Located in Santa Clara, California’s Great America is one of the largest and best amusement parks in Northern California.
Ride and Attraction Highlights
With 60 rides, exciting roller coasters, and kid-sized rides, California Great America offers fun for the whole family.
This park dates back to 1972, when it was built as one of two parks by the Marriott Cooperation. Today, Great America is owned and operated by Cedar Fair, an entertainment company.
For those with young kids, the park’s kiddie area, also known as Planet Snoopy, is home to several tamer rides. Little ones can enjoy a carousel, bumper cars, mini coasters, and a play area.
Visitors who want more of a thrill can ride the 224-foot Drop Tower or the 73-mile-per-hour Raging Bull roller coaster.
Don’t forget to bring your swimsuit – California Great America is the only amusement park that provides a waterpark ticket with admission to the park.
South Bay Shores waterpark, located next to Great America, features extreme water slides, a lazy river, a wave pool, and kid-sized slides.
California’s Great America Food & Prices
If you’ve worked up an appetite between all of the walking, riding, and splashing around Great America and South Bay Shores, you won’t have trouble finding something to eat. From pizza and funnel cakes to boba tea and sushi rolls, this park has food options for everyone.
You can look into the dining plans and drink deals available on their website.
Here are some photos of the food and drink menus I spotted on my visit during summer of 2022.
Some of the options available include Chicken Entrees; Burgers; Pizza; Hot Dogs; Funnel Cakes; Sushi and much more. Most entrees are around $10 – $20.
Examples of food offerings include: Single Hot Dog $9.29; Funnel Cake $11.99; Ice Cream $7.99; French Fries $6.99; Poke Bowl $15.99;l California Roll $12.99; Cheeseburger Basket $15.99; Stuffed Churro $9.99; Regular Churro $8.99; Nachos $7.99; Cotton Candy $7.99; Fresh Popcorn $9.99; Asada Burrito $17.99.
Examples of drink offerings include: Fountain Drinks $5.39; $4.75 Bottled Water; Souvenir Bottle $16.99 which is part of the Drink Deal plan and includes $5 refills.
Our Experience
We have two kids (one school age, the other preschool) and found the park very manageable to navigate with young children.
The pricing is also quite affordable (as compared to Disney Parks). We got the Gold Season Pass for my husband (which came with parking) and Silver Season Passes for me and my older son. My younger son got the free Pre-K season pass. So, we spent about $250 for admission and visited 3 times in a week.
The Gold Season Pass includes the Trick and Treats as well as Winterfest admission which makes it worth it. We plan on revisiting for Winterfest and upgrading our Silver Season Passes to Gold. Overall, we had a great time at California’s Great America and would recommend it.
