Magic Mountain Six Flags...Help Please

Tijuana: no. I went once while in college. I wish I hadn't.

It was a failed road trip. First we went to UCSB for Halloween. UCSB used to be known as *the* place to hang out for serious Halloween party fun, but this was after UCPD got serious about keeping the shenanigans to a minimum. Since Santa Barbara was dead, we decided to go to Tijuana---it was closer to go there than back to Berkeley. Except for the side trip for excellent fish tacos in San Diego, it was a horrible, horrible mistake.

Translation of Brian's post: he thought the person he met at the bar in Tijuana was a woman ;)

mOOSH [couldn't resist!]

To be fair, if TJ had been our original intention all along, I suspect we would have really enjoyed it. But, it wasn't Halloween at UCSB. Not even close.

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Peabody said:
If you want to be scared....come walk around Baltimore at night :)

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Baltimore? Bah -- the Inner Harbor is a GREAT place to take a date for a romantic weekend...

I've noticed that traffic is a relative thing. I'm not a big fan of driving in LA or Chicago, for example, but I'm so used to Pittsburgh I don't think anything of it. Yet I know people FROM LA and Chicago that dread driving in Pittsburgh. It's all what you're familiar with...

(To be fair, there ARE two onramps to interstates in Pittsburgh I'll avoid like the plague, but as a native I know easy ways to avoid both of them.)

OK....excluding the inner harbor, come walk around Baltimore :) (In 5 years I've only heard of one homicide at the harbor out of 300+ every year in the city alone...pop 400,000!) The Inner Harbor is really nice.....get away from it and you better be wearing Kevlar!

As far as driving in L.A., traffic could be the least of your worries. Yes, traffic in Los Angeles abounds. But what you should prepare for is the speed. If there isn't a back-up and traffic is moving, be prepared to go 15-20+ MPH over the limit on highways; that's the norm. If you're not used to driving these speeds, that might be the most difficult. Lucky for you though, drivers in L.A. are for the most part safe and courteous compared to most other U.S. cities (i.e. Cincinnati). I recently moved to Los Angeles from Ohio, and with the exception of rush hour, prefer driving here rather than most other places.

I've made the trip from L.A. to SFMM on a weekday and didn't have any problems. Coming from Beverly Hills on a Saturday you should be fine.

If you're worried about safety, avoid South-Central Los Angeles and its neighboring areas, and East L.A. If you do this, you shouldn't have any problems.

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jomo said:

If possible, you might want to instead consider staying at one of the nearby hotels to the park. Many have complimentary shuttles to the SFMM.

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Really? Scouting around most of the hotels in a 3-5 miles radius and I didn't find a single one that had shuttle service to the park.

Any to recommend?

As an option out of LA if you don't want to drive and don't want to deal with cabfare, I'm fairly sure that GrayLine has a bus tour that will pick you up in most LA hotels and include park admission for less than the cab ride alone.

I have a quick question: do I need a passport as a 14-year-old to go to Tijuana? I'm planning my SoCal/SFMM trip for next month, and we're planning to hit San Diego and south of the border. Tijuana, here I come.

If you are 14, you probably should not be in Tijuana unless a parent/guardian is bringing you. However, last I checked, all you need is a notarized birth certificate, and probably not even that.

That's pre 9/11, though, so YMMV. For reference, I'm getting my kids passports for a future trip to Toronto, but that's also because I do travel to Europe and sometimes Asia for business. So, in the event of an emergency that cuases my wife and family to travel to wherever I am, they can without undue difficulty.

*** Edited 2/18/2004 3:11:23 AM UTC by Brian Noble***

Tom, you have to have some proof of citzenship. State issued picture I.D., birth certificate, something like that. If you are with your parents it won't be a problem. I just took my 11 y.o. daughter and just needed her birth certificate.

