As Good As Being There

Knott's Berry Farm - Buena Park, CA

Knott's Berry Farm is a theme park in Buena Park, California, and a manufacturer of food specialty products (primarily jams and preserves) based in Placentia, California. In addition, Knott's also operates three Soak City USA water parks in Southern California, as well as the Camp Snoopy theme park in Minnesota's Mall of America. The theme park is operated by Cedar Fair L.P., and the food products are now part of ConAgra Foods. Knott's slogan is "America's 1st Theme Park".

Knott's Berry Farm is divided into six distinct themed areas: Camp Snoopy, Ghost Town, Indian Trails, Fiesta Village, The Boardwalk, and Wild Water Wilderness. In addition, a small shopping village called California Marketplace sits outside the admission gate, and includes the famous Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant and a number of gift shops. Also on the property (but across Beach Blvd.) is a replica of Independence Hall.

Did you know: The park's annual HALLOWEEN HAUNT also known as "Knott's Scary Farm has drawn crowds since 1973. During this special ticketed event, the entire park (or major portions of it) rethemes itself into a "haunted house" style attraction in the form of "mazes" and "scare zones" in the evening. Over a thousand specially employed monsters are also scattered - oftentimes hidden out of view - throughout the park at this time.

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Official website

West Edmonton Mall - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

West Edmonton Mall first opened its doors to the public on September 15, 1981 and is located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. West Edmonton Mall is North America's largest shopping mall and one of Western Canada's major tourist attractions.

West Edmonton Mall is the most popular tourist attraction in the province of Alberta. Located in a suburban part of the city, West Edmonton Mall has a gross area of 500,000 m² (5.3 million ft²) and it cost CDN $1.2 billion to build. More than 800 stores and services are located on the two main floors, including 110 eating establishments.

Galaxyland (home to the world's tallest interior roller coaster) is an amusement park located near the centre of the mall; World Waterpark and WEM's Adventure Golf are located in the west end; and Ice Palace is directly in the centre. The mall has more than 23,500 employees. There are large parking areas which together have more than 20,000 parking spaces, making it the world's largest parking lot. The mall is often called "the eighth wonder of the world" by international travel writers and receives 22 million visits per year.

Did you know: Permission from the City of Edmonton was recently granted for an expansion. This will include additional retail space, a facility for sports, trade shows and conventions, a 12-story office building, and a 600 unit apartment building, along with more parking.

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Pictures - via Google Images, Mall map [pdf]
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Official website

SeaWorld - Orlando, Fl

SeaWorld is a chain of theme parks in the United States, with operations in Orlando, Florida, San Diego, California, and San Antonio, Texas. The parks feature killer whale, sea lion and dolphin shows and zoological displays featuring various other marine animals. The parks' icon is Shamu the killer whale.

Shamu performingSeaWorld parks also feature a variety of thrill rides, including roller coasters like Kraken at SeaWorld Orlando and The Steel Eel at SeaWorld San Antonio. Journey to Atlantis, a combination roller coaster and splashdown ride, can be found at both SeaWorld Orlando and SeaWorld San Diego. The parks are owned by Busch Entertainment Corp., the family entertainment division of Anheuser-Busch, which is best known for brewing beer but also owns nine theme parks.

SeaWorld has made many contributions to wildlife conservation. SeaWorld scientists, zoologists, trainers and rescue teams participate in research and wildlife preservation. Recently, SeaWorld teams have helped saved beached whales, dolphins, seals and sea lions and helped raise the awareness of endangered manatees.

SeaWorld's main attraction is the killer whale or 'Shamu Stadium.' It is important to note that there is not just one killer whale named Shamu. Shamu was the name of the first killer whale ever to be brought to SeaWorld San Diego in the 1960s. 'Shamu' is now used as a stage name for adult killer whales in performances at SeaWorld parks. The killer whales all have real names. In the Orlando park, for example, there are nine whales: Tillikum, Ikaika, Katina, Kalina, Takara, Kohanna, Skyla, Taku and Taima.

