Photo TR: BACT Attacks San Diego

After hearing Heath and Kim rant and rave about the beer scene in the San Diego region from their past visit there back in May, I knew it was a place I needed to get to (plus I had credits to get there!). So when I penciled Labor Day weekend in, they were all too willing to accompany me. On the trip, we managed to hit a Gordon Biersch, Sea World, AleSmith, Stone, 2 Pizza Ports, Oggi's Pizza, Legoland, a Karl Strauss, O'Briens, Liars Club, Belmont Park, and Coronado. Much like our last trip together, it was cramming a lot of stuff into a short amount of time (and this time the credits were a little more "Challenging!") but we managed to accomplish everything and have a nice time doing it. San Diego has a totally different vibe than the LA area, more laid back, and not as crowded.

Please hold all comments until the final photo update is complete. Thanks

And Heath enjoyed the Marzen

I went with the Blonde Bock

We raced to get our bonus beer credits in before the bar closed

Luckily I scoped out a Gordon Biersch right by our hotel that was opened for another 5 minutes!

So on Friday night by the time Heath and Kim arrived, O'Brien's Pub was closed!

Saturday started out with a trip to SeaWorld. While it seemed to be the smallest of the SeaWorld's and had a lot less stuff than the others, we still managed to have fun, and I found a really awesome rapids ride! Even Jimbo came out to hang with us for our brief time there before he had to go to work.

And that's pretty much the jist of the San Diego Believe

More freestyling includes this trainer dude doing a flip off of Shamu the 32nd

OMG, upon impact with the water he turned into 3 whales!

White whales can't jump, but black and white ones can!

This is not an acceptable level of wetness

When the trainers start the Sham Slam, Dan's approval rating goes down dramatically

While another one jumps up on land to eat a random person or moose

More distractions from the Shamus

"He's too small, throw him back!"

Here's a Canadian Exchange Lumberjack, doing his log rolling using a Whale instead. What's that all aboot?

We're Shamus! Splish splash!

Believe was pretty much the same as in Florida, but there was more showboating and freestyling. Plus the TVs moved this time

These are humans, also a type of mammal. They like looking at whales and want to eat them. They settle for ice cream bars shaped like them though

These are dolphins, a type of mammal. They like looking at people, and want to eat them

There's the skytower. We didn't ride it this time, even though its free for passholders (Jimbo has no pass)

So instead he just takes a little nap in a giant hammock

Jimbo tries to climb, but his months of consuming beer have turned him lethargic

Heath enjoys the kiddie area springy wall thing

Jimbo wanted to call them 'lunch'

I call these 'Whalphins', a combination Whale and Dolphin

Cooled me off a bit for a tad

But in reality, it was yet another wet ride. Not soaking wet though

And the wait time was a blessing

It didn't look too Dan unapproved

The poor man's Journey to Atlantis, pseudo-credit thing, was operating!

The Hospitality House was closed, but the horses were out doing their eating thing

My free upgrade for the trip was a super bright yellow Mustang with Neverlost. Of course, when its bright yellow, its hard to lose!

Here's SeaWorld. Its in San Diego

More from SeaWorld:

or Jimiroquai?

Uncle Jimbo?

Finding Jimbo?

And now we'll play everyone's favorite game "What Hat looks best on Jimbo!" Flamjimbo?

The Lord of the Beer stands triumphant

This is skunky!

Skunky? No, that's fresh!

"Guys, is this fresh or skunky?"

More free beer. That's good!

Beer Freshness school

The Beach Bum boys enjoy the blondes, mine with watermelon added

Heath laughs at the puny stout

Kim watches in awe as the Bare Knuckle Stout falls

There's Rolling Rock. Proudly brewed with the finest waters in Newark, New Jersey

Woohoo, its now free beer time

"Looks kids, its SharkTums!"

SeaWorld is right on the bay, which is pretty cool

Hooray for turtles!

Heath thinks its a Ninja Star though and wields it at a young obnoxious child

Ooooh, nature. This fish is a star (in LA he'd have a script and a spot on the walk of fame)

I wish Florida's SeaWorld would get a rapids ride

It was really nicely themed, but soaking wet!

Well since others cannoned us, we'll do the same!

They say do unto other's...

Yeah, Shipwreck Rapids was pretty drenching too! Nice theming and loads of wetness from the rapids makes this ride awesome. (Note the tiny dry spot on Heath's chest)

After SeaWorld it was onward to the number 1 brewery in the world, AleSmith. While very small and not distributed too far, its understandable, as its done solely by 5 men. These guys are so good they quit their other jobs (including lawyer) to brew beer. And ratebeer was right, this place rocks!

The brewers know good beer, and as you can see, they even sell here (I hate terrorists)

They even had their Christmas beer on tap, the YuleSmith Holiday. This time its a double IPA, and very tasty

Thanks for the warning. I'll start treating myself now!

