The Non-Disney SoCal Trip

[GatorChris]

Just to preface, I'm a Disney nut. I have been since our honeymoon in 2002. Did 7 trips to WDW in 10 years. Then with the kids getting older, we switched to DL since it's just a 330 mile drive vs $2K just to fly to Orlando. We did APs several years at DL and loved it. But the last few years, DL just hasn't been "it" anymore. Don't get me wrong - it still has all the attractions, rides, and shows that I love. But the cost has gotten out of control, Genie+ is maddening and expensive but you can't do DL without it and have fun, character interactions have been bad, and it's insanely crowded all the time. So...we decided to skip DL last year and this year and instead go to a bunch of other things and see how it goes.

At the end, I'll tell you the difference in cost between what we did and what a Disney trip would cost.

First, we left early on the last Wednesday of May to Pismo Beach. My wife and I have been many times to this area for our anniversary trips. We took the kids (18,16,12) last year and they loved it. So, we stayed at the Dolphin Cove Motel. And yes, it's a motel. But it was clean, had three queen beds in our room which fit us well, and was literally on the main Pismo pier. Which made it close to the beach and all the places we liked to eat. If you know Pismo, it's chilly. While it was 103 back home, it was 65 to 68 degrees the three days we were there. In the summer, there's no better place to be than on the CA coast. If you're interested, our favorite places to eat include Old West Cinnamon Rolls (HOLY COW SO GOOD), Beachin' Biscuits for biscuits and grave, and the Cool Cat Cafe' which has good food and a great vibe. Pismo is a really good place if you're meeting up with friends, but the 5 of us had a great time. They even had a "last Friday of the Summer Months" Car show on the pier. It was rad!

Friday late afternoon, we headed to 3 hours to North Hollywood/Burbank to a nice 3BR Airbnb. While nearly all of LA seems sketchy and you're afraid to leave your car parked in the street, the house was nice and nothing happened to our van - that was a relief. We chose this area because of its proximity to Universal. But it also is just a 30 minute drive to Santa Clarita. So, we decided on Saturday to head up to Six Flags Magic Mountain, a place with the most amazing roller coasters - where at times I feared for my middle-aged life. Magic Mountain is great for teens and tweens who like rides. It takes thrills to a whole new level. It's Six Flags, so don't expect award winning service. And rides kept going down. But when they were up, it was fun. Plus they had DC heroes walking about, so that was cool. Twisted Colossus (which is a new version of Colossus, a ride I did as a teen) has to be my fave. That wooden/metal hybrid coaster is great stuff. The food here is ok. And don't expect any GF meals, which my wife struggled with. We got an Annual Pass so we could come back in October for $25 more.


Sunday we got to do a few cool things. I'm a pastor and a long-time pastor's son, so church on Sunday is kinda our thing. We decided to hit Angelus Temple in downtown LA. They have the Dream Center there where they feed thousands of homeless people monthly, and even house former drug and alcohol addicts to get them clean. An amazing thing to see! We got there early and they let us meet Pastor Barnett before the service. He was gracious and so genuine in his love for the people of SoCal. Just spending 10 minutes with him made me feel like a million bucks.


Once church was over, we found a nearby taco shop with GF tacos. And it was really good - Villas Tacos. Before we went back to the house, we decided we needed to see some Movie/TV sights. Like Marty's house from Back to the Future. But the big one was the Brady Bunch House! That was so cool. Especially knowing they'd recently renovated it to look like the TV set inside.


After we returned to the house, we changed and decided we would head over to Universal. Which I'll talk about in the #2 post on this thread.

 

[GatorChris]

About 3pm Sunday, we made it to Universal. We parked in the ET structure and walked through City Walk - which, btw, I think is way better than Downtown Disney. We picked up the cheap 9month passes, so we knew we could take the park at a fun and easy pace. We walked in and headed right into Waterworld, the show. It was great!. And then after that, straight for Super Mario World. Coming down the escalator, it was something to behold looking into it. For a Gen X original Nintendo gamer, it was nothing short of Magical. Walking through the line for the Mario Kart Ride was simply stunning. It took about 65-70 minutes because it was mid-day and it was a weekend. But getting to take our time going through it, taking our picture by the Bowser statue, hearing the game music in the queue...it was all just as good as the ride itself. By the time we were through, the evening hit and the park emptied. It was great! We had short waits for Transformers, a decent wait for Jurassic World, and did the Mummy twice because there was no line. We then hit Mario World and Bowsers Challenge/Mari Kart again. We hit the line just as they were closing the line. So, we were nearly last. When we got to the glasses room, we waited for everyone to go ahead of us because we decided we were going to shut it down. And we did! When we got off the ride, there was no one but the five of us on the last two cars. It was surreal with little noise or distraction. When we walked out into the Mario courtyard, all the workers were cheering and one of them had a dance off with me. We got the extra special attention at the end. And then on the way out, Mario World looked amazing at night. Plus, we got a picture of Hogsmeade with it empty - yeah, cool!



Honestly, after just that 5 hour span in the park, we thought it was the best trip we'd been on in years.
Monday we returned to Universal and got there maybe 15 minutes after it opened. Can I just say how great the security and ticket process is. Sooooo much better than Disney. Over at DL, it's a magic killer. Anyway, we went in and headed straight for Super Mario World. I was wondering if it was wise to not pay extra for the early entry. But having several days to go, we figured line waiting was no worry. It was about 40 minutes, so not a bad wait for the premiere ride.


