Sesame Place Weekend

We spent this past weekend at Sesame Place with the kids.  We drove up on Friday and stayed through Sunday morning, so we could have a very full day at the park without having to endure the 3 1/2 hour drive on either end.  We stayed at the Quality Inn and Suites in Bensalem, PA, about 10 miles from Langhorne, PA, and the park.  If you want to see my review on the hotel, you can check it out at TripAdvisor.

First of all, Sesame Place is the place to be, in my opinion, if you're within a reasonable distance and have kids in the 3-7 year old window.  Earlier than three, and they won't get anything out of it.  Older than seven, and they've outgrown most of it.  The 3-7 year old group is their main target and it is absolutely great for them.  I don't think there is any activity or ride in the park that kids in that age group can not participate in with, at least, a parent riding along.  There are also several attractions they call "all by myself rides" (most aren't actually rides - more on those later) that they don't need parents for and many don't even have ques, just free play.

As a welcome offset to our costs for the weekend, Anheuser Busch picked up our admission tab.  They will do that once a year at any one of their parks for any military family.  Now, I've said before, I am no hero, but if Anheuser Busch wants to call my kids hero's for all they do, without even knowing they're special, well... that's pretty darn cool and just fine with me.

We got there just after they'd opened at 10:00 and parked about as close as you can.  We decided to take advantage of being there early and went straight to the "Vapor Trail" roller-coaster.  Its a relatively small coaster, but it does load up the Gs and I thought it was pretty intense for the audience it is intended for.  When we got off, I asked Joseph how he liked it.  He said, "I was only a little scared."  Later we rode it again and Joseph rode with me that time.  As we were going up to get on, Joseph told me, "I won't be scared this time".  It was by far the favorite of the day and we ended up riding four times because, in the afternoon, there was no one there.  We just got off, walked around, and got right back on.

The kids had never been to a theme park before, so they had no concept of "good" attractions and everything they saw was what they wanted to get on, even if it was just a fire truck model or a carousel like they could ride any weekend at Frying Pan Park.  It's all fun to them.

Next, we continued on to the "dry" side of the park.  We rode "Elmo's Cloud Chaser" (you've done something similar at any amusement park in America), then the "Flying Fish", and "Big Bird's Balloon Race".

Daddy was having fun too!

About to extend her wings.

After that, the kids climbed on "Cookie Mountain" a little bit, and played in "Big Bird's Court".  While they were playing, I walked around some and discovered that we could get in to see a live rendition of "Elmo's World" and rushed them out to come to the theater.  I told them that "We're going to see Elmo, come on!" After the show, Joseph was very upset that he didn't get to personally interact with Elmo.  He thought he was going to meet Elmo, not to watch him way down there on the stage.

Elmo, playing the crowd during the Elmo's World show.

We exited the park to eat a picnic lunch at the car.  We'd planned that, but as I was wandering around, I also checked out food prices, just in case we might want to change plans.  Lunch in the park would run about $11 each, so we ate our picnic.

After lunch, we tried out the "wet side" of the park.  Jeni went with the kids down "Big Bird's Rambling River".  I didn't get into any of the big water attractions because, although I was wearing swim trunks (in case you're wondering about my shorts), I didn't want to trust the ziplock bag to keep my wallet dry.  As a side note, the website says that "proper swimwear is encouraged for water attractions".  I suppose "proper swimwear" has different meaning to different people, because some of those folks had a bunch of junk spilling out of their trunks, if you know what I mean.  It should have said, "proper swimwear for your body type", but it probably wouldn't have mattered.

The characters at Sesame Place aren't as persistent as they are at, say, Disney.  They make brief appearances on the main "Sesame Street" drag, but they come and go on unpredictable and unpublished schedules.  I saw Oscar, who Joseph really wanted to see, but by the time they got out of the water, he was gone.  We found out that Elmo and Abbey were at 123 Smile (which is where they make pictures of your kids with the characters to sell you later), so we headed down there.  Janelle wouldn't get close to any of the characters, although Abbey, much to her credit played a little bit of hide and seek/chase with her, but Joseph loved them.  He ran right up to Elmo and gave him a big hug, but I wasn't ready for the picture.

