Originally Posted By amazedncal2 Our DD and her boyfriend are most likely not going to be able to join us for our traditional trip to DLR during holiday time She and her boyfriend could easily make it over to Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo and I'd like to "front" their visit. So for anyone who has been since they've done up the park for the holidays, how is the feeling? I know it wouldn't be anywhere near DLR but is it even 1/10th of the magic when the lights go on? They had season tix a couple of years ago but DK didn't do up Christmas at that time.
Originally Posted By Dalia3001 My husband and I are planning a trip to Discovery Kingdom this coming week, and we would love to know what it's like too. I'll post after we go. : )
Originally Posted By Dalia3001 Well, the holidays are over, and my husband and I did make it down to Discovery Kingdom so here's a little mini-report. We went on Friday, Jan. 2, which dawned rainy and cold. We decided to go anyway, as this was the only weekday we had off until April, and would be our last chance to see the holiday decorations, including what I thought was going to be the "largest Christmas tree in the US." We printed our tickets at home for a discount, and paid $24.99 each for our tix. We arrived shortly after the park opened, at around 11 am. There were no lines anywhere, which was great. The park was much smaller than I had expected, and the rides were remarkably short in my view. From the adds I had seen on TV, I expected some impressive height in their roller coasters, but they were tiny. They packed in a lot of looping and twisting and turning, but there weren't any really big drops, which I found a bit disapointing. The Christmas Tree was also a bit of a let down. It turns out it was the "biggest tree in California," not the US. I saw a tv special that was about the tree, and they kept stressing how huge it was. It didn't look that enormous to me, but it was a real tree, sort of scraggly looking, which I kind of liked. Without the extra branches that Disneyland added to their tree (I know now they are using a fake one) you really got a feel for the "real-ness" of this tree, and of course it smelled wonderful. There were characters everywhere, and with the light attendance, it almost seemed like there was one character for every 5 people in the park. But compared to the DL characters, the costumes looked like something you might rent for Halloween, and I found them looking sort of creepy. I never get that feeling in DL, I buy into it completely there. In DL I think, ooooo! Winnie the Pooh!!! Here I thought, "Yikes, that kid in a tweety suit is trying to make eye contact, hide!" We rode the Cobra, which was an intorductory roller coster for kids. It was fun, and felt more like a ride around the block than anything, but of course we knew it was meant for kids. Then we rode the Medusa, which was quite wild, lots of loops and twisty loops (I don't know the terms) but it looked like tangled green spaghetti. It was remarkably smooth and a lot of fun. Next we tried a wooden coaster which I liked, but my husband thought it was too jerky. After this we decided to try to find some lunch. We ended up at Johnny Rockets, where we had a frozen burger (reheated obviously, but not very good) and some dismal fries and onion rings. We later found a food court area that looked like it had some somewhat better stuff, but it really made me appreciate how great even the bad food is at Disneyland. I wasn't expecting much. I would have been happy with McDonalds quality, but I think this was maybe not quite that good. They did serve beer, and when my husband asked what kind they had, they said Bud, Bud light or Gordon's. This confused said husband to no end, as he considers himself a beer expert, and he had never heard of "Gordon's." He ordered it, thinking it had to be better than Budd, and got a Gordon Biersch beer, a nice beer from a sort of local micro-brewery that he knew very well and liked, he had just never heard it called that before, so he thought it was very funny. It also came in a plastic bottle, which he also thought was hysterical. Then we visited the "land" area, and saw the various animals in their cages/pens/habitats, whatever you're supposed to call the areas they live in. Some looked happy enough, I think, but the poor cougars and lions looked pent up and paced back and forth looking at the kids like they were lunch. I really enjoyed both the animal show, with bats, and various small animals performing tricks, and the sea lion show. The performing animals seemed to really be having fun doing their thing, even though the hosts were painful to watch. I would rather have the hosts and trainers say, "Here is a sea-lion! Watch it do a flip! We train it thusly," than to have some odd story with a witch and an Austin Powers guy in cringe worthy make-up and bad accent trying to tell a horrid story. There was a small area of snow with kids sliding down a ramp on sleds, a Christmas tree lane with a bunch of trees along the side of a walkway, and christmas decorations everywhere. However, they lacked charm in my opinion. Maybe they could have better spent their money by making the one holiday area around the tree really pretty, with more expensive and elaborate detailed arrangements than trying to put stuff all over the park. It ended up looking sort of like you were in Home Depot looking at their holiday offerings, rather than in a magical christmas land. We got some really great hot chocolate, and walked through the penguin, shark, and walrus exhibit, all of which we enjoyed a lot. One more ride on the Medusa, this time in the front, which added to the thrill factor, and we were ready to go home. With all my complaining though, we had a fun day. It was nice to get out and do something, and great to have my husband finally realize the difference between a regular park and the Disneyland Resort! I don't think we will ever go back. We live closer to Great America, and the rides aren't any more interesting or exciting than those at Great America. As for the holiday spirit, I didn't feel any magic. Maybe we waited to late in the season, maybe we should have stayed till it got dark to see them light the tree. But I felt more magic on my own street looking at the lovingly decorated trees and houses of my neighbors than I did at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 >>>"Yikes, that kid in a tweety suit is trying to make eye contact, hide!"<<< Gosh, this made me laugh Thank you so much for your report! I enjoyed reading all your comments. No one in our family made it to Discovery Kingdom this year. I suppose that if we were to try it out next year, we'd be wise to go before our trip to DLR! Thanks again
