My Happy Place
610 North Coast Highway, Suite 204, Laguna Beach, California 92651
2.5
(254 reviews)
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2.5
254 reviews
Apr 29, 2018
|
Yelp
A little backstory: we had tickets back in January when Happy Place was still at its old location. Our tickets were canceled ONE day before with no explanation.
Instead, we got "early access" to buy tickets (again) for the new location. I expected to at least get some sort of discount for the hassle and some sort of courtesy for the last minute cancellation, but guess what we got? A higher price tag for tickets. Lol.
The new location is in a tent on a parking garage. Parking at the garage is expensive ($28) so I suggest not doing what we did and parking somewhere else.
Our tickets were for 9:30am. We heard a staff member say that we only had an HOUR to go through the whole place, but we didn't leave until 1:30pm. We spent most of our time waiting in a line.
I think they put the nice staff members in the beginning. The first room had an intro video. The next two rooms come with candy treats. Up to the third room, it seemed like the staff didn't mind taking pics.
The line got longer and longer after that. Staff members were constantly yelling at people to get them to hurry to the next room.
One staff guy even yelled that we should all just deal with other people being in the way. Basically just take a crappy picture and leave. Also the lighting sucks pretty badly.
In the flower room, they give you a countdown. The rubber duck tub is DISGUSTING (full of hair, etc) and this was in the morning still. Seems like there were ducks and tokens before, but that's been replaced by yellow balls. Tub has balls. Pot has balls.
And you have literally 10 seconds to take a picture. I had just jumped in and she was yelling at me because apparently I wasn't swimming to the ladder fast enough, lol. The pot of balls lady is THE worst.
The confetti at the end was fun. But dirty. I saw some kids eating it. The confetti. From the floor.
Adding an extra star because of the rainbow grilled cheese at the end. It looks and actually tastes good too!
We also bought some lemonade because I had to throw out my water bottle at the entrance. They don't allow outside drinks. I saw the guy refilling the lemonade and it's the Kirkland brand from Costco. So there you go.
They also sell sundaes and some pricey "happy" souvenirs. I don't think I left anything out but if you have any questions, let me know.
Also NO bathroom inside. Just outside port-a-potties. Make sure you empty your bladder before you open the doors.
Happy Place honestly seems to be anything but that.
Jan 04, 2018
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Yelp
I really liked this experience! I feel like everyone can use some Happiness in their life!
The Museum of Ice Cream, in comparison, is a similar pop up. Tickets were always sold out when I tried to get some. I couldn't understand why because I don't think those with lactose intolerance would be too interested in ice cream...and how about people with diabetes and vegan diets? Haha!
Anyway, when I checked online for tickets to The Happy Place, there were some available for a time when I happened to be in Los Angeles! Yay! Alana and I were so excited to go!
We found a free parking space on a nearby street. We walked a couple of blocks to The Happy Place where we were welcomed and oriented. Use of the convenient restroom was encouraged and much appreciated! We waited in line with the rest of the people who had the same entrance time that we had.
Then the fun began...
First, we saw an introductory video, then proceeded through a series of themed rooms and well-decorated hallways. It was a maze of artistic and creative activities! For example, there were several niches for selfies with mirrors, yellow duckies and a bathtub; and an upside down room, a Birthday Cake Room, an XO room, and a room full of marigolds!
I liked the activities the best! We laid down in a box of tissue paper confetti and made Angel shapes by extending and swinging our arms and legs! Then, we entered the confetti dome where gusts of wind blew the pieces of tissue paper in the air where they swirled all around us!
The most challenging room was the one with the gigantic rainbow and the pot of gold! The "gold" pieces were actually plastic discs. I jumped into the pot! It was really difficult to get out because there's no grip. I swam in the discs for a while before I figured out that I should exit backwards, using the ladder to pull myself out! Whew! That was a workout! Haha!
At the end of the self tour, we enjoyed a free popsicle and looked at the games and gift shop. Alana bought us a grilled Rainbow cheese sandwich - a pretty novelty food! Great for photos!
I think it was good for a once in a lifetime opportunity with friendly staff. I would go again if it were free... and I'm glad I went...especially now...since it has been closed temporarily due to a permit issue.
