Sesame Place

Sesame Place

Slogan	Go Before They Grow
Location	Langhorne, Pennsylvania, United States
Coordinates	40°11′09″N 74°52′19″W / 40.185808°N 74.871976°WCoordinates: 40°11′09″N 74°52′19″W / 40.185808°N 74.871976°W
Theme	Sesame Street
Owner	SeaWorld Entertainment (under a license from Sesame Workshop)
Opened	July 30, 1980
Operating season	May through December
Area	14 acres (5.7 ha)
Rides
Total	16 dry rides & 9 major water rides
Website	Sesame Place Home Page

Sesame Place is a children's theme park, located on the outskirts of Langhorne, Pennsylvania based on the Sesame Street television program. It includes a variety of rides, shows, and water attractions suited to young children. It is one of 11 parks owned and operated by SeaWorld Entertainment with a license from Sesame Workshop (formerly known as Children's Television Workshop).

Overview

Sesame Place first opened in 1980 near the Oxford Valley Mall and initiated the expansion of the commercial complex in the vicinity. It was designed by Eric McMillan, a Canadian designer, Sandra Hanna of Lambertville, New Jersey, and several other designers. The park is open from early May through Halloween for The Count's Halloween Spooktacular, and December for A Very Furry Christmas. The original park was 3 acres (1.2 ha) and featured play areas and large computer labs where kids could color their favorite Sesame Street characters. Since then, it has expanded to 14 acres (5.7 ha) with rides and water attractions. The expansions included the construction of Cookie's Monster Land in 2014 - the park's largest renovation to date.

In 2007, it became the first theme park in Pennsylvania to become completely smoke-free.^[1]

Related parks

Sesame Place is one of 11 parks operated by SeaWorld Entertainment. Others include SeaWorld Orlando, SeaWorld San Diego, SeaWorld San Antonio, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Discovery Cove, Aquatica Florida, Adventure Island (water park), and Water Country USA.

For about 30 years, Busch Entertainment operated Sesame Place in Pennsylvania. In 2009 and 2010, under the new ownership, kiddie areas in Busch Gardens and Sea World parks were converted to Sesame themes. A second Sesame Place park also existed in Irving, Texas from 1982–1984 (a Walmart Supercenter now sits in its place), closing its doors due to poor attendance and a large number of water parks competing for its business. A third one in Tokyo, Japan was open from 1990 until December 31, 2006.

There are also several international Sesame Street themed attractions in Monterrey, Mexico, called Parque Plaza Sesamo (Plaza Sésamo) and in Salou, Spain in the PortAventura park that is called SésamoAventura

Attractions

The Count's Splash Castle

Park Entrance Area

• Grover's Vapor Trail - a roller coaster geared toward small children as young as three years of age. A custom Vekoma family roller coaster with several helixes.

Twiddlebug Land

- an area themed to the Twiddlebug characters. Everything seems oversized here.

• Sky Splash - a large raft water slide that stands more than 6 stories high, from which one can see the Philadelphia skyline on clear days
• Teeny Tiny Tidal Wave - a 10,000-square-foot (930 m²) wave pool formed from Ernie's wild garden hose.
• Slimey's Chutes - two spiral tube water slides. Single and double tubes are used.
• Silly Sand Slides - three giant slides; A large watch, a spoon on a bag of marbles and a dumped bucket of sand.
• Mix n' Match Twiddle Tracks - a kid-powered railroad for the little ones.

Seasonal attractions

These attractions only operate in either Halloween or Christmas.

Halloween

• Rubber Duckie Dance Party - A dance party in the Teeny Tiny Tidal Wave pool. ^[2]
• Abby Cadabby's Magical Halloween Maze - A Halloween maze with a lot of interactive features. The objective is to find Abby's lost fairy wand. ^[3]
• Not-So-Spooky Hayride - Join your favorite Muppets on a not so spooky ride! ^[4]

Christmas

• Sesame Place Furry Express- Hop aboard a train to the Twiddle bug Gingerbread Factory. Twiddle bug Land is closed and decorated in lights and gingerbread. Hop aboard the train to enter and see this once a year attraction!

Sesame Island

• Big Bird's Rambling River - a slow-moving, 1,000-foot (300 m) waterway winding through Sesame Island.
• Ernie's Waterworks - a small water play area for the little ones.

Sesame Street

• Sunny Day Carousel - A carousel with Sesame Street designed horses. Its location was formerly the home of the famous Big Bird Steps.
• Sesame Studios - home to Elmo the Musical - Live at Sesame Place!

The Count's Castle Land

• The Count's Splash Castle - The park's largest attraction opened in the Spring of 2009. This multi-level, water park attraction features over 90 play elements, including a 1000-gallon tipping bucket.
• Sesame Streak - A pair of tube water slides, one for single riders and the other for double riders.
• Slippery Slopes - Four short vertical water slides that drop into a three-foot pool.

Seasonal attractions

These 3 attractions are operated only in the Christmas and Halloween seasons.

• The Castle Swing - Swing forward and backwards on this swing ride, and try to reach the sky! (similar to a playground swing)^[5]
• The Count's Fly By - Hop on in the Count's planes and soar throughout the sky! (a smaller, similar version to Elmo's Cloud Chaser) ^[6]
• The Count Around - Take a seat in one of 6 colorful hot air balloons and relax! (a ferris wheel) ^[7]

Elmo's World

• Peek-A-Bug - riders spin and slide from side to side on the back of a smiling bug.
• Blast Off - a frog hopper, tower drop ride in which riders travel to Planet Elmo with the furry red monster himself.
• Elmo's Cloud Chaser - riders fly around in swings.
• Flyin' Fish - two people can ride together on the fins of an Elmo fish.

