PARKING WHERE THE REAL EXCITEMENT IS: CLOSE-TO-HOME THEME AND AMUSEMENT PARKS PROVIDE A VARIETY OF THRILLS, SPILLS AND CHILLS.

Byline: Carol Bidwell Daily News Staff Writer

Summertime, and the livin' is easy ... unless you choose to spend it being dropped, swooshed, accelerated, doused or otherwise adventurously entertained at some of Southern California's theme and amusement parks.

Non-couch potatoes can zip along water flumes, experience a simulated helicopter ride to the Arctic or take their pick of new roller coasters and other fast-moving objects adventurous enough to make most people wish they'd nailed their shoes to the ground.

Here's some of what's new to enjoy this summer:

Disneyland, 1313 Harbor Blvd., Anaheim; [phone]. ``Light Magic,'' a combination parade and stage show described as a spectacular journey through the magic world of dreams, is the new attraction this summer, replacing the venerable Main Street Electrical Parade. The new 20-minute show includes a four-float parade of lights, 2,500 miles of fiber optics, special effects, music and Disney characters, presented both along the traditional park parade route and at Small World Mall in Fantasyland.

Disneyland is open daily. Park and show hours vary; call to check. Admission: $36 for adults, $32 for seniors 60 and older, $26 for children age 3-11; kids 3 and under are free. Parking is $6.

Knott's Berry Farm, 8039 Beach Blvd., Buena Park; [phone]. Windjammer, the once-quiet farm-themed park's newest roller coaster, is billed as the first and only dual-track racing coaster, with several cars filled with screaming passengers racing each other through 3,687 feet of plunges, twists and turns. Coaster trains depart simultaneously on side-by-side steel tracks, climbing 70 feet into the air, then snaking high above Windjammer Lagoon, surviving 60-foot plunges, soaring vertical loops and a tight spiral into a simulated Pacific storm. Windjammer anchors The Boardwalk, an entertainment area unveiled last summer, that features an arcade, shops and restaurants.

Knott's Berry Farm is open daily. Hours vary; call to check. Admission: $31.95 for guests 12 and older, $23.95 for kids 3-11 and seniors 60 and older; after 4 p.m., all admissions are $14.95. Parking: $6 for cars, $10 for RVs and buses.

Pacific Park, 380 Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica; [phone]. This new park, opened just a year ago, is hitting its stride with 11 rides, including the West Coaster, the only oceanfront roller coaster in the West on a pier, and the Pacific Wheel, a giant Ferris wheel that gives a panoramic view of the coastline from more than 130 feet above the pier. Nine more rides - including old-fashioned bumper cars - a games arcade and eight eateries complete the park, which offers free concerts beginning at 7:30 p.m. July 3, 10 and 17.

Hours vary by season; call to check. Pier admission is free. Ride costs vary from $1 to $3 each. A free Tide Shuttle cruises parking areas near the pier, delivering guests to the park every 15 minutes.

Raging Waters, 111 Raging Waters Drive, San Dimas (near the juncture of the 10, 210 and 57 freeways); [phone]. High Extreme, billed as the world's highest water toboggan ride and the world's first head-first water ride, towers more than 100 feet over the water park. The initial drop takes riders on a single-person raft 80 feet down a 90-degree plunge in 4.5 seconds. Then riders zip along 600 feet of fiberglass flumes at speeds of up to 35 miles an hour before being spewed out into a pool of 4-foot-deep water.

Raging Waters, celebrating its 15th anniversary this summer, is open daily through Sept. 14, plus Sept. 20-21, Sept. 27 and Oct. 11 and 12. Hours vary; call to check. Admission: $21.99 for those 48 inches and taller, $12.99 for guests shorter than 48 inches and seniors 55 and older; kids 2 and under admitted free. After 5 p.m., adult admission is $12.99 and $9.99 for the kids.

Sea World of California, 1720 South Shores Road, San Diego; [phone]. The park's new Wild Arctic attraction combines a thrill ride with nature study. A simulated helicopter ride takes visitors over frozen landscape, narrowly avoiding an avalanche by zooming into an ice cave before coming to a safe landing at Base Station Wild Arctic at the North Pole. Visitors watch researchers explore the (simulated) wrecked hull of a 150-year-old ship, watch beluga whales swim and play, see walruses and go nose-to-nose with polar bears through thick sheets of glass before leaving the base station on a cargo elevator.

