Sesame Place Philadelphia

Sesame Place
	File:Sesame Place Logo.svg
Location	Langhorne, Pennsylvania, United States
Coordinates	40°11′09″N 74°52′19″W / 40.185808°N 74.871976°W
Opened	July 30th, 1980
Owner	SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment
Slogan	Be a Kid or Be a Kid Again
Operating season	May through October
Area	14 acres (57,000 m2)
Attractions
Total	17 dry rides & 10 major water rides
Website	Sesame Place Home Page

Sesame Place is an American theme park in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. It derives its theme from the Sesame Street television program and characters like Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Ernie, and Bert. It includes a variety of rides, shows, and water attractions suited to very young children. It is one of 10 parks operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, a division of The Blackstone Group.

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. The park is open from late April through Halloween, and is also open on Thanksgiving weekend and some days in December. 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, it 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, it became the first theme park in Pennsylvania to become completely smoke free.^[1]

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 (Tokyo Sesame Place) was open from 1990 until December 31, 2006.

There are also several international Sesame Street themed attractions in Monterrey, Mexico (Plaza Sésamo) and São Paulo, Brazil inside the Hopi Hari theme park.

Attractions

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.

River Area

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 Neighborhood Area

Sunny Day Carousel - A carousel with Sesame Street designed horses. Its location was formerly the home of the famous Big Bird Steps.

Splash Castle Area

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.

Elmo's World - an area themed to the popular Sesame Street segment

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.
Cloud Chaser - riders fly around in swings.
Flyin' Fish - two people can ride together on the fins of an Elmo fish.

Near Elmo's World

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.

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

Neighborhood Street Party - A parade with all costume carectors and has special stops during Halloween and Christmas time

Elmo's World Live! - An interactive show that encourages audience participation and imagination. It is about 15 minutes long
Elmo Rocks! - An all new Rock n' Roll show starring Elmo, other Sesame Street characters, and two out of costume characters.

Plus, three holiday shows: Elmo's Halloween and Elmo's Christmas show which is about Elmo talking about these holidays. Countdown to Halloween - An adventure where The Count leaves his castle to YOU! The WSME radio show - Halloween is celebrated on an old time radio show and The Count is the master of Scarceness!!! Other shows include 1,2,3 Christmas tree, elmo's Christmas wish,And a sesame Christmas show

Costume characters

Families can 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 "Neighborhood Street Party" parade. This features all of the Sesame Place characters, large floats, dancers, and music. The characters include:

Elmo
Baby bear
Big Bird
Ernie
Bert
Grover/ super Grover
Abby Cadabby
Rosita
Zoe
Cookie Monster
The Count
Telly Monster
Prairie Dawn
Oscar
Murray

Discontinued characters:

Hoots the Owl (removed in 2009)
Jackman Wolf (removed in 2010)
Honkers only around in the 80's and 90's proboly

References

^ "where Sesame Street comes to life". Sesame Place. Retrieved 2009-09-03.^{[dead link]}

External links

Sesame Place Official Site

[1] "where Sesame Street comes to life". Sesame Place. Retrieved 2009-09-03.^{[dead link]}

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