Sesame Place Discussion Thread

[grsupercity]

I would love for them to build a sesame place in the Grand Rapids area

[coasterBro]

So I swung through Sesame Place early on Sunday since I was in the area and have a SW Platinum Pass. Holy crap is Oscar's Wacky Taxi awesome. I was completely blown away that a ride with a 40" height requirement has that much solid airtime. By my count, you get 11 pops of air, pretty much wherever you sit (the back gets air over the first drop, while the front gets air entering the brake run, so it evens out). I was able to ride it a good number of times in a couple of hours since the rain kept a lot of the crowds away first thing. I don't think I waited more than 10mins. Is there a better coaster out there with this low of a height requirement? Also, I know capacity would be an issue at a lot of places, but every park that tries to cater to younger kids needs a coaster like this. It was simply brilliant. And not just brilliant for a kids' ride; I'd happily marathon it.

[cal1br3tto]

Hey, did we know Sesame Place has "Abby's Unlimited Magic Queue"? I mean, maybe that's a no-brainer for a SeaWorld park, but I was still surprised. I wonder if Oscar's Wacky Taxi will be added eventually.

[coneyislandchris]

Just thought I'd check in with a quick report from a Saturday visit to the park with the wife, the two kids, and our married friends who brought their son and goddaughter. The Halloween festivities are in full swing, which in this park means instead of haunted houses and fright trails, you get all the Sesame Street characters in costumes and trick-or-treating in the otherwise-closed-down waterslides half of the park. A fair trade for the younger set.

 

After leaving NYC around 8 in the morning, we were a bit worried that we were going to run into a washout as it was raining the entire trip down. When we arrived in Langhorne and parked our car, we double checked the weather once more to find that they were only calling for another half hour of rain and then clear skies for rest of the day. Perfect! Our friends joined us soon after and we were in the park by 10:30, armed with a set of pre-paid-for Abby's Unlimited Magic Queue wristbands. Since we had done a Halloween visit last year, we knew that the park got crowded and the Magic Queue sold out, often resulting in stupid long lines for all the low-capacity flat rides. With the dreary skies in the morning, this was looking like it might be a waste of cash as we wandered around a mostly empty park.

 

First things first; we made a beeline over to Oscar's Wacky Taxi to get it out of the way, since this and the other coaster are far away from pretty much every other attraction in the park. On top of that, this is the only major ride to NOT be included in the Unlimited Magic Queue. If you really want to skip the line, you can purchase individual skips at $9 per person. :/

 

I know I've talked in the past about how famously my wife is NOT a fan of roller coasters. On our last visit, she tried both of the Sesame Place offerings, despised Vapor Trail... yet absolutely fell in love with the Wacky Taxi. She's not entirely sure of the reason for it, but between the relatively low height, high walls on the sides of the trains, comfortable restraints, and short-ish ride length, this ended up being the first coaster she ever voluntarily rode a second time in a row. Even with Today was no exception, as we all walked up into an empty station, took over four rows, and made our way through the course. Lots of giggling and screams from the kids, and howls of joy from the adults. Once again, we got a re-ride thanks to the non-existent lines, and this time my wife shocked us all when she announced she'd ride on her own (our eighth member of the group was sitting out the rides today due to an extreme case of bun in the oven). We're gonna turn her into a coaster fan yet! Looking for advice on what to put her on next since she enjoys this one so much -- any thoughts, gang?

 

After our pair of rides on the Taxi, we made our way to the main section of the park and got a ride on their Sunny Day Carousel, which ran a shockingly long cycle for a merry-go-round these days. Once we got off, everyone was starting to feel some stomach rumblings for lunch, so we made our way over towards Elmo's Eatery, billed as a "sit-down restaurant with table service". Actually, what they end up doing is you place your order at a register, then they hand you one of those vibrating drink coaster type things, and once it buzzes you make your way over to another counter to pick your food up. Not quite table service but honestly better than most of the alternatives here. Food was okay but nothing too amazing -- the orange chicken with rice was surprisingly not terrible.

