Monday, June 18, 2007

Irvine Spectrum Center @ Irvine

Irvine Spectrum Center is an outdoor mall which sits in Irvine, Orange County. The drive from South Bay to here takes about 45-60 mins with no traffics, like on a weekend. If you hit the commute traffic on weekdays, it can be around 2-2.5 hours. So try to avoid the weekday traffic and go on a weekend instead, like what we did.

This center is located where the freeway 5 meets freeway 405 in OC. It is almost towards the south of OC, but you won't miss it as you can see the mall from the both freeways. Parking is easy. They have structured building which was added a few years ago to accommodate more guests.

It is a child and pet-friendly outdoor mall. There is a pet shop and a lot of stores cater to babies, toddlers and younger children. Well, the choices of eateries are so many (easily over 30) that we had a hard time deciding what to eat. We had Wahoo Fish Taco which is one of the greatest Mexican Food around for cheap price. I will do a review on this restaurant in another post.

The landscape in this center is very beautifully decorated with fountains and palm trees. There is a children friendly fountain area where a few children were playing with the water rising from the ground. It was a warm day, must be fun playing with the cold water. Parents were prepared with towels and new set of clothings for change.

There is a merry-go-around and a ferris wheel rides. The tickets are not expensive. Only $1 for merry-go-around and $3 for the ferris wheel. And if I remember correctly, if you buy 5 ferris wheel tickets, you only pay $10.

We like it a lot and we will definitely return another time. It is fun to be at outdoor mall in summer time. And we would like to try other restaurants in the center too.

Irvine Spectrum Center
71 Fortune Drive Irvine, CA 92618

Retail Hours:
Sun-Thur: 10am-9pm
Fri & Sat: 10am-10pm

Restaurant & Entertainment Hours:
Sun-Thur: 11am-9pm
Fri & Sat: 11am-11pm

A few fountains around the center, and beautiful palm trees

Shops and walking area

A cinema nd restaurants - Ebar, Wahoo Fish Taco and Corner Bakery

Structural buildings, a ferris wheel and a merry-go-around

2 comments:

Keepin Life Positively Sane & Happy said...

Isn't it really nice. We visit it all the time! :)

LA My Home said...

ya ... we'll go back again, definitely will try the ferris wheel this time.