Southern California Amusement Parks

So you're planning a trip to Southern California. And you're interested in checking out the Southern California amusement parks. The trouble is, there are more than 10 major amusement parks to choose from, and finding the time to see all of them is darn near impossible. Here's our advice: Plan your amusement park visits by location, allowing at least one full day to explore each park. If you're staying at a hotel in Anaheim, you can efficiently visit Disneyland, California Adventure and Knott's Berry Farm. And you can take a free shuttle from Anaheim to Universal Studios Hollywood. Or if you're staying in the Hollywood/LA city area, you can see Universal Studios and the LA Zoo.

You might also consider purchasing a Southern California City Pass, which gives you a discount for buying admission to several amusement parks at once. Scroll down for specifics on how to buy a Southern California City Pass and what you get for your investment.

Use this mileage chart to map our your Southern California amusement park visits. It shows the distance in miles between the major parks and also includes LAX as a point of reference. If you click on the number of miles, you'll link into Google directions; the parks listed in the left-hand column are the starting points and the parks listed across the top are the ending points. If you need them, we have the exact park addresses, phone numbers and websites listed at the bottom of this page.