Yeah, its awesome, and I don't really even care for stouts

And Heath goes for the Speedway Stout, the number 1 beer

I start out with the Horny Devil, a strong Belgian Pale Ale

1/2 of what they've got to offer

The tasting room

This place is small, smaller than Weyerbacher, but they're trying to get bigger to fill the demand

Dude, we're here. Pound it!

Though he skipped it last time, we would not miss it this time around

Next up one of my favorite well-known microbreweries, Stone. Brewing strong for 10 years, they've recently moved into a new larger building. Eventually they'll get their bistro next door opened, but as long as they keep brewing great beer and serving samples in the giftshop, I'll keep coming back for more!

One last drink before we move on. Smoked Porter for me, Ruination for Heath

A room full of kegs filled with Arrogant Bastard. This is Heath's Happy Place

Oh, my baby! You just couldn't stay away, could you!? I missed you too

Wally, Soren, how's it goin' guys?

Heath violates the rules

Tastes like them too, with loads of sugar

On the tour we get to try fresh warm wort. Smells like grape nuts

This place is much larger than AleSmith. Heck, this picture is bigger than AleSmith!

Here's the start of the bistro. Maybe by Christmas

Before the tour, some IPA for me. Even better on tap

Hey Wally, ready for the weekend?

Heath and I are happy to be here. Me with a Levitation, him with a Pale Ale

They do 2 tours each Saturday, and it gets pretty packed

The giftshop had loads of merch, and beers to take home. Again, I hate terrorists!

Its so new, the road isn't even on the map yet!

While up in Escondito we decided to check out an Oggi's Pizza, which also brews their own stuff. Kinda like a really good sports bar, and the food we had wasn't too bad. The beers were decent too.

Still happy and not drunk!

We tried the Oggi-Stix. Really good and helpful after a gut full of beers

In sports bar fashion though, as many good beers as they brew, they need something for the less sophisticated beer drinker

Heath goofed up a bit and got the Hop Juice, which is brewed by Left Coast, not Oggis. Very grapefruity

I went with the Torrey Pines IPA. Nice and citrusy

We drove all the way around the mall and only stopped because we found the grain silo

Next stop of the day was the original Pizza Port in Solana Beach. Really small place with a really cool laid back atmosphere. Its amazing how many families were dining here!

Sham Slam!

Still going strong, ready for more beer. But first...

Time for a quick stop at the beach at Solana to watch the sunset

With the beer all done, the BACT Attack moves onward. But Pizza Pot Solana Beach was top notch!

Some of the locals git r done!

And the Swami's IPA is right up my alley

Heath digs the Shark Attack triple red

This time he'll even help us drink it, since he's on break

MORE BEER!!

Ah yeah! Jimbo's back, that must mean...

Heath finds another necessity of his Happy Place, pizza to go with the beer

The pizza be bigger than my head!

The place was booming thanks to the college football. And Jimbo says this is a lite day!

The beers were all really different and good

While not much of taster people, we figured this was a better way to try all the beers they offered

And dude, who is that behind the bar but none other than Jimbo. Hookup!

Lots of taps too, not just for their 14 beers, but also for other local breweries

The whole surf shack vibe lives on at the original Pizza Port

The final stop of the night was a return to O'Briens Pub. Hopefully they're still opened this time!

And the Nelson Rye IPA for me (both from Alpine)

Final brews of the night, Pure Hoppiness for Heath

We even got to chat it up with the owner's parents who were chilling out right next to us. Sorry you weren't there, Tom!

Even Kim is relaxed enough to enjoy some hops without the face

Heath enjoys it here with its laid back quiet feeling

I decide to start with an Alaskan Summer Ale. Very refreshing as I'm all hopped out at the moment

They don't brew their own, but they sell all local stuff. And what a laid back atmosphere it is!

Yup, and this time its opened!

Is there really an American Pub here??

From the looks of this sign, its like we're in Korea Town or something

Sunday would start the day off north of San Diego at Legoland. Though quite expensive to get into, the park is a lot of fun, especially for the younger kids. Why couldn't one of these places be around when I was a kid!

Another shot of NYC, with the Freedom Tower under construction

And Rockefeller Center sans skating for now

Time Square, a Coke sponsored spot

Some shots of New York City

Here's New Orleans after the floods (ok, its really a cool underwater search scene)

And here is the Rich scene in NO (notice the Robb guy filming it!)

And of course, New Orleans wouldn't be complete without a Jazz Funeral and above land cemetary

More Marti Gras parade action. There's probably some dude throwing beads at a chick flashing somewhere in there. O&A Party Rock!