Good luck to The Happy Place... it sure made me laugh and clap my hands! You will, too!
Dec 26, 2017
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Yelp
As the vintage Partridge Family song goes..."C'mon Get Happy!" My Yelp bestie, Kim T. and I checked out one of L.A.'s Instagramable "art" installations, Happy Place, on a Sunday night with a 7:00 pm reservation.
Having already been to two very popular installations this season, the Museum of Ice Cream and Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Rooms, we probably had expectations set too high for a $31.00 ticket to Happy Place.
The Not-So-Happy Facts:
*Parking in this area sucked! I had to park blocks away and didn't feel safe walking back to my car alone. Also, we were given horrible directions once we exited the exhibit and ended up walking a huge city block and past sleeping homeless to get back to the front of the building. Unhappy.
*Although we had a reservation, we had to wait 20 extra minutes before we were let inside.
*Restroom is inside and you have to ask permission...I'm gonna say it again, rent a porta potty- we paid $31.00!!!
*Unlike the Museum of Ice Cream, which offered a tasty sample in nearly every room...Happy Place only offered a tiny cup of M&M's, a cake pop and a popsicle...
*It was HOT in that building. Air conditioning would've been nice...
*That rainbow grilled cheese for $12.00...was tasteless, and a $4.00 soda, discounted $1.00 if you bought the grilled cheese. We bought TWO sodas but only got the $1 off the first one- really?
The Happy Stuff:
*See Kim T's review for details of each room...my favorites were the Marigold Room where you go underneath a fake field of marigolds, climb a little ladder, and pop your head and body out into a plethora of orange flowers. It's like that Whack-a-Mole game at the fair! This one is timed - so have your photo ideas ready to go!
*The Pot o' Gold...this is a huge pot filled with large yellow plastic discs with happy faces on them. You stand in line and watch people step onto an elevated platform and jump into it, two at a time. It looked painful and maybe dangerous because those plastic discs looked solid and hard. One older lady jumped in and couldn't get out. She needed TWO employees to help her to climb out. When it came time, Kim & I were on the AstroTurf covered platform and we pressed the big red button...a large screen in front of you counts down...3, 2, 1, JUMP! I jumped into hard plastic discs and looked up - Kim was still on the platform- I guess she wanted to see if I'd broken my leg or something before she finally jumped. Very funny. It was very awkward to "swim" through the discs to make your way to the ladder to escape the pot o' gold.
*Also liked the Rubber Ducky filled bathtubs - very awkward to get in and out of as well. There's just no ladylike way to do it- but it's funny to watch other people...
Overall, I'd say it was NOT worth the $31.00 and I wouldn't recommend it. Two stars because you get some funny / cool photo ops to satisfy your FB or Insta addiction.
Yelp Challenge 2017: 98/100
Dec 21, 2017
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Yelp
3 stars due to the recent closure, because they don't have the right permits. I got tickets for my friend's birthday & I am not too sure if they'll still be closed the day she goes. I will change my rating if she gets to go.
I had tickets for Friday 12.1.17 and my experience was 3.8/5. The pop up was very fun, but NOT worth the money. If it was $20, my rating would be higher. I am that basic B that came here "for the gram" but also because I got tics for The Broad the same day and was like, why not! The ice cream museum was fun, so I figured this would be fun too.
Parking: free street parking or pay for a lot, there is one right by the exit, facing the gun shop lol. I was 20 mins late because I had a difficult time for parking, so do plan ahead. They were flexible about being late, but try to be on time.
Rooms: my favorite was the ducky room. Super cute and fun for pics. I don't need to explain all the rooms, just look at the pictures people have been posting. In regards to the timing of each room, I felt VERY RUSHED! Like snap snap snap, okay bye next room.
Tips:
1.) Look at other ppl's pics prior to going to get ideas of how you want to pose. Trust me, you'll feel rushed and will be sad if you didn't get that perfect pic for IG/facebook lol.
2.) The balloon thing in the birthday room goes out to the middle of the cake, pull it away from the wall and keep walking.