 

Our next item on the docket was to try to see at least one show. We decided to check out the "Elmo: The Musical" stage show right next door. The theater was really tiny, with barely more than a few cubic feet of stage space amongst the bleacher stadium seating, yet they made the most of that limited space. Since it's the Halloween season, the show was all about Elmo making up a musical about trick-or-treating, but he ended up focusing on the tricks part and imagining himself as a magician-in-training. Cue a talking bunny, a cameo from Sesame Street's favorite manic pixie fairy girl Abby Cadabby, the great chicken magician David Cluckerfield, and a whole lot of audience participation. It ended up being a whole lot of fun for the whole family, children and grown-ups alike (even yours truly who's had seven years of Elmo saturation at this point), and I'd not mind seeing more of these in future visits!

 

Of course, after we finished this stage show, we got to the real reason for the trip (and the wristbands); back to the rides! Sun had started peeking out from behind the clouds, and with it came the crowd levels we were expecting. As it's a park catering to small children, there are gratefully low height requirements on almost everything. The one outlier is the amusingly named "Honker Dinger Derby", which is an Orbiter painted in pastel neon colors. This ride has a 42" minimum, and as such, ended up being the only thing the 3-year-old girls couldn't ride at 41" tall. My friend's son and I ended up being the sole members of our group to give it a try, and after experiencing the weak speed and short cycle of the similar Flying Machine at BGW, I wasn't expecting too much out of this. I was woefully unprepared for it to pack as much of a punch as it did. Much longer cycle, much faster speed. No wonder it's a 42" minimum!

 

The rest of us got our rides in on everything else that was included on the Unlimited Magic Queue, which included:

- Flying Cookie Jars, a spinning balloon tower ride that gave a great view of Vapor Trail -- when we weren't furiously spinning out of control!

- Oscar's Rusty Rockets, a suspended whip-like ride that kept the speed low but upped the intensity with pumping euro-trance music. Not sure what that had to do with anything but it got the kids dancing in their seats!

- Captain Cookie's High C's Adventure, similar to the Jolly Roger ride at Great Adventure but instead of the creepy skull theme it's all brightly colored pirate ships that you sit in as you go around an undulating track.

- Monster Mix-Up, the obligatory tea cup ride, instantly made better than all the rest by the inclusion of a mirror ball and "Disco Inferno" soundtrack. Groovy!

- Blast Off!, a bouncy drop tower ride. My daughter LOVES these rides no matter where she goes.

- Flyin' Fish, the Sesame version of the Flying Elephants. Instead of Dumbo, each car is shaped like Elmo imagining himself as a different type of animal-fish. Catfish, dogfish, pigfish, you get the idea.

- Peek-A-Bug, the answer to if someone asked the question "What if we made Tango at Great Adventure even smaller, slower, and less spinny?".

- Elmo's Cloud Chaser, a kiddie wave swinger. On our ride through, thirty seconds in, the operator had to get on the loudspeaker and announce... "All guests, please put your cell phones and cameras away. I repeat, please put your phones away. SIR, PLEASE PUT YOUR PHONE BACK IN YOUR POCKET." Sure enough, shortly thereafter, the ride stopped, and the op walked up to a middle-aged man who was completely oblivious to everything and was still holding his phone in his hand. "Sir, you need to put that phone away right now." "Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't know!" The op then allowed this guy to keep riding once he restarted the ride. No ejections at Sesame Place, apparently.

 

We took a walk around some of the other areas of the park, checking out the midway games, some temporary carnival flat rides that were set up for the Halloween season and were not included on the Unlimited Magic Queue either, and of course the famous 123 Sesame Street building steps. We also wandered into the other half of the park to check out their miniature train ride (well, kind of -- there were no tracks and it was running on all-terrain wheels), and the kids got some treats as we wandered through the trick-or-treat trails. We finished up our rides with a quick spin on Vapor Trail for everyone except the two ladies, and honestly, for a "kiddie" Vekoma, it's not half bad. We were contemplating getting the PhotoKey to collect our photos from the two coasters, but at $70 for a single day photo pass? Ugh, forget about it. I swear it didn't always cost that much.

