Sesame Place

Sesame Place
Sesame Place
Website	Sesame Place Home Page
Owner	SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment
Opened	July, 1980
Operating season	May through October
Area	14 acres
Rides	17 dry rides & 10 major water rides total;
Slogan	Be a Kid or Be a Kid Again

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Coordinates: 28°24′56″N 81°27′22″W / 28.4156°N 81.4560°W / 28.4156; -81.4560

Sesame Place is an American theme park outside of Langhorne, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States in Middletown Towsnhip, northeast of Philadelphia, and west of Trenton, New Jersey. Coordinates: 40°11′05″N 74°52′18″W / 40.1846°N 74.8718°W / 40.1846; -74.8718 It derives its theme from the Sesame Street television program and characters like Big Bird, Elmo, Ernie and Bert. Sesame Place includes a variety of rides, shows and water attractions suited to very young children. Sesame Place is one of 10 parks operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, a division of The Blackstone Group.

[edit] Overview

Sesame Place first opened in 1980 near the Oxford Valley Mall and initiated the expansion of the commercial complex in the vicinity. The park is open from early May through Halloween. The original park was 3 acres (12,000 m²) and featured play areas and large computer labs where kids could color their favorite Sesame Street characters. Since then, the park has expanded to 14 acres (57,000 m²), with rides and water attractions. The expansions included the construction of Sesame Island and Twiddlebug Land.

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

[edit] Related parks

Sesame Place is one of 10 parks operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. Other parks include SeaWorld Orlando, SeaWorld San Diego and SeaWorld San Antonio; Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Discovery Cove and Aquatica (Orlando), Adventure Island (water park) and Water Country USA.

A Sesame Place park also existed in Irving, Texas from 1982 - 1984, closing its doors due to poor attendance and a large number of water parks competing for its business. Another in Tokyo, Japan (Tokyo Sesame Place) was open from 1990 until December 31, 2006.

There are also several international Sesame Street themed locations including Monterrey, Mexico (Parque Plaza Sesamo) and Sao Paulo, Brazil inside the Hopi Hari theme park.

[edit] Attractions

The Count's Splash Castle

Two of the more popular attractions at the park include Sky Splash and Vapor Trail. Sky Splash is a large raft water slide that stands more than 6 stories high, from which one can see the Philadelphia skyline on clear days. Vapor Trail is a roller coaster geared toward small children as young as three years of age. The Elmo's World group of attractions opened in May 2006 and features three dry rides for young children. The park's largest attraction, the Count's Splash Castle, opened in the Spring of 2009. This multi-level, water park attraction features over 90 play elements, including a 1000 gallon tipping bucket.

Some of the other attractions include:

Peek-A-Bug- Part of Elmo's World, riders spin and slide from side to side on the back of a smiling bug.
Blast Off- Part of Elmo's World, a tower drop ride.
Flyin' Fish- Part of Elmo's World, two people can ride together on the fins of an Elmo fish.
Sunny Day Carousel- A carousel ride with Sesame Street designed horses.
Big Bird's Balloon Race- a 40-foot high balloon tower ride that affords a view of the park.
Ernie's Bed Bounce- a huge, springy yellow air mattress.
Big Bird's Rambling River- a slow-moving, 1,000-foot waterway winding through Sesame Island.
Grover's World Twirl- a character-themed teacup ride.
Net's & Climbs- hundreds of yards of cargo netting connected by 200 feet of suspended net tunnels.
Teeny Tiny Tidal Wave- 10,000-square-foot wave pool located in Twiddlebug Land where everything is oversized.
Bert & Ernie's Slip & Slide- two intertwining body flumes that empty into a splash pool.

[edit] Shows

Rock Around the Block Parade- Sesame Street costume characters parade down Sesame Street up to twice a day.
Elmo's World Live!- an interactive show that encourages audience participation as encourages imagination.
Abby Cadabby's Treasure Hunt- Elmo, Cookie Monster, Rosita, Grover, Oscar, and Abby embark on a treasure hunt.
To Be Announced in 2010- An all new Rock n' Roll show starring Elmo.

[edit] Costume characters

Families may have breakfast with the characters an hour before the rest of the park opens. This is not included in regular admission price. The entire Sesame Place crew struts down Sesame Street twice a day in the "Rock around the Block" parade. The parade features all of the Sesame Place characters, large floats, dancers and music. The characters include: