Road Trippin’: Sesame Place Tips!

This summer, for a vacation, K and I decided to do something different. Or, different for us, anyway. We loaded up the car, buckled in the kids, and went on a road trip! Our destination was also pretty unique, too.  Sesame Place, hence this post being about Sesame Place Tips!

From talking to people in the Greater Toronto Area over the years,  I realize that the more popular family road trips are  places like Disney World, New York City, or Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  K did some research, however, and discovered Sesame Place, in Langhorne,  Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia.  In all honesty, I had never heard of it before.  As well, for some reason, I thought Philly was a lot farther from Hamilton than it actually is. Turns out that it is only about an 8 hour drive away. Anyway, after talking it over, we figured it would make for a sweet adventure. With that, our trip was set.  We’d stay in Philly, and check out Sesame Place!

Here are some RANDOM STYLE Sesame Place Tips!

Random Thoughts and Stuff

 

♦Basically, it is a Sesame Street-themed amusement park. It is part dry activities and part wet activities.  The dry stuff includes a bunch of rides (including Vapor Trail,  a thrilling, kid friendly roller coaster), a huge net climb area called Monster’s Clubhouse, and a full sized replica of Sesame Street itself.  There were even some characters wandering around on it, for photo ops.

 

the wet stuff

♦In terms of wet stuff, there are water slides, a lazy river, splash pads, and our personal favorite, The Count’s Splash Castle. This area had a giant 8′ high tipping bucket, multiple  slides and tons of things to play with, like levers, wheels, sprinklers and blasters.

♦The big selling point of Sesame Place to us is that it is gears towards small children. B and J  are average five and three year old kids. They were able to go on all of the rides and water slides, either alone, or with a parent.

 

the ticket and getting there stuff

♦Our tickets were complimentary for the day (thanks for the hookup, Sesame Place)! Day tickets for anyone 2 years and older are $65 at the gate, and $55 online. So if you’re a family of four, it’s not exactly the cheapest day out. For what you experience there, though,  I do think that it is fair value. Now if you are going to make a road trip out of it, and this is especially for my fellow Canucks (the exchange rate ain’t no joke!), plan on checking out the park for two days, to really get your money’s worth. See, if you purchase a day ticket online, you can also get a ticket for a second day free!

♦Side note Sesame Place tip for my peeps in Southern Ontario – the drive wasn’t too bad. The route we took was very scenic. Obviously, when travelling with children, making lots of stops is a must. Luckily, there’s some cool stuff along the way, to keep the interest levels piqued. We ended up in Williamsport, PA for a long time, checking out the World of Little League Museum. We also made our way to Hershey and toured the chocolate factory (side side note: don’t watch Charlie & Chocolate Factory with your kids three days before going to Hershey, unless you want to have to constantly explain to them why Willy Wonka isn’t there).

♦While the park is full of attractions, it really isn’t that large. That’s all good, in my books. Navigating around it wasn’t difficult, and you can go from one end to the other in decent time.

the scheduling stuff

♦ Because it was a hot day, we wanted to do all of the dry attractions first, to beat the crowds, and then get changed into our bathing suits afterwards, to try the watery ones. This gameplan wasn’t really necessary. My suggestion would be to just treat the visit like you’re going to waterpark.  Like I said, the park isn’t that big, and the attractions are pretty close to each other. A lot of people would just dry themselves and their children off  before hitting up the dry rides, so you really don’t need to worry about the hassle of extra outfits.

♦With that said, if you do intend to hit up both worlds, bring water shoes. I stupidly brought sandals. I realized this was a bad idea as soon as  the fam decided that they wanted to go on the water slides. Standing in line, barefoot, on hot cement? I’m kinda over it.

♦Speaking of lines – oh Mylanta, Sesame Place was packed when we were there! Unless you buy an upgraded Abby’s Magic Queue, to get special treatment, be prepared to wait in long lines for rides and food. As the old saying goes, patience is a dish best served cold.

Really? My bad. Anyway, have some ways to kill time in mind, to help alleviate the inevitable restlessness your kiddos will have, while waiting in line.

♦Because of the limited space, there was a lot of “stroller’s row”. That is, people would park their strollers jammed with their stuff along a fence or something, and leave them there while they experienced the park. If that idea makes you uncomfortable, cabanas are available to rent, as well as lockers.

 

the food stuff

♦Lemme circle back to the food. Sesame Place has five different restaurants on site, each with their own unique offerings. There is something for everyone, for real. Compared to other theme parks and whatnot, the food is reasonable in terms of pricing, too. Once again, it pays to go online prior to attending, as  there are ‘meal deals’ available for purchase, which will save you a few bucks. One cool-looking option (we didn’t try it)  was ‘Dine With Sesame Street Friends’. This gives you and your kids the opportunity to eat, dance, sing and take pictures with some of the characters.

♦ Soft-sided coolers are allowable in the park. You can pack some drinks and small snacks like chips, pretzels, cookies, whole fruit, and pre-made sandwiches, if you want to really save money on eats.

♦For $11.99, you can get a collectible, reusable bottle which you can refill unlimitedly on the day that you got it. This was probably our best investment at Sesame Place. I lost track of the number of refills we made.

 

other stuff

♦There were several stores on site, to purchase souvenirs, as well as other odds and sods which you may have forgot to pack,  like sunscreen or towels. One popular item  was a Sesame inscribed waterproof case with a lanyard. Tons of people were rockin’ those bad boys around their necks.  Neat souvenir, while also keeping valuables close to heart.

♦Be sure to make time for a parade! It is quite the energetic spectacle. I’m pretty sure I saw one mom doing the Nae Nae dance, too, which was probably a first on Sesame Street.

♦We arrived at Sesame Place at about 11:00 AM, and left at 7:00PM. While exhausted, we all had a blast. We even missed out on a ton of stuff. There were musical shows throughout the day, that looked like they would have been fun to check out, for example.

There really is just so much to see and do, to keep you and your fam entertained.  I definitely recommend visiting it sometime, if you have younger children.

Sesame Place

100 Sesame Rd

Langhorne, PA 19047, United States

1 866-464-3566

http://www.sesameplace.com/