Theme & Amusement Parks in Los Angeles

One of the oldest amusement parks in southern California, Balboa Fun Zone is a harbor-sized time capsule sent from an era when carnival rides were designed with a distinctive panache. The colorful attractions have occupied the Balboa Peninsula since 1936, when the original landowner converted an old boat yard into a seaside carnival. The peninsula juts out from Newport Beach to form the storied patch of real estate that has attracted countless patrons with spinning carousels, arcades, and a ferris wheel known for its longish rides and elevated views of the Pacific's horizon.

The amusement park enjoyed a rebuilding in 1986 and today retains its original elegance despite decades of serial owners and various changes to the landscape and surrounding shops. Although the beloved merry-go-round was retired in 2011, the wooden stallions still drop in once a summer to greet old friends and nibble on cotton candy.

Promoting positive socials skills through gleeful play, Under the Sea Indoor Playground, named one of the area's best indoor play spaces by CBS Los Angeles, gives kids a colorful landscape of obstacles, toys, and floor-to-ceiling murals to play in. Throughout the three locations, youngsters of various ages ramble through soft-padded activities such as the soft moon bounce, or exorcise pent-up energy scaling the sea castle. Meanwhile, parents and guardians can watch proudly from nearby seating or join in and challenge children to good-willed games of foosball. For younger children, Under the Sea turns down the tempo of play with a soft baby corner, toddler swing, and learning-oriented play equipment. Under the Sea is designed to help develop social skills, coordination, and self-esteem with a colorful cast of painted octopi, mermaids, and sea monkeys mistaking the playground's yellow slides for sea bananas.

Under the Sea Indoor Playground transports kids to a fantastic land beneath the sea, embracing them in wall-to-wall murals swimming with images of pirates, mermaids, and ocean life. Amid the watery decor, safe and age-appropriate activities beckon little ones to roam, bounce, and butterfly stroke through the air. Choruses of laughter echo in crawling tubes, moon bounces, and plastic cars. Basketball hoops await free throws, and numerous wavy slides shoot downward from plastic play sets. The staff also creates a safe, soft environment for babies in the Baby Corner and designates swings specifically for toddlers.

Under the Sea's imaginative setting is available for both open play and private festivities. During party packages, characters such as pirates delight guests with games while assistants paint faces in aquatic-theme designs inspired by fish fashion magazines.

AdventurePlex has developed an easy recipe for lifelong healthy habits: an early start, plenty of space, and plenty of fun things to do. They've also discovered that this recipe works just as well on parents as on children.

Outside AdventurePlex's 16,000-square-foot facility, a 35-foot-high rock-climbing wall stretches across 1,630 square feet of climbing area so that families of grapplers can train to scale mountain summits or tickle the Statue of Liberty's chin. A ropes course similarly fosters teambuilding and confidence 20 feet above the ground, while a flourishing garden of herbs and vegetables helps kids understand the origins of what goes into their bellies. The Courtside Café completes the food's life cycle with a menu of leafy greens, wraps, juices, and American staples. Indoors, a five-level AdventureRoom play structure preps wee ones for a future of healthy living and boardroom obstacle courses with its network of mazes, tunnels, slides, and ball pits. In 2013, the play structure won a Best of the Beach award from Easy Reader for Best Indoor Play Facility.

The AdventurePlex crew curates a variety of activities, including birthday parties, fitness classes, and summer adventure camps that keep muscles and minds engaged in a fun, safe environment. Parents, meanwhile, can surf the Web on AdventurePlex's WiFi—but adult-only yoga and body-sculpting classes let them find some "me time" without taking clones out for a romantic night on the town.