Knott's Berry Farm on the Super Cheap for One Day from Las Vegas

Remember that one time I went to Disneyland on the super cheap for one day from Las Vegas?

Well, I went to Knott's Berry Farm in June, and this technique worked great!

We got our Megabus tickets leaving Las Vegas at 1 a.m. from the South Strip Transit Terminal. We mostly got $5 tickets, but we did have a couple of $10 tickets because I ended up having to change weekends.

We were dropped off at the same ARTIC Sports Complex and picked up bus 15 from there and paid for a day pass with the Token Transit app. Bus 18 only runs from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. to and from Disneyland, so that was one difference to keep in mind. We walked over to IHOP and ate breakfast and then picked up the bus 18 at 9 a.m. The bus runs every hour from there, and they even stop it in the middle of the day, so that means it picks up at 9, 10, and 11. We were able to get into Knott's Berry Farm before 10 a.m., even though it says it doesn't open until 10. Be sure you purchase your tickets ahead of time on the app or online. We paid $50 on the app versus the $79 price it is at the gate.

The bus stops and picks up down the block from the entrance of Knott's Berry Farm. The bus ride takes about a half an hour, so that means that on the Knott's Berry Farm side, the bus picks up starting at 4:30 p.m., so we could take the one at 8:30 or 9:30 p.m. We chose to get the bus back at 8:30 p.m., just to make sure we got back. We timed the bus trips, and the bus from the ARTIC Complex to Disneyland takes about 15 - 20 min. The bus from Disneyland to Knott's Berry Farm takes about a half an hour. Since we split the morning one up with eating at IHOP, we didn't get a good idea about what time they pick up and drop off.

On the way back, we went from Knott's Berry Farm straight back, and it ended up taking over an hour if you include waiting at Disneyland for bus 15. Bus 15 runs every 20 minutes. So even though we got on the bus at 8:30 at Knott's Berry Farm, we didn't get back at the ARTIC Complex until about 9:40. We watched, and we theoretically could have come back on the 9:30 p.m. bus from Knott's Berry Farm, but it really is cutting it close. There was an Angel's game that night, so traffic wasn't normal. The bus 15 we saw got back about 5 or 10 minutes before the Megabus came and left at 10:50 p.m. So theoretically you could take the 9:30 p.m. bus from Knott's Berry Farm back, but that is cutting it close. The total price of this trip per person was $80.13 plus food and gas to Las Vegas. That included park tickets and bus tickets. So, that's a pretty good price for a day of fun!

Next up, I'm going to go to an LA Rams game. I'll update about that when I go!

Also, Megabus just added routes from Las Vegas to Phoenix for $.99. Yes, ninety-nine cents! I might try that sometime.

Disneyland on the Super Cheap for One Day from Las Vegas

I think that self-driving cars are a fantastic idea. I want them to become prolific in my lifetime. It has been my dream for quite some time to be able to get off work on Friday and get in the car in my pajamas and wake up somewhere else, like Yellowstone or Disneyland or Universal Studios or Knott's Berry Farm. Self-driving cars could increase travel and tourism exponentially. At least for me.

Anyway, I discovered something that's close, but not quite the same as that, and it's a really cheap option. Enter Megabus. Maybe you've heard of it, and maybe you haven't. Well, they are famous for their $1 fares, which honestly are really hard to get, even though I snagged one my first time trying. Most of the tickets I got were actually $5, which is also insanely cheap. They charge you $3.50 per transaction when you buy the tickets, so it's best to buy them all at once if you're trying to save.

Megabus does have a route in the West that was perfect for me. I live close enough to Las Vegas, and I saw that they had a route that goes to Southern California, stopping in Riverside, Los Angeles, and Anaheim. How does this fit into my dream? Well, they have a trip that leaves Las Vegas from the RTC South Strip Transfer Terminal at 1 a.m. and arrives at 9 a.m. in Anaheim (I live in Utah, so it's 2 a.m. my time!). I decided to try to live "my dream" by driving to Las Vegas Friday night, boarding the bus, sleeping on the bus, waking up in Anaheim, and going to Disneyland. I decided to try California Adventure for the day, though, since I wanted to ride California Screamin', they were closing Paradise Pier for refurbishment the week after I was going, and I hadn't been on the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride yet. The return tickets on the bus were for 10:50 p.m. that night.

