Sesame Place Review: Wet and Dry Fun with a 3-Year Old

This week I went to the Sesame Place for the first time ever, both for me and for me 3-year old son. It is located in Langhorne, PA, just over the NJ border, maybe about an hour from the northern part of the Jersey Shore. People have been telling me how they used to go there when they were kids, or with their own kids long time ago, but if I wouldn’t have heard that I would’ve assumed it’s a pretty new park! It’s extremely clean, and all the rides are either recently updated or just very well maintained. One of the cleanest and safest amusement parks I’ve ever visited!

We also liked the face that it was geared towards kids mostly of pre-school age. While most other parks around the Jersey Shore cater more to older kids, and you have to find the few rides for little kids, this one is mainly dedicated to young kids, although there are a few select things for the school-age kids to do. Also, compared to the other parks around, this one has a very clear theme (Sesame Street), something you rarely see outside of the Disney or Universal parks. The setup and decor are very cool for anyone who likes the TV show, and you can often see the familiar characters walking around and taking pictures.

The rides can be split in 2 categories: wet rides (on the left-hand side, as you go into the park, and in the back) and dry rides (on the right). As soon as we got in, we went to the “Tiny” Tidal Pool, a very cool place enjoyed by many guests, which was specially made for little kids. Even for toddlers, the water would never go past their chest, so lots and lots of kids could safely enjoy it. Around it there were a few climbing structures, and Slimey’s Chute, an “introductory” water slide that could be enjoyed by a parent with a child. It’s the smallest possible tube slide, and it was actually the first such ride my son ever tried, and he loved it!. What I liked at Sesame Place was that the double tubes had the front “seat” covered, meaning there was no hole, and the kid can just sit in there (compared to the tubes at almost every other waterpark which have two holes, so the smallest kids can’t really use them). Also nearby there was one of the bigger slides for grown-up kids, as well as the Twiddle Tracks, with train cars that kids would have to get moving with a hand-crank (they look small and easy to maneuver, but actually it was actually quite hard to keep the moving).

A staple of any waterpark was the Lazy River, always a relaxing experience. This one was surrounded by decor from the TV show, and again, to accommodate small kids, it had tubes of different sizes. On one side there was the other bigger “beach” area (first one being by the tidal pool), and in the back of the park it was the Count’s Splash Castle, a pretty big playground, with many stairs, bridges, tubes and slides, all getting wet from the big bucket that would splash down every few minutes. Nearby, there were two more water slides, the bigger ones of the park, but still accessible to brave little kids.

Now on to the dry rides… We enjoyed the Carousel, where all the horses seemed to look like a Sesame Street character, and a few other rides that you’ve probably seen in many other amusement parks, but here they were modeled after the TV show (and they looked much newer), like the spinning fish, Elmo’s Blast-Off Tower, or Big Bird’s balloon ride. But what was quite impressive and unique was a huge structure, on 5-6 levels, where kids would crawl, climb, traverse extensive netted areas (called Nets & Climbs). From the distance it looked like a giant cube, with a spider-like web of challenges for every age. Just under it there were a few more play areas, including the Monster Maze where kids would run between bouncy heavy bags.

All around the cube there were more children playground. My son especially loved the huge bouncy area (must’ve been like 50×50 feet) and Big Bird’s Court, where you could move, roll and stack big blocks of varied shapes. And let me not forget meeting Elmo there and taking a nice photo with him!

The park is not very big, everything is close-by without feeling crowded at all. It’s easy to navigate around and like I said before, very clean and safe. The food choices seemed to be quite varied, and there were, of course, lots of shops with Sesame Street toys and souvenirs. Getting back to the main entrance, where there are some cool topiaries shaped like the beloved characters from the show, I have to mention the Vapor Trail, the park’s rollercoaster, which we didn’t try but looked that it could be a nice introductory one for a 5-6 year old.

We had a great day at Sesame Place, and since it’s not that far from the shore, we look forward to going back!

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