OT -- Storybook Land and Sesame Place - Any thoughts

[May05 preemie mom]

Hi gang,

I know it's way off topic from Disney but has anyone been to Storybook Land or Sesame Place? I have a 2 yr. old and wondering if either are worth it. Thanks.

 

[Andyjo0930]

I don't know what storybook land is. We had a place here called storyland that I enjoyed as a kid and now my kids enjoy it.

 

[May05 preemie mom]

Storybook land is in NJ, not too far from Atlantic City and Sesame Place is near Philly.

 

[Andyjo0930]

We are in upstate New York. The place I am referring to is now a six flaggs park in Lake George. It used to be called Storytown and they still have that section where you walk through and they have all the little houses and the little rhythms that go with them, like the old woman who lived in a shoe and stuff like that.

The sesame place in Philly I have not been to, but I have nieces and nephews who have been there and they have loved it.

We also have a park here called Enchanted Forest, same concept as storytown and my kids love that. We go every year and even though they have been there before, they love to walk through the houses and read about snow white and the 7 dwarfs, or little boy blue... I think your kids would really enjoy that.

 

[pha1226]

They are completely different kinds of parks, IMHO. Sesame Place has many fans but I just don't like it. It's very expensive, very crowded almost always, not always clean, no shade, rude workers, etc. I know the allure of the characters is worth it to many families. On the other hand, we love Storybook land. It's a small, family owned, older park. It's not expensive and all the rides are geared to the under 8 yo crowd. It's very old but clean...my kids love it there. We usually go at Christmas...they open at night and every square inch of the place is decorated with lights.

 

[pixiepower1971]

My kids went to Storybook land when they were younger (birth through maybe 6/7). They went all summer and at Christmas. They loved it. I loved it, my parents loved taking them also. Small, clean, not overwhelming, not expensive, overall great place to take the younger kids!

I have not been to Sesame place in many years. My best friend took her kids last summer. They had a good time but not great.

 

[3jsmommy]

I was just asked about Sesame Place this morning by a friend of mine & I couldn't recommend it. We went 2 summers ago, my kids were 3 & 4, they liked it, but it was very dirty! I was so grossed out by the bathroom that I changed my son under a towel. I'm not a germ-a-phobe or anything but it just was too much, & guess what 3 days later coxsackie virus for both of my sons ! I don't know about the other park, but we are trying Hershey or Dutch Wonderland this year(both in PA). I heard they are both clean parks. Nothing compares to WDW though

 

[Gillian]

Storybook land is so cute! We went last summer with DS 6ish & DD 3. it was a weekday and not very crowded so we were finished early afternoon.

We like sesame place and went all summer last year without getting sick. But we go early and leave early and the season passes are cheap.

 

[Brook1099]

We are about an hour away from Storybook Land My kids Loved IT! We've been twice they wanted to go this year but they are 71/2 and 51/2 and think iits better for kids younger than that. We go to Six Flags.

 

[CampbellScot]

They are completely different kinds of parks, IMHO. Sesame Place has many fans but I just don't like it. It's very expensive, very crowded almost always, not always clean, no shade, rude workers, etc. I know the allure of the characters is worth it to many families. On the other hand, we love Storybook land. It's a small, family owned, older park. It's not expensive and all the rides are geared to the under 8 yo crowd. It's very old but clean...my kids love it there. We usually go at Christmas...they open at night and every square inch of the place is decorated with lights.

I TOTALLY agree about Sesame Place!!! I know that a lot of people really love Sesame Place and it may be great when it's not crowded...and not staffed by rude cursing workers...but I did not like it AT ALL. It was PACKED to the gills with people, so the water felt like a dirty warm puddle It was very dirty, the workers were VERY rude, cursing constantly, and smoking behind buildings and such. I could not believe that this was supposed to be a place for young kids. It was like six flags with Big bird. YUCK! We will NOT being going there again.

It could be that I'm such a Disney snob that any theme park that isn't Disney just falls short!

 

[3boysmomma]

I agree with staying FAR away from Sesame Place. We went in 2004 when my oldest was almost 4 and 3 days later he was so sick that he was hospitalized for 4 days on IV antiobiotics(It Was traced back to Sesame Place through cultures and our local Department of Health).On the other hand
Storybook Land is Great! Clean, Friendly,lots of shade and reasonably priced.
Dutch wonderland is also a great park that we have been to a few times and we also love.

