Mystery Spot - Santa Cruz
 

Ok, I did do a search for this but really want to know if this attraction is fun just for kids or if my husband and I will enjoy it. Is it worth checking out during our one night stay in Santa Cruz?

Everytime we go somewhere on our travels where we feel we've been taken in by promotional hooplah, we call it the "Santa Cruz Mystery Spot". :-)

(In other words, you'll probably feel like you've been taken in by promotional hooplah!)

I grew up in Santa Cruz and have never actually taken the tour - LOL. I've gone up there a couple times, but the wait to take the tour was always so long that we decided against it.

I've heard from others that it's kind of cool, weird gravity and perception things like balls seemingly rolling up hill, etc. Nothing spectacular, just sort of strange.

I probably wouldn't choose to spend time at the Mystery Spot for such a short trip. There are just so many other things to see in Santa Cruz.

When I was about 10, we stopped at the Mystery Spot near St Ignace, Michigan. All they did was build on a hill side and not build level.

I was never so disgusted with anything in my life. I found in insulting that I was supposed to to believe that spiel.

Keith

Yale: I did this a few years ago and was surprised at how much fun I had.

The guide was really weird/funny and I did get light-headed from the altered perception of gravity.

To me, it was really a hoot - a fun, funky and unusual thing that I normally wouldn't do. This is about the time of year I went and it wasn't crowded at all.

Grass: You are right - there is a lot of hype that goes with it but to me it was sort of tongue and cheek like what you'd get at a carnival - it made it all the more fun and funny.

Funny story about the Mystery Spot: I was getting gas at a station on the 1 in Santa Cruz. A couple pulls up and asks the attendant for directions. The attendant has a tough time explaining the way -- he and the couple keep confusing West and North because the coast along that way runs East-West instead of the typical North-South. When the male portion of the couple asked the attendant why it was so confusing, the attendant replied, "I dunno. I think it's 'cause we're so close to the Mystery Spot."

Bah dum bum :P

I have never been but I think that about50% of Northern Californians have the bumper sticker.

We went with our two teenagers on the way into Santa Cruz from San Jose. It was a kitchy kind of fun. I can't resist a Mystery Spot!

I think the people at the Mystery Spot used to put the sticker on the cars while the people were taking the tour. I remember some big issue about it awhile back. I tell you what - if anybody put a sticker on my car, I would have their hide.

I used to live about 1/4 mile from it as a kid and so I would ride my bike around the area and sneak in sometimes.

It is a bit of a scam, and if you have time to kill and the beach is foggy you might want to go...

I took 2 teen boys last year and the 15 year old spaced out kid loved it, while the 14 year old thought it was so dumb and so easy to see the illusions that he was upset I had paid for him to go!

Okay, after I read this post the other day on the 28th, I went to the mall and saw no less than three cars with Mystery Spot bumper stickers, and I'm all the way down in Southern California. I know I've seen them before, but I thought it was funny to see so many in one place at the same time!

The "mystery spot" in Santa Cruz is actually one of several and is a franchise. There were several across the US. Most have closed due to competition with better attractions being operated by... Six Flags, etc.

Anybody else remember bowling balls and water "running uphill" and people "standing straight up" while appearing to be at a 20-degree angle at El Sito Mysterio inside Frontier Village (amusement park) in San Jose - - before it was razed 24 years ago for tract homes?

Go to frontiervillage.net and click on El Sito Mysterio.

We lived in the Santa Cruz area for 20 years. My husband -- engineer -- would drag friends to this place whenever possible. Whether it was adults or kids, they were baffled...and so was my husband.

Hokey? Yes. But it's relatively cheap to visit and it'll leaving you laughing (and wondering "how did they do that???").