San Francisco CityPASS: What to See in the City by the Bay as a Wheelchair User

Hello, world, I’m Aubrie! I was so excited to check out a few of San Francisco’s top destinations on Cory’s behalf while he was off gallivanting (on a camel, no less).

The first thing I’ll say about San Francisco is that it’s enormous, both in terms of geography and the number of things to do. There’s always something going on, and even if you don’t go in with a plan, you can see so much just by wandering.

CityPASS SF

I was lucky to have a CityPASS, which gave structure to my wandering. The San Francisco CityPASS is basically a ticket bundle that costs less than the total price of the tickets if I were to buy them separately. And you can save even more if you use a CityPass coupon code. The San Francisco CityPASS covered admission to four fantastic attractions:

  • California Academy of Sciences
  • Exploratorium (this can also be substituted for the de Young Museum plus the Legion of Honor)
  • A cruise around the bay by Blue & Gold Fleet
  • Aquarium of the Bay

Importantly, for three days, it also included unlimited rides on the fully accessible Muni buses, which were critical for getting around the city.

 

 San Francisco CityPASS, CityPASS SF

 

I used the CityPASS SF tickets over Mother’s Day weekend of 2018. My cousin Naomi came along as my attendant, and she also had a San Francisco CityPASS. The weather was sunny and beautiful, not at all like the fog and cold I’m used to hearing about (someone, probably not Mark Twain, once said, “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco”). But at some points, especially near the ocean and in the shade, it would get pretty windy and cold, so it’s definitely important to bring a jacket.

While the cruise and the aquarium were right next to each other on the bay, the Exploratorium was a little further south down the main street along the piers (the Embarcadero), and the California Academy of Sciences was the one most out of the way—it was about 5 miles away, more than halfway across the peninsula to the Pacific Ocean. With a San Francisco CityPASS in my pocket and a weekend in front of me, I decided to spend Saturday at the California Academy of Sciences and the Exploratorium, then Sunday at Pier 39 to go on on the Blue & Gold Fleet’s SF Bay Cruise Adventure and see the Aquarium of the Bay.

 

California Academy of Sciences

 

 

If you’re in San Francisco and you only have time to visit one place, this is probably the one you want. It has a planetarium. It has a hall of dioramas. And it has a great big dinosaur.

When we went up to the doors, I wasn’t sure whether we had to go to the ticket counter first to trade our CityPASS SF ticket for a California Academy of Sciences ticket. The fine print probably explained, but who reads fine print? Not me. The Academy staff were very helpful and told me to go straight to Door 1, and the employee there simply took the San Francisco CityPASS ticket out and let us in.

The first part we visited was the rainforest. As soon as we entered, it sure felt like a rainforest; I felt a wave of heat and humidity when we went through the rubber slats they use to block butterflies from getting out. The rainforest had several levels contained in a giant sphere, with a ramp spiraling up along the edge. The pathway was completely smooth. I got to experience all the ecology and none of the mud. At each level were exhibits featuring a variety of rainforest animals, from leaf-cutter ants and butterflies to frogs and blue-and-yellow macaws. 

“I’m ready for my closeup.”

“I’m ready for my closeup.”

What I loved most about the rainforest was the butterflies. You can see so many different kinds, and you can probably learn all their names if you’re not being like me and you’re too distracted by the butterflies to pay attention to the helpful plaques around the place. Protip: Wear bright orange if you want butterflies to land on you.

Once you get to the top level of the rainforest, the way you exit is by taking an elevator down into the aquarium. This is, in my opinion, the best order of operations; don’t go down to the aquarium first, since you’ll have to go down there anyway if you go to the rainforest. The elevator had a glass wall that let us see our descent. Going from the rainforest to the aquarium, we were going from a sunny, humid canopy to a dark, cool grotto. Two worlds in one.

Wish I could be…part of that…woooooorld

Wish I could be…part of that…woooooorld

The aquarium was even more extensive than the rainforest. It was an otherworldly labyrinth, with a different wonder at every turn. And it wasn’t just boxes (though there were those, too)—there was a glass display that took up a whole wall, and there were windows that made it look like the fish were coming out at you. A great thing about the California Academy of Sciences (and some of the other destinations) is that it’s designed to include kids. Kids’ eye level = my eye level. Kids can see the thing = I can see the thing. Unfortunately, it could get a bit crowded in places, but I was able to see everything I wanted to see.

We’d gone spiraling up, we’d gone sinking down, and then we went back up—all the way up, through the roof! According to the naturalist there, this living roof is the largest swathe of California native plants in all of San Francisco. Made me wonder what it’d be like to grow a garden on top of my hat.