I knew some of the problems of the trip ahead of time:

1. 1 a.m. is late (2 a.m. for me!), and buses are not hotel rooms, so we would likely be tired at California Adventure, as we didn't expect to sleep well on the bus.

2. 9 a.m. is arriving at the bus station in Anaheim. We would still have to actually get to Disneyland from there, so we would get to the park after everyone else and miss the shorter lines that you get when you're there as the park opens.

3. Not having a car or hotel room would mean we would have to figure out the food situation for all the meals.

4. We would need to leave the park early to make sure we got back to the bus station in time.

5. Driving home exhausted after two nights on the bus was going to be scary.

How did the trip go? It actually went pretty well!

These are the things we did to combat the above problems:

1. We ate dinner on the way to Las Vegas at a casino buffet, so we were really full for the bus ride. We all took water and snacks. If you don't prepare, the bus stops each way in Barstow or Baker (I can't remember which because I was sleeping) at a gas station, so you can use the facilities and get more drinks or snacks if you under-prepared. Since I was pretty full and tried to sleep, I only drank water and didn't feel the need for snacks. We also took stuff for breakfast. I took granola bars and an apple. Some people took frozen Go-gurts, string cheese, Rice Krispies treats, muffins, etc. We had enough snacks. I also took floss, a toothbrush, and toothpaste because I really can't stand un-brushed teeth. My teeth get really gross after a while and especially after sleeping.

2. I took a jacket that collapses into a pillow. The rest of my friends took travel pillows and blankets. When I do it next time, I'll probably take a travel pillow and blanket or a travel pillow and jacket.

3. We figured out the bus routes ahead of time. Megabus drops off at ARTIC station that's located close to the Angels Stadium. They pick up and drop off at bench #11. You can ride bus route 15 (Artic Sports Complex Line) from there (picks up at bench #13 or #14), and it drops you right off at Disneyland after a stop or two. My suggestion if you're just going for the day is to download the mobile app called Token Transit and pay on there for a day pass. It's $5.50 for the day per person or something like $3 each way. I downloaded the app and paid for all five of us. Then you just have to show the driver your app when you get on the bus.

4. We left the park at about 9:30 p.m. to pick up the bus (bus route #15) to head back to the ARTIC station. One thing we noticed was that it was best to get there early because then we could pick our seats on the Megabus, instead of being the last ones on the bus. I suggest being there an hour in advance, both to and from Anaheim. The absolute latest you should leave Disneyland is 10 p.m. because the time it will take you to get back to the Artic Station may be slower in the evening due to traffic.

With all of these things, our trip went really smoothly. Here are some additional tips if you decide to try it!

1. Parking at the RTC South Strip Transfer Terminal is free as of my writing this. However, you do need to make sure nothing is in your car because it seems like they get people breaking into cars there sometimes. Also, you are supposed to fill out a form if you are leaving your car there for longer than a day.

2. Realize that these are extremely cheap bus tickets in the middle of the night. I cannot vouch for the characters who will be on the bus with you. We had a woman who was constantly crying out, which made sleeping difficult. I think she needed a doctor for whatever pain she was having. She and her husband got in a big fight with the employee because they hadn't paid for a ticket for their infant son. You have to buy a ticket for everybody, even if babies sit on your lap. It was resolved when my friend said they could use our extra ticket (one of my friends backed out at the last minute, which is more likely when you just buy $5 tickets). All was well after that. Also on the way home, the person across the aisle from me was completely plastered. So I wouldn't necessarily suggest this cheap trip for children. But really, I did notice that there were a bunch of Chinese tourists on the bus from Las Vegas to Anaheim, and they were all fine of course.

