Magic Bus By Antenna Theater

Our group booked a trip several months ago, and Magic Bus called and changed the date. That was fine, even though some of the original people wanting to go could not on the alternate date. We all took Bart from East Bay to San Francisco to catch the bus. They were a no-​show. After contacting them for a refund, the person coordinating for our group accepted their apology (and refund) and a free trip on a later date. Well ten of us went last Wednesday for our re-​scheduled date. No Bus!!! When called, the bus company representative gave us ridiculous excuses! No, do not spend your money — this bus company is not dependable. In this case three times was not a charm.

FLAKES! I booked a tour online for a 2:30 PM tour. Two days later a representative called and asked if I could change to the 12:30 PM. I said OK. The day before the tour a representative called to tell me the tour was cancelled because they didn’t have a guide for the tour. I asked if they had other tours and was told yes a 10:30 AM tour but it was booked. I asked why the 10:30 AM guide couldn’t cover the 12:30 PM tour and there was no explanation. Also, told there were no other tours that day. Mostly tourist business, I assume and only here for a limited time. Flakes who don’t protect its customers reservations and cancels at the last minute. There are better tours. Check out the Movie Tour of San Francisco. The 60’s are over Magic Bus as is tuning out.
So I could have let it go except for the following: when the company cancelled it promised to refund to my credit card within a few days. SIX WEEKS later, still no refund. So I just had to spend about an hour looking for confirmation, writing my credit card company. FLAKES who keep your money and waste your time.

I bought our tickets online and then read reviews. I was a bit nervous I had made a mistake. I didn’t, It was wonderful! We had a great time & saw a lot of the city. The guild was so sweet & fun and the driver was great.
I would highly recommend this tour. It was fun without being too cheesy. You could really tell the guide loves the city and it’s history.

A distinctive experience. I live in SF so I thought I wouldn’t like something touristy like this but it was fun. I liked the 60s music, the funny tour guide, and the bubbles coming out of the bus.

Great bus tour highly recommended!
I went on my 2^nd Magic Bus tour on January 4, 2014. I had previously gone on the Magic Bus on August 25, 2012. That 2012 tour was awesome! as well as this tour in 2014! In 2012 we rolled away and video screens came down telling us about the 60s and China Town. As the video about China Town completed the bus stopped and guess where we were? In China Town. That was cool and was followed up with that same kind of pattern throughout the bus tour.
Well this time was a little different but still great. It started out with the same audio as before but no video screens came down right away. It was more timed to the outside locations and done very well with personal narration by the outstanding person leading the tour. Video screens did come down in areas and were very informative.
Magic bus has continued to hit home run after home run here. Highly recommended to anyone that wants to experience a great tour of SF.
Keep up the great work!

Went in the Magic Bus and it was one wild ride! Loved seeing the real peace and love side of the city. Our guide Treeflower was a gem as well! She really got us in the 60’s mood and was so sweet!
There are a few complaints here about the video quality. It’s not the video it’s that you are so close to the screen. All you have to so is look at the screen next to you or behind you and it’s not a problem.
All in all a must do for anyone visiting beautiful San Francisco! Make sure you do it with Treeflower if possible!

6 of us went on this & we enjoyed ourselves. Treeflower was a fun hostess and the driver was amazing on crowded streets. I felt the video could have been better quality. It was a bit blurry and difficult to understand. I also thought we would have spent more than 15 minutes at the GG Park, the flowers we’re really beautiful. I would have loved more sing-​a-​long songs. It was great watching the people in the streets looking at us and shooting them peace signs. Of course we were always watching out for the man! It is not really a sightseeing adventure but more of a moving theater and experience. We got what we came for and enjoyed our trip!

Loved this tour! It was unique, interactive, and our tour guide Treeflower was so funny and sweet! Not like other tour buses. When we drove through the less exciting parts of town they dropped screens in front of the windows and projected a mini documentary about sf in the 60s.

