Growing up in Southern California during the 1980s, I was a frequent and always awestruck visitor to Disneyland. Counting family excursions, birthday parties, and school-sponsored “field trips,” I went to Walt Disney’s magical amusement park more than a dozen times.

My favorite place was Tom Sawyer’s Island, a wooded retreat endlessly circumnavigated by a paddlewheel steamboat named the Mark Twain. To this particular nine-year-old, Tom Sawyer’s Island was endlessly fascinating: It had hills to climb, caves to explore, and a frontier stockade that my friends and I would alternately pretend to attack and defend. Tom Sawyer’s Island is off-limits to visitors now, no doubt because a few youngsters tried to fulfill my fantasy of permanently taking up residence there. Today, Disneyland is just as fascinating as ever — even to this 40-something dad, his wife, and their passel of “kits.”

So what’s new at the “kingdom that Walt built?” Since the 1970s, quite a bit: Dozens of new attractions have been added to Adventureland, Frontierland, Tomorrowland, Fantasyland and Main Street, USA. Additionally, an entirely new amusement park — Disney’s California Adventure — has been created on the land that once faced the main entrance to Disneyland.

Today, the biggest crowd-pleasers among new Disney attractions are the Indiana Jones Adventure, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, the Star Wars Tour, the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster interactive laser-tag ride, and the California Screamin’ rollercoaster. For shopping and dining, nothing beats Downtown Disney.

A typical family with a suitable degree of wanderlust can experience most of the delights that Disneyland has to offer in two or three days. But this reality prompted my wife to ask: “Now that we’ve seen Disneyland, what can we do during the rest of our vacation in Anaheim?”

Plenty, actually. This is because Anaheim happens to be at the exact center of the most attraction-rich section of Southern California. Within an hour’s drive are such family-oriented destinations as the SS Queen Mary oceanliner in Long Beach, the 12,000 marine animals on display at the Aquarium of the Pacific, also in Long Beach; Universal Studios — the world’s largest movie studio and theme park — in Hollywood; and, to the south near San Diego, Legoland, SeaWorld Adventure Park, and the world-famous San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park.

However, my family was not willing to use the four remaining days of our vacation to see such mundane sights. Adventure is what they were after. And so, with a little research, we found just that within a short drive of our “home base” hotel.

Air Combat, USA

For the truly adventurous, we recommend this hair-raising experience at Fullerton Airport seven miles north of Disneyland. Operating since 1987, Air Combat, USA, offers thrill-seekers the experience of air combat and dog-fighting while piloting two-seater aircraft over the Pacific Ocean. Guest pilots are coached by military-trained instructor pilots, and — after one hour of classroom training — are sent aloft with an expert co-pilot to outsmart, outmaneuver, and outgun their opponent. (If you manage to “hit” an “enemy” plane, smoke flares activate and the attacker spirals downward in a “death dive.”)

“We consider ourselves a fantasy camp for wannabe fighter pilots,” says Denise Jennings, marketing director for Air Combat, USA. “It is far more intense than any rollercoaster ride you can imagine.”

The entire air combat experience is recorded on several on-board video cameras, which the guest pilot can show later to friends and family back home. This is not a simulator and no experience is required. However, guest pilots must be at least 18 years old and able to operate a parachute.

It costs $1,195 for a one-hour air combat experience that includes six dogfights. It costs $1,895 for two separate one-hour flights that include 10 dogfights. (230 N. Dale Pl., Fullerton, CA 92833; Tel: +714.522.7590; Web: www.aircombatusa.com.)

Mission San Juan Capistrano

Southern California is famous for revering youth, yet this relatively new state — California was admitted into the union in the late 19th century — intensely cherishes its cultural treasures. This contradiction is perfectly illustrated by the reverence Californians accord to the adobe missions established in the early 1700s by Spanish missionaries. Among the 21 original settlements placed evenly between San Diego to San Francisco, the best-preserved chapel is the seaside mission at San Juan Capistrano. In addition to its swallows, which famously fly home to this lovely tree-shaded refuge from their winter roost in Argentina in mid-March, the mission is renowned for lushly landscaped water gardens sheltered by red bougainvillea, purple jacaranda, vine roses and aromatic pepper trees.

“Our grounds are a place for education, contemplation and inspiration,” says Barbara Beier, the Mission’s manager of development and marketing. “Time spent here means being transported to the time of the California missions.”

The illusion of being whisked back to colonial California is enhanced by “re-enactors” dressed in mission-era costumes who play the parts of people who may have lived in an active mission at that time. After delighting in the koi ponds, our youngsters were mesmerized while watching people make tallow candles, cook flatbreads in a brick wood oven, and perform native music.

If you go: Adult admission to Mission San Juan Capistrano is $9; children age four to 11 are $4. 26801 Ortega Hwy, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675; Tel: +949.234.1300; Web: www.missionsjc.com.

Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

When you think of family attractions, presidential libraries do not immediately come to mind. But Richard Nixon was a unique man, and this repository of his papers and other memorabilia is no less special. Nixon was born and raised in southern California. A man with modest roots and a complex personality, he is a perfect example of how any person born in the United States can indeed become its president.

Located 20 miles north of Anaheim on nine hillside acres, the half-dozen buildings on the “campus” include the house where Nixon was born and grew up. The museum offers visitors a rare glimpse into the events and people that shaped and were shaped by Nixon. Permanent exhibits deal with world leaders Nixon encountered during his six years in office, a portion of the Berlin Wall, a tribute to Nixon’s wife, Pat; plus an exhibit that explores Nixon’s role in space exploration, support of the environment, the Watergate scandal, civil rights, the war on drugs, and the war on cancer. The 100,000-square-foot library includes an additional exhibit gallery, meeting hall, conference facilities and gift shop.

“I think that the Nixon Library makes a great addition to your stay in Orange County,” says Anthony Curtis, director of marketing. “Our exhibits celebrate the life and times of Richard Nixon’s pre-presidential, presidential, and post-presidential legacy.”

If you go: Admission prices to the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum are $9.95 for adults and $3.75 for children above the age of six. 18001 Yorba Linda Blvd., Yorba Linda, CA 92886; Tel: +714.993.5075; Web: www.nixonlibrary.org.