Dr. Seuss Experience in Los Angeles a Lesser Adventure in 2024 ⭐️⭐️

If you search online for the “Dr. Seuss Experience,” beware. From two of the videos I watched on Facebook (see below), what we got in Los Angeles (Santa Monica) was a lesser adventure. First, of course, the carousel is for children only but not for pregnant or drunk children and the sign doesn’t make any of that clear.

In Toronto, there was a lot more for people to see and do in 2019. I emphasize, the below two videos are NOT what “The Dr. Seuss Experience” at Santa Monica Place is. It is what it should be.

There’s nothing about adults, but there is something about drunk and pregnant people.

What is the experience like at Santa Monica Place? There were no characters roaming around and we stayed about two hours and there were plenty of kids there.

First off, as I mentioned, is the carousel. Although the instructions don’t read so, adults are not allowed on, but you can see that in Toronto, this was not the case. Why does the sign note that one can’t be pregnant or drunk? Have they had pregnant or drunk kids? And more importantly, why not have a sign that tells adults, they cannot go on? Instead, they force people to ask. If you watch the Toronto videos, you’ll know this is not a ridiculous question. Do they enjoy embarrassing people? Seems like it. Not a great way to treat paying guests.

There is no height measuring device nor any scale to weigh you. And there’s not notification that adults cannot ride. That’s one problem with that carnival room. The other is the games. There are two games that require one throw a ball. One is for knocking over clowns in a set time, but the problem here is twofold. First, the five balls sometimes get stuck and you have to call the attendant to get them back. Some people thought there were only three balls because of this problem and the lack of a dedicated attendant. The second is that the machine is too high for someone who is younger than say 10 years old and there is no step stool provided. This is much the same problem with the ball toss into holes for points.

Why make games that children will not have a hard time playing. Ultimately, you try to get coins/tokens to put into one of those machines to grab a toy with, and this is easier to do in another room when you’re angling for presents. You try to get a present with one of two character on the bottom. You then exchange that for a token. The claw machine is meant to work. Every single time I watched, when the device goes up, it gives such a jolt before moving toward the chute that toy was dropped each time. This isn’t a fun game for kids; actually none of the games in that room except perhaps the mallet and bell ringer is good at all for kids younger kids to play. I didn’t see anyone get a prize and that’s not a fun experience. Ian and I have had more success at promotional activations that we paid nothing to play.

In other rooms things were much worse. The experience in Santa Monica places had a lot of things not functioning. In the living room with the sofa, the creatures didn’t move. There was no winking creature. The yellow creature in the closet wasn’t swinging its arms.

You can see the wire in the hand on the left. But this cat in Santa Monica is empty-handed.

Look at all the things the cat has in his hands in 2019 (Toronto).

Most puzzling was the room with all the gears and gadgets. There were no blocks to pile up and balance as you can see there was in Toronto and the cat in the hat is not even balancing anything as you’ll see him doing in the Culture Trip and Today Show videos. That’s really disappointing. I don’t know if these rooms were that way in the beginning of the run and things broke down. In the room with the blocks, did they lose all the blocks? What was the point of that room?

I don’t know if the preview audience, the high traffic audience and the after-New Year’s audience gets the same experience. That means once one reviews it, one should come back at the second half to insure that the experience remains the same and people are not misled by reviews when everything is there because even with four weeks left in the run, so much is not.

Throughout, although this was well past Christmas, Christmas songs were playing, including sad, slow ones. If you like puzzles, look for the hat of the Cat in the Hat. There are numbers and those numbers open a safe under the fish bowl. Few people do it and it’s really a game for an adult and not kids.

Overall, while my friends and I did have fun, I didn’t like they way I was treated and it’s a little sad that so much isn’t working even though “The Dr. Seuss Experience” at Santa Monica Place opened 12 November 2023 and continues until 28 January 2024. Don’t buy the plushies online. The plushies are currently on sale and it will cost less if you buy them at the gift shop (than the two offered online as part of your ticket bundle). The sale isn’t advertised but the sales clerk told us and everyone else in the gift shop as we were asking prices.

Tickets for The Dr. Seuss Experience in Los Angeles
🎫 General Admission – includes entry to the experience at the selected time
– Adult (ages 13+)
– Child (ages 1–12)
– Active Military, Police, Teachers, Healthcare workers, Seniors 65+ (valid ID required)
– Group Bundle (6+ people)

🎫 Anytime Admission – includes entry to the experience at any time on your selected date (so feel free to select any open slot on your preferred day)
– Anytime Adult (ages 13+)
– Anytime Child (ages 1–12)

🎫 Add-Ons – pre-purchase plush dolls and pick them up on-site.
Ticket not included
– Grinch Plush Doll (18″) – click here to preview
– Cat in the Hat Plush Doll (18″) – click here to preview

Just wanted to add some photos used to advertise the LA Experience where adults were allowed to ride the carousel unlike my experience: