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January trip to California


malem
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I'm back at it again with another crazy coaster trip.

Cheap ($65) airfares on Spirit and this recent bout of frigid weather have inspired me to book a flight to southern California later this month (Jan 20-24). After that 7° night at Winterfest, a warm (>50°) day at an amusement park can't come soon enough!

This will be my first time visiting the Los Angeles area, so any advice would be most welcome. We'll definitely be taking advantage of our passes at Knott's and SFMM, and we're planning to splurge on Disneyland tickets. Beyond that, we're playing it by ear with crowds and traffic; possible destinations might be Belmont Park, Pacific Park, and/or Castle Park. Hiking and kayaking are possibilities as well, in case we get coastered out.

If anyone else from KIC will be in the area, feel free to say hi! I'll be sure to update this thread as we go and when I get back with my trip report.

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I went to Disneyland and Knotts 2 years ago.  Flew into LAX and took a 3rd party bus to our hotel which was the Howard Johnson at Harbor Blvd and W Manchester.  It was a decent hotel and well within walking distance of Disneyland (an a lot of people stay on Harbor and walk to the park) and had a bus stop in front.  When we went to Knots there is a bus terminal in front of Disneyland and have buses going all over the LA area, as well as one to Knotts.  So if you don't want to drive in LA traffic there are lots of options to explore.

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Knotts and SFMM are only about 60 miles apart, but allow plenty of time to drive between them.  I left MM Sunday night around 7 and it took almost two hours to drive the 60 miles.  There is a cheap but decent hotel 2 miles from Knotts called Anaheim Lodge.  Finally, with SFMM being open year round now, I hope you have a better experience with crowds than i did.  Lots of great coasters, several were closed and lines were insane.  So much so that I got a Flash Pass, which cost more than my 3 night stay at Anaheim lodge.  ;)

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We're definitely going to need the rental car for getting to San Diego and Valencia. Our flight arrives around 8:30am PST Saturday morning (departing Chicago at 6am CST), so hopefully we can make it to Knott's at opening. Driving to and from Valencia will happen late at night in an attempt to beat the notorious L.A. traffic.

I've heard that crowds aren't too bad in January, so hopefully we luck out there. Sorry you ran into insane crowds when you visited!

As best we can tell, the major rides that will be down are Xcelerator and California Screamin'.

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I would recommend checking out Santa Monica Pier if you can (its the end of Route 66), and there is Pacific Amusement park there featuring a decent sized Morgan coaster (Santa Monica West Coaster https://rcdb.com/434.htm).  It is a fun little park.  

Jheri and I visited there in April 2015 on our honeymoon.  If you have the time, Griffith observatory is neat (and free) destination to check out.  SFMM is a bit of a drive.  Disneyland and Knott`s are relatively close.  I enjoyed the wagon ride at Knott`s.  Definitely a slower paced way to enjoy the park.  And do not miss the Calico Mine Ride and Timber Mountain Log Ride.  Both are fun rides.  

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2 hours ago, malem said:

For anyone else looking to get away this winter, the Spirit air tickets are even cheaper with their promotion this weekend. The dates we booked would be $101RT, down from the $131RT we paid.

Oh my gosh, that is incredibly tempting. I've been dying to go to Disneyland but could never find flights for less than $250-$300. If only I didn't have trips planned in the spring that I need to save money for! :(

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^^ We've been debating between Belmont Park and Pacific Park. We hope to find time for both, but that will depend on traffic, crowds & weather.

Unfortunately, though we checked with the park before booking, Knott's just updated their ride closure information to indicate that both Timber Mountain Log Ride (half expected) and GhostRider (not expected) will be closed that weekend. With air tickets that cheap, we might need to do a Sat-Sun trip later in the year to catch things we missed. Knott's Scary Farm, maybe.

^ If you went when we're going, splitting some expenses with us might be a possibility!

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/14/2018 at 11:47 PM, malem said:

GhostRider is (once again) scheduled to be open this weekend, which is good especially because Xcelerator is still down.

Does the park even know when it's going to reopen? Also, I hope you're having fun in SoCal! 

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