California theme park adventures
Guests pay more than $200 a day at hot spots
Prices can really add up at top destinations.
Quickly, what’s the most expensive theme park to visit in California?
If you think the Happiest Place on Earth is also the costliest, you’re in Mistakenland.
A day at Disneyland (and Disney California Adventure) is actually slightly cheaper than Universal Studios Hollywood, the most expensive theme park when you factor in tickets, parking, food and hotel.
And the cheapest of California’s nine theme parks is Knott’s Berry Farm, according to HomeToGo.com’s California Theme Park Index. A day at Knott’s averages $128.85 per person, while guests will pay $289.79 each at Universal Studios Hollywood.
Disneyland and California Adventure come in at $248.97, tying as the secondmost expensive parks.
Rather than rely on ticket prices alone — the budgetary Achilles’ heel of the Disney parks — HometoGo included the usual expenditures for an out-oftown visitor.
Based on those four cost factors – ticket, parking, food (cheeseburger, fries and a drink) and lodging (one night based on four people) – Knott’s Berry Farm was $10 cheaper than the secondcheapest on the list, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, California.
The cost of accommodations helped push Universal Studios to the top of the most expensive parks. The Hollywood park averaged $107.80 per person for a nearby hotel room, far above the $32.36 at Knott’s, and second only to California’s Great America in Santa Clara ($152.17).
Disney’s largest expense, based on prices available June 1, was the $149 one-day ticket.