The Ultimate Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Guide (From a Former Team Member)

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What began in 1968 as Marine World, a small zoo in Redwood City, California, has transformed over the years to become perhaps the most unique theme park in the country - Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.

After relocating to Vallejo and re-opening in 1986, the newly christened Marine World Africa U.S.A offered guests a chance to see not only land-based animals, but marine life as well. It operated until the late nineties when the city took ownership and transferred control to Premiere Parks (Six Flags).

Then, shortly after the conclusion of the 1998 season, Six Flags took full ownership of the park and renamed it “Six Flags Marine World”. Soon after came the addition of several roller coasters such as Boomerang, Kong, Roar and Medusa.

In 2007, to better reflect the park’s unique blend of roller coasters, animals and marine life, the name was changed to “Six Flags Discovery Kingdom” and has remained ever since. Today, it maintains its status as a destination for families and thrill-seekers alike.

This park was yours truly’s first job as a teen and into early adulthood. I worked there for several seasons and positions including parking attendant, ride operator, security guard and - wait for it - assistant to the elephant trainers. It may have been years since I’ve worked there, but I have a lot of knowledge of the park.

In this guide, I’ll cover several aspects to visiting Six Flags Marine World Discovery Kingdom; such as parking, discounts on tickets, closest hotels, what the park has to offer, dining, tips and more. Let’s get into it.

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Information

Location

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is located in the Bay Area city of Vallejo, situated almost perfectly between Sacramento and San Francisco. From Interstate 80, you’ll take the Highway 37 on ramp towards San Rafael.

After a short time, you’ll take the Fairgrounds Drive exit and turn left at the light. From there, the park will be on your right. Go straight through the next light and you’ll then see the road to the parking lot on your right.

Parking Fees

There are two tiers of parking at Discovery Kingdom - standard ($35) and premiere ($45). Premiere parking gets you a spot within the first few rows closest to the shuttle pick-up location. Standard is every row beyond that.

If you don’t know, back in the early 2000’s when the park began expanding with roller coasters, they were pushing closer and closer into the original lower lot to expand the park’s capacity.

As a solution, Six Flags began construction on a larger upper lot. The upper lot is now the only one used, as roller coasters have completely inundated the original lower lot. The walk from the upper lot to the gate is just over a quarter-mile.

Due to this, there’s really no benefit to justify the additional expenditure for premiere unless you happen to be at the park on an exceptionally busy day. It doesn’t get you any closer to the park, only the shuttle queue.

If you drive an electric vehicle, there are a handful of EV charging stations at the edge of a few parking rows. However, they’re not operational at the moment and there’s no word on when (or if) they will be.

Discovery Kingdom is a cashless park, so you’ll need to pay your parking fees with a credit or debit card. For season pass holders (more on those in a minute) parking is included as an added benefit. Conversely, you can pre-purchase a parking pass with your day tickets.

Chaperone Policy

In 2024, in response to a slew of fights and other issues, Six Flags instituted a company-wide chaperone policy. Starting at 4pm, kids 15 years old or younger will not be permitted into the park without a chaperone 21 years of age or older.

This policy is enforced even if individuals at that age are already in the park. If discovered without a chaperone, they’ll be escorted out of the park. Additionally, the chaperone must remain with them and cannot accompany more than ten guests.

Note that this policy is enforceable for everyone, whether you’re holding a regular day ticket, season pass, or membership. Take this into account when planning out your day at the park.

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Tickets

Day Tickets and Discounts

Unlike other California theme parks like Disneyland and Universal Studios, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom doesn’t sell multi-day tickets. The only regular ticket you can purchase are single day (you can view current pricing and purchase here).

Ticket prices vary by year, season, and day but generally, you can expect to pay around $34 at the mid-range and $49 at the high end. I have seen ticket prices get up to $80, but it’s fairly rare as they’re almost always running deals.

