a lot of like they have like, it’s like 4D. You get to feel a lot of like the sensations, the sights and sounds of like being around the world, I guess. And so it’s just a really cool experience, especially for those travelling from other areas to, to, I think that’s one of the the most popular and also it’s one of those those right that really gets, gets you to experience some other different things so that one doesn’t that one’s really unique. So I definitely recommend that I know Space Mountain in Disneyland is also super popular, and that’s probably they’re like fastest ride for those wanting those like high thrill rides. For those wanting to like, you know, during summer, I like the Grizzly River Run. It’s just awesome because it’s like you get a yeah. It’s basically like a water, water ride. And and it’s really fun. It goes pretty pretty fast, I would say, but yeah, those are some of like the highlights for what I remember.
Aimee: Yeah, Grizzly River Run is in a California Adventure. Same with the Soarin. Sometimes they bring back Soarin Over California periodically, for like a special preview. So sometimes you can see kind of the original classic ride. Grizzly, I think, yeah, Grizzly Bear Peak, whatever it’s called. I’ve gone on that in the winter, because you can just walk right on if it’s cold outside. Do it, do it when you’re about to leave, though, because you will be soaking wet. But that’s a great one. I think, like you mentioned,s ome of the Disneyland is more kid friendly. It’s a little kind of more classic movies. You have, like the traditional original Fantasyland, Small World is over there. They’ve got Toontown, which they just updated. And so there’s some more kind of grassy areas where you can have picnics. That is one of the things that’s different between like Six Flags and Disneyland. Disneyland does let you bring in snacks. You just can’t have anything in a glass container. They will take away your glass containers. I accidentally bought Pyrex one time, and and they took my Pyrex away so. And don’t bring any glass containers. And Disneyland actually has a list of things you can’t bring into the park. And I think that goes for most of the parks like sometimes selfie sticks things like that you can’t bring in, so make sure you’re checking that ahead of time. My favorite ride just closed down. I love Splash Mountain. It’s a good mix of like a cute little slow log ride, and then a big drop. But they are we doing it to be a Tiana ride, so that will be coming out, I think next year is when when that one comes out. I’m super excited about the change. I, I love Tiana. The Princess and the Frog is one of my favorite Disney movies. So I’m very excited about the change in the ride, in terms of like decoration and story. But you mentioned this earlier, Hugo with Six Flags. You always want to check what’s open and what’s closed. Because you do not want to get to the park, and especially if you have little ones with you, and your child is like really looking forward to going on something in that right is closed. A lot of the rides will close throughout the year. They try to do it in off season, so summer is probably the most likely to have the majority of the rides open but during the end of summer usually A Small World, and always the Haunted Mansion close down because they open back up as a holiday ride. So Haunted Mansion becomes a Nightmare Before Christmas ride, that’s also one of my favorite rides. I love it both ways. I love Huanted Mansion and Small World becomes it’s still, Small World, but it has more of a holiday theme to it, peace on earth kind of thing to it. So those are definitely things to check out. Because if you’re if, you’re like, I really just want to go on this one ride. You want to make sure that it’s open. Some rides will close throughout the day. I will say the Star Wars land is one of my favorite areas, and their big ride over there, Rise of the Resistance, I think, is what it’s called, and it closes down throughout the day pretty regularly. Unfortunately, they have had a lot of issues with it. It’s amazing, it’s worth getting back in line and going back through. That one also has a really long line, too, because it’s new, and it’s a pretty long ride.
Hugo: It is
Aimee: It has different sections to it. There’s one section where you get to see a bunch of stormtroopers. I spend a lot of time at Disneyland so. One of the things that Maryam talked about with Six Flags, definitely have the Disneyland pa, app on your phone. Your ticket will be on there. So you need to scan your ticket if you need, I would bring battery packs to charge your phone because you can have a map. You can order your food. Your ticket is on there. You can put in where your car is parked, so that you know how to get back to your car. Disneyland is a little bit closer. I still wouldn’t recommend public transportation. It’s gonna take you a while to get there. But one of the things that I think is nice, is it, it’s close enough where it’s not too bad to take an Uber or a Lyft. Parking is like 30 bucks. If you have an annual pass, you may have a discount like the really really high passes have free parking, but most of them, it’s just a discount on parking. I would recommend calculating how much it’s going to be to Uber or Lyft and see if it’s cheaper for you to just do that than to park and rent a car if you need to rent a car to get there. So those are, those are a couple of things. I also really like Downtown Disney. It’s got a lot of restaurants and shops that you can go to if, if you just want some Disney experience but you don’t want to go all the way into the park. It’s got some cute little stuff there. Hugo, anything else about Disneyland you want to add? I could go on forever. So I’m going to stop myself.
