Sesame Place is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 theme park in Langhorne

Langhorne, Pennsylvania

Langhorne is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,622 at the 2010 census.The name "Langhorne" is used broadly to describe the majority of surrounding Middletown Township, which for the most part uses Langhorne's zip code of 19047...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

. It derives its theme from the Sesame Street

Sesame Street

Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...

 television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 program and characters like Big Bird

Big Bird

Big Bird is a protagonist of the children's television show Sesame Street. Big Bird, like many of the other Sesame Street characters, is a Muppet character. He is sometimes referred to simply as "Bird" by his friends....

, Elmo

Elmo

Elmo is a Muppet character on the children's television show Sesame Street. He is a furry red monster and currently hosts the last full 15 minute segment on Sesame Street, Elmo's World, which is aimed at toddlers. His puppeteer, Kevin Clash, uses falsetto to produce his voice...

, Cookie Monster

Cookie Monster

Cookie Monster is a Muppet on the children's television show Sesame Street. He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating phrases: "Me want cookie!", "Me eat cookie!", and "Om nom nom nom" . He often eats anything and everything, including danishes, donuts, lettuce, apples,...

, 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

SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment

SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment is a family entertainment company owned by The Blackstone Group. SeaWorld is responsible for the operation and maintenance of eleven theme parks located throughout the United States...

, a division of The Blackstone Group.

Overview

Sesame Place first opened in 1980 near the Oxford Valley Mall

Oxford Valley Mall

The Oxford Valley Mall is a two-story shopping mall, owned by the Simon Property Group, that is located next to the popular amusement park Sesame Place in...

 and initiated the expansion of the commercial complex in the vicinity. It was designed by Eric McMillan

Eric McMillan

Eric McMillan, is a Canadian designer who began his career designing exhibitions. By an extraordinary opportunity in 1972, he started designing play areas and elements that encouraged children to learn through play. The concepts were composed of a great variety of materials. He has been...

, a Canadian designer. The park is open from early May through Halloween, and is also open on Thanksgiving weekend. The original park was 3 acres (12,140.6 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 (56,656 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.

Related parks

Sesame Place is one of 10 parks operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment

SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment

SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment is a family entertainment company owned by The Blackstone Group. SeaWorld is responsible for the operation and maintenance of eleven theme parks located throughout the United States...

. Others include SeaWorld Orlando

SeaWorld Orlando

SeaWorld Orlando is a theme park, and marine-life based zoological park, near Orlando, Florida. It is owned and operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, a subsidiary of The Blackstone Group...

, SeaWorld San Diego

SeaWorld San Diego

SeaWorld San Diego is an animal theme park, oceanarium, and marine mammal park, located in San Diego, California, United States. The park is owned by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, a division of The Blackstone Group....

, SeaWorld San Antonio

SeaWorld San Antonio

SeaWorld San Antonio is a marine mammal park, oceanarium, and animal theme park, located in the Westover Hills area of San Antonio, Texas. It is the largest of the three parks in the SeaWorld chain owned by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, a division of The Blackstone Group, and the world's...

, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Discovery Cove

Discovery Cove

Discovery Cove is a theme park in Greater Orlando, Florida. Guests can interact with a variety of marine animals, most notably bottlenose dolphins. The park is located adjacent to sister parks SeaWorld Orlando and Aquatica. In addition to swimming with dolphins, Discovery Cove guests can interact...

, Aquatica (Orlando)

Aquatica (Orlando)

Aquatica is a water park operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment and located near Orlando, Florida. The park, which opened to guests on March 1, 2008, is a companion to SeaWorld Orlando and is located across International Drive from the main theme park...

, Adventure Island (water park)

Adventure Island (water park)

Adventure Island is an American water park located northeast of Tampa, Florida across the street from Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. The park features of water rides, dining, and other attractions...

, and Water Country USA

Water Country USA

Water Country USA is a water theme park in York County, Virginia, about 3 miles southeast of Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. It is the Mid-Atlantic's largest water park, and it offers live entertainment, shops and restaurants, water rides, and other attractions, all of which have a 1950s or 1960s...

.

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

Irving, Texas

Irving is a city located in the U.S. state of Texas within Dallas County. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city population was 216,290. Irving is within the Dallas–Plano–Irving metropolitan division of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area, designated...

 from 1982–1984 (a Walmart Supercenter now sits in its place), closing its doors due to poor attendance and a large number of water park

Water park

A waterpark is an amusement park that features waterplay areas, such as water slides, splash pads, spraygrounds , lazy rivers, or other recreational bathing, swimming, and barefooting environments...

s 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

Sesame Street

Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...

 themed attractions in Monterrey, Mexico (Plaza Sésamo

Plaza Sésamo

Plaza Sésamo is an educational children's television series for preschoolers, which is the Spanish-language adaptation for Latin America of Sesame Street. Both programs are pioneers of the contemporary educational television standard, combining both education and entertainment.The program was first...

) and São Paulo, Brazil inside the Hopi Hari

Hopi Hari

Hopi Hari is a Brazilian theme park located at Km 72 of Bandeirantes Highway, Vinhedo in the state of São Paulo. It is located 30 km from Campinas and 80 km from São Paulo....

 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 10000 square feet (929 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, 1000 feet (304.8 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

Elmo's World

"Elmo's World" is a segment of the children's television show Sesame Street featuring Elmo, a small, three and a half year old, bright red monster. It debuted on November 16, 1998. Since then, it has been regularly shown during the last fifteen minutes of every Sesame Street episode...

• 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 feet (12.2 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.
• Abby Cadabby's Treasure Hunt '- Elmo, Cookie Monster, Rosita, Grover, Oscar, and Abby embark on a treasure hunt. Generally running about 20 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
• 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 ended time: 2009,
Jack Man Wolf : 2010,
Honkers : unknown

Further reading

External links

• Sesame Place web page