These days, there aren’t a lot of outside discounts offered for Discovery Kingdom tickets. As mentioned above, the best offers now tend be on Six Flag’s own website. However, there are other options:

• Costco: Not always, but it’s worth looking into

• AAA: Members receive $5 off a regularly-priced ticket

• Military/First Responder: These special tickets are sold through Six Flag’s website and on some military bases

Season Tickets and Memberships

SFDK also offers season passes at various tiers, as well as memberships. What’s the difference, you ask? The perks and access are the same, but with a membership you pay a monthly fee that’s ongoing, versus a season pass which you pay full price up front and it expires at the end of the year/season.

There are three season pass tiers: Silver, Gold and Prestige. They each offer their own perks and levels of access that you can view here, but all include parking (Prestige gets premiere parking), access to Discovery Kingdom (Gold and Prestige include access to 40 other Six Flags parks) and discounts on select dining, merchandise and day tickets.

To expand further, season ticket holders can purchase up to four, single day tickets at a time at $20 each. Depending how many people are in your group, it may be advantageous for one person to purchase a season pass, then purchase the necessary amount of $20 tickets. When you include the free parking, going this route could add up to significant savings.

Ticket Add-Ons

In addition to your tickets, you can purchase a variety of add-ons to enhance your park visit. We’ve already discussed pre-purchasing your parking fee above, so we won’t go into that. Other add-ons include:

• Flass Passes

• Dining vouchers

• Dolphin programs

• Souvenir bottle with free refills included

We’ll get into the dining vouchers later into the post and the bottle with free refills is fairly self-explanatory, so let’s go over Flash Passes. Essentially, they’re Six Flag’s version of Disney’s Lightning Lane service where you can bypass long queues at select attractions.

This pass could be beneficial if you’re only here for a one day visit. Queues tend to move slowly at Six Flags, as most of the rides have relatively low hourly rider capacities. If rides are the key component to your visit, I recommend purchasing a Flash Pass.

How Does Six Flags Flash Pass Work?

Flash Pass is a reservation system through the Six Flags app. Once activated, you select the ride you want to experience and you’ll then wait in a “virtual queue”. While you wait, you can enjoy other attractions, enjoy a meal, or observe animals.

When your time is up, you’ll go to the designated Flash Pass entrance and show the team member your phone. You’ll then be let in, often times with little to no wait in the actual queue. Note that you can only reserve one ride at a time.

There are four tiers of Flash Pass, they are Standard, Premiere, Ultimate and Junior. The Junior tier gets you access to select kid and family-friendly attractions only. They DO NOT include the big roller coasters. This pass starts at $20 each.

The other three tiers include access to all available rides, but vary in wait times in the “virtual queue”. For example, the standard pass is described to have a “reduced wait time” while the ultimate pass offers the “fastest access, often with immediate boarding”.

Standard starts at $35, followed by premiere starting at $65 and ending with ultimate as low as $90. Essentially, the higher you pay, the less you’ll wait. You can purchase Flash Pass when you buy your tickets or day-of. Know that sales of Flash Pass are limited and may not be available.

Hotels Close to the Park

When it comes to hotels close to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, you simply cannot beat Courtyard by Marriott. It’s the only hotel within walking distance as it’s directly across the street from the front gates on Fairgrounds Drive.

There are a few more hotels further up Fairgrounds Drive but still just a quick five minute drive to the park. However, I cannot in good conscience recommend them as they don’t have the greatest reputations and the area they’re in can be sketchy.

Beyond the Courtyard, you can research the Hampton Inn Vallejo. Like Courtyard, it gets good reviews from guests, but is further from the park at just over three quarters of a mile away. Additionally, there is no shuttle to the park. So you’ll need access to a vehicle or utilize ride sharing services.

In-Park Dining

The “Spicy Mozz” at Korean Corn Dog in Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

At Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, in-park dining consists of quick service locations. Meaning, you walk up to a counter to order, pay for and receive your order. You’ll then find a nearby table to eat at.

