Amazing Theme Parks

A few miles from Anaheim, Buena Park first found fame due to a small family farm, and it has grown ever since, into a wide-ranging family-friendly destination.

The Orange County town dates back to the 1850s and a few buildings still remain from those frontier days, including the site of the Stage Stop Hotel, now the home of the California Welcome Center. But Buena Park was really put on the map in the 1920s when a farmer named Walter Knott started having success growing a hybrid berry called a boysenberry (part loganberry, part raspberry and part blackberry); his farm stall expanded into a restaurant and later into Knott’s Berry Farm theme park. 

Today, the theme park is still the biggest attraction in town, with its own hotel and a classic selection of rides, live shows and an updated version of that original eatery, called Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant. During the summer, the offerings include the nearby Knott’s Soak City Water Park.

Otherwise, the main artery of town runs along Beach Boulevard which is home to a slew of hotels, restaurants and two big family-friendly cabaret attractions: Pirate’s Dinner Adventure, a swashbuckler-starring show set on a Spanish-style galleon in a huge indoor lagoon; and the popular chain Medieval Times, where you’ll dine while watching jousting, falconry and acts of chivalry. 

Tucked between the two theatres is the must-try Porto’s Bakery & Cafe, the only Orange County outpost of the beloved Cuban bakery from LA County. Don’t worry about the queue that can form outside at any time of the day, it moves briskly. Inside, a dazzling range of pastries, Cuban sandwiches and the famous potato balls (stuffed with beef, or cheese and peppers) await.

Families or anyone with a sweet tooth will also want to stop at Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour, a revival of the 1960s-era parlour where you can still get the 30-scoop Zoo sundae, delivered to your table on a stretcher. There's also an attached confectioner's counter here, where you can learn how to make saltwater taffy (think chewy sweets) and take a bag of your own confections home. Next door is Knott’s Independence Hall, a brick-by-brick replica of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, including a copy of the Liberty Bell. Grown-ups meanwhile, may want to pull up a stool at the nearby Cauldron Spirits and Brews, a witches-and-wizards-themed pub and eatery with magically themed cocktails (including the Grey Witch cocktail which contains gin, champagne and crème de violette) and Provençal-style pub fare, such as Croque Monsieur sliders. 

Keep driving west on Beach Boulevard and after about 10 miles, you’ll arrive at the famous surf breaks of Huntington Beach.

Billing itself as having more world-class roller coasters than any other destination, this theme park about an hour’s drive north east of Los Angeles is a daredevil’s paradise. Teens and young adults flock here to get spun, flung and plummeted on rides with names like Goliath, Twisted Colossus, Viper, Sling Shot and Apocalypse—you get the idea. Comic-book heroes get a nod here too, as on the Superman: Escape From Krypton mega-ride. If you need a place to settle your brain back into your skull or if you have young children who are not quite ready to ride a chair upside down at 65 miles per hour, head for mellower Bugs Bunny World, with miniature-size rides and dressed-up Looney Tunes characters saying hello to the children. 

For a cool retreat in summer, bring your swimming costumes and head to adjacent Hurricane Harbour, where you can slip and slide on more than 20 water slides, ride a make-believe African river and relax beside a tropical lagoon. The harbour is open May through September.