How to get to South California Amusement parks/theme parks without a car

 
Socal has a lot of Entertainment and that definitely include amusement rides and roller coasters. There are a number of places of entertainment such as theme parks in the area. I cannot possibly list all the parks however I am just going to focus on the ones that people would definitly worth a visit for those coming to South California such as Disneyland Resort,  Knotts Berry Farm, Santa Monica Pier, Six Flags Magic mountain, and SeaWorld and Universal Studios.

As I mentioned on an earlier article about the horrible girdlock that plagues the area almost constantly. This is definitely an issue that might put a damper to the enjoyment of the visit. Places of amusement and theme parks are definitely a concern as getting to them often involves long drives on overcrowded roads and freeways in Southern California. Parking is also an issue, while these parks often offer vast parking areas most of them are expensive for instance it costs $15 to park for the day at Disneyland Resort. Also theme parks today such as Disney resorts are moving parking areas much farther away from the park entrance it may take a fifteen minute walk or additional shuttle ride to get to the entrance. Its a new fad in this industry as this is so they can maximize the use of their park for larger attractions or rides. If you look closely in some theme parks you would see former parking lot stripping might be faintly visitable on which is now the base of new mega coasters. As for Disneyland, Disney's California adventure was built right over Disneyland's original 100 acre parking lot. The drawback of this is that the land for new satellite parking costs a premium and adding shuttle buses or trains and drivers also costs money therefore resulting in higher parking fees atop the already high ones back when the parking was right next to the park. Worst of all you would pay the same high fees even if there was no shuttle available at that time forcing you to walk miles. All this trouble for traffic and particularly parking pretty much negates all the convenience having a car at the amusement park. What is good if one has no access to the car at will to get or leave items in during the visit?

So for those tired of driving in thick traffic that would nearly double the time to get to the park taking up valuable park time as well as paying a premium to park out in the boonies just to subsidize the parks extra land fees and shuttle drivers pay there is a good alternative. Most people are unaware that even in car centric Socal there are alternatives to car travel that are not too insane or ridiculous. While this idea might not fit those who live or stay in lodging in the outskirt towns it would work easily for those staying in the inner city or near one of the Metrolink or Metro rail lines.

Lets say we use Los Angeles Union station as a starting point. Many hotels in Los Angeles downtown or Chinatown is close enough  to union station which is a great starting point for all trips outbound as nearly all trains, metro rail, and buses start at this point.

Getting to amusement parks:

Disneyland park/Disney's California Adventure:  One can take Metrolink Orange county line or Amtrak Pacific Surfliner to the Anaheim station to transfer to Anaheim Resort Shuttle. It is best to plan to ride trains that would arrive the Anaheim station at the :00 beginning of each hour starting from 9:00 to noon as the Anaheim resort transit bus is scheduled to arrive at :10 of each hour. For train schedules one can go online at Amtrakcalifornia.com and/or Metrolinktrains.com or one can visit the Union station and obtain it from customer service desks. The website for Anaheim resort transit is rideart.org The price for a day pass is $4 per adult $1 a child, the pass can be purchased at Kiosks at multiple locations including the Anaheim Amtrak/metro link station as well as online. There are discounts for buying multi day passes. The Anaheim Resort Transit buses are specially marked and oftentimes has a fancy Disneyland livery on it and travels to the entrance bus depot in between the two parks. As an alternative ones can also ride a taxi from the ranks in front of the station allowing one to reach the park entrance in less than ten minutes if lucky.

Knotts Berry Farm-From Union station take Orange County Metrolink train(note: Do not take Amtrak Pacific Surfliner as it would bypass the nearest stop) and get off at Buena Park station. Take OCTA 29 bus would take one directly from the Buena Park metro-link station bus stop to the park. You will see roller coasters when you will know you need to stop request get off. After getting off walk through the opening between the fences and walk until you cross a small street and turn right and walk a short distance where you will spot the ticket booths and main gates on your left. As an alternative you can get off at the stop prior to La Palma Avenue walk across the Beach/La Palma intersection and arrive at the main gates on the right. When returning remember to walk Northward which is to the left of the main entrance. Cross toward the northeast corner of Beach/La Palma Intersection and walk north till you reach the bus stop.
 