3. The bus stops in Riverside first, then Los Angeles, then Anaheim. It also arrives at its destination, entirely subject to however traffic is that day. Mondays through Fridays they post 9 a.m. as the time due to traffic, but since we went on a Saturday, we actually got there right around 7 a.m. We were excited about this because California Adventure opened at 8 a.m., and we ended up being there as it opened. I also suggest downloading the Disneyland app and purchasing your tickets on there so you can go straight to the entry turnstiles.

4. We rented a locker at California Adventure. This adds an extra cost to the trip if you rent one. I think it was $15 for the day, but it was nice to stow our blankets and pillows and toothbrushes in there. Our stuff just barely fit.

5. We ate all our meals except breakfast at California Adventure. You may have an issue with the price of the food, but one thing to remember is that there are some items that can be easily shared with another person. Also, I've basically enjoyed everything I've eaten there. Just know what you like and get that. I hate hot dogs, so I would never get one. Follow your taste buds and you won't regret the cost.

6. Pack light. Seriously. I had this tiny bag with only a bottle of water and my toothbrush/toothpaste/floss, which I would have been okay with carrying around in my purse. I would take a blow-up pillow next time, but that's the only thing I'd change. Well, maybe I'd take a charger for my phone, since I used my phone a lot and almost ran out of batteries. Megabus does have electrical outlets, so you can charge your phone on the bus, as well. Two of the guys with me said they would pack less next time. If you forgot something or need it, they probably have it for sale at Disneyland.

7. If you're trying to take your family on the best Disney Vacation EVER, don't do this. Drive down, get a hotel and enjoy yourselves. This is meant to be a one-day quick trip technique. If you have a family, it's probably actually cheaper to drive down. The joy of this technique is not having to drive and instead of staying in a hotel, sleeping on the bus. Doesn't sound like the best vacation, right? Right. It's a quick day trip and nothing more than that.

8. I'm not going to lie. When we got back to Las Vegas I was SO TIRED. I could not have driven home if I had been the one driving. Since I wasn't the driver, I was out snoring and drooling in the back seat. The driver was so tired the whole time. You get back to Las Vegas around 4:50 a.m. Since I live in Utah, we had to drive back, and it was 5:50 a.m. our time. This was the worst part of the trip. I am so grateful for my friend who drove. If you're planning on making it to 9:00 a.m. church and live where I do, you're not going to make it, even if you don't have to stop for gas at all. You can definitely make 11:00 church, though.

9. To get the $1 or $5 fares on Megabus, you have to book them right when they go on sale, which could be four months in advance or two months in advance. It really depends on when they release them. You have to watch. I'd say the average is three months in advance, but for Christmas season, I think it's even sooner than that. You don't have to sleep on the bus, either. They have routes during normal awake times.

Total cost of the trip to Disneyland including the ticket? $150.50 per person plus gas to Las Vegas and meals!

10. You can also use this technique easily for the following touristy things in Southern California at any time:

Disneyland - Take ART bus 15 from the Anaheim ARTIC station straight to Disneyland.

Knott's Berry Farm - Take ART bus 15 from the Anaheim ARTIC station and switch to bus 18 on the Buena Park Line either at Disneyland or Anaheim Convention Center Grand Plaza (Disneyland is easiest). See my post about the time I went to Knott's Berry Farm on the super cheap for one day from Las Vegas.

Angel's Baseball Game - Just walk from the Anaheim ARTIC station to the stadium. It's basically right there.

Universal Studios Hollywood - Get off the Megabus at Los Angeles, which is at Union Station. Take the red line metro toward North Hollywood, and it takes about 20 to 25 minutes to get to the Universal City stop. Map You have to buy a TAP pass for $1 and load it with money for the fare. The day pass is $7. I think each ride is like $1.75.

