Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo

Need your summertime roller coaster fix? Maybe it’s time drop into some good old fashion theme park action at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.

Located just off I-80 in Vallejo, Discovery Kingdom has no less than a half dozen coasters among it’s thirty rides. Everything is located within a fairly small proximity making it easy to get a bunch of rides in a short amount of time if it’s not crowded. We rolled in around 2pm on a Monday and stepped right on first car of Medusa, the parks largest roller coaster. We did the same thing five minutes later on Kong. DK has a nice mix of coasters ranging from the traditional wooden Coney Island style to the modern era foot dangling, hanger type. The kind that make you feel like your feet may get chopped off. Our favorite was Vertical Velocity which is a suspended, spiraling impulse coaster that goes from zero to seventy in a matter of seconds. It’s really cool because you get the combination of speed and weightlessness without excessive force or jarring of your head and body.

If you’ve got kids, Discovery Kingdom is great because it’s got more than just rides and cotton candy. DK has several interactive animal exhibits including penguins, dolphins, killer whales and sting rays. It also has two specific kids zones, one called Tava’s Jungleland with kid sized rides and another called Looney Tunes Seaport which is all water related fun.

Discovery Kingdom is not cheap. Admission for adults is $50 and parking is $15. However, a season pass is only $60. Apparently there are plenty of deals on admission if you do some research ahead of time. A couple of twenty somethings asked if we wanted a free admission voucher when we arrived and it worked so we got in two for one. Standard theme park tactics apply such as going midweek and arriving early to avoid lines. Riding six coasters in an hour rocks! Riding one coaster in an hour sucks! If you live in Tahoe it’s probably not worth going to DK just to visit a theme park. However, if you are driving to or from the city and have a couple of hours to kill it may be just what you need to breakup a three hour drive.