Amusement Parks in Southern California

Southern California is an extremely popular location for tourists as it has a great amount of amusement parks. Families travel long distances to attend these parks and rides. These parks include: Disneyland, Disneyland California Adventure, Universal Studios Hollywood, Knotts Berry Farm, and Six Flags Magic Mountain. These are the most popular parks you will find in Southern California.

Amusement parks are places you go when you are looking for an adrenaline rush. They are most popular among teenagers and young adults. People enjoy spending time at these places because you are surrounded by excitement, and it gives you a sense of adventure. Another reason people attend these Amusement parks is to be able to say they’ve been there, they aren’t the least expensive places to go so when you do, you are almost looked at as if you are more wealthy and socially active.

My first time attending a theme park in Southern California was when I was 14 years old. I had always dreamed of the day I could attend “The Happiest Place on Earth”. I went to Disneyland and Disneyland California Adventure. Walking down the main street inside Disneyland gave me such a full feeling of happiness. Unfortunately, that happiness only lasted so long. Throughout the day as I would enter the shops located within the park, I began to worry about my parents spending so much money on not just souvenirs but food as well, for my siblings and me. That should never have to happen to anyone especially a 14-year-old girl who’s the first time it is attending the theme park

Disneyland opened up in July 1955 with their tickets averaging to about “$1.00 for adults and 0.50 cents for children”. According to Robert Niles from Theme Park Insider, “Universal Studios opened July 1964 with their tickets costing $2.50.” The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica state, “Knotts Berry Farm went from a farm and nursery to an amusement park in 1960.” In the article “1971 Opening Day Attractions At Six Flags Magic Mountain”, The Coaster Guy states that, “Six Flags Magic Mountain opened up in May 1971 averaging a ticket cost of $5.00 for adults and $3.50 for children.” It was fun and new for the residents of Southern California and reasonable prices for all to attend. When the parks first opened, the people were extremely excited to attend and had no expectations because they were all new. They would bring their families and children for a more reasonable price and enjoy their days spent at the amusement parks.

If you wanted to take your family to any of these parks now you are likely to spend $100 and more, depending on how large your family is or the type of tickets you purchase. The parks overprice everything, mostly their tickets. The most inexpensive park out of the five currently is Six Flags Magic Mountain with their “daily ticket at an average of $70” says the Six Flags website. Knotts Berry Farms ticket options average from $50-$181 according to their website. That is not include parking or hotel and food expenses, that alone could total up to over another $100.

You then look to the more popular theme parks such as Disneyland, Disneyland California Adventure, and Universal Studios Hollywood whose prices almost seem as if they are only for those of the upper class. Almost every year these park's prices go up making it harder for even middle-class people to attend. Disneyland Park and Disney’s California Adventure park tickets vary by date. On Disneyland’s website, the regular price for a one-day ticket into one park is $129, during the peak weeks the tickets raise to $149 for one day one park entry. A Park Hopper ticket for one day can vary between $179-$199. Who goes to Disneyland for only a day though? Most individuals and families buy the three-day hopper passes which allow you to jump back and forth between parks, but the price for those is ridiculously high at $355 as listed on the website. With all the money you spend on your ticket alone you would barely have enough to buy anything inside the park. These ticket prices exclude everyone from the lower class and soon will exclude those from the middle if the prices continue to rise.

Universal Studios Hollywood is another famous amusement park in southern California who also overprices their tickets. According to their website, a “one-day general admission ticket varies by date but can start at $109-$124.” You can also purchase express tickets which can vary from “$174-$279.” These prices may be more affordable than Disneyland but overall each amusement park you purchase a ticket too you have to estimate the food cost, transportation/parking costs/and hotel costs, they can all easily be over $500. The parks only allow guests to bring in certain types of food and beverages. The reasoning behind this is because they want us to buy drinks and food inside the park and pay $5 for water.

We would be able to make the prices of the parks go down instead of up each year if we stop attending and spending almost all our money on the tickets and anything you want inside the park. This leaves a message for the park owners that they are losing business and good customers because all they do is raise the cost of tickets and items within the parks. They need to make it affordable for more than just the upper/elite class people.

Another Southern California amusement park I have attended was Six Flags Magic Mountain. My experience with this park was terrifying. Each ride I got on was the opposite of what I anticipated it to be. I felt very unsafe on each ride as most of them looped going upside down. There was a specific ride that you face the ground on, on our way back in once the ride was over, you could see throw-up all over the floor from previous people. The sight of that made me extremely nauseous and actually caused one of my friends to throw up as well. I was very unpleased with the lack of cleanliness and concern the park and workers showed. Not to mention the rides there have many jerks that cause my head to bang back and forth giving me a slight headache.

The parks can be very unsanitary and can cause many to get sick. According to “Scary Diseases That Can Run Rampant at Disney Theme Parks” by Lauren Weiler, “in 2015 there were 125 total measles cases that the two Disneyland Theme parks were responsible for.” Rashes are also very common when attending these theme parks due to all the walking and a mixture with the heat. “If the parks have water rides another common virus people catch from those is the stomach virus”. You can obtain this virus by swallowing or breathing in the contaminated water from the ride.

With the large size of each park, it is hard to maintain its cleanliness. Bathrooms can be found in several places but are not always the cleanest or could be lacking/missing restroom essentials such as; toilet paper, paper towels, and hand soap. This alone makes guests not want to come back, they are spending all day at these parks yet don’t feel safe or clean to use the bathrooms or to sit at tables because they are not wiped down and are left with food and other crumbs on them. These issues could be solved if more of the theme parks worked on a stricter cleaning schedule, making sure they have a certain amount of people working in certain areas of the park, as their designated job being cleaning restrooms and outside sitting areas. If rides where sanitized often we would be able to avoid the contagious viruses that people catch from touching the same things as those who carry the virus. Things as simple as implementing hand sanitizing machines before and after getting on each ride, it at least gives the guest the option of taking their health into their own hands.