I saw this tour and knew I had to take my Dad on it. He loves to tell stories about the «hippie days» and the bands he saw play at Speedway Meadows. So we planned a Friday and went. Goldstar gave us the wrong pick up location, but the Magic bus made sure to find us! My Dad had a blast, and I enjoyed it as well. The driver and the tour guide were both super nice. It was funny seeing peoples reactions to the bus as we drove thorough SF! Everyone should experience the Magic Bus!

This was the most unique tour of SF I have ever been on. It takes you on a psychedelic trip not only through the city, but through time itself! Showing all the places that the 60’s and 70’s effected the great city.
Seeing the city like never before was done through elaborate music, movies, and of course our amazing tour guide «Artemis.»
The tour was very interactive and informative, it was so much more sitting and listening.

The Magic Bus was unlike any tour I’ve taken. It ran close to 2 hours, and gave those who attended insight on parts of San Francisco during the 1960s. It also gave a brief history lesson on this wonderful city through music, video clips shown on their projector screens (yes, they were actually inside the bus), and commentary by our tour guide Artemis. I was able to take part in this during a day with beautiful weather, which made the experience even more enjoyable.

I had the best time on this tour! The guide Artemis had wonderful energy & it kept my spirits up. There were fun props during the history such as dropping LSD (mints) & beautiful flowers that appeared after our break with baskets of water. It was neat to see the Haight & all the other video clips & singing along to the songs. I would def recomend this to anyone who has an appreciation for the vibe of the times.

I really, really wanted to like the Magic Bus tour. My friend and I dug around in our closets and came up with some pseudo-​hippy attire so we were excited & all ready to go. What was I expecting? To spend more time in The Haight, obviously. Since it was the center of the Hippy movement I just assumed that we would get off the bus and walk around getting some personal narration. What we really got was a 90 minute bus ride all around the city, sometimes stuck in traffic. We went through the financial district, Chinatown, etc., etc. We passed through the Haight, on board the bus, in about 3 minutes. As someone else’s review said, it’s a shame that they have put so much effort and money into the bus and the video without planning the experience better.
There was a «raid» toward the end where a fake cop got on board looking for pot. Tacky & embarrassing. This could have been sooo much better if someone actually took the time to write a script for the guides that isn’t so banal, trite, and cartoonish. If you’re interested in the 60’s, find a book about the era and make a list of places you want to visit on your own, and take a taxi between locations. Now that would be a fun day.

Fantastic! Unbelievable!
I had so much fun taking this multi-​media bus trek
through San Francisco. It delights all the senses as you travel back
to 1967. The Magic Bus covers all the major themes of the sixties
counterculture while creating a wonderful sense of community through music, short period films, and humor. Artemis, the actor/​guide worked overtime to make sure everyone had a blast. Finally there’s a tourist attraction in SF that seeks to do something original and suceeds.
A must do!

Interesting.. . This is not a tour to take if you are seeking to actually SEE San Francisco. But, for those out to have a fun time, it is that. The riders even were dressed the part with their tye-​died shirts, big A$$ wigs, and psychodelic glasses. The schedule ran very loose, and we ended up having to get off the bus, due to another scheduled event. But, all in all, I would say, take a group of friends, dress the part, smoke a joint, and just go with the groovy vibe.. .

Good in theory, not so hot in execution.
I was a bit embarrassed boarding a bus in the middle of downtown by a woman and her giant rabbit puppet talking to everyone getting on board.
I appreciate the idea. However, (and maybe I’m biased) but I’m a 3^rd generation native and my mom was a hippy during the 60’s-70’s and her history and stories are much better. Granted, she does not have trippy lights and music in her car, but I also dont have to pay for it either. I’ve really enjoyed driving around the bay area with her and listening to her history and stories about that era. Yes, because it’s my mom, but also because she tells me the behind the scene stories, the nitty gritty, the not so flowery and nice about the hippy movement. She also tells some wild stories about hanging out with Janis Joplin etc. You just cant get that on a tour…
I think my mom should be doing this. Her tour would be compelling, more than likely a disturbing, more accurate and a lot cooler– hence no puppets, no flowery bs.
It’s not the best way to see the city as you get to see about 1 important street per neighborhood and you can’t get off the bus to site see.
I think they could have taken this farther and it would be better. The little flowers being given out and all that is cute, but I’d go more for authenticity.