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Official website

Busch Gardens - Tampa Bay, FL

Busch Gardens Tampa, the first theme park opened by Anheuser-Busch, has an African theme and is operated by Busch Entertainment Corp is located in Tampa, Florida. The theme park is one of America's largest zoological institutions, with more than 2,500 animals in its collection. Attractions include: Rhino Rally, Montu, Kumba, Edge of Africa, Python, Scorpion, Gwazi, and the new vertical dive coaster Sheikra. The theme park is located away from the downtown area in the northern part of the Tampa city limits; it borders the town limits of Temple Terrace.

Did you know?  that The Busch Gardens were spoofed in The Simpsons as the Duff Gardens.

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Walt Disney World - Lake Buena Vista, FL

Owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company, the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA is home of Magic Kingdom (Cinderella Castle) ,  Epcot (Spaceship Earth, the giant golf ball-looking geodesic sphere) , Disney-MGM Studios (the giant Mickey sorcerer's cap, though formerly the 'Earful Tower' water tower represented it) , and Disney's Animal Kingdom (the Tree of Life)

The Walt Disney World resort also includes five world-class golf courses. The five 18-hole golf courses are the Magnolia, the Palm, Lake Buena Vista, Eagle Pines, and Osprey Ridge (the last two are part of the Bonnet Creek Golf Club). There are two miniature golf courses: Fantasia Gardens and Winter Summerland. 

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Official website

LEGOLAND - Carlsbad, CA

LEGOLAND, located in Carlsbad, San Diego County, California, is a land of surprise around every colorful corner, with both whimsical and astonishingly accurate LEGO^® brick models, lively music and a chance to let your imagination run free. It's LEGOLAND, Real Family Fun!

• Kid-powered rides, like the Kid Power Towers and the Sky Cruiser.
• Cool building challenges, like Build and Test.
• A unique mix of interactive attractions, like
  Volvo Driving School and Volvo Jr. Driving School!
• Exhilarating coasters, like The TECHNIC^TM Coaster and The Dragon!
• Shows that pull the audience into the action, like The Big Test and Kevin Johnson and His Fine Feathered Friends!
• Toddlers will delight in their very own Playtown and The LEGOLAND^® Express!
• Something geared towards every family member, including Miniland USA and the Coast Cruise!
• State-of-the-art robotics programming and testing at the MINDSTORMS^TM Center!
• and so much more! 

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Official website
All About Lego - via Wikipedia 

Universal Studios and Theme Park - Universal City, CA

Universal Studios is a famous "Hollywood" movie studio located at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California, which is in the San Fernando Valley. The studio was founded by German immigrant Carl Laemmle on June 8, 1912.

Universal Studios has long hosted tours of its studios to eager tourists. In 1964, the humble tram tour became a full-blown theme park -- the narrated tram tour still runs through the studio's backlot, showing off the sets and props from a huge variety of Universal movie and TV productions, but the Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando Resort theme-parks have added some high-tech rides, stunt shows, and attractions.

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Official website

Six Flags over Georgia - Austell, GA

Six Flags Over Georgia is a large amusement park located west of Atlanta, near Austell, Georgia. Opened in 1968, it is the second park in the Six Flags chain. The Six Flags parks are now associated with Time Warner and feature appearances by Warner Brothers cartoon characters as a result.

Did you Know? A few of the rides at Six Flags Over Georgia have set records or become firsts in their fields:

• Debuted as the world's tallest roller coaster – Great American Scream Machine (107 feet tall, 1973)
• First roller coaster with triple loops* – Mind Bender (1978) 

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Official website

Zoo Atlanta - Atlanta, GA

Zoo Atlanta is an AZA-accredited wildlife park and major attraction in Atlanta, Georgia. The 40 acre zoo, founded in 1889 as Grant Park Zoo, is located in Atlanta's Grant Park and attracts around one million visitors a year. The zoo features almost 1,000 animals representing 250 species from around the world.

Among the zoo's most notable holdings are two giant pandas, Lun Lun and Yang Yang, on loan from China's Chengdu Zoo until 2009. The $4.5 million Ford African Rain Forrest habitat is home to 23 western lowland gorillas, one of the two largest collections of the species in North America.

The Municipal Zoo, as it came to be called, gradually fell into disrepair and in 1984 was named one of the ten worst zoos in the country. Ashamed of this label, Atlanta renamed it Zoo Atlanta and hired a new administrator to rebuild the zoo. Today, the zoo has rebounded and is nationally recognized.

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Official website