 

Although that was our last ride of the day, we had one more special event planned for the night. We ended up getting reservations for "Dine With Me", which is a buffet meal for the whole family that includes a show, songs, and personal walk-arounds and photo ops from a number of the Sesame monsters. Saturday's show included appearances from Cookie Monster, Bert, Ernie, Rosita, and Elmo, and as they made their way around from table to table, it was impossible to ignore the gigantic smiles from all of our kids as they got to pose with the cast and get big hugs. The food was honestly the best food I've ever had at Sesame Place as well, with delicious pulled pork and BBQ ribs as highlights on the menu. A definite recommendation if you ever visit with your kids!

 

Once the dinner and a show was done, we had just under ten minutes left in the park, and since everyone seemed to be crashing hard, we decided to skip out on any further rides at this point. Sure enough, once everyone got buckled into their seats, it was a matter of moments before we heard snores coming from the back of the car. All in all, a successful day and a whole lot of fun for everyone!

[Canobie Coaster]

Nice report! I'll definitely be stopping in more often thanks to Oscar's Wacky Taxi, but I don't know if I'll ever make it past that main area. It's so convenient putting the two coasters right by the entrance for us enthusiasts.

[stevenamos]

We are still looking for people to join the Team TPR for Sesame Place Coasting For Kids, happening on June 8th.

 

Here is the schedule:

8:15am - Check-In

8:45am - Opening remarks from Pam Landwirth, President and CEO of Give Kids The World

9:00am - Exclusive access to Oscar's Wacky Taxi and Vapor Trail

10:00am - All-day access to Sesame Place

 

Fundraise $100 for Give Kids The World and receive the ERT, park admission and a Coasting For Kids t-shirt!

 

Here is the link to Team TPR for Sesame Place: http://support.gktw.org/goto/TeamTPRSesamePlace

 

Thank you everyone!

[stevenamos]

We're still looking for people to come out to Sesame Place next weekend for Coasting For Kids! It'll be an incredible day with so many wish families coming out to ride!

 

Here is the schedule:

8:15am - Check-In

8:45am - Opening remarks from Pam Landwirth, President and CEO of Give Kids The World

9:00am - Exclusive access to Oscar's Wacky Taxi and Vapor Trail

10:00am - All-day access to Sesame Place

 

Fundraise $100 for Give Kids The World and receive the ERT, park admission and a Coasting For Kids t-shirt!

 

Here is the link to Team TPR for Sesame Place: http://support.gktw.org/goto/TeamTPRSesamePlace

[mary.pesik]

Sesame Place was better when I used to go there. I miss the nets. Why did they have to shutter those?

 

And they only added Snuffy now? I could've sworn he was always there...

[boldikus]

17-year-old Sesame Place worker assaulted by couple over mask policy: Police

https://6abc.com/sesame-place-worker-assaulted-over-mask-policy-police/6364764/

 

LANGHORNE, Pennsylvania -- A Sesame Place employee underwent surgery following an attack over the weekend.

 

It happened on Sunday night at the theme park in Langhorne, Pennsylvania.

 

Hours before the incident, police say the 17-year-old worker asked a couple to comply with the theme park's mask policy. Sometime after 5 p.m., an altercation ensued after the worker again asked the couple to comply with the mask policy, said police.

 

The couple became hostile and struck the employee, resulting in the boy sustaining injuries to his face and oral cavity, according to investigators.

 

The worker underwent surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.

 

Police say the suspects fled the area in a vehicle with New York plates. Middletown Township police are working with the New York City Police Department to track down the couple involved.

 

Anyone with any information is asked to call police at 215-949-1000.

 

Sesame Place released this statement on the incident:

 

"On Sunday, August 9, a guest assaulted and seriously injured one of our team members.We've been in close communication with the family of our injured team member, and are hoping for a full and speedy recovery. The health and safety of our guests and team members is our top priority, and violence of any kind is unacceptable and not tolerated at our park. We are cooperating with local law enforcement on this ongoing investigation. Any further questions should be directed to them."

[ScreaminNewEngland]

Can’t say that’s surprising....the clientele has been extra awful at these PA parks this year.

[RideThroughTime]

Anyone know if Oscar's Wacky Taxi has been open? I've heard it's been down a lot but have not heard anything recently. 