This is the Sesame Place, computer edited photo from the "green screen".  Yes, we bought it.

After that, they played on "Elmo's Mattress", which is just a huge bounce house, and at some point they went down "Bert and Ernie's Slip and Slide", which is a very big water slide.  They both went down on their own and loved it.

By now, it's getting kind of late in the day, but Janelle really, really wanted to go on "Net's and Climbs".  Think about the McDonald's play place, with the platforms and tunnels, except everything is nets, and on a grand scale.   This thing is about three stories tall and about 100 - 150 foot square.  It's huge, and it's a "all by myself ride", so it is totally up to you how much you shepherd over your kids.  We initially went up to the first open entry to the nets, on the second level, and the kids jumped in.  I was ready to just watch them go.  Joseph was a pig in mud.  He was just going.  Janelle got to the first seam and decided that she couldn't go any more, so I went out and met her and encouraged her the rest of the way across.

When we got to the other side, there was a tunnel entry.  (Remember this is all net)  I told them that if they went in the tunnels, they were on their own.  They could crouch and walk.  I would only be able to crawl, with my knees on those hard ropes.  Joseph just raced ahead.  Janelle looked back for a long second and said "OK".  I visually followed them the best I could and positioned myself where I thought they'd come out.  Joseph popped out of the tunnel, happy as a clam, but no Janelle.  Jeni was there with me, and we had no idea where Janelle was in this multi-level maze of nets and tunnels.  Jeni went over to the other side of the maze, as we both frantically tried to figure out where Janelle was.  We had no idea where she might come out, or if she was in one of the enclosed areas where tunnels meet, afraid to go on.  I was afraid I was going to have to crawl all over this tunnel system to figure out where she was.  Eventually she popped out of a tunnel right in front of Jeni.

After that, I'd had enough of nets, but Joseph would have nothing of it, until he went "to the very top".  That little dude is fearless.  So we went to the top level and I went across with him because, first, it was a steep drop into the nets and he needed a little help and I didn't want him on the other side left to his own devices without direct supervision.  He did lose a shoe on the way that I had to recover, and I helped him get his foot out of the net once, but like I said, he was a pig in mud.

By now, Joseph was getting very tired and becoming very combative and uncooperative, so we decided it was time to go.  The kids had been fondling the merchandise on every souvenir stand all day, and we'd told them that we didn't want to carry around souvenirs all day, but we would let them pick something before we left.  We went to one of the shops, and Joseph picked an Oscar T-Shirt, but Janelle was steadfast that she didn't want any souvenir.  All she wanted was to get her face painted at the face painting stand outside.

We had seen the weather before we left DC and rain was expected Saturday, but not until late afternoon.  We got some intel, listening to the girls at the face painting stand converse, that some scunion was coming and wasn't far off.... possible severe weather within an hour, so we headed on out.

On the way out, we had to make a couple of more pics that we hadn't made during the day.  This one is at 123 Sesame Street.  I'm not sure who lives there on the old show, but it is right next to Oscar's alley and Big Birds house with all the multi-colored doors.

And one last souvenir picture with the front gate as a back-drop.
 

At the end of our big day, we didn't have the energy to go out, so we just went through the Chick Fil A drive through and took it back to the hotel.  Just as we parked at the hotel, the rain started.  We made it just in time.

Now, you my very well think that I'm a bit silly for making this much over a kid's theme park (or for even wearing those swim trunks, for that matter), but if you'd been there to see the joy on Janelle's face riding the roller-coaster, or to see Joseph hug Elmo, you'd understand why a 41 year old guy gets excited about a kid's theme park.  This is what life is made of and you only get one chance at it.