Hugo: I love that. I think the, the recommendation you gave on the Uber, and Lyft I think, I think one time I I did Uber there, and maybe in terms of price, I think I still, you know it did cut off some of the parking price, of course, but I still ended up paying maybe, like a few bucks more than it would have parking. But honestly, the stress that I didn’t have to go through when it came to like parking, having to figure out that out like for me was completely worth it. And now it’s almost like I just want to Uber there from now on. So I definitely recommend for those of people who are familiar with Uber or Lyfts to definitely take that into account, because I think also, the Uber is like sometimes take you all the way, like right there from the gate. So you have to go through everything else, and sometimes you know, you park somewhere and then you have to take the trolley to, to the park, and then you have to walk some more. And so yeah, I definitely recommend it.
Aimee: Yeah, sometimes parking gets really confusing too. Sometimes the like main parking structures close down because of traffic control. And then you have to park further away, and you have to take a bus in. So sometimes, just for the convenience of it. Taking an Uber or a Lyft would be a better option. But yeah, one last thing I will say about this and that I almost forgot about is sometimes they close early for night time events, or at different parts of the year, they close earlier. They usually open later during the summer, or like big holiday seasons. But I’ve gone during like the Halloween season, and there’s a night time event called Oogie Boogie Bash, that happens on a pretty regular basis. Oogie Boogie is expensive, but if you have children, it’s really fun. And you get a lot of free candy, it’s not really free because you paid to go, but it’s cool. It’s a cool experience. So if you like Halloween like a Disney style, Halloween. I, I always recommend that one. But the park does close early. Usually it’s only one of the parks. So if you’re coming and you’re like, I have a park hopper, you know it’s easy for you just to then go over to the other park but if you bought like a one day ticket, you want to make sure that you see what time it closes and usually on the reservation system. It will tell you if it’s closing early. but I always double check on their calendar of events, too, because that it does happen pretty regularly that they have some sort of event around Valentine’s Day sometimes they have random throwback nineties nights. They have Star Wars events during Star Wars Day which is May fourth, which you will usually find me at Disneyland on May fourth, because it’s Star Wars stuff everywhere and then obviously Halloween. And then sometimes during the holiday season, too. So just keep that in mind as you’re checking things out. But we will move on, because I really could spend all day talking about Disneyland. Next park is Knotts Berry Farm. It has been a while since I’ve been to Knotts Berry Farm. But how would you compare Knotts Berry Farm to like Disneyland, or Six Flags, or some of the other kind of amusement park attractions?
Hugo: So yeah. So I think. I think it’s a good balance between, you know, a park like Disneyland and a park like Six Flags, because it’s a really high intensity high thrill rides. Those are like that’s basically (transcript unavailable). I mean Disneyland, they have some of those. But for the most part it’s mostly a little bit more for kids. And so I think Knotts Berry Farm is like a good balance between them. It has a lot of sections for kids. A lot of, many coasters are like that are for kids and some other higher thrill rides that can compete with some of Six Flags, but for the most part it’s still a little bit lower intensity than Six Flags. So I, I really do think it’s like a great balance for the for individuals who want to have both. Have a lot of options for their kids, but all the options for themselves in terms of the higher thrill rides, and of course, Disneyland kind of has that too. But I think you know ,I think Disneyland being Disneyland. Knotts Berry Farm is like much cheaper. And so I think it’s a good alternative than Disney California Adventure for that reason.
Aimee: Yeah, I agree. It’s been a while since I’ve been. I know a Snoopy like Peanuts Cartoon stuff is all over the place. I always really enjoy that. They have really good food from what I remember. But I would say, Disneyland is really iconic in the way that makes it really expensive and really busy. Six Flags is definitely something, if you have small children, maybe isn’t as friendly to small kids, although the water park, I think, probably would be. Knotts Berry Farm does also have a water park that’s pretty kid, friendly, from what I hear I have not had a chance to go. Although that is on my to do list the summers to go to the Knotts Berry Farm one. It can still get pretty busy, from what I remember I went last time during the summer, and it was really busy. Do you think they’re that, kind of, does it follow the same kind of tradition as some of the other parks where summer is going to be the busiest. But there’s some emptier types of times of the year.