Living things are cool ‘n’ all, but my favorite part of the Academy was the gemstones exhibit, because I love shiny objects.

I could have spent all day here. But it turned out that more shiny things awaited me over at the Exploratorium. We ate a quick lunch at the Academy’s café, stopped by the fully accessible restrooms, and then asked one of the Academy guides the best way to get to the Exploratorium on Muni. The guide was extremely helpful and even gave us a map, drawing out the 5-Fulton line that we would take.

We set out towards the bus stop. The Academy is located directly across from the de Young Museum, so if I’d decided not to use the Exploratorium ticket, I could have gone right over to the de Young instead.

Science on the left, art on the right.

Science on the left, art on the right.

The Academy is also situated inside Golden Gate Park, a massive stretch of natural land and gardens that probably could have taken up their own full day of exploration. But we had a bus to catch. Like the butterflies, it was time for us to flutter on!

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Getting from the California Academy to the Exploratorium

We took the Muni to Market Street, then decided to walk the rest of the way to the Exploratorium. The Muni had a ramp that flipped up and out, and the driver folded up some seats inside the bus to provide space for me and my wheelchair. I was lucky that there was enough space for me and that no other wheelchairs were already on board. By the time we got to Market Street, so many passengers were standing in the crowded bus that I could barely see out the front window.

Market Street is something of a historical route, and it was fun to compare it with this film shot four days before the 1906 earthquake that destroyed most of the city. Along the way were restaurants, shops, a huge Westfield mall, and this:

The other California Academy of Sciences

The other California Academy of Sciences

Where Market Street meets the bay stands the Ferry Building, one of the few structures that survived the 1906 earthquake. It’s filled with little shops in a bazaar-like gallery.

A bizarre bazaar?

A bizarre bazaar?

We grabbed some delicious samosas at a food truck and then turned left to go up the Embarcadero, which curves along the coastline. On the way to the Exploratorium, we saw all sorts of lively activity: stands selling hand-crafted art and clothing; someone singing at a microphone; someone using two sticks connected by a long string to blow gigantic bubbles; a kid carrying a balloon sword, then a few minutes later, a person selling balloon animals. Like I said, always something going on.

 

Exploratorium

 

 San Francisco CityPASS

 

Our directed exploration finally led us to the Exploratorium. Inside, the people at the counter traded our CityPASS tickets for Exploratorium tickets, which we’d use for official admission (a contrast from the Academy, where we didn’t have to do any sort of exchange but could instead directly use the tickets in the booklet).

Trying not to flatten a kid as I attempt videography in the dark.

Trying not to flatten a kid as I attempt videography in the dark.

The California Academy of Sciences was mostly look-and-see. The Exploratorium was about see-and-do. They had all sorts of exhibits pushing and playing with the boundaries of our understanding. There was a panel with staggered slats of mirrors that would mix the faces of the two people sitting on either side (so Naomi and I caught a glimpse of our would-be fraternal triplet). There was a gyroscopic drawing machine, a large smoke ring generator, a portrait in a hologram, and many more mental and visual riddles.

This mirror was so weird. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but it’s a mirror that doesn’t show you yourself (a “self-excluding”). If you turn around, you see a mirror that shows you only yourself (a “self-centered mirror”).

This mirror was so weird. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but it’s a mirror that doesn’t show you yourself (a “self-excluding”). If you turn around, you see a mirror that shows you only yourself (a “self-centered mirror”).

Something about focal points. The mirror had a visual zooming effect as I moved towards it, much like the dolly zoom effect in Lord of the Rings when Frodo is the only one paying attention to survival instead of mushrooms.

Something about focal points. The mirror had a visual zooming effect as I moved towards it, much like the dolly zoom effect in Lord of the Rings when Frodo is the only one paying attention to survival instead of mushrooms.

Same picture, but upside down (shown by the “Please do not touch” in the top left).

Same picture, but upside down (shown by the “Please do not touch” in the top left).

More mirrors! This time to channel light from the ceiling and contort it into a shape-shifting rainbow.

More mirrors! This time to channel light from the ceiling and contort it into a shape-shifting rainbow.

A strobe camera. This had a long line, but towards closing time at 5 p.m., the place was getting empty enough that I could take as many selfies as Naomi would let me.

A strobe camera. This had a long line, but towards closing time at 5 p.m., the place was getting empty enough that I could take as many selfies as Naomi would let me.

