500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up highlights cities, museums, and trips throughout the world. The seven theme parks below represent the best all-around family experiences on two continents.
What: The Santa Cruz Boardwalk: California Classic by the Sea
Who: All ages
Where: Coast between Monterey & San Francisco, California
Situated next to Santa Cruz's lovely mile-long public beach, the boardwalk is a half-mile strip of rides, shops, and restaurants, harking back to an era of seaside innocent fun. It's one of the few old-fashioned amusement parks left in the world and the sort of classic site you don't necessarily expect on the West Coast.
The park has 34 rides, two of them national landmarks. The Carousel of Delight, built in 1911 by Charles I.D. Looff, boasts hand-carved wooden horses, a 342-pipe organ band, and one of the few brass ring grabs left in existence; snatch the brass ring as your horse whirls past the post, then throw it into a painted clown's mouth to win a free ride. Looff's son, Arthur Looff, designed the park's other landmark, the red-and-white 1924 Giant Dipper roller coaster, which offers great views of Monterey Bay from its peaks -- though few riders manage to take them in while being hurtled up and down at 55 mph. They have a split second longer to enjoy the views from the top of the 125-foot-tall Double Shot drop tower. A host of other thrill rides trade on speed, with names like Hurricane, Typhoon, and Tsunami; indoor "dark rides" include the Haunted Castle and Ghost Blaster, though I prefer the 1961-vintage Cave Train, where glow-in-the-dark prehistoric characters pop out. There is a section of smaller-scale rides for the under-36-inch crowd as well.
Although there's no admission fee to get onto the boardwalk, the individual ride tickets can mount up fast -- an "unlimited rides" bracelet, which at first doesn't seem cheap, could end up saving you money. The beach boardwalk keeps seasonal hours, open daily from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day but only on weekends and holidays throughout the spring and fall.
Contact: tel. 831/426-7433; www.beachboardwalk.com
What: Disneyland: The Theme Park That Started It All
Who: All ages
Where: Anaheim, California
I was a Disneyland baby -- my parents took me there the summer it opened, in 1955, when it was still surrounded by sleepy orange groves. I went again in 1967, 1989, and most recently in 2005, the amusement park's 50th anniversary year. And although I'm not a theme-park fanatic, I will always have a deep and abiding love for Disneyland. My skeptical 13-year-old, having heard it dubbed "The Happiest Place on Earth," spent his entire day in the Magic Kingdom looking for people who weren't happy -- and he failed. Happily.
Smaller than Walt Disney World, Disneyland feels truer to the childlike enthusiasm of founder Walt Disney. Originally Disneyland was divided into four "lands" -- Adventureland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, and Tomorrowland, symmetrically arranged around the iconic Cinderella's castle, where fireworks still scintillate every night. As the 1950s Wild West fad waned and Sputnik-era optimism went sour, Frontierland and Tomorrowland shrank and new areas were wedged in: Main Street USA, an old-timey-America shopping area; New Orleans Square; Critter Country; and Mickey's Toontown, a Roger Rabbit-inspired section for younger children. In the process, the park's layout has become a little more confusing; we were constantly consulting the free park map we got at the front gate.
Every kid will have different favorite rides, but these were my kids' (remember, this is from a teenager and two preteens): Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (Fantasyland), Pirates of the Caribbean (New Orleans Square), Tom Sawyer's Island (Frontierland), Peter Pan's Flight (Fantasyland), Davy Crockett's Canoes (Critter Country), the Jungle Cruise (Adventureland), It's a Small World (Fantasyland), and Innoventions (Tomorrowland). And what they liked about them was the storytelling -- not heart-skidding vertical drops, not flashy laser light effects, just scrupulous artistic detail and wry humor. Hurtling into a cartoon hell with naughty Mr. Toad -- that alone made the whole day worthwhile.