3.) Stand in the back of each room (minus pot of gold) because you can take your time after everyone leaves. For example, I let everyone take their pics then I would take mine until the next group came, aka they kick you out of the room.
The people: we got your LA people who dress to impress and take longer in each room and get yelled at. We got the parents who bring their kids and let them run around and get in your way. Then we have the people like me who try to stay far away from the above^.
Overall, I had fun. If I could change some things it would be the price & timing in each room. They try to get a lot of ppl in and out so you're limited to X amount of time per room.
Dec 09, 2017
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Yelp
Don't worry, be happy! This place should give you a nice break from your daily routine! Just go with it.
First things first, buy your ticket online. Second, parking is atrocious... after all, this is downtown LA! After circling the nearby blocks a few times, we scored a parking spot.
TIP: Where you enter Happy Place and where you exit are in two different locations. You exit in the back and have to walk around the perimeter to get back to the front.
Your first stop when you walk in will be to watch a short video. After that, you are free to see each room. The lady here told us the rules and about the Rainbow Grilled Cheese (purchased item) from the Food Truck at the end of the tour. These are the rules: you can stay in most of the rooms for as long as you wish and you cannot re-visit a prior room. Keep moving forward.
I loved that they gave out happy yellow m&m's with a smiley face on them. So cute. We also were given a cake pop and a popsicle at other spots.
I think the XO room was great for photos! I would recommend that people take their picture then move away to view their shots. It was a little annoying waiting on people to preview their shots while blocking the letters. It made the process a lot longer for others to take pictures. Please be courteous and step off to the side. Same goes for all the rooms without time limits.
There's this room called the Super Glue Room. I can only guess that all the flowers were super glued in place? It's kind of cute to go up the ladder and pop your head out to a field of flowers with strings of flowers dangling from above.
The Upside Down Room was really interesting! Great for photos of the every day impossible! When can you stand or sit on the "ceiling"? I also enjoyed the Yellow Claw Foot Bath Tub with yellow duckies. How adorable!
There are 2 places with Boomerang video where you can enter your email and be sent your video. The Pot O Gold and the Confetti Snow Angel areas are where you can push a button and be video-ed. If you jump into the Pot O Gold, be warned that it may be a feat for you to climb out of! Near the exit, there is a wall of flowers with a camera where you can take a picture and it will be sent to you.
Before you're done, you must experience the Confetti Dome. It's just like those tiny rooms where you do cash grabs, but this is larger and you're tossing confetti in the air! You get 60 seconds of fun time. Lastly, be sure to look at the sign above the exit through your camera! What your naked eyes see is not necessarily what the camera lens will show you!
I really enjoyed experiencing this pop-up museum full of all things bright, fun, and HAPPY! Let the kid in you come out and play!
Dec 04, 2017
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Yelp
Find your happy place and enjoy life! I love the idea of happy place.
What a delightful place to enjoy a few hours. From kids to adults, this place will give you something new to be happy about. For people who loves taking photos, this definitely will satisfy you! Each installation is focus on letting you take the most exciting pictures. So bring your best camera! They also help you take free boomerang videos of three rooms so if you forget your camera, you can still get something.
You walk through about 9-10 art rooms in a one way manner. Once you pass the room, you cannot go back so take as many photos before moving on.
There is only one chance for the bathroom in beginning so go before you start or else you may wait until the end before you can go. Depending on how crowded it is, it can take up to 2 hours to get through the whole thing.
For parents of young children, strollers are not allowed inside. Consider bring a carrier/baby wrap or hold your baby the whole time. Kids under 4 is free!
You also get a cake pop and a popsicle included in the price of your ticket! There is a food truck at the end where you can get yourself a rainbow grill cheese sandwich! Lemonade also for sale $3 by the popsicle stand.
Of course the negative to this place is the long line for each room due to photo ops.
All in all, I enjoyed my time at happy place!
Dec 03, 2017
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Yelp
We've never been to any of these pop-up museums/exhibits so Happy Place was our first. As everyone will tell you, parking is not the greatest but that's to be expected downtown L.A. We lucked out and parked near Urth Cafe which was a short walk to Happy Place. Upon arriving the workers just asked if we had a time slot and let us in even though we were thirty minutes early for our tickets.