We can help protect the safety of park customers by adding in shaded/covered resting areas all over the parks for guests who are there on hot days, which is most days in Southern California. If we passed out water cups for free, for the customers within the park that would help decrease nausea/dizziness and fainting that people tend to experience when walking long in the heat, or from riding the rides. The fast-moving rides have been known to cause head injuries for people because of the rough tracks and quickly turns the rides bring. In the article “Amusement park rides: Thrills and ills” by Hugo Martin, he states that, “18% of injury reports are related to nausea or motion sickness from the rollercoasters.” “12% of reports were about head injuries also caused from the rollercoasters”. After doing research on illnesses or sicknesses people feel from a theme park, I’ve found that it happens often so if you haven’t experienced it yet, you will eventually.

If there are constantly injuries due to rides, can we really trust them? We begin to question how often they check the rides and safety harnesses. The rides are not indestructible, they can be dismembered and it wouldn’t be hard for a specific part of the ride or coaster to stop working after so long. It is common for things to need to be replaced, and it should be mandatory for rollercoasters to be checked every year twice a year, and they are not. In an article from Business Insider, Matthew Bossier and Eric Platt state that, “in 2013 where a cable snapped on the Superman ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain and severed a 13-year-old girl’s feet.” This could have been prevented if the park checked up on how the rides wires and rides parts were doing if they were strong or not. There have also been many incidents where the safety straps and harnesses have come undone and caused injuries to the rider and even caused deaths.

From my own personal experiences attending these them parks, I have been nervous to get on a ride because I can tell how old the safety straps are, and they do not seem promising to protect me from the crazy turns and flips some of the rides include. Also, I hesitate to get on rides that have no safety harnesses such as water rides. They tend not to have straps of any sort and they normally have big drops, but to the ride makers, the drops are not big enough to put safety straps on. We can update rides by replacing the safety straps and harnesses after a certain amount of years so they keep their strong quality to ensure passenger safety on each ride.

There are more than just the inside problems of amusement parks, they also cause economic issues around their areas. Southern California as most people already know is one of the busiest places of California. It is also a tourist area, an area where most celebrities live, and where many popular movies are filmed. With such a busy area already, adding in the fact that there are the major theme/amusement parks around, it causes more traffic than is already estimated from just the high population of Southern California. The noise and crime rates go up due to the amount of tourism. Tourism has a huge effect on our beaches, mountains, and forests with the large crowds of people causing the destruction of our environment. Only selling a certain amount of tickets per day can reduce the number of tourists/guests in the areas of the amusement parks. It will also help reduce noise and crime rates the areas around the parks suffer from.

Another serious economic problem that is caused by those who attend theme parks is that most require you to rent a hotel or as others prefer, an air B&B. This has caused a serious issue with the surrounding towns to each amusement park as to where most of the houses around are used as Air B&B’s. This downgrades the neighborhoods around the amusement parks because all people see now is tourists or parties being thrown in these houses which makes the area look bad. In an article from Skift written by Deanna Ting she states that “in July, Anaheim passed a law that banned Air B&B’s or rentals because of the negative impact the residents were dealing with.” “People are only allowed to rent out their houses if they have a permit, and if they failed to obtain a permit their water and power will be shut off”. We need to persuade the guests of the parks to stay in hotels, which are meant for them and their trips. Hotels are placed in certain areas to help benefit the economy, homes aren’t meant to be turned into Air B&B’s.

Theme parks can be fun if you are wealthy and trust that the rides are safe. Go ahead, attend them, but don’t be disappointed when you get there and they are not at all what you expected them to be. Remember they show them off in a way that makes it seem like you are missing out when in reality you are avoiding spending a ridiculous amount of money and putting your safety and health first.

Works Cited

1. Boesler, Matthew, and Eric Platt. “11 Horrific Six Flags Accidents Everyone Wants to Forget.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 23 July 2012, www.businessinsider.com/worst-six-flags-accidents-2012-7.
2. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Knott's Berry Farm.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 21 June 2017, www.britannica.com/place/Knotts-Berry-Farm.
3. Giuliano, Karissa. “This Is How Much Disneyland Cost When It Opened.” CNBC, CNBC, 17 July 2015, www.cnbc.com/2015/07/17/this-is-how-much-disneyland-cost-when-it-opened.html.
4. Martin, Hugo. “Nausea, Dizziness, Fainting Are Most Common Theme Park Ailments.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 3 Jan. 2014, www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-theme-park-accidents-20140103-m-story.html.
5. Niles, Robert. “Theme Park History: A Short History of Universal Studios Hollywood.” Theme Park Insider, July 2013, www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201307/3564/.
6. Ting, Deanna. “Anaheim Isn't Dropping Its Ban on Airbnb, But It Won't Try to Fine Them Anymore.” Skift, 23 Aug. 2016, skift.com/2016/08/23/anaheim-isnt-dropping-its-ban-on-airbnb-but-it-wont-try-to-fine-them-anymore/.
7. Weiler, Lauren. “Scary Diseases That Can Run Rampant at Disney Theme Parks.” Showbiz Cheat Sheet, 4 May 2018, www.cheatsheet.com/health-fitness/you-might-catch-one-of-these-scary-diseases-on-your-next-disney-theme-park-vacation.html/.