Do NOT take this bus if you are trying to get a feel for the city. It is NOT a «wonderfully unique and fun way to see the city.»
You will be majorly disappointed.
Screens cover the windows for a major portion of the ride showing you historical footage about the 60s/​70s. You will see bits of the city (about 3blocks each of Chinatown, North Beach, Financial District and Haight Ashbury) and then those screens go down again.
The history lesson is disjointed — as was life in the 60s/​70s but you don’t have any of the aids (magic brownies or funny cigarettes) of those years to make this ride any more pleasant. It is pretty much as fun as your history lessons in the 60s/​70s.
Do NOT take this bus if you think you will be riding around singing great 60s-​70s songs. The most you will hear/​sing is 2 lines of any song. Then you head back into your history lesson.
What is so sad is that there obviously has been a huge amount of time and effort put into the gathering and editing of the 60s/​70s information. Unfortunately, it is not understandable unless you already have a solid foundation of that time period. If you do not, it will not make much sense. And if you do know about the 60s/​70s, you will be bored silly by the end of 90minutes.
I took the tour based on previous glowing Bus Ride Unilocal reviews (laughs? tears? you gotta be kidding!) I’ve never been so mislead by Unilocal reviews before this; those misleading reviews give Unilocal reviews — and by Elite reviewers. They must have gotten on the bus with the magic brownies included. If we could have gotten off the bus early, we would have.
If you go, don’t say you were not WARNED! You’ll regret paying $ 20 (or $ 40 if you don’t get a discount) but you’ll really regret spending 90min on this bus.

This is why I love SF — we even have a magical bus tour. Not just any tour bus, but a magical 1960 historical 90 minute flashback to a time many of us were not alive to experience.
The Magic Bus is this funky decked out school bus complete with lights flashing and tunes playing. The 90 minutes had us going through Chinatown, North Beach, Financial District and of course Haight Ashbury. The fun and unique thing about this bus is that as you drove the screens would come down over the windows and you would watch footage of the 1960’s and get a history lesson. Very cool and I learned more about the city I love.
I brought an out of town guest with me on this trippy ride and he loved it — plus it was a wonderful way to see some of SF complete with the Magical Bus Hippie and flowers for our hair. Great time — check it out if you are looking for a unique and fun experience in SF! Peace and Love Unilocalers. :)

This is a unique tour experience. The bus picks you up from Union Square and takes you on an audiovisual touristic journey. You go through Chinatown, North Beach, the financial district, Haight-​Ashbury, and Golden Gate Park. Occasionally, the curtains of the bus automatically lower and a historical documentary is played for you. It teaches you about San Francisco history, the Beatles, and assassinations. Accessories provided include candy, flowers, and free love in the form of free 3-​D glasses.
Bring your own acid.

3 hours after Ianding at SFO, I headed to Union Square to board the Magic Bus Tour with a group of fellow Unilocalers.
On the Magic Bus, you sit facing the side windows (not the front) and watch a video/​movie which is played on screens which roll up/​down over the windows. The content focuses on the 1960s — music, politics, drugs etc. It is not completely San Francisco focused but they do tie it in nicely to the city more towards the end.
Flowers and candy are circulated by a very friendly hippie, she even blows bubbles out the bus window!
This tour is extremely FUN (sing-​a-​long music!) and packed with interesting content.
My only complaint was that the bus windows were covered for the majority of the journey and I didn’t get a chance to see most of the streets and outdoor sites. If you are local to SF, you probably wouldn’t mind. But as this was my first day in SF, I would have liked to be able to see outside a bit more.