[DannySixFlags]

I used to love going here as a kid, but they massacred the entire place. They rethemed the entire left section of the park, got rid of the nets (though I was round for that), and pretty much plastered Elmo on everything, which means we don't get to see any rarer characters like the Twiddlebugs or Slimey now. At least they added Snuffy to the meetable character roster. (Does anyone know if they still have him??) 

Here's a fact: One of my dad's favourite pictures of my non-verbal eldest brother is him on the Little Bird Rapids in the '90s or '00s. There's something so scenic about that image.

[abovethesink]

Road Trip Day 5, Part 1 - Sesame Place (PA)

If you want to catch up, Day 1 was King's Dominion, Day 2 Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Day 3 was Six Flags America, and Day 4 was Morey's Piers. Reports are in their respective threads. The trip was myself and my oldest son, soon to be 14.

This will be a shorter one!

We took the hour drive over from where we stayed about halfway between Sesame Place and Morey's Piers, our previous day visit, and parked for an expensive pair of credits, It was an interesting stop.

Vapor Trail -- The kids around us seemed to be loving this Vekoma Junior coaster. We did not, nor did we expect to, but such credit seekers the two of us are these days. We waited in one of the longer lines of our entire trip for this custom model. It looks impressive for a family coaster from the queue at least. With the one train operations, that is good because you are in the queue for a while. When we got very close to the station, the one larger family group in front of us abruptly decided not to board the train because they were a seat or two short of all of them being able to get on it. Understandable! At least it was understandable until they made it clear they weren't going to let anyone by, that they intended this train in this already super slow queue to go out with like four people on it and the rest empty. Then, when the ride ops told them to fill in, they argued pretty passionately against doing so. When she then said to let people by, they dramatically threw their hands up and filled in the spots, deciding to split up their group after all. Very strange thing to watch. Anyway, this coaster will do nothing for anyone who comes to a place like TPR, but it isn't supposed to. It is a bunch of mild helixes and nothing else. Moving on!

Oscar's Whacky Taxi -- Having ridden Wooden Warrior, Kentucky Flyer, and The Bobcat, we were very excited for this one! Our entrance into the queue was again unexpectedly strange though. A man and three teenagers entered right behind us and were just screaming obscenities. I have no problem with this in other contexts. Well, maybe with the volume, but not the content. I swear a lot and don't censor myself much at all in front of my kids either. But in line at a kids, Sesame Street themed park? Okay then. When we got to the front of the queue, which was very quick this time, somehow the same thing that happened on Vapor Trail happened again with an entirely different group! They needed close to every seat on the train to fit their group and decided that this train should run empty except for the three or four people on it. Why is everyone's instinct here not to let people pass if you're waiting for the next train? At least this group let people by when the ride op asked them to. Just weird. Unlike with our other credit of the visit, I can happily report that the coaster is great! I think this is my second favorite of the four now just behind Wooden Warrior and just ahead of The Bobcat, but really the top three are interchangeable and even Kentucky Flyer isn't that much worse. Oscar's Whacky Taxi had excellent airtime and we had ended up in the middle of the train due to bad timing luck. We circled back around for a back row ride and got even more. Excellent ride.

So, needless to say, our brief Sesame Place experience was a little weird. Maybe this is normal and I didn't know to expect it. But if you had told me I would find one park full of obnoxious park goers on my list before I left for the trip, I wouldn't have guessed Elmo and Big Bird Land. Regardless, we were there less than 90 minutes car to car and it was still worth it for the Gravity Group. Well, worth the time, probably not the money, but fellow credit chasers will know that pain all too well. Both coasters were up front, so we saw next to nothing and can't comment much beyond that. My son, an extremely biased Dallas Cowboys fan (I failed as a parent -- 49ers fan here), attributed the weird crowd to being close to Philly as he passionately hates the Eagles. Other than that, the only thing I can think to add is that it strikes me as kind of weird to not have a true kiddy coaster in a place like this. Vapor Trail is tame enough for smaller kids for sure, but it is kind of big and likely intimidating looking from the outside. At least we were saved from debating whether or not awkwardly wait in a long line for the kiddy credit, I guess!

We were off to Dorney next, an hour away.