Hugo: Yeah, I think I, I was looking at the last time I went, and I at the last time I was pre-covid, and it was on a weekday, not, not during summer, and I think that kind of colored my experience because I’ll and I, ever since then I’ve been telling people oh, my God, it’s not busy at all, and you can go. But it wasn’t going to week day before Covid, not during summer. And so for now, looking, there is also what I had mentioned earlier about. There’s a crowd calendar, that kind of lets you see how crowded the days of the month will be. And looking at it the other day, I saw that, like most days this month, for example, are like jam packed (recorded in July 2023). So now I’m, I don’t know if it just got busier, but it seems like it does follow the same trajectory. Unfortunately, I wish it was a little less busy.
Aimee: Yeah, I think most so, California is a, is a destination for people from all over the world to come to during the summer. Because we don’t get super super hot, but we, it is still warm. The weather is usually nice. I think all of our amusement parks tend to be extra busy this time of year although last year I went to Universal Studios on July 4th, and it was not too bad. So I was really I was expecting like 3 h long lines, and it wasn’t too bad. So some days you might hit a random time that ends up being not as busy. But yeah, for them, for the most part that is a pretty busy time of year. Do you have any recommendations for attractions? I think there is a log right there that I liked. I like anything that has water in it. I definitely love those rides.
Hugo: Same the log ride and the I think the Grizzly River thats at California Adventure, I think there is the same thing called River Rapids at Knotts Berry Farm. It’s a very similar to that one. I know Ghost Rider is one of the most popular roller coasters. It’s basically a wooden coaster. It’s not that fast, but it does it, it’s quite, it’s very bumpy. So if you’re not into that kind of thing, it might not be your thing. And so that’s one of the most popular coasters I would say, and but I again, I think there’s so many just like random. I think the last time I did go, of course again this was like pre-Covid. I was able to go on like maybe like 30 rides like I felt like I got the good for the money I was like, oh, this is great! And so I do think there’s quite a bit of rides to choose from, depending on what you’re kind of seeking throughout the day. So I do, I think the variety, I think Knotts really does have it. But those are some like the I would say, like a few that I remember off the top of my head.
Aimee: Yeah, yeah, I’d say they’re known for kind of having a good mix of smaller things and and bigger, faster rides. They are also similarly close, like Disneyland, where, if you don’t have a car, it would be a little bit more expensive, I think, to get to Knotts Berry Farm but you could Uber or Lyft out that way as well. Next park is Universal Studios Hollywood. I don’t know, I don’t think, Hugo I don’t know if you’ve been, I know, Maryam, you haven’t been. I have a, my season’s past just expired yesterday for Universal Studios in Hollywood. I really like Universal Their daily price is usually like a $109, but it does go up depending on the time of year. It’s more expensive during the summer. One of the things that is, if it’s cheaper, it’s probably going to be less busy, and that sounds like, oh, everyone wanna would want to go when it’s cheaper. But the reason is because no one is going, and that’s why it’s cheaper. So I would definitely keep an eye on, if the price is cheaper, that’s probably a better time of year to go on rides there. They do have a couple of different annual passes. So they have a California Neighbor Pass, which is a 9 month pass. It excludes summer, because that is the busier season. And you have block out days, which is usually the weekends. But that is something that only people who live in California in the local neighborhoods can have. And Irvine is a local neighborhood. So you would count, and being someone who goes to UCI for that pass. They also have a Silver Pass, which is what I used to have. It was $8 a month I got in, it was like 275 days, some weekends I could go some weekends I couldn’t, and I couldn’t go during the like bigger, busier holiday seasons. My husband had the Gold Pass, which was 13 a month. The reason we got him that one was because he got parking. So we knew we were always going to go together, and we weren’t going to pay for both of us to have parking when only one person needs parking to get in. So he had free parking. If we got there before 6 pm. He had less blackout dates. He also had a 15% discount