California stories

California, a state in the Western US, stretches from the Mexican border along the Pacific for nearly 900 miles. Its terrain includes cliff-lined beaches, redwood forest, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Central Valley farmland and the Mojave Desert.

It is home to a number of attractions spanning several different sectors. In terms of theme parks, California is where Walt Disney built his first park, Disneyland, in Anaheim. This opened on 17 July 1955 and has since expanded into Disneyland Resort, encompassing two theme parks, Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure, as well as three hotels and a shopping, dining, and entertainment district.

Universal Hollywood Resort is also located in California, in LA County. It was initially created to offer tours of Universal Studios sets and is the first of many Universal Studios Theme Parks located around the globe. It is home to themed lands such as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Super Nintendo World and offers attractions based on franchises like Jurassic Park, The Simpsons and Transformers.

The state is also home to Knott’s Berry Farm, which dates back to 1920, as well as Six Flags Magic Mountain, SeaWorld San Diego, Legoland California, and more.

Top museums in California include The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Getty, The La Brea Tar Pits and The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Meanwhile, San Francisco features world-class museums like the Asian Art Museum, the California Academy of Sciences and The Exploratorium.  Other leading museums in California include The USS Midway Museum in San Diego, The Palm Springs Art Museum and The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena.

There are several popular zoos and aquariums in California, including San Diego Zoo, Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Aquarium of the Pacific and Sacramento Zoo.