There are no sit-down restaurants, where a waiter takes your order and brings your food to you. The food here is typical theme park fare, largely consisting of pizza, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, chicken strips, funnel cakes and the like.

In my opinion, the food at Discovery Kingdom is largely mid…at best. Furthermore, you pay exorbitantly high prices. The “Spicy Mozz” you see in the photo above, which is literally just mozzarella cheese fried in hot Cheeto crumbles, was $19.99 (before my season pass discount).

The Oreo Crumble Funnel Cake at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

Additionally, $19.99 seems to be the average price-point for food items here. Even simple slices of pizza and standard cheeseburgers are priced at or near this mark. If you’re a season pass holder you’ll get a discount, but it amounts to not much more than the tax.

To add insult to injury, Six Flags does not allow guests to bring their own food into the park. Two exceptions to this rule is infant food and if you have a food allergy. These exceptions allow you to bring your own food in (to an extent).

How exactly they verify your food allergy isn’t known. It’s likely ran on an honor system, as there are strict laws pertaining to people’s health and privacy. If you want to read more about their food allergy policy, you can do so here.

Water bottles (non-glass) are allowed in the park, however, there are no water bottle refill stations anywhere. You can fill them at any of the standard water fountains or at most food counters throughout the park.

Places to Eat Nearby

Due to the intensely high prices for standard food, try dining outside of the park at local restaurants. Vallejo has no shortage of popular fast food chains like “In & Out” and “Chick-fil-A”, but I recommend trying local spots.

From someone who was born and raised in Vallejo, these are a handful of my personal favorites and their distances from the park:

• Mare Island Brewery - Ferry Taproom (5.2 miles) *Great selection of beer and bites

• Buds Burgers (2.8 miles) *No other burger in town comes close

• Tacos Jalisco (2.7 miles)

• Bambino’s Pizza (4.0 miles)

• Napoli Pizzeria & Italian Food - Tennessee Street Location (3.6 miles)

• Provisions (4.1 miles)

• The Sardine Can (5.1 miles) *Great seafood option

• Quarters Coffee House (5.7 miles) *Not many food options, but excellent coffee

• Joy of Eating Cafe (3.0 miles) *Great breakfast option

• Sac’s Tasty Hot Dogs (3.5 miles)

I’m not saying any of these restaurants will be any cheaper than the food in the park, but what I can say is you’ll surely receive infinitely superior food and drinks at all of them. You can read my post about Mare Island Brewery here.

Things to Do

Even though it’s a relatively small theme park, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom actually has quite a bit to do and see. It’s a park for everyone from the young and older, thrill seekers to animal lovers, and everything in between.

I’m not going to list everything, as that would make this post much longer than it already is. Instead, I’ll list the main components which make Six Flags Discovery Kingdom the unique park it is, in addition to a few others many may not know.

Roller Coasters and More

We’ll get the meat and potatoes category out of the way. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom may not have the most impressive line up of roller coasters, but they have a decent enough collection to keep your day busy.

From old-school classics like Kong and Medusa, to modern additions like Superman Ultimate Flight and Batman: The Ride, the thrill seeker in your group is covered. The park’s newest ride, Sidewinder Safari, enables the whole family to enjoy the thrill together.

A while back, Six Flags converted their sole wooden coaster, formally named Roar, and turned it into a wood/steel hybrid coaster, while also theming it after Joker, the popular Batman villain. In my opinion, it’s the best coaster in the park. Definitely ride this.

Looney Tunes Seaport

Looney Tunes Seaport is one of several children/family areas of the park. It opened back in 1999, shortly after Six Flags took ownership of the park and it has been a mainstay ever since, though it’s changed over the years.

The area is heavily themed after the popular Looney Tunes brand, with several kiddie and family rides featuring several well-known characters, such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and Foghorn Leghorn, in addition to a few animal-themed rides.

