Opening Day at Sesame Place Promises a Fun 2011 Season!

This past Saturday, Mama and her clan were invited to participate in the opening day festivities at Sesame Place in Bucks County.  What picture perfect weather we had!  It was a bit too cool for the water rides at the park, but that did not put a damper in our day at all.  We arrived promptly when the park opened at 9:30 and had a chance to check out the day’s schedule with the park map.  We picked out a show time for Elmo Rocks and decided to see the two parades planned for the day.  The first parade was the annual character arrival Corvette Parade. We got to line the parade route to see all of the characters, including the newest addition, Murray, arrive sitting in beautiful corvettes.

Murray's debut at Sesame Place

After the parade we headed over to the rides.  My son, at age three and a half, can be somewhat fussy with rides and decided he preferred the hands on attractions as opposed to the traditional rides.  We did enjoy the teacups at Grover’s World Twirl, which made my son laugh hysterically because he made mom and grandmom turn green!  He loved being a monkey on the Nets & Climbs, dragging his dad along with him.  I was surprised how daring he was, considering this is a kid that won’t ride on the carousel!  He loved the Monster Maze and didn’t even get phased at being knocked over a few times by the swinging bags.  Big Bird’s Nest was another favorite.  It is a large circular “nest” that is a bit bouncy without being a full-fledge trampoline.   There were lots of soft, vinyl blocks that the kids had a blast using to build with or toss around, or even jump on!  We visited the nest twice, he liked it that much!  We saw the newest ride, Elmo’s Cloud Chaser, which is a family friendly swing ride.  We didn’t get a chance to go on it, but it sure did look like fun!

In the Sesame Neighborhood, there are mock store fronts and a model of the brownstone stoop from Sesame Street.  They even have Oscar’s trash can, although it is kept shut.  (We told our son that Oscar was sleeping.)  My son LOVED this area, because he could pretend to be on Sesame Street.  He knocked at 123 Sesame Street’s door to see if Gordon was there.  There was a little gate that led to the area next to the stoop on Sesame Street.  It was a working gate, which attracted lots of little ones playing there.  My son told me that it was his favorite part of the park.  My husband and I were a bit frustrated that out son was not interested in the rides because we wanted to go on them, but we know that at this age, imaginative play is more appealing to our son.  What was so great about Sesame Place was that even little ones can play in their own way and have fun, while older kids can have a different experience doing what they enjoy.  Sesame Place really does a great job at having entertainment for the whole family!

The gate at 123 Sesame Place

We had the opportunity to see the Neighborhood Street Party Parade, which is new this year.  It was just beautiful; colorful, musical, and filled with interaction.  The characters got off the floats and danced and there were dancers who performed at pauses in the parade.  The floats were amazing and so festive.  It was very crowded, but we still were able to see most of the parade.  If you want to see the parade close up, definitely find a place on the parade route early.  We got there about 15 minutes before it started and the curbs were filled already!

The Neighborhood Street Party Parade!

Ernie at the Neighborhood Street Party Parade

While we did not go on the water attractions, we did walk through the entire park to check out everything so we could see what we could enjoy on a future trip.  There were so many cool water rides that if it had been warmer we could have enjoyed!  Big Bird’s Rambling River looked like a lot of fun, as did the Skysplash.  There was a little area in Twiddlebugland called Silly Sand Slides that my son loved.  They were the slickest (dry) slides and he had a blast climbing up the tower of balls.  We concluded our day seeing the Elmo Rocks show, which was amazing.  The characters sang and danced to pop music that was on the Top 40 charts when I was a teen.  Everyone had a blast dancing along.

Throughout the day we saw characters in the park posing for photos.  My son had no interest in posing, but lots of kids did.  The park took photos for you that were available for purchase.  It was fun seeing Telly and Cookie Monster walking down the street!  At one point I walked right into Bert, who was coming out to a meet and greet session.  (I think I was more excited than my son!)

I was really impressed with how clean the park was and how on top of maintenance the employees were.  We even saw many folks from management around the park making sure that operations went smoothly on the first day of the season.  Every employee we interacted with was kind and helpful.  The gardens looked great, planted with fresh annuals.  Everything was sparkling clean for the new season of fun! Check out Sesame Place’s 2011 operations calendar to plan your visit this season!  It’s a fun way to create family memories.  We had a great time and can’t wait to go back again!  Thanks Sesame Place for including us in the opening day fun!

*All photos are courtesy of Mama Diane.