Magic Mountain, (CAUTION this park can be difficult and risky to get to as it is far north of the city and trains and transit options can be limited) . One can take the Metrolink Antelope Valley line and get off at Santa Clarita station. One can take a short taxi ride to the gate from there. There are transit buses from the Metrolink station however it is not very convenient for visitors. They are mostly geared for the park staff so they run at very early hours and stop far from the main entrance. The ones that stop closer to main entrance require a transfer to get to and from the Metrolink train station.
 
Santa Monica pier- The Santa Monica Big Blue Bus number 10 travels between Los Angeles Union Station and Santa Monica Pier via the i10 freeway the trip takes about little less than an hour
 
Seaworld San Diego-
Travel via Amtrak Pacific Surfliner to San Diego once you get there there is a SeaWorld shuttle bus that picks up passengers at the San Diego Santa Fe Depot (SAN) at 9:20 a.m. (following the arrival of train 566) or 10:20 a.m. (following the arrival of train 768) with service directly to SeaWorld. The shuttle will return to pick you up at 5:00 p.m. and take you back to the train station. If unable to catch these two trains an alternative way is to get off one station earlier at the Old town train station and take bus 9 which brings one directly to the ticketing and entry turnstile plaza of Seaworld.  Please note that bus 9 would service the Seaworld stop to no later than 6:48pm weekdays and 8:38pm weekends.

Universal Studios - The best way via transit to get to Universal Studios is to travel by Metro Red line train and get off at Universal Studios stop. After exiting the station turn around and walk toward the intersection of Lankershim blvd and cross to the southeast corner where there would be a shuttle stop for shuttle to the main gate.

One alternative to the hassle of commuting into the parks is to stay in hotels around the parks themselves. For example some hotels such as Holiday Inn around Knotts Berry Farm has shuttles to both Knotts Berry farm and to Disneyland. Hotels around the Disney Resort are often either around walking distance to the park entrance or have shuttle service. Check with the hotel. Maps.google.com is a great tool to determine the location of the hotel in relation to the parks entry plaza. Beware that some hotels might appear close to the park but might be very far from the entry point and might not have a shuttle. If you have to stay at a property without hotel shuttle service check to see if Anaheim Resort Transit serves that route. For those staying in Disneyland area hotels but planning on visiting Knotts Berry farm as well please take note that most Disneyland area hotels might not have shuttles to Knotts berry Farm however there is Metro bus 460 that travels the most direct route between Disneyland on Harbor bl. east of maingate bus plaza and Knotts Berry Farm on Beach bl.

How to beat the horrible traffic jams when traveling to Los Angeles

 How To enjoy ones time in Los Angeles and avoid wasting time on traffic Jams

405 through West Los Angeles

Whether its for business, work, or vacation there are plenty of reasons one would need to visit Los Angeles the second largest city in terms of population in the US whether they love it or hate it. Well there are alot of good things to see in this diverse city such as beaches, arts, entertainment, and amusement parks, people often encounter a lot of negatives of the visit. Crime, pollution, noise, blight, trash, beggers, vagrants, etc the fact Los Angeles is plagued by countless social economic issues with its wide disparity of incomes in some ways the city is kind of like a city in an emerging country with slums overshadowed by wealthy looking buildings.  Though the most perplexing issue travelers face is the never ending monster traffic gridlock that occur almost anytime of the day sometimes even at the midnight hour. There seem to be an endless starts and stops of "rush hour" due to Los Angeles spread out nature, large population, and mobile culture which involves many industries and jobs in Socal requires point to point travel or driving during the workday.