 

[stitchsfourkids]

We LOVE Storybook Land. Went for the first time in Dec. and highly recommend it for a holiday trip. We plan to go back every year. As for Sesame Place, we went once and I have no interest in going again!!!

 

[SeptemberGirl]

We went last year to Sesame Place as a warm-up to WDW. It's not far from us, we went with another family - so two girls who were 2 and 1.5. They loved it; we loved it. We had breakfast with Elmo, got into the park 1.5 earlier than everyone else. The characters were great with our kids, the park was clean, not crowded, and the kids had a great day - so did the parents!

We went on a Friday in June - maybe that helped with crowds/cleanliness? I AM a germaphobe mom, and nothing was gross or bothered me.

Of course we did mostly baby things, but we even had nice encounters with other guests! Maybe we got lucky, but after our very good experience, I wouldn't hesitate to go again.

 

[surfgirl]

I've never been to Sesame Place -- primarily b/c everyone I know who has been has had not nice things to say ... echoing everything here.
- dirty, rude, crowded, expensive

Storybook Land - we went there last summer for the first time. My kids loved it! (6,4,2) Lots of shade, very clean, very low-key. Its an 'older' park - not much high-tech stuff, but very cute for little ones. Price tag is also correspondingly lower. We WILL go there again.

Dutch Wonderland is another one I would recommend. Very low-tech, very cute, terrific for little ones.

 

[Sleeping~Beauty]

I was just asked about Sesame Place this morning by a friend of mine & I couldn't recommend it. We went 2 summers ago, my kids were 3 & 4, they liked it, but it was very dirty! I was so grossed out by the bathroom that I changed my son under a towel. I'm not a germ-a-phobe or anything but it just was too much, & guess what 3 days later coxsackie virus for both of my sons ! I don't know about the other park, but we are trying Hershey or Dutch Wonderland this year(both in PA). I heard they are both clean parks. Nothing compares to WDW though

I completely agree. We're trying Dutch Wonderland this summer and Hershey Park (our Disney vacation is in December).

We went to Sesame Place last summer with two little ones and it was terrible. It was dirty, unorganized, litter everywhere. The baby zones were filthy, garbage was overflowing out of cans.

NJ also has a Storybook Land.

 

[Arielle22]

I took my dd's to Sesame Place about 10 yrs ago and they loved it. My sister just got back from there with my 18 month old nephew. She loved it. I have never been during the height of the season so maybe it is the crowds that make it less than pleasant.

 

[jcc0621]

We have season passes to Sesame Place. DS 3.5 LOVES it and we always have a great time when we go. We get what is called the Super Grover Pass. Sesame Place is an Anhauser Busch Park and we can use our passes at Sea World (Orlando or San Diego) and Busch Gardens (Williamsburg & Tampa). We always got Sea World at least once so we feel that it is worth the $$. I have always found the bathrooms and parks to be clean and never had any of the issues indicated in the previous posts.
We have not been to Storybook Land yet, but that is a place we are going to try this summer.

Janet

 

[kaysmommie]

We have been to both when we lived in NJ. Lets just say I hope they gave Storybookland a makeover it was quite rundown and creepy when we went. Sesame Place could be cute if the people who went there weren't so rude. ALot of out of control kids and it's very crowded, especially with day camps. It's mostly water rides and the waits are very long for each of them unless you go very early. I like Hershey Park or Dutch Wonderland better.

 

[Downrivermama]

DD and I went to Sesame Place in 2002 when dd was 4. Not really impressed with it. Seemed more water park. DD did have a good time though.

 

[mcqueengroupie]

My DS6 and I just went to Storybookland on Monday for his Kindergarten Class Trip. All the kids seemed to enjoy themselves very much. It was a good place for their age, they could ride everything, mostly small "boardwalk" type rides, slides, train, a maze, and surprisingly good food. We were there for just about 2 1/2 hours and got everything but the train done. It is small and old (I think a sign said they were celebrating their 52nd year) but very, very clean!! All of the workers seemed to be senior citizens who were so friendly. I think we will go back with DH and DS3 sometime this summer. So yes it's a good time, but definately not an entire days worth of activites.