There were a few things I wished were different about the Exploratorium:

  • While many of the exhibits were kid-level, there were some I couldn’t do. For example, there was a box where you’d reach in, and it had mirrors set up inside to make it look like your own hand was reaching back at you. My cousin described it to me—it was too high for me to see it or try it myself.
  • The exhibits didn’t always have explanations for how they worked. I’m a curious person! I want to know all the answers! Maybe they were just saving me from the embarrassment of not understanding the answers even if they did put them.
  • I couldn’t take the strobe camera home with me.
  • A few of the exhibits weren’t working and didn’t have any signs to say they weren’t. Understandable for mechanisms that get so much wear and tear. All the more reason to come back again another time!

While I’d still say the California Academy of Sciences has the broadest appeal, the best accessibility, and greatest variety of exhibits, the Exploratorium was definitely my personal favorite destination of all the ones I visited. I loved discovering new concepts, seeing imaginative and magical illusions, and being shown just how little I understand about the world.

 

Pier 39

On Sunday, Naomi and I came back to the Embarcadero to visit Pier 39, where the Blue & Gold Fleet’s SF Bay Cruise Adventure would depart and where the Aquarium of the Bay is situated.

 

 

Pier 39 is a destination all by itself. It’s filled with quaint shops and restaurants, including a Hard Rock Cafe. There was also a place called the Musée Mechanique, a warehouse filled with antique arcade games (including the arm wrestler machine from Princess Diaries). You know it’s antique in Silicon Valley when it still takes quarters and not bitcoin.

As with other parts of the Embarcadero, Pier 39 is made festive by performers and artists. I saw a man dressed and painted as a silver statue, an artist making custom miniature paintings, and a man playing an array of buckets as if they were drums.

In addition to enjoying the pier, we were excited to set sail away from it.

 

SF Bay Cruise Adventure

 

 

I had called ahead to ask about accessibility, and the very friendly representative on the phone assured me that it was wheelchair-accessible. And it was! It even had not one, but two wheelchair-accessible restrooms.

We aimed for the earliest departure time, 10:45 a.m., just to make sure we’d have time to take a later cruise if the first one was full. But it turned out that we didn’t need to worry about getting a spot in line, because the Blue & Gold Fleet attendants there made sure that we would get on the boat first. The attendants, like the representative on the phone, were so friendly and warm. And when I got on the boat, the employee there gave me a tip that the left side has the better view.

So why do I say the cruise was accessible but limited? Strictly speaking, it was wheelchair-accessible, and way more wheelchair-accessible than any other boat I’ve been on. But unfortunately, there was no way for me to get a direct view of the scenery, unlike for the other passengers who were on the upper levels, in the open air. The view I had was still a very nice view, and it came with the benefits of not being crowded and not being out in the elements (Naomi went out for a bit and said it was very cold and windy). But if this were my only chance to get an up-close look at the Golden Gate Bridge, I may have been disappointed that it was through sea-sprayed glass. 

Not bad, though! Not bad. You can’t have an SF Bay Cruise Adventure without the thing that defines the SF Bay. It’s probably the most iconic bridge in the world.

Not bad, though! Not bad. You can’t have an SF Bay Cruise Adventure without the thing that defines the SF Bay. It’s probably the most iconic bridge in the world.

(I’m actually from this area, so here’s tip for those who want a really good selfie with the bridge: Go across the bridge and up into the Marin Headlands. You’ll probably need a car to get there, though, and Uber sadly isn’t wheelchair-accessible in San Francisco. And you’ll need to ask the fog, nicely, to go away.)

Taking a comfortable, scenic ride was enjoyable in itself, but it was made even better by an ongoing audio tour. A very polished voice, punctuated by dramatic music, explained the history of points around the bay, from the old military ships and barracks on the piers to the Spanish inspiration of the Ferry Building’s design—and of course, the origins of the Golden Gate Bridge. I’m a namer by trade, so I was fascinated to learn that the name “Golden Gate” was established to describe the entrance to the bay well before the bridge was proposed and even before the Gold Rush started. I like to imagine the hills that the bridge connects as being the original golden gates.

The only thing that got more excitement than the bridge was when the captain interrupted the audio tour to announce that there were whales playing far off to the left. I saw one jump into the air! Naomi was up top and said she also saw dolphins.

On the rest of the hour-long cruise, we saw Angel Island, known for being a detainment site for many Chinese people attempting to immigrate to the U.S., and Alcatraz, known for Al Capone.

Like the opposite of Monopoly. People actually want to visit the jail.