Los Angeles is known for its famous freeway system. One can say New York City which uses is web of subways to link its population Los Angeles depends on its freeway system to move people. However there is a big flaw as most Los Angeles freeways are routed to hub and spoke to feed the population in from the suburbs to the city's downtown. There is actually little freeway access for point to point access either within the city itself or between many other parts of the metropolitan area. This is quite unlike Taipei, Taiwan where there are many feeder routes from the main Superhighway to many parts of the city. Therefore the freeway system in Los Angeles tends to increase instead of solve the traffic issue as the western part of the city has little freeway access thanks to the freeway revolt by Beverly Hills and the wealthier part of Los Angeles preventing the completion and causing huge gaps in connections. However large amounts of traffic still needs to get where they are going resulting in massive traffic jams on all major streets in that area as well as the three overwhelmed freeways of 405, 101, and i10.

While it might seem hopeless there are ways to help one enjoy his or her visit without spending half the day on driving or getting from one place to another. Generally staying in downtown or Chinatown would be the best option for most cases to have best access to Freeway, express lanes, bus, and public transit and train service. I actually done this in experiment and am successful not encountering any traffic jams throughout my visit which consists of two weekend days and one weekday. This is pretty much an unprecedented experience compared to my visits before.

Ten tips of wisdom tips to help one enjoy trip to Los Angeles for any reason and not spend half the time on the road based on my experience

1. The cardinal tip is to plan ahead, this is a important tip before anyone even heads for Los Angeles in the first place. This is also important while one is inside the metropolitan area wanting to go from one place to another. Distances might be longer than one thinks even if distance is short taking the wrong route at the wrong time would result in a very unpleasant experience of long waits in traffic jams and getting lost trying to escape girdlock.

2. Try to travel in the metro area via train or bus as much as possible and try to stay in a hotel in or near Chinatown, or Little Tokyo as these offer the best access to the freeway conversion point of Los Angeles as well as the union station where all rail lines i.e Amtrak and Metrolink converge. Municipal and metro bus lines are also abundant and frequent in this area which include express, rapid, and DASH buses to most locations in the city. As well as the new metro rail system with a rapid subway that links Union station with Koreatown and Hollywood/Universal City within 15 minutes. A day pass costs $5 If you prefer or need a car there are carshare programs in select locations in downtown and union station and the freeway access is super fast and you would generally be traveling the direction away from traffic.  LAXcarshare provides the easiest locations for downtown. Hertz is available in the union station and some other locations downtown. Parking can be expensive in Los Angeles therefore its wise rent wisely and only for the time you really need a car. Overnight parking is pricy at most hotels. It is considerably cheaper in Chinatown though.