on food and merch like Hugo mentioned earlier, most annual passes will give you some sort of additional perks for that. And then they also had a Platinum one. It was $30 a month. I think they had no blackout dates, so that pass could get you in any time of the year, also has the free parking, and it also comes with a Halloween Horro night ticket. So Universal is really known for their Halloween. All of these parts tend to have a Halloween thing. Halloween is very big in America, and I think specifically in California amusement parks. They they do a lot of big stuff for that. So that is one thing to think about. You can also save money. When you buy the tickets for universal online. Some places you could buy them like, right at the park but for Universal there is a discount for buying them online, which is nice. Best time of year to go again anytime outside of summer. My most recommended attraction is Jurassic World is again a water ride. Theme here Aimee likes water rides. They have a wizarding world area. So if you like, Harry Potter, they have a couple of rides and shows over there, and it’s nice to see it kind of cute little place to walk through. I recommend the Flight of the Hippogriff. I don’t like the big ride. I tend to get, which is probably why I haven’t been a Six Flags, so I tend to get motion sick. So I don’t like some of those bigger rollercoaster rides. But Flight of the Hippogriff is a little bit smaller kids, kid friendly ride. They just opened Super Nintendo World, which was amazing. If you like, Mario and Luigi, you are literally walking into a video game. It is really cool experience, even just to walk through it. So if you haven’t been, I do recommend that you go check that out. My husband and I like to go to the Water World Show. It’s like a pyrotechnic show you will get wet, they do spray water, but they also, there’s water and fire in the show. It’s pretty famous for that show. And then they also have, I would say, the ride they’re most well known for us, called the Studio Tour. So you get to see some of the studio backlot area that’s some of the rides are in, but they turned it into a ride. It’s really long. So I don’t know. It’s not always this kid friendly, because it’s like an hour long ride. it’s very long and the wait is usually also really long. But they also have kid friendly play areas. They have a bunch of other like smaller rides, too. They have a dino play area which is like a a playground, and they have a super, silly fun land, which I always want to go to but you have to have kids. So you have to take some of my friends that have kids with me. It’s like a little, it’s a again water, it’s like a a playground that has water in it. So it’s like a mini type of water park. So you will get wet if you go there. But, Hugo, have you been to Universal Studios Hollywood?
Hugo: Yeah, no, I definitely been, I think you’re right about the Studio Tour it’s it’s definitely a commitment. I’m, I’m like a big movie person. So I I love that. And so it’s like a 90 min thing. And I know a lot of people are like, can we like end htis now? And it’s pretty long they do have a I think the part of the right that’s like like a is there like a dinosaur thing at 1 point where they have like. Yeah, they they like, really, I think the Universal Studios is really know where it’s like 4D where you’re like a lot of the rides you know. And this sounds like, not as fun as it. I can’t actually is, because it’s really fun. But you’re like sitting in like the, the chair, like a lot of the time with chairs are moving, and there’s like a like a projection in front of you like a screen. And, and so they really make it a really visual experience. But I think that’s a lot of their rides are kind of like based off of that. And of course, off the movies. I think one right that I really love is like the Mummy ride. And that’s like, I think that’s like the opposite of Stuiod Tours where it’s like supershort. I wish it was longer, but I was, think probably one of their higher thrill rides, and it’s actually like a coaster. It’s kind of kind of scary, too. I guess it’s not really for kids. So I think that’s one of my favorites. But I do think I think I know that I really love Universal Studios for the fact that it has Universal City outside of it. University City Walk is, you know, you kind of just, there’s a bunch of shops in a bunch of restaurants that you can walk through. It’s just a really nice experience, even if you don’t want to attend the park just to go to like Universal City Walk, and then just like, walk around. And you can really make a day out of that experience. So I do recommend that if you’re visiting for the first time.