Like the opposite of Monopoly. People actually want to visit the jail.

As we were coming back to the dock, we saw the bay’s animal celebrities, the sea lions. Nobody cares about the seagulls. But everyone loves the sea lions.

There were three times as many tourists as sea lions.

There were three times as many tourists as sea lions.

After the excitement of yesterday, the cruise was a relaxing way to start our Sunday. We disembarked via the ramp, had some fish and chips for lunch at a nearby restaurant, and then headed to the Aquarium of the Bay to see the live versions of the fish we’d just eaten.

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Aquarium of the Bay

 

 

We’d already seen a wonderful aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences, so I was curious to see how the Aquarium of the Bay would compare. The entrance was on the second floor, and at first it looked like it was all stairs, but there was an elevator behind the staircase.

When we went in, the employee there took the tickets out of our booklets and exchanged them for stamps on our wrists so that we could leave and come back any time throughout the day. Naomi’s stamp was a crab. Mine was an octopus (I got inked).

The octopus in the back looks ready to ink someone.

The octopus in the back looks ready to ink someone.

When we first went in, the room was very crowded. It was cool to see colorful fish, but the cooler thing was seeing how excited the kids were to see them. We followed the flow of the room to a pair of elevators that would take us down to the building’s lower level. At first, Naomi and I were confused about whether the small room we’d just been in was all there was to see on the second floor, but we eventually saw that the aquarium was designed so that we’d go through that room, go down to the elevators to a larger section, and then come back up the elevators and exit through a different door on the second floor. The aquarium had staff sitting on chairs in the elevators to make sure people went to the right place.

One feature the California Academy of Sciences didn’t have was river otters. Later, when we’d come back up to the second floor (after a long wait for the elevator), we’d entered a room with exhibits of California’s land wildlife. The only of the two otters that was holding still enough for a photo was the sleeping one. 

I didn’t think it was real at first.

I didn’t think it was real at first.

The first room that we’d entered didn’t feel like a vastly different experience from the California Academy of Sciences, but wow was I surprised by what was on the lower floor. That floor—and the whole aquarium—was defined by two long, underwater tunnels that made me feel like a mermaid. The first tunnel had many kinds of fish, and the second had stingrays and sharks. Gosh, I wonder why they separated them. 

Really part of that world now.

Really part of that world now.

The first tunnel was quite bottlenecked at the beginning, but once I got further along, the crowd cleared up. The tunnels were curved, so I couldn’t see the end of them when sitting at the beginning. It was a truly immersive experience, definitely worth seeing even after we’d already been to the California Academy of Science’s aquarium. 

Forget dolphins. I’m swimming with sharks.

Forget dolphins. I’m swimming with sharks.

Compared to the California Academy of Sciences and the Exploratorium, the Aquarium of the Bay was small, but it had a mighty personality, and it was a wholly worthwhile visit.

 

What I learned:

  • For those interested in trying the CityPASS collection, I would really recommend giving the California Academy of Sciences and the Exploratorium their own days. Not only are both sensational themselves, they’re both located in areas with tons of other spectacles (the California Academy of Sciences being in Golden Gate Park and the Exploratorium being on the Embarcadero and near Market Street).
  • The CityPASS SF is officially non-transferable, but honestly, no one checked. If Naomi hadn’t been able to come with me for both days, I could have brought someone else. The tickets are also supposed to be used within nine days from the use of the first ticket, but the only one who checked the date was the Exploratorium (there could also be variation between employees).
  • Good weather makes everything better. Mid-May happened to perfect.
  • Going places with a treasured friend makes everything better. No CityPASS SF can buy that. (It may offer a discount, though.)
  • Destinations ranked by selfie potential, from most quirky to most classic: Exploratorium, Aquarium of the Bay, California Academy of Sciences, Blue & Gold Fleet’s SF Bay Area Adventure cruise.

 

San Francisco CityPASS

 

I’m so grateful to Cory for the opportunity to experience this adventure with the San Francisco CityPASS and share it with you. Thanks for reading, and may all your travels be curb-free!

 

Writer Bio:

Aubrie Lee describes herself as an engineer by training, a marketer by trade, and an artist at heart. She has infantile-onset facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, which has given her three disabilities for the price of one (muscle weakness, hearing loss, and lack of facial expression). She loves riddles, the TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender, and most things shiny. If she has a motto, it is this: Live every day better than the last.

 

*Thank you to CityPASS SF for working with us. While the San Francisco CityPASS was complimentary, all opinions expressed are authentic and Aubrie’s own.

 

 

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