Sliding Land

• Snuffy's Slides - two long dry tube slides for kids 12 and under.
• Bert & Ernie's Slip & Slide - two intertwining body flumes that empty into a splash pool.

Cookie's Monster Land

• Captain Cookie's High C's Adventure - pirate ships circle a rising and falling track
• Oscar's Rusty Rotten Rockets - a whip-like ride, but with hanging garbage can shaped rockets as vehicles
• Honker Dinger Derby - a twist-like ride
• Monster Mix-up - a teacup ride
• Flying Cookie Jars - a 40-foot (12 m) high tower ride that affords a view of the park.
• Monster Clubhouse - net climbing
• Mini Monster Clubhouse - play area for smaller children

Former lands

Nets Area

• Nets & Climbs - hundreds of yards of cargo netting connected by 200 feet (61 m) of suspended net tunnels.
• Ernie's Bed Bounce - a huge, springy yellow air mattress.
• Grover's World Twirl - a character-themed teacup ride.
• Big Bird's Balloon Race - a 40-foot (12 m) high balloon tower ride that affords a view of the park.
• Cookie Mountain - a tall blue mountain that kids seven and under can attempt to scale on their own.
• Big Bird's Court - a small playground and Big Bird's Nest, a large padded area with blocks kids 5 and under can build with and run around on.
• Monster Maze - a small, sand bottom pit with large "monster" bags kids can run around in.

Shows and Parades

• Neighborhood Street Party - A parade with all costume characters and has special stops during Halloween and Christmas time
• Elmo the Musical - Live at Sesame Place! - Imagination, math, and music add up in Elmo the Musical - Live at Sesame Place! Join Elmo as it's time to raise the curtain and light the lights, when this brand-new show takes over the Sesame Studio at Sesame Place. ^[8]!
• The Magic of Art! - An all new show at Sesame Place that shows kids the different types of art. Shows in the "Sesame Street Neighborhood Theater" (formerly "Monster Rock Theater).^[9]
• Let's Play Together! - A show starring the "Sesame Street" characters. Located in "Abby's Paradise Theater".^[10]!

Former shows

• Elmo's World Live! - An interactive show that encourages audience participation and imagination. It is about 15 minutes long.

Costume characters

Families can have breakfast with the characters an hour before the rest of the park opens. This isn't included in regular admission price. The entire Sesame Place crew struts down Sesame Street twice a day in the "Neighborhood Street Party" parade. This features all of the Sesame Place characters, large floats, dancers, and music. The character include:

• Elmo
• Baby Bear
• Big Bird
• Ernie
• Bert
• Grover / Super Grover
• Abby Cadabby
• Rosita
• Zoe
• Cookie Monster
• Count von Count
• Telly Monster
• Prairie Dawn
• Oscar the Grouch
• Murray Monster
• Honker and Dinger

Discontinued characters:

• Hoots the Owl (removed in 2009)
• Jackman Wolf (removed in 2010)

References

1. "where Sesame Street comes to life". Sesame Place. Archived from the original on June 9, 2008. Retrieved 2009-09-03.
2. http://sesameplace.com/en/langhorne/play/halloween-fun/rubber-duckie-costume-party/
3. http://sesameplace.com/en/langhorne/play/halloween-fun/abby-cadabbys-magical-halloween-maze/
4. http://sesameplace.com/en/langhorne/play/halloween-fun/abby-cadabbys-magical-halloween-maze/
5. http://sesameplace.com/en/langhorne/play/dry-fun/the-castle-swing/
6. http://sesameplace.com/en/langhorne/play/dry-fun/the-counts-fly-by/
7. http://sesameplace.com/en/langhorne/play/dry-fun/the-count-around/
8. https://sesameplace.com/en/langhorne/attractions/shows/elmo-the-musical
9. https://sesameplace.com/en/langhorne/attractions/shows/the-magic-of-art?from=Top_Nav
10. https://sesameplace.com/en/langhorne/attractions/shows/lets-play-together

Further reading

• Chris English (2007-05-03). "What's new at Sesame Place?". phillyBurbs (Calkins Media, Inc.). Archived from the original on 2007-09-30.
• Manasee Wagh (2008-11-05). "Variety Kids Celebrate Halloween at Sesame Place?". phillyBurbs (Calkins Media, Inc.).
• Crissa Shoemaker Debree (2008-08-18). "Psst…Oxford Valley isn’t closing". phillyBurbs (Calkins Media, Inc.). Archived from the original on December 5, 2008.
• Jo Ciavaglia (2008-08-28). "Abby Cadabby…a baby girl born at Sesame Place". phillyBurbs (Calkins Media, Inc.).
• Jacqueline Burt Wang (2008-08-08). "We're Outta Here! Four Fantastic Day Trips For Families". New York Post (NYP Holdings, Inc.).
• Kristie Rearick (2008-06-27). "'Hip Hop Harry' takes stage at Sesame Place". South Jersey News Onlin.
• Kara Mcguire (2008-05-02). "Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Place?". Star Tribune.
• "Durham-Wahlberg family at Sesame Place". People Magazine. 2007-08-20.

External links

• Sesame Place Official Site
• Sesame Place at the Roller Coaster DataBase