This is New Orleans before Katrina (the Hurricane, not Ted's girlfriend)

The bayou was pretty cool, complete with popping up aligator action

and Florida's Space Coast

And now, for some miniland. Here's the new Daytona area

The park replaced the singing rocks with cool lego woodland creature minigolf

But close enough with these water bombs!

Too bad we're not at the Dells

Jeff is happy, he must be up to no good

Knight's Tournament is the new robocoaster that took the spot of the Batflyers

Jousting for the little ones

The final credit is not your average Vekoma Roller Skater. The darkride section was really neat

And the cars were cool (too bad there was no beer demanding idols)

The sound effects and minimal breaking made this version better than Canada's or PKDs

And I still had credits to get

5 minutes after park opening and this thing already had a line!

Shout out to all our peeps

Lego buffalo, just for you, Nicole

And is also quite popular with the little kids!

Though really short, Coastersaurus is fun and smooth

The park is loaded with Lego everything, like this Iguanadon

When Jeff found out I was in town, he was thinking about coming. When he realized he had 4 more credits thanks to Coastersaurus, he knew he'd be there!

My second Legoland credit of 2006, this time California

More from Legoland:

Finally, old McDonald's farm. EIEIO

Complete with Crookedest Street (though the cars can really only go down the hill)

And San Francisco

And some final shots of Miniland, like mini Hollywood

Some random funny scenary

Even the Lego Volvo works better than Nicole's car

Driving school looks awesome for the kids. No track, just drive!

Jeff takes a stand against line jumpers

Grrr, I'm a polar bear. Gimme some Coca-cola

And the amount of detail they put into the park

You gotta love the Lego people's sense of humor

See, there's one

You gotta look for keys in different adventurous areas

Adventurer's Club is a cool walkthru

These boats looked like fun, but the line was over an hour long

The flume wasn't done yet, and I can't figure out why. Its like 1/20th the size of Idlewilds

And a tipping bucket play area

The new Pirate Shores complete with Splash Battle

Mount Rushmore, complete with giant Q tip

Hehe, the President is a blockhead

Oooh, look, here come's the President!

Washington Monument

Our nation's capitol

After Legoland, it was off for more beer. Starting at a Karl Strauss's right outside of Legoland.

And a Pin Tail Pale Ale, we were outta there!

So after a Stargazer IPA...

A well known chain that isn't really friendly to the local breweries, we didn't want to support them too much

Another Pizza Port was next on the agenda, this time in Carlsbad. It was a lot bigger than Solana Beach, and a lot less crowded (though that could be because it was only lunchtime). More great beers though!

Even more beers on tap than Solana, and Dante behind the bar instead of Jimbo. "I'm not even supposed to be here today!" he said

Kim brings us some heaven in the form of chicken, pesto, artichoke, and sundried tomato pizza

And Heath has the Great Scott

I decide to drink the Carlsbad Chronic, a red ale. Awesome stuff!

Heath wants to move here!

Located not too far from the beach, but more in the downtown

Next up on the agenda, Mission Beach, home of Belmont Park. It was way crowded and difficult to find a parking space, and we didn't really stay too long.

Here's the beach, it was pretty booming

Maybe someday I'll go back for more rides, but we're on a mission at Mission Beach

And we even got the front seat! A fun coaster, though I hate the clunky Morgan trains

The coaster didn't have much of a line, so a quick ride was all it took

We lucked out and got a spot right next to the coaster

Finally, I made it to this coaster!

After briefly stopping off to ride the Giant Dipper, it was on to the "#1 place to get a beer", the Liar's Club located just down the road. This place was like the bar equivalent of Schlitterbahn, lots of hype, but pretty craptacular upon visit. Took us about 20 minutes to find a place to park and when we get there, its pretty much what you expect a local beach bar to look like. This place belonged in Ocean City, Maryland. Sure, they had some really good Californian beers, but other than that, it was a dive. Oh, and 2 pints and a soda costs us $15.75!! Give me O'Briens any day over this place!

Hey Dan, hows it going?

They claimed to have Fat Tire, but I saw none.

Probably the best part of the place was the urinal themed to donate your fizzy yellow beer back where it belongs

Heath tried a Green Flash West Coast IPA, much better than mine.

I tried a Belhaven Twisted Thistle IPA, didn't taste vey IPA-like

More like a biker bar or a beach bar than a place I'd prefer to have a drink

Yeah, here's the Liars Club, supposedly a great place to enjoy a beer

Final update, feel free to comment.

Our final stop for the whirlwind San Diego tour was Coronado. Originally we were just going to go to experience the Coronado Brewing Company, but the town had such a cool vibe that we decided to just stay and hang out a bit more. Definitely more mellow and enjoyable than the hecticness of Mission Beach.

The hotel was nice (except for the kids who played soccer 24 hours a day), but the shower is not Casey approved. The shower head is nice though

The AleSmith IPA was also very good, nice and hoppy with lots of citrus

As soon as liquids are allowed in carry-ons, I know where I'm flying to again!

