Review on California Theme Parks

By Jayden Clasby 

Downpours, floods, and thunder might not be what you’d expect from a trip to Disneyland in Anaheim California, but that’s exactly what my family got when we visited in February. While we were there, we visited Disneyland, Universal Studios and California Adventure. My sister Maisy and I decided to rank these parks using 5 categories: the quality of food, wait times for rides, character personability, and overall best ride. I also added some “honorable mentions” at the end of this article.

Universal Studios

Universal was the first park we went to. It is almost as big as Disneyland. Even before entering the park, it had a really cool vibe. It’s almost like a “mini-city” filled with a bunch of shops, restaurants and so much more. The park has many different “worlds” just like Disney has. The worlds include;  Hogsmeade from Harry Potter, Mario Land, Illumination Land, Jurassic Park, The Mummy, Simpsons Land, and coming soon in March, Fast and Furious (land). The rides were more thrilling and scary in this park. The mummy ride has things crawling at your feet and Mummies chase you. Jurassic Park has a huge 60-foot drop at the end, and the Harry Potter rides were all thrilling as well! There are also fun rides for little kids (or adults, no judgement). The Mario Kart ride was a perfect ride for kids and adults, the theme overall was really cool. Along with the rides, there is also a Secret Life of Pets ride that I did not get to go on, but my siblings told me they thought it was “okay”. The Minions ride was fun. It definitely was a unique ride. It was very silly and in the end they turned you into minions. Maisy ranked the Mario ride as her top pick, but I couldn’t decide on my favorite ride. We both agreed that the food we tried was not that good overall. The wait times for rides were not too bad, but they did slowly get worse as the afternoon went on. I did find they were much shorter than I had expected. There were quite a few characters walking around! We got to meet the Simpsons, and we even had a Dino encounter! We both agreed that this was not our favorite park. Maybe if we stayed more we would get to enjoy it without rushing, but it was very fun! 

Disneyland

We went to Disneyland for two days and it was amazing. Disneyland is a bit bigger than Universal and is full of magic. The park has several lands; Fantasyland, (which is inside the castle with all of the princess and magic things). Tomorrowland, which has futuristic rides like Space Mountain and the Pizza Planet restaurant. Also, there’s Frontierland, which has an old “miner vibe,” with my personal favorite ride: Thunder Mountain. Star Wars land isn't a real “land” but it completely changes the atmosphere so most people consider it its own land and not part of Frontierland. My sister and I decided that the food everywhere there was really good. There were shops and bakeries all around every land which made it very fun! We also got lightning lane passes that let us skip the line for some of our favorite rides which was definitely worth it. There were also a lot of characters scattered everywhere. Most of them were placed somewhere around the park and were available for pictures and autographs. They also had characters you could see but not talk to and that was fun. My sister's favorite ride was Tiana’s Bayou because it was thrilling and had the princess theme. It also had a 50 foot drop into water. This ride was originally Splash Mountain. My favorite ride was Thunder Mountain which is a fun rollercoaster in Frontierland. We agreed that it was not our favorite park. Maisy said it was “very good but not that good.” It was close to being our first though.

California Adventure

California Adventure is the smallest of the 3 parks, but one of the best in our opinion. There aren’t really lands in CA Adventure but there are themed areas, like Pixar Pier, Sanfransokyo from the movie Big Hero 6 and a woodsy forest area that is supposed to be the Redwood National Park. Maisy and I decided that the food in CA Adventure was REALLY good. They had less food offered around the parks but they had actual restaurants. The lines were a little longer, especially for the big rides. There were several characters, but not as many as there were at Disneyland. I feel like having characters wasn’t their main focus, but there were still a lot of them around. My sister's favorite ride was Guardians of the Galaxy. She is 5, and if you have been on it, you might be surprised that she loved it. “I loved Guardians of the Galaxy, it was SO FUN!” Says Maisy. My favorite ride was the Incredicoaster (I know I’m just like everyone else), and we decided that it was definitely our favorite park. 

Honorable mentions

Universal Studios, thanks for having almost 0 cover for the monsoon that we were in.

California Adventure, thanks for the BEST chicken I have ever had, at the Poultry Palace (try it!)

Disneyland: thanks for having characters that reject highfives (I got rejected 3+ times.) 

California Adventure: thanks for the Incredicoaster giving me a migraine for 3 days.

Universal Studios, thanks for making my mom spend 100$ on Mario wristbands that my siblings didn’t use (that is why Ebay exists!)