Long lines are a fact of life at Disneyland, especially on weekends and all school vacations. Don't be suckers for them -- my kids decided that 5 minutes of watching huge ceramic Dumbos fly around flapping their ears was more fun than waiting 45 minutes to ride them. If you must, arrive early and make a beeline for the most popular rides, which are generally the adrenaline pumpers -- the Indiana Jones Adventure, Star Tours, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, the Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Caribbean. But I'm philosophical about lines: What's so bad about 30 extra minutes of unplanned conversation with a child?
Contact: tel. 714/781-4565 or 714/781-7290; www.disneyland.com
What: Legoland: Constructing a Fantasy, One Brick at a Time
Who: All ages
Where: Carlsbad, California
I suppose it helped that both my boys were fanatical Lego block builders in their younger days; they felt immediately at home in an environment that's all primary colors, right angles, modular components, and imagination. I haven't visited the sister Legoland parks in England, Germany, and Denmark, but I'm told they're more or less the same as the one in the United States (what a Lego-like concept -- interchangeable parts). All I know is that the one we visited gave us a supremely happy day indeed.
Legoland is by no means all built of Lego blocks: The Southern California park is beautifully landscaped with 1,360 bonsai trees and other plants from around the world, and features more than 50 rides, shows, and attractions. While a few coasters and rides have a higher thrill factor, these are tame compared to the Six Flagses and Busch Gardenses of this world, making Legoland an ideal place to bring younger children. Kids are encouraged to be physically active -- instead of a perpendicular drop tower where riders are randomly jerked up and down, Legoland's Towers of Power challenge children to haul themselves up to the top on pulleys if they want to get the maximum plunge. They can take part in a joust at the Knight's Kingdom, dig fossil replicas out of the sand, and maneuver their own Lego-replica boats or cars.
While the Jungle Cruise at rival Disneyland has realistic hippos and gorillas cavorting around, Legoland's Fairy Tale Brook boat ride has storybook characters that look like Lego figures, calling on the children's own imaginations to turn them into Little Red Riding Hood or the Three Little Pigs. There are plenty of hands-on displays here, including an Imagination Zone where you can build virtual Lego creations on computer terminals, or get busy with the blocks themselves.
But to my mind, the most amazing thing at Legoland -- make that one of the most amazing things I've seen anywhere -- was the obsessively accurate models of several American cities, built out of real Lego blocks by real Lego Master Model Builders. To build a Washington Monument out of Legos is one thing; to make the ribbed Capitol Dome is quite another, and yet there it was. The colorful Victorian townhouses of San Francisco's Alamo Square, the streamlined Art Deco sleekness of New York's Rockefeller Center, the lacy wrought-iron balconies of New Orleans's French Quarter -- all of them were there, made out of Legos, and looked completely authentic. We must have spent an hour studying those cityscapes, and I could have stayed longer.
Contact: tel. 877/534-6526 or 760/918-LEGO; www.legoland.com.
Season: Closed Tues-Wed, Sept-May.
What: Playland's Retro Rides
Who: All ages
Where: Rye, New York
Remember in the movie Big, when a creepy fortunetelling machine granted Tom Hanks's younger self a fateful wish to become big? That scene was shot at Playland, a nostalgic throwback of an amusement park set in a leafy seaside suburb conveniently close to New York City. This old-timey collection of rides and games is what amusement parks used to be like before they went on steroids and became big, overhyped, commercialized mega-theme parks.
But it's no mere rinky-dink midway-Playland is actually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Playland opened in 1928, right on Long Island Sound, and has been kept up beautifully ever since, with neat landscaping, landmark Art Deco buildings, and old-fashioned charm: striped awnings, painted wooden fences enclosing the rides, and festive-looking ticket booths.