Dodger's Baseball Game - Get off the Megabus at Los Angeles, which is at Union Station. Take Dodger Stadium Express. Apparently your ticket counts as your bus fare. Or you can walk if you feel like walking 2 miles.

I'll report back on these. I'm going to do Knott's Berry Farm in June and maybe Universal Studios later this year! Otherwise, enjoy your day trip!

Orlando Trip

Another trip I took a couple of years ago was one to Orlando. It was a ton of fun. I went with three of my friends, and we went to go to Disney World and Universal in Florida!

Here are some of the photos from that trip.

Here's part of Animal Kingdom. I loved the ride Expedition Everest. There was also a safari ride that was pretty cool, and the water ride really soaked me to the bone! It was kind of fun. It was sprinkling rain this day, but it didn't affect us too much because the rain happened when we were on the safari ride.

We also went to Epcot. They were having their International Garden and Flower Festival when we were there, and it was AMAZING.

I was so impressed with all that they could do with flowers, leaves, and bushes.

I enjoyed the rides, as well, but I'd say Epcot is less of a ride place and more of a walking around and looking at stuff place. The ride Maelstrom was cool, but I can definitely understand why they refitted it for Frozen. It was begging to be redone.

I guess I didn't take any photos of Hollywood Studios that I felt like including. They were having a Star Wars month or something, so we saw Darth Vader, Storm Troopers, and even some of the characters from The Clone Wars. I thought that was pretty cool. Two thumbs up for the Star Wars cupcakes. I also really enjoyed the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. And they had like an Indiana Jones show with special effects that I really enjoyed, as well. We saw the stage production of Beauty and the Beast. I'm not sure why, but I didn't really like it. It might have been the costumes, or maybe it was because it was full of gigantic stuffed non-people. It just creeped me out a little.

We also went to Magic Kingdom. We went there every day. I loved it, of course. We went the week before they opened the Seven Dwarfs ride, so we didn't get to go on it. I think we would have been able to go on it, had we actually stayed on Disney properties. Ah well.

My feet were absolutely killing me, even by the close of day two. The third day we went on the People Mover so much, just because our feet hurt us so badly. We needed to sit a little bit more than we did. I would go back to the hotel and put my feet up every night, but they were still killing me.

After Disneyland we took a day off and went to church and then dropped by the temple.

Then we went to the beach and sat on it. My friend who lived in Jacksonville met us there, and we had a nice relaxing day.

Monday and Tuesday we went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. It was super fun. I am such a geek about Harry Potter. I loved it! Once again we were there just before they opened Diagon Alley, but we were able to visit Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. They did an amazing job with the architecture!

I am also a geek about The Simpsons, so I was totally looking forward to going to the Simpsons portion of the park. I loved going to the Kwik-E-Mart and Krusty Burger and to all of the rides. I loved the park and my experience. I said all of The Simpsons geeky things to the employees, and I feel like they really should employ people who are geeks about The Simpsons. I was surprised there weren't very many geeks working there. I felt like they completely missed my Bort joke, my request for an all-syrup squishee, and I'm pretty sure if I had requested a partially-gelatinated non-dairy gum-based beverage, they would have had no idea what I was talking about.

 But at least they had The Ribwich.

Anyway, the trip was amazing and awesome. I totally recommend it to anyone who is interested in that kind of trip. My feet completely killed me, but I still loved it! I could definitely go again to both Disney World and Universal Studios.

Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine

This was the final stop on our trip. I had eaten some sketchy chicken in the airport, and I started to feel sick. I'm not sure if it was the chicken or something else, but I really started to feel under the weather the day we got there. And I felt sick for months afterward, actually. It was enough that I went to the doctor and had all kinds of tests that came back telling me nothing. After about six months or so I finally felt normalish again. 2013 was the year of unhealthiness for me. I'm glad that's over.

Photos:

This is the bed where I ended up sleeping a lot. I seriously slept a lot because I was feeling so sick. We stayed at Roxanne's parents' apartment. They were so nice to let me sleep there.

