Orange County
What started as a simple berry farm is now a sprawling 160-acre operation with rides, live shows and lovable Peanuts characters roaming the grounds. Knott…
Must-see attractions in Orange County
Coastal Orange County
Famous for its swallows that fly back to town every year on March 19 (though sometimes they’re just a bit early), San Juan Capistrano is home to the …
Orange County
From its stately, Spanish Colonial–style shell, the Bowers Museum explodes onto the scene every year or so with remarkable exhibits that remind LA-centric…
Orange County
Follow the giant 10-story cube – balanced on one of its points – to the county's best educational kiddie attraction. About 100 hands-on displays await,…
Disneyland Resort
After checking in at the Grizzly Peak Airfield, fasten your seat belt and take off (as if hang gliding) before a giant, 80ft projection screen that really…
Disneyland Resort
Formerly known as Space Mountain, Tomorrowland’s signature attraction (and one of the USA’s best roller coasters), has been given a Star Wars–themed…
Disneyland Resort
Paradise Pier's state-of-the-art roller coaster resembles an old wooden coaster, but it’s got a smooth-as-silk steel track: it feels like you’re being…
Disneyland Resort
This race-car ride bumps and jumps around a track painstakingly decked out like the Great American West. FastPass accepted.
Newport Beach
This engaging museum highlights California art and cutting-edge contemporary artists, with exhibitions rotating through two large spaces. Recent…
Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve
Huntington Beach
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…
Huntington Beach
One of SoCal’s best beaches, the sand surrounding the pier at the foot of Main St gets packed on summer weekends with surfers, volleyball players,…
Huntington Beach
A 3-mile-long strip of sand favored by surfers, volleyball players and fishers, Bolsa Chica State Beach stretches alongside Pacific Coast Hwy between…
Huntington Beach
The 1853ft Huntington Pier is one of the West Coast's longest. It has been here – in one form or another – since 1904, though the mighty Pacific has…
Disneyland Resort
Disneyland resort's larger but less crowded park, Disney California Adventure celebrates the natural and cultural glories of the Golden State but lacks…
Newport Beach
Four miles long but less than a half-mile wide, the Balboa Peninsula has a white-sand beach on its ocean side and countless stylish homes, including the…
Newport Beach
A few miles of open beach and 2400 acres of undeveloped woodland at this state park let you forget you're in a crowded metropolitan area, at least once…
Disneyland Resort
This land gets kudos for its incredibly detailed design based on the popular Disney Pixar Cars movies. Top billing goes to the wacky Radiator Springs…
Disneyland Resort
An iconic Disneyland attraction (for better or for worse), this indoor boat ride takes you past hundreds of audio-animatronic children from different…
Disneyland Resort
At the far end of Main Street USA, Sleeping Beauty Castle is an obligatory photo op and most recognizable landmark. Its towering blue turrets, loosely…
Anaheim
The Anaheim Packing District launched in 2013 around a long shuttered 1925 Packard dealership and the 1919 orange packing house a couple miles from…
Star Tours – The Adventure Continues
Disneyland Resort
Star Tours clamps you into a Starspeeder shuttle for a wild and bumpy 3D ride through the desert canyons of Tatooine with C-3PO, on a space mission with…
Disneyland Resort
One of the most popular rides in Paradise Pier. This 4D ride lets you earn points by shooting at targets while your carnival car swivels and careens…
Disneyland Resort
Fun for the whole family as kids and adults drive their own miniature cars (don't worry, they're on tracks). Drive too slowly, and you may get bumped from…
Disneyland Resort
Tractor-towed trailers swing their way around the 'dance floor' at Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree, named after Tow Mater from the Cars movie. It's sort a…
Laguna Beach
The grassy, bluff-top Heisler Park offers vistas of craggy coves and deep-blue sea. Bring your camera – with its palm trees and bougainvillea-dotted…
Disneyland Resort
Grizzly River Run takes you and seven friends in a circular raft up 275ft before sending you down a faux Sierra Nevada river. You will get wet, so come…
Disneyland Resort
Enormous Humvee-type vehicles lurch and jerk their way through the wild for spine-tingling encounters with creepy crawlies and scary skulls in re…
Disneyland Resort
Inspired by mining during the gold rush era, this train-style roller coaster takes you through Big Thunder ghost town, under waterfalls, escaping a…
Disneyland Resort
On this classic, original Disneyland ride from 1955, exotic audio-animatronic animals from the Amazon, Ganges, Nile and Irrawaddy Rivers jump out and…
Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum
Orange County
The Nixon Library offers a fascinating walk though America’s modern history and that of this controversial native son of Orange County (1913–94), who…
Disneyland Resort
If you like carnival rides, you’ll love Paradise Pier, designed to look like a combination of all the beachside amusement piers in California. The state…
Disneyland Resort
How did 1950s imagineers envision the future? As a galaxy-minded community filled with monorails, rockets and Googie-style architecture, apparently. In…
Disneyland Resort
Fashioned after Walt’s hometown of Marceline, Missouri, bustling Main Street USA resembles the classic turn-of-the-20th-century, all-American town. It’s…
Disneyland Resort
Fantasyland is filled with the characters of classic children’s stories. If you only see one attraction here, visit it’s a small world, a boat ride past…
Coastal Orange County
This child-friendly educational center encompasses four separate ocean-centric ‘adventures.’ It is mostly reserved for school groups on weekdays, so it's…
Disneyland Resort
Grizzly Peak is broken into sections highlighting California’s natural and human achievements. Its main attraction, Soarin’ Around the World, is a virtual…
Disneyland Resort
Loosely deriving its jungle theme from Southeast Asia and Africa, Adventureland has a number of attractions, but the hands-down highlight is the safari…
Coastal Orange County
Surfers won’t want to miss world-renowned Trestles, in protected San Onofre State Beach, just southeast of San Clemente. This beach is famous for its…
Disneyland Resort
This Disney 'land' is a salute to old Americana: the Mississippi-style paddle-wheel Mark Twain Riverboat, the 18th-century replica Sailing Ship Columbia,…
Newport Beach
On the harbor side of Balboa Peninsula, the Fun Zone has delighted locals and visitors since 1936. There’s a small Ferris wheel (where Ryan and Marissa…
