Will travel with my 5 yrs old son to Orange county CA for 3 days in Aug. My question is which theme park I should bring my son to on day 2? Here is the iternary:
Day 1: Arrive SNA 11:30 am then check in nearby airport hotel.
Day 2: Theme park ???
Day 3: Leave SNA 8:30 am
We just came back from Orlando in May so I think we should not go to Disneyland cause I think WDW Magic Kingdom is similar to Disneyland. I look at this forum and found some bad comment about California Adventure. Is Knotts Berry Farm good for 5 yr old? Any suggestion on Day 1 after check in? I will most likely stay in hotel pool area to relax on D1.

Hi there,

We are just back from a brilliant vacation in CA where my husband, myself and our 3 year old had a brilliant time.

We took in several theme parks (Disney, Legoland and Knotts Berry) and the one which we enjoyed the most was Knotts Berry.

It is not as shiny, polished and well maintained as Disney, however, they had a brilliant area for the wee one called Camp Snoopy. Here was a collection of rides just for her+ age group, with NO queues, so she could play time and time again. The whole set up was really relaxing and enjoyable.

We would not over recomend Legoland - it was nice enough, but not really enough to fill a whole day, and too many queues for very brief rides. On the whole, we didn't think it was good value for money.

Anyway, have a great vacation. Hope this helps

Alison,

That was brilliant!

Mrs. Knott

Knotts is perfect for a 5 year old, go early in the day because there is an animal petting area with pony rides, and the animals are at their friendliest just after breakfast.

We absolutely LOVED California Adventure (Calif. Screamin' Coaster was a blast!) but we have two teens, now.

I'd suggest Disneyland, but since you were just at WDW, go to Knotts Berry Farm. Its just a sweet, fun place to visit and I'm sure you'll all have fun!

On the first day....does he like baseball? The Angels play nearby.....we always check out each stadium in each city....if we can't see a game, we often take a tour.

The other thing we do on our Vacation Adventures is check out colleges and universities.....even if we just drive by. Its AMAZING how quickly your lil' darlins will grow and be considering that next step!

I haven't been to California Advenutre, but everyone I know that has gone there said it was not worth it at all. Knott's has Camp Snoopy for little kids, and although it is not as shiny clean as Disneyland, it has improved 100% in the last few years. Alos, it's more "doable" than Disneyland - not so big and overwhelming. Don't miss the funnel cakes! Actually, my favorite attraction at Knott's has always been the petting zoo! There's another tiny theme park down the street from Knott'son Beach Blvd. (go south) called Adventure City that is for little kids. It also has several hobby shops - dolls, trains, rocks & gems, etc.