← Misc · 2021–2024

Park Days

Wheels, coasters, castles and one very convincing Springfield.

Amusement parks are strange places to photograph. The best parts, the drops and loops and screaming, happen when your phone is zipped into a pocket, and what is left in the camera roll is the queue, the castle, the snacks and the sign at the gate. This post collects them anyway, in order, from a Saturday on the Santa Monica Pier in 2021 to Christmas Day at LEGOLAND in 2024.

Pacific Park, Santa Monica Pier · October 9, 2021

The smallest park on this list, and the only one you can walk into for free. Pacific Park sits on the end of the Santa Monica Pier, where Route 66 runs out of land, and its octopus-shaped arch of steel loops leads to a solar-powered Ferris wheel and a little yellow roller coaster above the beach. I went on a sunny October Saturday with friends, and we bought tickets for the wheel. From the top, the West Coaster's yellow track ran along below us, with the beach and the whole curve of Santa Monica Bay beyond it.

Afterwards, from the sand, the wheel and the coaster looked like a toy set on stilts above the beach.

Halloween Horror Nights, Universal Hollywood · October 14, 2021

Five days later came the biggest night of that autumn. A group of us, all grad students at USC, went to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood, the park's after-dark Halloween event of haunted mazes and roaming scare actors. The evening started at the studio store, wrapped in horror posters, and at the Universal globe, lit purple and fogged up for the occasion.

Inside, the park was its normal self in the dark: Springfield from The Simpsons with Krustyland glowing in neon, and Hogwarts castle lit blue on its hill above the Wizarding World. Between them, signs pointed the way to that year's mazes, among them Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House and The Curse of Pandora's Box. We did some rides too, though I no longer remember which ones.

The last photo of the night was taken at 1:22 in the morning, on the way out, under the neon Universal Studios sign.

Six Flags Magic Mountain · August 24, 2022

The thrill-ride park of Southern California, an hour north of Los Angeles in Valencia, with more roller coasters than almost any park in the world. My wife and I went on a summer Wednesday and rode many of them; which ones, I can no longer say. There is exactly one record of the day: a twelve-second video from the front of a log flume. Thrill rides are hard on photography, and that may be the point.

Universal Orlando and SeaWorld · August 11–12, 2024

On our 2024 road trip we gave Orlando two days. The first was Universal Studios Florida, where Optimus Prime guards the entrance to Transformers: The Ride and a whole Springfield has been built as a walk-through cartoon town, statue of Jebediah Springfield included. Lunch was at Krusty Burger: a burger on a bun branded with a K, curly fries and a drink in a souvenir cup.

We also came home with a Simpsons magnet from Springfield. On our fridge it pretends to come from the real Springfield, the town in Oregon the cartoon is named after. It really came from Florida.

The second day was SeaWorld Orlando. We went in, and the camera roll has nothing from inside the gates, which might be its own kind of review. The whole Orlando stretch is in the road trip post.

Disneyland at Halloween · October 13, 2024

Back home, Disneyland was dressed for Halloween. We started at Disney California Adventure, where Pixar Pier lines the lagoon with the Incredicoaster and the Mickey wheel, and where the newest ride that year was Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind: Joy and Disgust standing over a track of glowing memory orbs.

Then across the plaza into Disneyland Park, where the Partners statue of Walt and Mickey stood in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle surrounded by orange pumpkins. On Main Street a giant Mickey-shaped pumpkin sat outside the shops.

As the sun went down, a yellow submarine glided around the lagoon at the foot of the Matterhorn.

LEGOLAND on Christmas Day · December 25, 2024

And the gentlest park of all. On Christmas Day we drove down to LEGOLAND California in Carlsbad, where the Christmas tree is made of bricks and Miniland rebuilds whole cities at about a twentieth of their size, from Washington to a little London on an island. That day is told in full in the San Diego post.

Off the rides

Looking at all of these together, I notice that I remember the rides and photographed everything else. I can't name a single maze from Horror Nights or a single coaster from Magic Mountain, but I can tell you what the burger at Krusty Burger looked like. Maybe that is the right way round. The rides were for being there; the photos are for what was around them.

Built from the photos' timestamps and locations, and from our own notes; times are local. Photo locations have been removed from the published images.

Some photos in this post are my wife's.