Soak City

[pigby]

Who has been to the waterpark at Knotts Berry Farm - Soak City and is it worth spending a day over there - we are staying for a couple of weeks and we will have the time. Will be staying at HoJo's - I have seen that you can get a tour bus to Knotts Berry Farm but what about Soak City if you don't have a car - is there a public bus or do you know what the approx price of a taxi would be?

 

[nana50]

When are you going? Our soak city here in San Diego doesn't open until memorial day. I assume it will be the same in L.A. as they have the same temperatures and owned by the same company.

 

[sonnyjane]

I'll assume you mean the one right by Knott's Berry Farm. It is literally across the street, so if you take a bus to Knott's, Soak City is across the parking lot.

I haven't been to that location, but I HAVE been to the one in San Diego, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It was dirty, dilapidated, and had very few attractions. The entry fee, locker rental fee, and food prices were absolutely obscene. Again, I haven't been to the Knott's location, but if it is anything like the San Diego one, I would definitely pass. I hear there are far superior water parks closer to LA if that's what you're interested in specifically.

 

[pigby]

Thanks - yes it was the one by Knotts Berry Farm simply because it seems to be so close to Anaheim and we have the time. We normally spend at least a day at a water park when we go to WDW - OK usually a Disney waterpark which is probably a different thing altogether. We have though been to Wet n Wild in Orlando if anyone can make the comparison.

I didn't realised that theer was more than one 'Soak City' - I had assumed that this was the only one and owned by Knotts Berry Farm - if it is like the one in San Diego ie dirty, then we'll most definitely pass.

 

[sonnyjane]

Yeah, if you're used to the fantastic Orlando/Disney waterparks, I think you'll be disappointed in Soak City. All the Soak City parks are part of Cedar Fair/Knott's, so I can't imagine that they would be TOO different from one location to another. Just to give you an example - the safety signs on all the rides were misspelled: "Floatation device" (should be flotation). The paint was chipping, weeds were growing through the sidewalks...you catch my drift.

 

[LavenderPeach]

Yeah, if you're used to the fantastic Orlando/Disney waterparks, I think you'll be disappointed in Soak City. All the Soak City parks are part of Cedar Fair/Knott's, so I can't imagine that they would be TOO different from one location to another. Just to give you an example - the safety signs on all the rides were misspelled: "Floatation device" (should be flotation). The paint was chipping, weeds were growing through the sidewalks...you catch my drift.

I agree, the water parks here are nothing like the ones at WDW. We actually went to the San Diego Soak City several years ago - after our trip to WDW. We knew it wouldn't be the same though so we weren't terribly disappointed. We had fun. I think we went when the SD one was fairly new so i didn't see any paint chipping or anything. The best water park in SoCal would probably be Raging Waters in San Dimas - although I've never been there so can't give any personal views about it.

 

[Dizneydaz]

I too go to the water parks at WDW and absolutely love them! On the opposite end of the spectrum is Soak City. I've been to Palm Springs and Buena Park. Of the 2, Buena Park was better. PS was an absolute hole! Food was really bad and very expensive. I can't even describe the stuff they called hamburger and how long they left it sitting in a warm water bath.

Biggest differences between SC and WDW waterparks are:
Theming-SC theming is concrete. That's it.
Food-disgusting at SC
Lazy River-not really a river, more like a small stream at SC. And you MUST stay in your ring. No swimming or walking along. When we went to the one in BP in late May they didn't have enough employees working so they delayed opening their lazy river. When they did open it they only let a certain number of guest get in-escorted! It was crazy.
Wave Pool-way to much wave action-it really beat you up.

A few of the rides are okay. The only reason we ended up going at all is that we had the AP inc. waterparks so they were almost free.

Oh, and when we were there at BP in May, there were alot of kids on a school field trip. And you know how kids on a field trip act!

I haven't been to Raging Waters but I've also heard it's one of the bets in our area. You can also skip the one at Pharoah's Kingdom in the Inland Empire. Not worth it either.

I so wish Disney would build a waterpark here-they say the warm weather season isn't long enough though.

 

[LavenderPeach]

I haven't been to Raging Waters but I've also heard it's one of the bets in our area. You can also skip the one at Pharoah's Kingdom in the Inland Empire. Not worth it either.

I so wish Disney would build a waterpark here-they say the warm weather season isn't long enough though.

Just to update you, Pharoah's Kingdom is closed now. Actually, there's been a lot of controversy about that place. The park closed and then the guy running it started hosting raves there and they were open to all ages which meant that 12 year olds were going to these parties where there were lots of drugs, etc. Then they switched it to raves for people over 18 and then the producers of the raves decided there was too much opposition from the city and the residents and decided it wasn't worth it to have raves there anymore. Sorry, I got a little off topic.

Oh how I wish Disney would build a water park here. That would be so great! I wonder if it would be too crowded to be fun - with how many people live in the area. But i would still love it!

 

[lcasa]

Oh how I wish Disney would build a water park here. That would be so great! I wonder if it would be too crowded to be fun - with how many people live in the area. But i would still love it!

I SO agree! As DL AP's we spend most of our WDW time in the water parks - I adore them! So much so last year we went in January and still did TL (BB was closed) - we were practically the only ones there and had a blast - no lines! It was in the 60's.

How can our warm weather season be too short? It's nearly all year here! Must really be the lack of land and the $ per acre a water park provides vs a theme park.

Oh - and on topic, my son went to Soak City BP with his summer camp a couple of times and didn't really like it. He's spoiled though.

There is Wild Rivers in Irvine ( opens Memorial Day ) - it's not Disney (no theming) , but it has some exciting slides. Not that far - straight down the 5 FWY. Maybe 20 min. We've had fun there - including that spoiled son.

 

[Dizneydaz]

We to spend a lot of time at TL and BB! We also went in Jan. one year when it was about 65. It was still plenty of fun, even if a bit colder than normal. Last Sept. for the first time we did 3 days at BB and TL. So fun! Oh, and a little off topic but my DD10 met a nice boy and his mom from GA on Teamboat Springs at BBL and they now have a small online relationship going-so cute!

Not surprised to hear about Pharaoh's Kingdom. The one time we went, after about an hour I was like "is this all there is?" So not worth the money.