Summer and amusement parks go together like peanut butter and jelly.
We’re blessed with two epic amusement parks in Ohio, so we don’t have to travel far to get our thrills and chills.
But this summer, we visited a new-to-us amusement park in California: the beautiful and fun Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, a seaside park that has operated since 1907!
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is a unique amusement park for several reasons. First, its location is incredible: its rides, eateries and attractions sprawl along a gorgeous, wide, sandy beach within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. It’s not unusual to see otters, dolphins, sea lions, and even whales swimming just offshore. We loved seeing wild sea otters up close just off the wharf!
Second, its longevity and legacy are impressive. The Beach Boardwalk bills itself as the last of the great seaside amusement parks remaining in the United States and home to two National Historic Landmarks – the 1911 Looff Carousel and 1924 Giant Dipper wooden roller coaster. The entire property is also a State Historic Landmark.
Third, this iconic and instantly recognizable park serves as the backdrop for many popular movies, most notably Lost Boys (1987) and Us (2019). Lost Boys is one of my favorite vampire movies, so I was thrilled to visit the Beach Boardwalk and see it for myself! Another thing I loved about the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is that admission is free; anyone can enter the park and walk through, enjoying the vibes, without ever paying a cent.
We had an important reason to make the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk our family vacation destination this summer: Napa, our beloved Thai daughter, spent her summer working there thanks to a unique program that employs young people from all over the world who want to experience working in the U.S. hospitality industry.
We took our time driving up to Santa Cruz from LA, staying overnight in Big Sur instead of driving it all in one go (it’s about a 6-hour drive). We arrived in Santa Cruz around lunchtime and were not able to check into our room at the Casablanca Inn yet, so we dropped our bags off there and went to meet Napa for lunch.
It was so great reuniting with our girl! We had not seen her in person for five years and both Z and Napa have grown up so much in that time. We all agreed that Zoe has changed the most – there’s a huge difference between an 8-year-old and a 14-year-old! The sisters immediately recaptured their bond and it was so heartwarming to see. We were all overjoyed to see and hug Napa again and see her beautiful smile after so long apart.
Thanks to her job at the Beach Boardwalk, Napa was able to give us all ride wrist-bands and we enjoyed a super fun afternoon with her at the park. E and I went on a few rides with the girls, but mostly we watched Zoe and Napa go on ride after ride, laughing and screaming and having a blast. I’m not sure that we had a favorite ride – we loved all of them!
I made sure to ride the Sky Cars with the fam even though they terrify me. I am afraid of heights and feel so anxious and stressed the whole time I’m up in the air on those things, but it’s important to me that I do things even when I’m scared. Zoe made a big fuss of me conquering my fear and riding the Sky Cars – and the ocean views were incredible from up there!
After walking the entire length of the Beach Boardwalk, we went back to our hotel to check in and order pizza. Napa and Zoe snuggled up in Z’s bed and even napped for a bit while we waited for the pizza to arrive – just like old times! It did my heart good to see our two daughters together again. I hope we never have to go five years between visits again.
I highly recommend both the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and the lovely Casablanca Beach Inn, just a few blocks away. We watched otters play from the Santa Cruz wharf and we loved being walking distance from the amusement park. It’s a gorgeous little town and we hope to visit again someday!
One other item of note: there’s a cute train that goes right through the center of Santa Cruz. The Roaring Camp Railroad operates a train that travels between the inland redwood forests and the Beach Boardwalk. We didn’t have time to take the train, but it would have been a super fun activity if we’d had another day in town!