The park's Dolphin Interaction Program offers guests a chance to observe, touch and feed dolphins while wading with them in 55-degree sea water. Participants must be at least 13 and must pre-register for the $125 program. Visitors can also check the progress of J.J., the abandoned California gray whale calf who beached herself Jan. 11 near Marina del Rey, and who is being cared for in a 1.7-million-gallon pool as she matures.

Sea World is open daily. Hours vary by season; call to check. Admission: $32.95 for adults, $24.95 for kids age 3-11; kids 2 and younger are free. Parking is $5 for cars, $7 for RVs.

Six Flags California, 26101 Magic Mountain Parkway, Valencia (off Interstate 5); [phone]. Thrill fans have new rides to sample at side-by-side parks, roller coaster-filled Magic Mountain and its next-door companion water park, Hurricane Harbor. At Magic Mountain, Superman the Escape, billed as the tallest, fastest and most technologically advanced thrill ride ever built, uses an electromagnetic acceleration system to blast riders in open 15-passenger vehicles up to 100 mph in seven seconds. Riders zoom 41 stories into the sky (twice as high as Niagara Falls), then experience 6.5 seconds of weightlessness as they plummet backward toward the earth on an L-shaped track.

The experience, park officials say, is similar to an F-18 jet fighter rocketing off an aircraft carrier from 0 to 170 mph in 2.5 seconds.

At Hurricane Harbor, the newest water ride is Black Snake Summit, which features five speed slides - including two totally enclosed twisting slides, one almost vertical plunge and two totally enclosed twisting tube slides. Slides - with names like Venom Drop, Coiled Cobra and Twisted Fang - range from 300 to 650 feet long. Also new is Bamboo Racer, a six-lane, head-first single toboggan ride 45 feet tall and 625 feet long. For the fainter of heart, Reptile Ridge offers five new body slides - three enclosed and two open - ranging from a 70-foot straight drop to a 255-foot gentle slide.

Both Six Flags Magic Mountain and Six Flags Hurricane Harbor are open daily through the summer. Both open at 10 a.m.; closing hours vary. Magic Mountain admission: $34 adults, $20 seniors 55 and older, $17 kids under 48 inches tall, free for kids 2 and younger. Hurricane Harbor admission: $18 adult, $11 for kids under 48 inches tall and seniors 55 and older; kids 2 and younger free. A combo ticket for admission to both parks costs $49. Parking is $6.

Universal Studios Hollywood, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City (off the Hollywood (101) Freeway at Universal Center Drive or Lankershim Boulevard exits); [phone]. Although it's not new, Jurassic Park - The Ride, a perilous raft ride along a jungle river modeled after the granddaddy of modern dinosaur movies, has gained new cachet this summer with the release of the movie, ``The Lost World: Jurassic Park.'' The ride includes an 84-foot plunge down what's billed as the longest, fastest, steepest water descent ever built, and a journey through a futuristic 13-story labyrinth spanning six acres of giant robotic and animatronic figures - some of which have a taste for visitors.

For those who like to stay on dry land, ``Totally Nickelodeon,'' a live show of interactive games and stunts from Nickelodeon's popular television show, will let kid volunteers get wet or covered with green slime as they compete with opposing teams.

Universal Studios Hollywood is open daily. Hours vary by season; call to check. Cost (including a 45-minute tram tour of the studio back lot) is $36 for visitors 12 and older; $26 ages 3-11; $29 for 60 and older; kids under 3 are free. Parking is $6 for cars, $7 for RVs.

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3 Photos

Photo: (1) Magic Mountain's Superman the Escape is billed as the tallest, fastest thrill ride ever built. Its riders experience 6.5 seconds of weightlessness.

(2) Disneyland's Hunchback of Notre Dame Festival of Fools is a Frontierland feature.

(3) Raging Waters in San Dimas celebrates its 15th anniversary this summer.