Even the extra pale ale rocked

Back at the hotel, its time to finish the beers we felt obligated to buy even though we can't take them on the plane

And then we attempt to scare Kraken away with another attempt at the Sham Slam

The couple enjoys the sunset

To me the water is cold. Heath either has thicker skin or more beer in his system

Cool, the Kraken is hanging out tonight apparently

Probably the most famous thing on Coronado is the Hotel del Coronado. Its haunted!

Up by the ocean they slap the lights right onto the palm trees

The sun starts to set once again, so we migrate towards the ocean

Heath and Kim really liked the feeling here

The town has Segway tours, just like Epcot

Here's the view of downtown San Diego from Coronado

Funny sign in the bathroom

The appetizer was flautas, excelente!

I went with the 4 Brother's Pale Ale, nice and citrusy with a little hops finish

Heath enjoyed the Mermaid's Red Ale

Coronado Brewing was easy to find and very nice. More like the Bethlehem Brew Works of California

Here's the bridge taking us to Coronado

Shipwreck rapids rocks, especially fiding several times in a row on a night as the temps dip into the 60s... yeah. I miss SD.

Oh.. and this is a Theme Parks and Donkeys site... not a beer site. Damn you!!! Only 44 Derek photos.. sad, very sad.

edit: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/files/socal373_108.jpg

that's where my dad proposed to my mom.. now you just need to visit Dallas GA to see where she left time

/end random crap

Nice shirt the first day!

So how many credits did Jeff get on the 'RoboCoaster'?

Good stuff Derek, it was fun hanging out with you guys and drinking with you while I was on the clock at work. I was gunna go to Belmont on Sunday but after looking for a spot for 1/2 hr i said screw it...damn tourists coming to the best city in the US for Labor Day weekend, what were they thinking?

Entertaining PTR! Thanks for posting.

Being a resident in the tourist town, (and saving $$$ between jobs) I chose to sequester myself to my apartment for "fall cleaning" for the weekend. The few times I made it out to Ralph's (or the newly renovated Henry's on Park- for those SD readers...) it really made me sad I at least didn't go *somewhere* for the weekend. Out of state tags were everywhere and no locals in sight; it made for some interestingly slow driving. Gas isn't THAT expensive. Silly me.

Being a beer connoisseur myself, I admire your itenerary. Sorry Liar's Club sucked. I would chalk that up to "it's a LOCAL place, for LOCAL people"! The cleanliness, like the service, leaves much to be desired. After a couple of hours in the surf, though, those burgers and beers are absolutely heaven. If you want to try another dive bar on a return visit try out Live Wire on El Cajon Blvd. They have good beers on tap AND local rock stars serving them to you. It's a neat place, but definitely a dive bar and not the caliber of beer friendly places you chose to visit. It seems that you pretty much hit it on the head making your local beer "credits."

For the researchers out there planning a San Diego/LA credit whoring beer trip (why else would you travel this far down the coast?)... Arrogant Bastard Ale IS served on the Pacific Surfliner- $8 for the 22oz bottle. Not quite a growler, but a darn good value when you can shop the 'ports and know you've got a good smoothie between destinations.

Just to comment on more park related stuff... Shipwreck amazed me when I first rode it (first season of Atlantis... 2/3 years ago?). I nowhere near visit the amount of parks most posters here do in a season (or most quality posters, anyway) but as far as rapids rides go, it's pretty freakin' awesome. JTA SD is a joke, but I can not compare it to it's counterpart.

Again, thanks for the report. It's always fun to hear someone's impression of my five year hometown.

Scott "favorite growler stop will always be at Free State in Lawrence, KS" Moore

Great pics. Dont hate b/c I am going to the good Sea World Sunday..whut! Holla/ Glad you and Jim got to drink some sin juice!

Tommy

buenos tardes! atrantis y big dipper are real sorta stuff i wanna

get on when hangin' out with some guys on a trip there but some

stuffs sellin' in one stall are not payable: $100!

You guys should have filmed Beer Fest. This was a lot more entertaining than that movie ever will be (not that I would ever go see it).

^^^ Isn't that were they filmed the Marilyn Monroe movie "Some like it hot"??

They claimed to have Fat Tire, but I saw none.

Blasphemy!!!!

You guys should have filmed Beer Fest. This was a lot more entertaining than that movie ever will be (not that I would ever go see it).

 

 

^^^ Isn't that were they filmed the Marilyn Monroe movie "Some like it hot"??

Yes it is. Also apparently Disney's inspiration for the design of the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa at WDW.

-Mark

^It's also where they shot The Stunt Man starring Peter O'Toole and Steve Railsback.

Hmm--for some reason, Derek, your TRs always make me thirsty.