Kids 5 and under should be steered straight to Kiddyland, which has rides tailored to their size like The Kiddy Whip, Kiddyland Bumper Cars, and the Demolition Derby. For older kids, the most thrilling rides (which of course require the longest waits in line) are probably the Hurricane Coaster, the Crazy Mouse, Power Surge, and the vintage wooden Dragon Coaster-tame by Busch Gardens standards, but enough to make me lose my lunch. My favorites, however, are the more retro rides: the Ferris Wheel, the Whip, and, best of all, the one-of-a-kind Derby Riders, a circular track where you plunge forward on steel horses that race twice as fast as carousel nags. I'm embarrassed to tell you how many times in a row I've ridden that one. Plan on several hours here; your kids will insist on it.
To make a full day of it, in addition to the rides, Playland offers a beach, a pool, an ice rink, mini-golf, and a lake for boating, which are open seasonally.
Contact: tel. 914/813-7010; www.ryeplayland.org.
Season: May-Sept.
What: Parc Asterix: 'Toon Time in the Paris Outskirts
Who: All ages
Where: Plailly, France
Explain me this: Why would an American family who took the trouble to fly all the way to France ever go to Disneyland Paris? You could just as easily go to a real French theme park that's just as much (if not more) fun: Parc Asterix. Families I know who've done both definitely vote for the homegrown French park -- its joie de vivre is the real thing.
Granted, English-speaking children may not be familiar with these comic book characters. But you don't have to read Asterix comics to get the gist of the thing; it's enough to know that the characters are goofy Gauls living under the rule of the Roman Empire, which gives the theme park an excuse to haul out images from Roman mythology, Viking lore, even the Druids. There's definitely a sense of humor at play -- when you stand underneath the giant statue of a thunderbolt-clutching Zeus that presides over the top-rated roller coaster, look up under his toga and you'll see he's been provided with spotted underpants (providing a photo op that few parkgoers pass up). Parc Asterix's autoroute ride cracks me up: Nationale 7, where children drive Model-T-style jalopies along a replica of the French highway that's famously choked with holiday traffic every summer weekend. So what if it doesn't tie into the Asterix theme -- they couldn't resist the joke.
This spick-and-span, smartly conceived amusement park, open seasonally, offers some 30 rides, for all levels -- everything from a tiny kiddie carousel to the Towers of Zeus (Europe's biggest wooden roller coaster) and the exhilarating Goudurix, a speedy coaster with no fewer than seven loop-de-loops. Themes are not just tacked on, they really enhance the rides -- like the swing ship shaped like a Viking longboat, the scramble ride with a many-headed Hydra dragon sprouting from the center, or the inner tube ride that swoops down the Styx river, the mythological entry to Hell. The kiddie section is designed like a Druid forest (or at least a cozy Smurf-esque Druid forest); the stage shows are in a pseudo-Roman arena, with an aquatic Poseidon's Theater added for dolphin shows.
Your vision of touring France with your family may be all about Versailles and the Louvre, but the children may eventually clamor for something more... well, fun. In that case, you can feel good about giving in to the Parc Asterix option: In its own way, it is a little slice of French culture, something you could never do back home. Yet it's about the same distance from Paris as Disneyland: 35km (22 miles) north of Paris, easily within day-trip range (you'll need a connecting bus from the Roissy train station if you don't go by car). Pourquoi pas?
Contact: tel. 03-44-62-31-31; www.parcasterix.fr
Season: May-Sept.
What: Europa-Park: The Grand Tour, All in a Day
Who: All ages
Where: Rust, Germany
From the country that brought you the Porsche and the autobahn, you'd expect the rides at Germany's largest theme park to be high-tech and speed-obsessed. And yes indeed, Europa Park does have Europe's highest and fastest roller coaster, the Silver Star, which climbs to 240 feet, travels at 79 mph, and (here's a plus) delivers a ride that's a full 4 minutes long. But though there are seven dramatic roller coasters at Europa Park, this place is not just about the rides. It's a clever microcosm of Europe, with shops and restaurants and shows as well as rides in miniversions of 11 different countries. Corny as it may sound, it works.