You're shown a quick video of what the exhibit is about and then let in. The good is that once in, you're pretty much free to roam around and spend as much time in any room as you please. There are certain rooms that have time limits but that's a good thing as there will always be those people who take endless selfies without taking others into consideration.
Speaking of which, there are workers set up throughout the exhibit that'll give you a helping hand and take pictures for you if you want/ask. The workers themselves range from happy to zombie. The ones that are actually into it are a lot of fun.
Happy Place is fun to experience once but that's it. I'd give it 3.5 stars but rounded up to 4 stars because my fiancee loves to take pictures and had a blast. If you come, definitely come during the day. As everyone else will tell you, the exit is weird. You have to walk through a long parking lot to get to a street then take 3 lefts to get to back to the front of Happy Place. At night I can see that it'd get pretty sketchy so be safe! And dress light since there's no AC - there's only fans at the end of the exhibit for the pot of gold room and the confetti dome.
Dec 02, 2017
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Yelp
Overall it was a fun experience. Was it necessarily worth the $31? ($28+service fee) Maybeeee not. This is a pop-up experience with various rooms that are meant to be instagrammable. Let's be real, no one is going to come here and NOT take photos haha. If photos aren't your thing, just be prepared to be around a TON of people who are into it.
PARKING: It honestly sucks. You have to cross your fingers and hope to find street parking where you have enough room to parallel park. Wish there was at least a small lot or something, but it's typical dtla parking.
RESTROOM: There is only one restroom at the BEGINNING of the exhibit. Keep that in mind.
CONS:
-Sometimes the lighting can be harsh, especially in the daisy room.
-It also was super hot in that room as well (lack of AC in parts of this place).
-This place is overpriced for what it is.
-Also bummer that some of the photo booths were broken ):
-For the confetti boomerang, I thought it was a creative idea however I had to email my boomerangs INDIVIDUALLY and wasn't able to select all. Luckily I only did 3, but I could see causing super long lines.
-Lines got long, longest was for the rubber ducky bathtub. They should have timers honestly to limit people.
PROS:
-Once you pass a room, you can't go back. I appreciate that or else people will be in there forever.
-Loved the neon signs throughout.
-Overall my favorite rooms included confetti dome, flower wall Photo Booth, rubber ducky bath, and upside down room. As a note, I didn't jump in to the pot of gold bc the people's faces who did didnt seem to enjoy it haha. Also someone lost a freaking shoe in that thing and they were unable to retrieve it LOL. Be mindful of this if you're going in!
-Staff is there throughout and can help take photos, ask the lady in the kisses/xo room to take your photo through the reflective heart. She knows how to take cute ones!
-Free snacks (cake pops, m&m's and popsicles) yay!!
Nov 30, 2017
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Yelp
We went for my girlfriend's birthday . In hopes of having a happy day at a happy place I wanted to fascinate on a happy date.
I think going in here you have to be in a #happyplace mentally, emotionally and even physically. Patience is a virtue and an open mind is key. Sure, there are long lines, unattended kids and some of the rooms don't have the ideal lighting but the place is charming overall. Although it can get hot in there the place is cool. The lines are caused because the rooms are full of cool photo ops. You can get so self absorbed in taking the "perfect" photo that you realize you're not the only person in there trying to get that shot. I love to people watch and depending on the room that you're in you will see, and be all of the people that you observe in there. You paid a decent amount for your tickets, you found parking and you can't go back once you go forward so you want to get your value.
You'll be the impatient person that got there late and couldn't find parking.
You'll likely be the person that is frustrated that there are so many people and kids in there when you want your shot.
You'll probably observe that the employees aren't all as happy as you envisioned from all of the Disney movies and theme parks that you've watched and attended. The place is called Happy Place but everyone isn't going to be smiling.
Basically just know for us it was a fun experience. We liked it and although we did not take pictures in every room or get to fully explore the whole installation we went in happy and walked out happy.
For the most part we enjoyed every room. I liked that they had hand sanitizer along the way.
