Lifestyle
Every Southern California theme park ride, ranked
(Daniel Sulzberg / For The Times)
Times theme park critic Todd Martens was handed a wild assignment: Rank every theme park ride in Southern California. The mission was dizzying, literally, as he spent months fastening his seatbelt and zipping through mountains, strapping on AR goggles and floating into fairy tales. He judged each attraction not just on sheer entertainment, but on artistry and historical significance.
Here are the results. Below you’ll find guides to Disneyland, Universal Studios, Knott’s Berry Farm and Magic Mountain, with their rides ranked from best to worst. Use them to plan a trip to the park — or to start a debate. What would be your No. 1?
Matthew Rhys was nominated for his role in Widow’s Bay.
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The 2026 Emmy nominations are here. We’re unpacking the record-breaking nominations for Hacks, plus a big day for Widow’s Bay, The Pitt, and The Bear. We’ll also talk about the snubs and make some early predictions of who will win.
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Can you say no to a friend’s wedding?
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Are we spending too much on other people’s weddings?
Going to a friend’s weddings can be so fun and meaningful… but it can also really hurt your wallet. A survey by LendingTree found that 31% of people who had been to a wedding in the past five years had accrued debt to attend. So what’s driving up the cost of weddings for guests? And what makes it so hard to say no to these expenses?
Brittany breaks it down with Allyson Rees, senior analyst at trend forecasting firm WGSN, and Annie Joy Williams, assistant editor at The Atlantic.
This episode was produced by Liam McBain, with additional support from Corey Antonio Rose. It was edited by Neena Pathak. Our Supervising Producer is Cher Vincent. Our Executive Producer is Barton Girdwood. Our VP of Programming is Yolanda Sangweni.
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