Don't know about crossing the boarder with Aussie ID though. You might want to look into it before you go. If you want to go and shop,it is pretty fun. "Almost free here" and "come and buy something for your neighbor's wife", you just gotta love it, if you pay much more than half of what they ask for at first you are getting ripped off. I say go if you can. *** Edited 2/18/2004 3:17:33 AM UTC by sparky697***

Thanks, guys. Oh, and my parents will be taking me, probably ruining my chances of partying and passing out in a puddle of vomit, beer, and/or blood. Darn.
*** Edited 2/18/2004 9:27:10 PM UTC by TTDTom***

TTDTom - Dude, how you got from "thought the person he met was a woman" to "your butt hurting" is beyond me. Oh, right...the whole gay thing. All gay men must do that, right? You have a lot to learn, my friend.

mOOSH [yeah...I'm offended]

Actually yea there are Hotels that have shuttles in the Valencia area. Being a Valencia native for almost 17 years, I don't know WHICH ones have the shuttle, but I can garuntee you the Hilton thats across the street on the Old Road has a shuttle, i garuntee it. Its always at the drop off zone. I can also recommend instead of renting a car, you may want to consider taking the bus. Santa Clarita Transit has a route #799 that comes from Los Angeles, I believe its UCLA. Just try and find a bus to get to UCLA, its not that far from BH. But anyways, youll get dropped off at the Mc Bean transfer station, and your gonna take the #3 bus. It drops you off right in front of X. This whole bus trip was about 5 bucks. It beats the 5N.OMG that freeway licks the sweatiest nutz off of a bum in the summer. But anyway, if you still wanna rent a car, thats cool too. Enterprise is the cheapest that i know. Good Luck!

A bus is a fine alternative if you don't mind travelling on the bus company's schedule. But what if you want to arrive earlier than they drop off or stay later than their last pick-up?

Just to add to this (though Moosh is handling it very capably), if you go on a Saturday morning, traffic should be non-existant except for right at SFMM's exit. Even that shouldn't be horrible, again especially if you want to get there as early as you're saying.

Given what I know about the traffic patterns here, you'll have almost nothing to worry about on your way to the park (except possibly the drive on Sunset if you're not used to a relatively windy road with two lanes each direction), but you might run into some problems on the way back. Southbound 405 on Saturdays can get kinda nasty, on occasion.

Enjoy your trip, and definitely rent a car ;)

Thanks, Tom. If he's staying in Beverly Hills he might be taking either Wilshire, Santa Monica, Olympic, or Pico to the 405 as well as Sunset. In fact I'd probably avoid Sunset on a weekday morning or afternoon rush hour.

If lwross wants to email me about his specific plans I'm happy to suggest driving routes and alternatives.

mOOSH

Sorry if I offended you, Moosh. I honestly didn't mean to do so. Not to sidetrack the conversation.

Calm down ladies...j.khehehe, that tru about the bus schedule thing. For sure rent a car, but you'll need to get off on Valencia Blvd. Magic Mountain Parkway is closed. So the detour runs through Valencia. Then a right at the Old Road, then a left on Magic Mtn. Up the hill you go to see X...right infront of you. It makes it look bigger than it is. If your there at like 9:25, I'll be happy to pass the word on to fellow co-workers so we can wave while we ride :-D

Hi Again,

Thanks for all the great advice. Rening a card sounds like the way to go. If anyone can give me directions from my hotel to the park that would be great. Here is the hotel address:

Crowne Plaza Hotel
BEVERLY HILLS
1150 S. Beverly Dr.
LOS ANGELES, CA 90035

Thanks again for all the help.

Lachlan

TTDTom - I realize you were trying to be funny...sorry to snap at ya.

lwross - wow...that's a nice hotel! In fact I can see it as I type this, about 2 blocks from my office ;) Getting to SFMM is very easy:

The hotel is at the corner of Beverly Drive and Pico Blvd. Go west [away from Downtown LA] on Pico Blvd about 3.5 miles and take Interstate 405 North.

About 18 miles later I-405 North will merge and become I-5 North. You do not need to worry about signs, you'll just suddenly find youself on the I-5 North.

Follow I-5 North and exit Magic Mountain Parkway, about 10 miles later.

REVERSE DIRECTIONS:

From Magic Mountain Parkway take I-5 South to I-405 South. Take the Pico/Olympic exit, turn left at the end of the ramp, then left again at Pico. Your hotel is 3.5 miles on the left.

Hope that helps!

FYI, there are lots of great restaurants on Beverly Drive about 4 blocks from your hotel.

mOOSH