Things to do in Orange County
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Disneyland
The mother of all theme parks, Disneyland lures you into a parallel world that's as enchanting as it is freaky and frenzied. The most popular rides and attractions include the wildly creative Indiana Jones Adventure, the white-knuckle Space Mountain and the Pirate's Lair where Jack Sparrow welcomes wannabe swashbucklers. The Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage is a gentle adventure for little ones.
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Laguna Beach Brewing Company
For pub grub and microbrews head to Laguna Beach Brewing Company, which has live music Thursday to Sunday.
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3-Day Disneyland Resort Ticket
3 Days (Departs Anaheim - Buena Park, California)
by Viator
Welcome to Disneyland®, the happiest place on Earth! Make your Anaheim vacation as smooth as possible by booking your Disneyland Resort admission ticket in adv…Not LP reviewed
from USD$198.99 -
Orange County Coast and Shopping Tour to Newport Beach and Laguna Beach
4 hours 30 minutes (Departs Anaheim - Buena Park, California)
by Viator
Orange County, known for its high-end shops, luxury homes and, of course, its spectacular coastline, is so lovely it’s been called everything from the Californi…Not LP reviewed
from USD$74.99 -
Catalina Island Day Trip
10 hours (Departs Anaheim - Buena Park, California)
by Viator
Be whisked away to Catalina Island and the beautiful city of Avalon, a Mediterranean-like town just 22 miles off the coastline of Southern California. Travel ac…Not LP reviewed
from USD$88.99 -
Southern California CityPASS
Flexible (Departs Anaheim - Buena Park, California)
by Viator
Visit the most famous attractions in Southern California at one amazing price, and have plenty of time to see it all! With the Southern California CityPASS, you…Not LP reviewed
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Fireworks, Snow White and Fantasmic Shows
In summer look for fireworks above the park, nightly around 21:30. (In winter, snow falls after the fireworks; check schedules for locations.) The Parade of the Stars featuring famous Disney characters takes place twice daily during the high season.
Snow White, the musical, tells the famous story on stage, several times daily in the Fantasyland Theatre. No tickets necessary; line up 15 to 30 minutes before show time for good seats.
Fantasmic!, an outdoor extravaganza of huge proportions on Rivers of America across from New Orleans Square, may be the best show of all. It pulls out all the stops, using full-size ships, lasers and pyrotechnics (at one point the water catches …
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Main-Street USA
Upon entering the park, you're funneled onto Main Street USA. Fashioned after Walt's hometown of Marceline, Missouri, it resembles a classic turn-of-the-20th-century all-American town, before the advent of the mall. Everything here is designed to celebrate an idealized vision of the USA. The music playing in the background is from American musicals and there's a flag-retreat ceremony every afternoon.
Have your picture taken with Mickey or Minnie or any of the other oversized characters prancing around. You can also catch the Disneyland Railroad, a steam train that loops the park and stops at four different stations along the way. Pay attention to the wonderful optical il…
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Laguna Art Museum
With its back to the Pacific Ocean, the Laguna Art Museum is a great example of a local gallery - dedicated to supporting and exhibiting the work of local artists, past and present. It also plays a significant role in Californian art conservation and scholarship.
Laguna has an enduring reputation as an artists' haven, despite the ineluctable creep of real estate (and Republican) values. While the heady days of the 20s (in which it was estimated that artists made up half the town's population) are long-gone, this little museum keeps the flame burning. The permanent collection holds more than 5000 works by over 800 different artists, documenting Californian art since the ea…
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Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve
You'd be forgiven for overlooking Bolsa Chica, at least on first glance. Against a backdrop of nodding oil derricks, this flat expanse of wetlands doesn't exactly promise the unspoilt splendors of nature. However, more than 200 bird species aren't so aesthetically prejudiced, either making the wetlands their home throughout the year, or dropping by mid-migration.