Other than sleeping, we walked a lot. We walked a lot around the city.

 

On any normal day I would have been all about riding this, but I just didn't feel up to it. Looks cool, though!

 

We also saw a bunch of statues.

And went to parks. We even ran into missionaries in this one.

There was even a church in the middle of this park. I thought that was pretty cool.

And there were a lot of tanks and missiles around. Here are some of the photos.

Here's the inside of a school building. I thought it looked pretty cool. We don't have very many old structures where I live, so it's cool to see these styles.

 And of course there were the potato chip flavors. It seems like a lot of countries have crab-flavored chips. I guess it's not that popular in the U.S. because I've never seen it here, but I've seen it in plenty of other countries. I also enjoyed that they have bacon-flavored chips!

 

And McDonald's had some different stuff, too. They had some pita-wrap-type stuff. I didn't look too closely. Food was unappetizing to me at this point, so I can't tell you much about the food.

One of my favorite experiences was going to a baptism and then going to church the next day. When we walked into church I thought that there was a girl that was staring at me and looked kind of familiar. After sacrament meeting she came up to talk to me, and it turned out that we did know each other! We went to the same university, and she was friends with my sister and other friends. She was there in Ukraine with her husband to adopt a child. It's crazy what a small world the church is. It's amazing how many times I have run into people I know at church in other countries.

I could go back to Ukraine. I was glad to go, and it seemed pretty cool, but unfortunately, I really wasn't feeling well at all while we were there, and that's too bad. I wondered if it could have been the yogurt I ate after arriving? I'm just glad I finally started feeling better. It had me worried for a while. I learned that I should take a little more time to plan my vacations and make sure I'm preparing myself sufficiently for any medical needs that could arise. I didn't even look to see if I should take any medications prior to going. When we went to Tanzania, we went to the health department and consulted with them and made sure we took vaccinations and suggested medications. I should have done this on this trip, as well.

The entire trip was fun, and I was glad to continue my adventures in the world!

Istanbul or Constantinople?

I'm going to try and catch up with photos from some of my vacations that I never uploaded. The last one I did was when I went to Tbilisi, Georgia in 2013. These are from that trip, as well, only this is the part when we went to Turkey!

We went during Ramadan, so the place was pretty festive. I thought Istanbul was really cool. I decided that visiting Istanbul was like going to a Muslim Disneyland! Why would I say this? It's because there were a lot of lines to go to the attractions (mosques), families were milling around, they had little carts that were selling food all around (corn on the cob was the most interesting to me), shops, tickets into the attractions that were like unto fast passes, and even light shows!

Here are some of the photos.

This is the Hagia Sophia. It was originally a Greek Orthodox Christian Basilica, but then it was converted into an Ottoman mosque.

It is so interesting because you can tell and see the Christian roots inside, as well as the conversion to the mosque.

Inside it, as well, they have the spot where the Byzantine Emperors were coronated.

Here is the Blue Mosque.

 It was beautiful inside.

Here's another mosque that was pretty cool. I can't remember what this one was called, though.

 The Blue Mosque is by Sultanahmet Square, where there was a suicide bombing earlier this year that killed 13 tourists. It's really sad, and I think it's terrible that people are willing to commit such terrible acts to try to manipulate people into a political position. Here is the Obelisk of Theodosius. It's in that square. The square used to be a Hippodrome (sporting arena) when Istanbul was Constantinople. It was originally built by the Temple of Karnak, which I saw on my previous trip to Egypt.

There's also a walled obelisk there. I think this is it. 

This is the Serpent Column. It was a bronze pillar that was also at the Hippodrome. Back then it had a serpent head.

 Also around that same area was a park and a fountain. Like mentioned before, we were there during Ramadan, and one night they had some festivities going on there. It was packed with people. The night life around Sultanahmet Square was pretty and festive.

This one reminded me of the grass areas at Disneyland.

Maybe the Blue Mosque is like the castles at Disneyland?

And these are like the light and water shows?

