Must-See California Theme Parks & Attractions

San Diego is packed with great things to see and do including these top theme parks and attractions.

SeaWorld San Diego

Spread across 190 acres on beautiful Mission Bay Park, SeaWorld is known for its amazing animals, interactive attractions, aquariums, rides, beautiful landscaping and education programs for all ages.

Join us Dec. 6 and 7 in beautiful Balboa Park for the City of San Diego's largest free holiday festival. The family-friendly December Nights celebration brings visitors and locals together to enjoy the lights, the sounds, the attractions and, of course, the amazing food.

On November 23, Birch Aquarium at Scripps hosts Indigenous Ocean Day centering Indigenous people and Indigenous ocean culture. The aquarium welcomes Intertribal Native community members and the general public to experience this day of cultural sharing. Participate in a community tule boat build, listen to storytellers and Birdsinging, learn more about culturally significant ocean animals, interact with hands-on activity stations, a resource fair with Indigenous organizations and more. This intercultural exchange coincides with the exhibition Embodied Pacific: Ocean Unseen and the Getty PST ART: Art & Science Collide and celebrates Native American Heritage Month in November. For more information or to purchase tickets visit the aquarium website. aquarium.ucsd.edu

This boat tour provides visitors with an educational tour of San Diego Bay. The 45-minute Bay sightseeing tour takes guests out on the water in a large loop first heading toward North Island and the Aircraft Carriers, then stopping at buoy 22. Guests will then head just under Coronado Bridge and make a port (left) turn around one of the bridge pillars. The vessel then heads back towards the Maritime Museum along the downtown side of the waterfront.  Several attractions will be highlighted along the way as guests enjoy the fresh air and view.

Sheduled daily tour times Monday through Friday at 11:00 a.m. 12:45 p.m., 1:45 p.m. and 2:45 p.m.

Weekends: 11:00 a.m., 12:45 p.m., 1:45 p.m., 2:45 p.m. and 3:45 p.m.

Join the Museum of Us for a pop-up poetry-making lab with San Diego’s 2024 Poet Laureate, Jason Magabo Perez. These pop-up writing labs are included with admission, and visitors are invited to drop-in at any point during the labs to participate. All are welcome! 
 
Jason Magabo Perez, Ph.D., will lead three creating writing labs in the Hostile Terrain 94 exhibition. Visitors will engage with the exhibit through the creative process of writing poetry, and explore poetry-making techniques like ekphrasis, cut-up, documentary, and collage. 
 
Learn more at museumofus.org/blog/poetry-making-labs-with-poet-laureate.