3. If you fly into Los Angeles area airports remember from LAX there are flyaway airport buses that links LAX with downtown union train/bus station that travels on the executive carpool lane all the way. It costs  $7 a person. From Burbank there is a rail station across the street from the airport terminal walking distance with shuttle buses available. Buy a Metrolink ticket and take whatever train headed south. Yes under the rail to rail program Metrolink tickets are accepted in the airport station for Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains but only at this station.
4. Try to carpool. Los Angeles and Orange Counties have an extensive network of lanes for those with 2 or more people per vehicle. For example If one wants to drive from downtown or Chinatown toward San Gabriel valley or eastwards on the i10 there is a exclusive carpool only route that starts from Alameda st just south of Union Station main entrance no need to get onto the crowded freeways the carpool route eventually meets i10 it allows merging just before i710 and has an exclusive exit at Del Mar ave in San Gabriel and continues east toward 605. Though remember this lane is very empty as they require 3 or more people during commute time 2 or more other times and barely anyone know its existence.  There are also buses to Alhambra, San Gabriel, or Monterey park which gets there within 20 minutes these are mta 76, 70, and rapid 770. The Metro Silver line travels directly to the El Monte transit center.
5. When traveling south to LAX, Orange County, Walt Disney resort, or elsewhere from Los Angeles take 110 instead of i5 if possible as 110 is one of the widest freeways in the Southland. For those carpooling which means traveling with a companion there are actually double carpool lanes that are elevated from the freeway south of the downtown. These lanes require just 2 or more people but they hardly ever suffer congestion.  Best of all the carpool lanes has ramps to 105 carpool lanes in both directions. 105 West to LAX airport and 105 east to connect with 605 to Orange county. The 91 Artesia freeway also has good carpool lane system so does i5 south of 91 freeway where it is separated with a barrier and Walt Disney Resort in Anaheim has its own carpool to garage flyover ramp. The stretch of i5 between 91 and south of 605 is best avoided except at least busiest hours due to 10 lanes becoming a 6 lane bottleneck situation its the tightest section of i5 or of all major freeways in the area.
6. If one needs to drive into or out of downtown Los Angeles or west San Gabriel Valley from Norcal particularly during busy traffic times instead of taking i5 all the way down to i10 one can use freeways 2 and 210 as these are far less congested than i5 or US101 and is often used by long distance bus companies. When coming south drive exit 210 east Pasadena and drive until freeway 2 and take 2 south towards Los Angeles. Do the opposite way around when heading north.
7. Driving between San Diego and Los Angeles can be quite a hassle as this route is subject to severe traffic jams though there are some perils of wisdom that can greatly help in this case. For example travel on 805 in San Diego if i5 is very congested. Or better yet i15 until reaching 91 in Orange County than travel westbound. There are also toll roads in Orange county one can take such as the 73 toll corridor handy if one is headed for the John Wayne Orange county airport. A Fastrak toll transponder would come in handy so one does not need to reach for cash or stop. Do the reverse when headed southbound. A good alternative is the ride the train there are Amtrak Pacific Surf-liner trains that depart Union station as well as other stations in the area and can reach San Diego from Union station within 2 and half hours.
8.When traveling over the Mexican border to and from San Diego remember there are two major access point San Ysidro and Otay Mesa. Before departing it is wise to give http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/wait_times/ a check. Usually Otay Mesa is faster than San Ysidro during busy times. Certain border crossing buses such as Mexicoach use special express crossing lanes that can be significantly faster than crossing on car or even on foot especially when crossing northbound.
9. Beware of the midnight rush hour. This might seem hard to understand for most people as they would never imagine rush hour style sea of brake lights at midnight when most people are supposed to be home sleeping. Though in Socal especially in Los Angeles county or even the Orange county area this is the midnight rush hour and its particularly bad on Friday and Saturday nights. This is the time between 11:00 pm to 1:30am as quite a number of people finish there night job shifts and head home. This is also the hour when many entertainment venues such as amusement parks, ball parks, concert halls, theatres, and night clubs begin to call it a day and their patrons dismiss to start their motors to head home. The result is tens of thousands of cars flooding onto the roads at this hour. For airports it is the time when hoards of last flights of the day land at similar times resulting in a hoard of airline passengers leaving the airport at the same time thereby severely tying up traffic around the airports. Worst of all many construction and road work projects on freeways start during this hour closing down lanes and causing severe traffic bottlenecks for the midnight rush hour crowd, hopefully they can finish work before the morning commute. So if possible it is best to travel before this hour and if unavoidable pick freeways with the best carpool lane systems and check for construction zones on traffic maps.

Traffic jam! At 12AM? I can't believe this many people would be out on the road at midnight!

10. Traffic data maps such as maps.google.com can be a very reliable source for up to the minute information on traffic density and troublespots. Of course this will not predict the future however this is a great toll to plan routes around the congested problem areas. Also remember less popular routes are usually less congested so taking the smaller street rather than the big name boulevards can save time in the area between downtown LA and westside where there are no freeway access aside from i10 and one must take busy streets to get where their going.