And here are some shops.

I love the Christmas lights!

We also happened upon the Basilica Cistern. It was pretty cool. There were fish in it.

And Medusa's head holding up some pillars.

This cistern was in the Bond movie "From Russia with Love." I'm sure you wanted to know that.

Not too far from the cistern was Topkapi Palace. We saw part of it, and the part we saw was pretty awesome. I loved all of the mosaics. They were so cool

And then we hung out in a park for a bit. We walked so much, and I got tired sometimes. Here were some bridges. I love bridges!

 One of the most famous places in Istanbul is the Grand Bazaar. Some guy... I can't remember if it was like the guy at the front desk of the hotel or one of our waiters asked Roxanne and me if we wanted to go to his house for one of the Ramadan meals. We said no because we wanted to go to bed so we could go to the bazaar in the morning. Well, duh... since it was Ramadan, pretty much almost every place was closed the day that we tried, including the bazaar. This is the closed bazaar. Sadness.

It's okay, though! We went a couple of other days and times! This is what it looks like normally.

 

We walked up and down the streets so much. This is what I saw pretty much every day.

 One time I was walking by with Roxanne and her dad, and one of the merchants basically wanted to buy me off of them because I guess he thought they were my parents. It was likely some kind of foolish flattery to get our attention so we would buy stuff from the guy, but it really backfired because it offended Roxanne because seriously, she is not married to her dad, and she is definitely not old enough to be my mom!

Oh! The food! I thought the food was super good! This was my favorite. They were some kind of dumplings/pasta with a yogurty sauce or something. Delicious!

And here are the chips that I always try to check out for the flavors! I know I tried some, but I can't remember what the flavors were. There was probably some kind of yogurt herb one. Maybe kind of like tzatziki but not. Or maybe a kebab. The actual kebab we had was super delicious.

And McDonalds had a McTurco, which is a flatbread sandwich. They also had a walk-through window outside on the street, instead of a drive-through window. I got ice cream from there regularly. Or the Burger King one. They both had delicious ice cream, and I got hot walking so much. Whenever I'd buy one it seemed to start a cascade of people getting the cones. They should have paid me for doing such a great job of advertising their ice cream everyday.

 But my favorite thing about Burger King is that they delivered. We totally ate at the one by the airport on our layover through Istanbul on the way home, and there were dudes on bikes that would take and deliver the burger orders. I was like, AWESOME!

One thing that was interesting about when we were eating is that sometimes old artifacts were all around us, even while we were eating!

 

They have so many artifacts, they have no idea what to do with them. We even saw a bunch just chilling down an alleyway at the side of a building, like people didn't know what on earth to do with this garbage. I wanted to volunteer to bring some of it back to the states. I'm sure I could find a museum in the U.S. that wouldn't mind an exhibit like that. Basically, we saw oodles of this type of stuff on the trip.

 

I should say that one of my most favorite places I went to was the Great Palace Mosaic Museum. It was pretty awesome. It just had a bunch of stuff like this, but I really liked it.

 

 Oh, I forget. We went on a few tours. We went on a water tour where we were able to see things like this and a lot of the houses on the shore. I'm sure notable people lived in them, but let's be honest. I didn't care who lived in those houses.

We were also able to go to on a bus tour that went from the Europe part of the city into the Asia part of the city. That was cool. It made it so I've been to five continents with Roxanne, which I think is pretty cool. We also went by Taksim Square where there were a bunch of protests at the time. It seems like there's always some kind of political turmoil whenever I travel. It makes the travel difficult. I felt happy that I was just on a bus, but we saw people being put into police vans or something. I'm starting to feel like my travel plans are cursed. I think this was Taksim Square, anyway. The protestors are not pictured.

And finally we went up a hill and got to take a fantastic photo of part of Istanbul at sunset.

It was beautiful. The trip was fantastic. I hope that Turkey can become a bit safer and more politically secure so tourists can feel more comfortable there. It was a great stop on the trip!