Sound familiar? Yes, Epcot in Orlando originated the pocket-nation idea, and Busch Gardens Williamsburg jumped on the same bandwagon -- but Europa Park covers more European countries on its 160-acre site, from Scandinavia to Greece, from Portugal to Russia, and does so with an attention to architectural detail that puts the other parks' stage-set streetscapes to shame. From the replica of England's venerable Globe Theatre to one of Russia's Mir Space Station, it hits all the cultural highlights; the Panorama Train that circles the park lets you drink it all in for an overview, but immerse yourself in each section and you'll be engrossed. If thrill rides aren't your thing, well, Europa Park is fun, even without taking a single ride.
But when it comes to the rides, attention to creative detail again makes all the difference. The folks who designed this park clearly have scoped out the competition -- if they can't have Mad Tea Party spinning teacups, they'll put spinning Delft coffee cups in the Holland section; instead of a Haunted Mansion, they have a Ghost Castle in the Italy area; and let's just call Pirates in Batavia, in the Portugal section, an "homage" to Pirates of the Caribbean. But these aren't cheesy imitations, they are every bit as well executed as the Disney originals, and just as much fun.
Although Europa Park isn't open year-round -- that pesky German climate -- they manage to have at least part of the park open most of the time, with a Halloween-themed experience in October and a December Christmas theme; even though several of the bigger outdoor rides are closed in the off-season, there's still plenty to do. See the website for details.
Contact: tel. 0180/5776688; www.europapark.de
Season: May-Sept.
What: Tivoli Gardens: Copenhagen's Jewel Tivoli
Who: All ages
Where: Copenhagen, Denmark
Though it's been around forever -- since 1843 -- and is as much a simple pleasure garden as it is a thrill-ride attraction, Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens still regularly appears on 10-best lists of amusement parks. Profuse flower beds, fantasy pavilions, tiny twinkling lights illuminating it at night -- the entire fairy-tale effect is magical, just what you'd expect from the homeland of Hans Christian Andersen . This place is as classic as it gets -- and kids still love it.
Perhaps even more so than its Vienna counterpart, the Prater, Tivoli Gardens is woven into the life of its city. Tivoli is right in downtown Copenhagen, between the city hall and the central railway station. While much of Tivoli is devoted to gardens, restaurants, theaters, and a tiny lake for pleasure boating, there are 25 fanciful rides, spangled with lights day and night. The kids can try out a merry-go-round of tiny Viking ships, a Ferris wheel with cars shaped like hot-air balloons, a set of dragon boats, and the Flying Trunk, where you wheel past wooden-doll scenes from Hans Christian Andersen stories. There are a fun house, a couple of auto-drives, and not one but two drop rides, one of them scaled for toddlers -- two-thirds of the rides, in fact, are suitable for younger children. For older kids, the new steel roller coaster here, the Demon, is the biggest in Denmark, and though it only goes 49 mph, it does have three vertical loops; there's also an exciting wooden coaster, the Rutschebanen. The Star Flyer is Europe's tallest swing ride, bedazzled with stars and planets in tribute to the great Danish astronomer Tyco Brahe.
Between the rides, just strolling around Tivoli is delightful. An Arabian-style palace, with towers and arches, houses more than two dozen restaurants in a range of prices. Try to time your visit to coincide with the parade of the red-uniformed Tivoli Boys Guard, looking just like toy soldiers, on early weekend evenings (also Wed); their regimental band gives Saturday afternoon concerts on the large open-air stage at the center of the gardens, where at night you can see tumbling clowns, acrobats, and aerialists.
Contact: tel. 33-15-10-01; www.tivoligardens.com
Season: Mid-April to mid-Sept.
This article is an excerpt from 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up, available in our Online Bookstore now. Author Holly Hughes has traveled the globe as an editor and writer -- she's the former executive editor of Fodor's Travel Publications, the series editor of Frommer's Irreverent Guides, and author of Frommer's New York City with Kids. She's also written fiction for middle graders and edits the annual Best Food Writing anthology. New York City makes a convenient jumping-off place for her travels with her three children and husband.
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