Aimee: Yeah, I will say I feel like Universal Studios to me is like, if Six Flags and Disneyland had a baby, it would be Universal Studios. So it’s not more of the roller coaster more thrill to it than maybe Knotts Berry Farm or Legoland, which I’ll talk about really briefly here in a second. But it it also has some of that, like very immersive lands, or rides where you really feel like you’re a part of that experience or that movie. So I, I will say, it’s kind of like a good in between. I think that’s why my husband and I like it is because I like more of the immersive. Oh, I’m in the video game. It feels like I am, and he likes the bigger thrill rides. That’s a good in between for us. And then, lastly, I’ve been to Legoland, and I don’t know about either one of you. No, okay. So just me. Legoland is definitely more for kids. I love Legos, though so my mom and I went one time because we just wanted to see what it was about. They have annual passes, and day passes. It’s a little bit further away. It’s basically on your way to San Diego. You’ll see it on the way. They have a miniatures park where they have a bunch of different kind of lands built out of Legos. So like a Star Wars area, and you’ll see some like classic Legos. So if you’re into Legos, I think it’s cool just to go for that part of seeing a amusement park that is built around Legos. But it’s very, very kid friendly. So for those of you coming in with kids, or if you have family visiting that have kids, I think it’s probably outside of Disneyland, the best park to bring kids, and it’s definitely the most affordable park to bring kids, because they do have some little rides. But the the little miniatures park when you first walk in, is my favorite part, and the thing that takes out to me from there. You’ll definitely much like Six Flags. It’s far enough away where you definitely would want to rent a car or have a car to go there. That was everything that we wanted to have there any last thoughts on the parks?
Maryam: One question about the I’ve heard Legoland, and you cannot enter without a child. Is this true?
Aimee: My mom and I went a couple of years ago, just the two of us, and I was definitely not a child but I wouldn’t be surprised if they added in some of those requirements so definitely check those things. Because for safety reasons some parks do have different restrictions. Disneyland has restrictions on what you can wear in terms of like dressing up. You can’t look enough like a character that a kid would want to take a picture with you, thinking you are a Disneyland character. So some of the parts do have those restrictions or restrictions on certain times that you’re allowed to go so definitely check those restrictions out. But yeah, it would not surprise me if Legoland had at that requirement, and I think my mom and I were the only ones there that didn’t have small kids with us when we went but definitely, it’s a good park. A lot of my friends that have kids go to Legoland and and have a pass for it just because it is so, kid friendly, and the water park there is also very kid, friendly and and Lego themed, which is awesome yeah. Any other thoughts on the parks?
Maryam: I would add a personal experience, just not about Six Flags, but in general, with any park that has rights in it. If you wear glasses, use contacts on those days because you cannot keep on and keep on to your glasses, and you would miss the scenery, especially in fun rides like X2 in Six Flags. Definitely wear contacts.
Aimee: Yeah, I’ve definitely made that mistake before trying not to wear hats, or like other loose fitting things, sunglasses. You definitely want to have a bag that you could put those things in and I recommend my last recommendation is to bring a water bottle like a reusable water bottle. Water is very expensive at all of these parks, but majority of them have introduced water bottle, bottle filling stations so you can fill your bottle for free, or you can pay like $5 for a water bottle. So I would definitely recommend bringing your own water in a water bottle. But check the regulations to make sure that your bottle is allowed in the park, because again, glass in certain parks, some parks may not let you bring in certain kinds of water bottles. So make sure you’re checking on those things, Hugo, any last recommendations?
Hugo: So I think I think we kind of definitely covered it all. I think one thing you know, we kind of talked a little bit about about the waterparks, but I know that those tend to be like a lot cheaper than like the ones that are outside of Knots, outside of Six Flags. I don’t think I’ve heard how like they have been like post covid like how busy they can. I’m sure there’s some that get busy. But, but yeah, just I guess keep those in mind, too, if you look for like this kind of thrill ride. But I think, yeah, I think that was it on my end. I think we kind of chatted a lot of the attractions, of course, and what they’re made of and everything. So yeah.
Aimee: Yeah, we will have some podcasts on things, other than amusement parks to do. I know we all here really enjoy our rides. But if you’re looking for maybe concerts or other types of events, we do have some podcast coming up on cheap or free things to do in Orange County as well as like LA, San Diego areas going and exploring. I know I mentioned this earlier, but taking care of yourself and doing something for yourself is really important when you’re in grad school. I really don’t like when I hear students that are like I rarely ever left campus. I’m like you should have done something for yourself and explored the area. So please think about these things as yeah, it’s an extra expense, but it’s an expense to make sure that you are also enjoying yourself in school, doing something with friends. If you have family visiting, that you’re taking them around and exploring your local area. But again, we’ll have some other podcasts on other options for you. If you are not much of an amusement park person and we look forward to having you join us in the future.
Maryam: Awesome. Thank you.
Hugo: Thank you.