We then did just about everything we could do at the park that day, including the 60th Tour, which had an amazing stop. I even had Norman Bates pull a knife on me and chase me! So COOL! At the end, Doc Brown was waiting for us and I was the only one who stopped to get a picture with him. Got to talk "Hillsdale" with him. And as we were walking off, he screamed "1.21 Gigawatts!" It was a moment. We also ate at Jimmy Buffet's for a late lunch. I'm not a drinker. But they have the best nachos in the world there - Volcano Nachos. When the day was through, we realized how hooked we were on Universal. So great. And we almost closed down Mario Kart...but had a few people behind us. That said, leaving Super Mario World empty is awesome. And yes, the same guest worker saw me and we had another dance off!



On Tuesday, we went to Knotts Berry Farm. This was our big disappointment of the trip. And man, I really wanted to like it. I love Frontierland and Old West stuff, so this was supposed to be my park. But it all fell apart with two things. First, this Tuesday was apparently the HS and JRHS day of the year. Over 4K students (we were told) came in buses just as we were getting there. It was a ZOO! But then we followed all the touring plan videos advice and went to GhostRider first. That was the biggest mistake I've ever made in theme park history. When we got in line, they said it was 90 minutes. But because I'm told it's the best ride there, we waited. Three. Hours. Later. We are all hangry, angry, vowing never to return. It was a good ride, but not that good. Only one train running on that day, so that's what made it awful. Then we hit Fireman's BBQ because it's GF...50 minute wait. By that time, we're done. We ended up doing a few more rides, like Hang Time and Excelerator. Those were fun. And had we started the day with those, we'd probably be a lot happier. As it goes, we left with a bad taste in our mouths and vowing to never return. We'll see.

Wednesday, the last day of our trip. We pack up from the Airbnb and head over to Universal. And this day is special. For the first time, I'm in a theme park on MY BIRTHDAY!!! WE go get my pin (which is now on my Disney/ThemePark pin board in my office) which helps get lots of birthday wishes that day. We could only stay until about 2pm so we could get home that evening (long drive). But we recapped all the stuff we wanted to. Including WaterWorld, where the kids wanted to be in the wet zone. Just a warning - it should be called soaked-to-the-bone zone. But they had fun and made an awesome memory. Of course, we hit the Butter Beer stand for a frosty butter beer...all three days! We did my birthday meal at Three Broomsticks, which for a Harry Potter fan family was a great experience. And the biggest and coolest moment? Getting our pic taken with the whole Mystery Machine gang from Scooby Doo. That was some of the best character interaction I've had from any park.


As promised, I'd say what the price difference was compared to a Disney trip. We usually stay at DL at the Park Place right across the street. But it had gone up $100/night in price from our previous two visits. So we were going to do another $200/night hotel like Desert Palms. The Disney trip was for 6 nights, 5 day one-park DL tickets with Genie+. Vs the trip we did: 3 days and 2 nights at Pismo, 1 day at Magic Mt (with annual pass purchsed for return visit), 3 days at Universal (with AP purchased for future visits), 1 day at Knotts, an amazing church service at Angelus Temple, and 5 nights at a three bedroom, very classy home in Burbank.

5 days of Disney vs 8 days of five other fun options. We saved $1600 vs the Disney route. And may I say, there's no way a Disney trip would've been nearly as good. Throw in perfect weather the whole time...and I'm counting my blessings.

 

[PHXscuba]

Waterworld has the best WOW moment of any theme park show I've seen recently. Not going to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen, but it's worth seeing even if you aren't a "theme park show" person.

It's too bad Knotts didn't work out. It can be a great park but the student day probably killed any magic. And Ghostrider is way too long of a line, all the time, for such a boneshaker. (I only rode it last trip because one of the students I was chaperoning had a DAS-type pass and we went through the express line with her).

It will be interesting to see how things shake out the next couple years with Cedar Fair/Six Flags merging -- annual passes, maintenance, customer service, etc.

PHXscuba

 

[GatorChris]

It will be interesting to see how things shake out the next couple years with Cedar Fair/Six Flags merging -- annual passes, maintenance, customer service, etc.

PHXscuba

I'm interested to see what happens. I'm guessing nothing will get built for a while.

I don't know what kind of rep Cedar Fair has in the East. I know that Six Flags has a rep of great rides, some interesting shows without the Disney IP and fanfare.

 

[DawnM]

How crowded was Universal?

 

[GatorChris]

How crowded was Universal?

It was busy, but not crazy crowded. It was a bit before most of the schools let out for summer, but there were still lots of kids. Most ride lines were tolerable. Nothing was walk-on until the last hour of the park closing. That's magic hour! Don't leave early, whatever you do.

 

[sagejenn47]

I'm sorry about your time at Knott's! It really depends on the day. I've had trips where I could only squeeze in a single ride in hours (we waited in line for 2 hours for the Calico Rapids ride during the Boysenberry Festival, e.g., and we heard that Ghostrider was a 4+ hour wait that day). But yesterday (a Wednesday in early December) I was able to get on five rides (including two on Ghostrider) in the first hour the park was open. When Knott's is empty, it's great! I hope if you ever try again you'll get better luck.