2 Best Sights in Orange County and Catalina Island, California

The sprawling Disney California Adventure, adjacent to Disneyland (their entrances face each other), pays tribute to the Golden State with multiple theme areas. Take your park experience to the next level of fun with Play Disney Parks, a mobile app with entertaining games, activities, and trivia. Admire the vintage art-deco architectural shops and dining venues along Buena Vista Street and learn about movie magic at Hollywood Land.

Avengers Campus is home for a new generation of superheroes, focusing on the characters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ride on Web-Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure, where guests of all ages can help wrangle Spider-Bots while wearing 3D glasses and accumulate points. Screams can be heard around the park from the free-falling Guardians of the Galaxy--Mission: BREAKOUT! See your favorite characters from several hit Pixar films when crossing over Pixar Pier. Ride the superfast Incredicoaster, and collect points playing along the interactive Toy Story Midway Mania ride. Stop to win a prize playing games at the carnival area in Pixar Pier. The 12-acre Cars Land features Radiator Springs Racers, a speedy trip in six-passenger speedsters through scenes featured in the blockbuster hit. The Single Rider Lane saves time to experience the thrills quicker. At night the park takes on neon hues as glowing signs light up Route 66 in Cars Land and Pixar Pal-A-Round, a giant Ferris wheel.

Cocktails, craft beers, and premium wines from California are available in the Pacific Wharf dining area. This area in the park is being reimagined into San Fransokyo from the movie Big Hero 6, where East meet West. There is a place to meet Baymax, plus new dining and shopping venues. Live nightly entertainment features a 1930s jazz troupe and seasonal entertainers throughout the year. The MagicBand+ is a new way to unlock Disney storytelling. This hands-free wearable on your wrist enhances your park experience in exciting new ways with color-changing and gesture-recognition features. Certain rides have Lightning Lanes with Disney's Genie+ to save time in line. Be sure to stay for the World of Color-One, a light-and-sound show celebrating Walt Disney's 100 Years of Wonder storytelling.

This lively amusement park is fun for all ages. Once a 160-acre boysenberry farm, it's now an entertainment complex with close to 40 rides, dozens of restaurants and shops, arcade games, live shows, and a brick-by-brick replica of Philadelphia's Independence Hall. Take a step back into the 1880s while walking through Knott's Old West Ghost Town. Ride on a horse-drawn stagecoach or board a steam engine to start your journey into the park; just keep your valuables close to you, as bandits might enter your train car and put on quite a show. Camp Snoopy has plenty of rides to keep small children occupied as they explore 15 kid-friendly attractions. There are awesome thrill rides in the Boardwalk area, including the zooming HangTime that pauses dramatically then drops nearly 15 stories, and the exhilarating steel moto-coaster Pony Express that goes from zero to 35 mph in less than three seconds.

Be sure to get a slice of boysenberry pie, as well as boysenberry soft-serve ice cream, jam, juice, you name it. There's even a Boysenberry Food Festival once a year. In the fall, part of the park is turned into Knott's Scary Farm, a popular activity for teens and adults. Buy adult tickets online for a discount. Buy a bundle for parking and food included with your ticket. FastLane wristbands give you quicker access to the most popular rides. Nearby Knott's Soak City is open during the summer for guests who want to float on the lazy river, go down waterslides, and swim in the wave pool.

Fun fact: In 1934, Cordelia Knott began serving chicken dinners on her wedding china to supplement her family's income. The dinners and her boysenberry pies proved more profitable than her husband Walter's berry farm, so the two moved first into the restaurant business and then into the entertainment business.