I'll say it straight up. The majority of bad reviews are from those that wanted the best lighting for their selfies and their social networks. My pics turned out well and I am a people person so the only reason I give this place a 4 is beyond the Happy Place's control. The lines were primarily caused by the self absorbed that acted like the place was their personal photo shoot. In the words of Bobby McFerrin "Don't Worry, Be Happy".
Tips:
No strollers
No selfie-sticks
No bad attitude
No impatience
Arrive at least 20-30 minutes early. You want to get there early enough to park and early enough to get in line.
Observe the people that go in during your time slot. If they're in there turning each room into a photo shoot either let them go ahead you of get ahead of them. Those are the lines!
Nov 27, 2017
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Yelp
Okay so let's be real here!! There is the Good, Bad, and Ugly!!
So my friend had told me about this new pop up and I really wanted to go, I was super excited. So I had bought my tickets and went this past Sunday 11.26. Prior to me arriving I did read the reviews but didn't want it to sway my opinion I wanted to experience it for myself because everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
For starters let's talk about the bad: Parking: OMG Parking is horrible there was no parking, thankfully I got here really early but it literally took me 15mins to find parking in a really far away spot next to some Cannibis factory!! We walked a few blocks and finally got to the Happy Place, we waited in life for about 10mins prior to getting in. It was amusing watching other people in line taking pictures in front of the happy place. My goodness there were so many hipsters and so many instagram models posing.
Finally got in they directed us to watch a video, skip the video just go straight in if you can and beat the lines/crowd. Literally after 15mins they let another group come in and the rooms got super crowded so you are literally fighting for a spot to take a picture. The ugly is that there are long times to the exhibits and the lighting in some rooms were awful, there's no way to get good pictures.
Another ugly are the employees: The employees here suck, not friendly, not personable or interactive at all. Compared to the Museum of Ice Cream they pepped you up prior to you going in and interacted with you, I swear half the time the employees were yelling at me, my son or other people saying don't sit on this and don't touch that and if you break it you pay for it. Yes I totally get it not to sit on it but there is a way to speak to someone or at least have some signs posted before hand.
.The flower room they hype up so much damn the lighting was so bad and there are photo bombers everywhere basically you climb up different ladders but you got another person behind you in your picture or there was too much of a glare. The Birthday candle room was fun with the candles and balloons. All in all most of the exhibits were great but I felt so rushed I could just see the mad dogs on peoples faces. The XOXO room they need to do a better job coordinating that and let one person at a time because your trying to take a picture but you got other people in the back or their reflection which kinda kills your picture. The confetti room was cool.
My recommendation is they have more controlled environment. Fix their lighting and train their employees to be more friendly. I encountered some really rude girls in the pot of gold room. My child and another Mom I met there we were taking pictures of our kids while they do the jump and the Moms were gonna jump next but they made us get back in line which we had no problem but I didn't think that was fair. They also didn't want to take pictures they said they would have their own video gif take the video of you and be sent to you.
The exhibits were fun and I got some great pictures of my son and I. They had some merchandise at the end a bouncy ball which you can get from the 99 cent store they were selling for $10.00, a bottled water for $2.00, free popsicles cherry or orange which were gross I passed on.
The exit sucked because when we walked out we had to literally walk a few blocks to get back to the entrance and to the car, it was not the greatest area to be in.
Would I recommend this spot: Yes why not, for the experience it's fun to take pictures and have some good memories. But as far as the wait time be prepared and make sure you look dress fun, light, bold, colorful outfits for that perfect selfie. We did end up staying a good 1.5 hours and we were able to do all the exhibits and we did a few of the exhibits a few times.
Also, take a friend with you who knows how to take pictures, it's nice to have someone take your picture or else you are going to be stuck asking other people. Thankfully there was another Mom that I met with a young daughter the same age with my son and we were trading of taking pictures, what a blessing!
I'm so glad I didn't pay the $200 for the professional photographer to follow you around, OMG!! I would have died. The $26.00 is worth it. It's something different and fun to do but I wouldn't go back! It's a 1 time thing.
610 North Coast Highway, Suite 204, Laguna Beach, California 92651
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Open
Closes 06:00 PM
Sunday
Closed
Monday
Closed
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Saturday
Closed
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