Other than two circular embedded gun batteries (a legacy of WWII fears of Japanese invasion) this 'Little Pocket' of estuarine tidal saltwater marsh - home to loons, ducks, terns, sandpipers and rare species such as the white pelican - is largely untouched. This preservation hasn't come easily, however: decades o…
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Disneyland tickets & times
Both parks are open 365 days a year. During peak season (mid-June to early September) Disneyland's hours are usually 08:00 to midnight. The rest of the year it's open from 10:00 to 20:00 or until 22:00. DCA closes at 22:00 in summer, earlier in the off-season. Check the current schedule on the phone or the website.
Disney has a free Fastpass system, which pre-assigns specific boarding times for selected attractions, significantly cutting wait times. Look for ticket machines near the entrances to the rides. Simply show up at the time printed on the ticket and go straight to the Fastpass line instead of the regular line. There's still a wait, but it'll be much shorter. It's…
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Hollywood Pictures Backlot
Designed to look like the backlot of a Hollywood studio, this attraction includes a mishmash of building styles, with everything from a Frank Lloyd Wright knock-off to a Pantages-style theater. If you're early, you'll have an unobstructed view of the forced-perspective mural at the end of the street, a sky-and-land backdrop that looks, at least in photographs, like the street keeps going.
In the air-conditioned Animation Building you can put your voice into a Disney film and find out which Disney character you're most like - perfect for little ones. Across the street you can see Kermit at Muppet Vision 3D. The big attraction, though, is the 183ft-tall Twilight Zone Tower …
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Balboa Island
In the middle of the harbor sits the island that time forgot. Its streets are still largely lined with tightly clustered cottages built in the 1920s and '30s when this was a summer getaway from LA. That said, from the promenade that circles the island (and makes a terrific car-free stroll or jog), you can see right into the marble-and-glass monsters that have gone up along the waterfront. The whole place is like a rich, conservative, Midwestern suburb, but with much better weather.
The island is connected to the Fun Zone via a tiny car and passenger ferry (car & driver around US$2, per person around US$1; h05:30-02:30). It lands at Agate Ave, about 11 blocks west of Marin…
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New Orleans Square
Adjacent to Adventureland, New Orleans Square is a refrain of that city's French Quarter, minus the marauding drunks. Pirates of the Caribbean, the longest ride in Disneyland (17 minutes), opened in 1967 and was the first addition to the original park. You'll float through the subterranean haunts of tawdry pirates, where buccaneers' skeletons perch atop their mounds of booty. This is the only ride in the park that addresses sex ('Buy a Bride') - blame it on the '60s.
At the Haunted Mansion, '999 happy haunts' - spirits and goblins, shades and ghosts - evanesce while you ride in a cocoon-like car through web-covered graveyards of dancing skeletons. The Disneyland Railroad …
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Golden State
Broken into sections that recognize California's cultural achievements, the Golden State has several distinct areas. Condor Flats, a nod to the state's aerospace industry, features Soarin' Over California, a virtual hang gliding ride using IMAX technology. Keep your nostrils open for the smell of the sea, orange groves and pine forests. Grizzly River Run takes you 'rafting' down a faux Sierra Nevada river; you will get wet so try it when it's warm.
Raise a glass to the Napa Valley at the Golden Vine Winery. At the Palace of Fine Arts in 'San Francisco,' check out Golden Dreams, where an eerie embodiment of Whoopi Goldberg takes you on a 22-minute film journey through Cali…
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Newport Harbor Nautical Museum
If you've had your fill of the through-the-looking-glass excesses of Disneyland, and are ready for slightly less giddy amusement, the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum may be for you.
Located on Balboa Peninsula (the sandy spit that encloses the Harbor and supports some of the most outrageously expensive real estate in the OC) the Museum aims to preserve and showcase the area's nautical heritage. Occupying much of the former site of the Balboa Fun Zone (a 1930s amusement complex, of which only the ferris wheel and carousel remain), it also promotes awareness of marine environmental issues. As a good museum should, the NHNM manages to strike the right balance between educatio…
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Disney's California Adventure
The entrance to DCA sits directly opposite the entrance to Disneyland and was designed to look like an old-fashioned painted-collage postcard. As you pass through the turnstiles, note the gorgeous mosaics on either side of the entrance. One represents Northern California, the other Southern California.
