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• Drive Through Experience

Drive Through Experience

About a month ago us in the Bay Area entered our second stay at home order, this one precipitated by ICU capacity dropping below 15%. While there's plenty of hope for being able to emerge from it soon (after all Sacramento emerged from there's about a week ago), that doesn't change anything right now. Like I've mentioned a few times, SFDK has surprised me this year with just how adaptable they are to opening the park however they can. Whether that's the Marine World Experience or the current drive through one, they have been great about letting us experience their park however they can.

And the Celebrate 2021! Season of Thrills Drive-Thru Experience is the latest iteration of that ingenuity. The park already had holiday lights up for their holidays event so it made sense to keep them up and let people drive their cars through the park instead of walking. This way everyone stays safe while still enjoying the park. In addition to the normal holiday lights, the park also added a couple of other sections for some various other holidays and park events.

Overall, I really enjoyed the lights. I loved the characters out and interacting with drivers. The lights were great as always and there's something very different and cool about driving your car through the park. With that being said, let's take a virtual journey through the event!

This update is kind of a pick your adventure type post. If you prefer video, I added a drive through video of the event with no commentary. But if photos are more your jam (like they are mine) then read on for the usual photo trip report with commentary!

A quick sign telling us what we're here for!

A quick aside about the process to start your journey. You pull your car up to the normal SFDK parking road where you quickly turn around into the bus lane. You stop near the pickup/dropoff lot where there are a handful of workers to scan your ticket. After ensuring some spacing between the cars, they send you off into the park.

We start heading past Superman, Joker and Wonder Woman. Naturally they all are lit up and look great!

After driving past the entrance to the park we enter the park by heading towards the Dolphin Harbor stadium past the Toy Land area.

Which takes us into the main park plaza.

Where the trees and buildings are still beautifully lit up for the holidays.

On our way to Candy Cane Lane we drive past our first of many characters.

Candy Cane Lane is my favorite of the holiday light areas.

Our second character is a reindeer near Coaster Candy.

Next up is the Spring Break section!

Some decorations remind us that summer is right around the corner. Maybe not a totally normal summer but one that's more normal than last year.

And the highlight is a DJ entertaining guests as they drive by!

The next section is a short one celebrating Fiesta Latino.

After a short section celebrating the 4th of July weekend, we get to the best section, Fright Fest!

And what's a Fright Fest without some zombies!

With this zombie playing dead until you get close.

Near the aquarium, we have some great walrus lights.

And the tree near the food court is still up.

The next section is one celebrating the animals of the park. This stand shows off some of the art that the animals make.

While this one is for SFDK's walruses.

This show was great!

The next character is Jack Frost (and he was funny too!). He was up near White Water Safari. The drive to get to him was by far the trickest part of the evening since the path is much narrower than a normal midway.

Some more characters in the plaza between the two dolphin stadiums.

And this is definitely my favorite light display. With a pun as well!

Boomerang remains beautifully lit up!

I feel the same way. Thanks for all you do!

To leave the park we head out the path to the left of Boomerang (so no peaks at the Sidewinder Safari Site). This employee break room was nicely lit.

We get taken past this series of facades. Makes me wonder if these are left over from some show or ride or if they were added just for this drive through.

And in the final stretch, we head past this portable which was also well decorated.

After heading past one more set of characters, we are let back out into the world!

So there you have it, some photos from my drive through this experience. Like I mentioned before, I really enjoyed my time at the park even if it wasn't a normal trip for me. This experience only lasts one more weekend so if you're on the fence, please head out and catch it before it's too late!