Life Is A Roller Coaster

While on my “spring” break in February (thank you St. John’s University), I escaped the freezing Northeast weather with a visit to the family-friendly Pacific Park on the Santa Monica pier:

Pacific Park is a small amusement park located on the Santa Monica pier geared towards younger kids or those who prefer less-thrilling attraction. Within walking distance of the park is the Third Street Promenade, packed with restaurants and retail stores, so it is easy to dedicate a full date to exploring Santa Monica.

Above is the portion of the pier that extends beyond Pacific Park.

From the beach, you can clearly see the brightly colored ferris wheel…

…and the only coaster Pacific Park has to offer. The rest of the attractions on the pier are smaller flat rides, perfectly tailored to a family enjoying a beautiful day of sun and blue skies.

There are two entrances to the park. The main entrance is pictured before, indicated by a giant purple octopus. Around the back of Pier Burger, there is a secondary entrance that gives you a clear-cut view of the midway.

But fIrst, we need to buy some tickets, don’t we? The beauty of Pacific Park is it is pay-per-ride, so parents are not charged for accompanying their children to a day at the park. On their website, Pacific Park proudly claims itself as “LA’s Only Admission-Free Amusement Park!”

Single-ride tickets are relatively pricey and will definitely add up if you are planning to continually ride the attractions. The best value is to purchase the unlimited ride wristband so you can enjoy an entire of family-oriented attractions. You can also purchase your tickets online, and you do not need to redeem the tickets the day of purchase. There is also an online option to purchase meal tickets for both children and adults. For more information about online purchasing, you can check out Pacific Park’s website here.

Now here is the beauty Pacific Park midway. The roller coaster spans one side of the park to the other, giving riders an overhead view of all Pacific Park has to offer.

If you enter through the secondary entrance, the first flatride you come across is the boats. As I mentioned earlier, most of the rides at Pacific Park are geared towards smaller children, and I love how the park incorporates its beachy theme into their attractions.

Next up is the bumper cars, which can be seen as the kid-friendly version of driving recklessly along Pacific Coast Highway (which I do not condone).

Pacific Park also offers the beachy version of a convoy attraction, which comes fully equipped with a rescue surfboard.

The park also has a Zamperla Balloon ride, which is always a favorite among families with small children.

Before we continue onto the back of the park to get a better view of both the coaster and ferris wheel, there is one more flat ride, a Zamperla Rockin’ Tug.

Woah! What is that flying past us at a speedy 35 mph?

Before we get to the coaster entrance, we come to the entrance of the Pacific Wheel. This colorful ferris wheel is the traditional touch on an amusement park on the pier. At night, you can see the Pacific Wheel for miles while driving down the coast on PCH.

A very interesting fact: Pacific Wheel is the world’s only solar-powered ferris wheel. The computerized light package on this baby is quite a sight to see, so make sure you stay to watch the sunset on the beach!

It looks like some yellow track got into my picture…

It’s the West Coaster, of course!

This Morgan coaster stands at 55 feet above the pier, effectively making it the second shortest Morgan coaster in the world (Bonus Trivia: What is the shortest?). The ride can be seen winding and turning around the perimeter of the park. Above you can see just how West Coaster ascends on one side of the pier, enters into a helix, and then returns along the opposite side.

Up, up, up go the invisible riders!

And around they go! Pacific Park does a wonderful job of maintaining the look of their park. This coaster has been operating since 1996, yet its paint job makes it look relatively new!

I suppose the gentleman in the second row was excited to get his picture taken!

The return trip of small bunny hills brings you yet again into another helix, which circles around the brightly-painted Scrambler.

Bring it around town! Both the lift hill and final section of the return are yellow, while the rest of the coaster is painted orange. Does anybody know why?

And finally the West Coaster returns its riders, unscathed and smiling, to the station. Note the beautiful mountains that line the coast of California.

Here is a peak of the undercarriage with Pacific Wheel in the background.

If you begin to feel woozy after a few rides on West Coaster, you can head on over to the impressive Playland Arcade!

This arcade is jam-packed with arcade games and cranes, ranging from racing and shooting simulators to foosball and air hockey. Unfortunately, Kevin did not accompany on this trip because our spring breaks did not line up (which is a good think because he has a tendency to cry when I whoop his butt at air hockey, which is my specialty).

Towards the back of the arcade, be careful not to miss the many alleys of Skeeball! You can spend a significant amount of time in this arcade, which is a great way of escaping the sun on those hot summer California days.

For the days where the sun is not too much to bear, Pacific Park also contains a wide variety of classic carnival games. Who wouldn’t want to win a minion?

Aside from the other restaurants offered in the Promenade or pier, there are colorful food and beverage options that can be found within Pacific park. These restaurants are included in the meal pass available for purchase.

The city of Santa Monica has a lot to offer, but a day spent in the sun would not be complete without a fun-filled visit to Pacific Park. You can take a stroll along the pier, observe the surfers from the lift hill of West Coaster, and enjoy the nighttime scene of the world’s only solar-powered ferris wheel. Pacific Park is family-oriented so it can be enjoyed by kids and adults of all ages. Though the hardcore thrill seeker may be slightly disappointed in the attraction options, this amusement park on the Santa Monica pier should not be passed up during a visit to the beach.

For more information of hours, attractions, or online ticket ordering, please visit the Pacific Park website at www.pacpark.com.

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Hey, I'm Lexie! I'm Kevin's partner-in-crime during our roller coaster trips. I have currently ridden 247 different coasters and have visited 58 amusement parks. I can't wait to keep adding to my count and sharing our experiences with you.