After passing under the Golden Gate Bridge, you'll arrive at Sunshine Plaza, where a 50ft-tall sun made of gold titanium 'shines' all the time because heliostats direct the rays of the real sun onto the Disney sun. Close your eyes and stand in the plaza, and you'll hear the simulated sound of the surf as produced by the plaza's fountain, a neat trick.
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Tomorrowland
The future looks different now than it did in 1955 when this exhibit opened, so in 1998 this 'land' was revamped to honor three 'timeless' futurists: Jules Verne, HG Wells and Leonardo da Vinci. Don't miss Space Mountain, one of the park's signature attractions and one of the best roller coasters in America. It takes your head off as you hurtle into complete darkness at frightening speed.
A 2005 revamp means new visual effects, but the biggest improvement is the new sound system, so it seems like Deep Space is penetrating your eardrums.
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Fantasyland
At the core of the park, behind Sleeping Beauty Castle, Fantasyland is filled with the characters of classic children's stories, such as Dumbo the Elephant and Peter Pan. Kids love whirling around the Mad Tea Party ride. Peter Pan's Flight, one of the park's original attractions, takes you floating through the air in a galleon.
If you only see one attraction in Fantasyland, visit It's a Small World, a boat ride past hundreds of animatronic children (representing many of the world's cultures) all singing the song of the same name.
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International Surfing Museum
If you’re curious about the reality behind the reality of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Orange County and MTV’s Laguna Beach, then a trip to the OC’s gorgeous beach communities is a must. The county’s northern-most coastal hideaways are Seal Beach and Huntington Beach, the latter boasting the ‘Surf City, USA’ moniker as well as the International Surfing Museum and though both communities are scenic and well-to-do, they’re just a bit too sincere to be the focus of unscripted drama.
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Universal Studios Hollywood with Transport
11 hours (Departs Anaheim - Buena Park, California)
by Viator
Experience the magic of Hollywood at on a fun-filled visit to Universal Studios Hollywood. Go behind the scenes of your favorite movies and TV shows on the worl…Not LP reviewed
from USD$99.99 -
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Paradise Pier
Paradise Pier is an amalgam of California's beachside amusement piers, like the ones in Santa Monica and Newport Beach. The California Screamin' roller coaster occupies 10 acres and resembles an old wooden coaster, but it's got a state-of-the-art, smooth-as-silk steel track; the beginning of the ride feels like you're being shot out of a cannon. Awesome.
For more bird's-eye views of the park, head to the Sun Wheel, a giant Ferris wheel where each gondola pitches and yaws as it makes its grand circuit.
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SeaWorld® San Diego Ticket with Transport
11 hours (Departs Anaheim - Buena Park, California)
by Viator
Pre-book your ticket to SeaWorld and get round-trip transportation to and from your Anaheim hotel! There’s no easier way to enjoy one of San Diego’s top family …Not LP reviewed
from USD$72.99 -
Knott's Soak City General Admission Ticket
Flexible (Departs Anaheim - Buena Park, California)
by Viator
Longboards and surf woodies are in again at Knott's Soak City. With its colorful theme inspired by the beach and surf towns of the 1950's Southern California co…
Not LP reviewed
from USD$32.99 -
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A Bug's Land
Here the attractions, designed in conjunction with Pixar Studios after its film A Bug's Life, attempt to see the world from the insect's point of view. Kids can splash around the 'irrigation systems' at Bountiful Valley Farm, but the best attraction is the 3D It's Tough to Be a Bug. Hilarious and oddly touching, it packs some unexpected tactile surprises. Other good rides include Heimlich's Chew Chew Train and the Drive 'em Buggies bumper cars.
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