Land Animal Exhibits

Still honoring its roots as a zoo with land animals and marine life, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom offers several land animal exhibits in the back corner of the park (this is one of the original “lands” during the Marine World Africa U.S.A days).

There aren’t as many animals as there used to be, as it appears Six Flags has been slowly phasing out animals from the park in recent years. Despite this, you can still see Tigers, Lions, Wolves, Cheetahs, Giraffes, Sloths, and more, in addition to a variety of birds and reptiles.

If it’s been a while since you’ve been to the park, you may notice a rather large missing species from the park - the elephants. They were removed from in 2015 and sent to a drive-through zoo in Oregon. Sidewinder Safari, the park’s newest ride, was built in the space they formally occupied.

Shark Experience

Shark Experience is one of the few exhibits still operating that predate Six Flags’ ownership of the park, though it has gone through several renovations, additions, and subtractions over the years. Some good, some not.

Still, Shark Experience remains one of the most popular attractions in the park. Here, guests will have the chance to view the oceanic predators up close and personal, including nurse sharks and Australian zebra sharks.

Other Marine Life Exhibits

Aside from Shark Experience, there are several other marine life-related exhibits. These include dolphins, sea lions, sting rays and otters. Additionally, the park’s sea lion show continues to run, with otters acting as supporting cast.

Six Flags still advertises So Flippin’ Fun, a daily-run dolphin show. However, it has been sometime since the last showing and there’s no word on if, or when, it’ll pick back up again.

Additionally, as of August 2012, the park’s popular orca show was permanently sunsetted. This was done due to a combination of two orcas passing away and public pressure to release the sole remaining whale, Shouka. She was transferred to another park shortly after the show’s end.

Furthermore, Six Flags closed the walrus exhibit, where scenes from the hit movie, 50 First Dates, were filmed. This was due to the complications of keeping walruses in captivity and several deaths. Currently, there are only 13 in captivity across the United States.

Butterfly Habitat (Rainforest Trail)

Now known as The Rainforest Trail, the formally named Butterfly Habitat opened in 1988, making it the oldest original attraction still operating in the park. The 100-by-50-foot glass atrium houses dozens of species of butterfly, as well as a koi fish pond and sloth enclosure.

When it opened, it was the first walk-through experience of its kind. Inside, free-flying butterflies fly above you. If you’re lucky, they’ll even land on your shoulder or next to you, allowing you to observe their beautifully-colorful wings up close.

This attraction will get you out of the sun but be warned, it’s a humid environment, essential for the health and wellbeing of the butterflies. So while you can get out from under the sun, you’ll still work up a sweat (your skin will feel fantastic, though).

Is Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Closing?

With the recent news of Six Flags closing several parks as part of their merger with Cedar Fair, many wonder if Discovery Kingdom is closing. The short answer is no. The longer answer is complicated and uncertain.

In the short term, no, Discovery Kingdom is not closing. Instead, Six Flags Great America, located nearly 70 miles away in Santa Clara, is all-but-certain to close at the end of their 2027 season when the park’s land lease expires.

While rumors of Discovery Kingdom’s demise have persisted for years now, there has been no official indication from Six Flags of their intention to close it. It wouldn’t make much sense to do so, as there’s virtually no competition in the area.

Things to Do Nearby

In my opinion, Discovery Kingdom is a one or two-day (max) park. It’s great of those looking for a quick getaway but if you have more time, I recommend spending time exploring the Bay Area - San Francisco specifically.

There you’ll find many historic and significant attractions in and near the city. Alcatraz, the former federal prison located on an island, is one of the better things to do in San Francisco. Other attractions include Fisherman’s Wharf, Coit Tower, Golden Gate Bridge, Fort Point and more.

I’ve previously written a one-day itinerary of 10 San Francisco attractions you can see. It also includes suggestions if you have additional days to spend and which ones to skip if you’re running low on time.

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