Slightly Off Topic: Sesame Place

[LaurenLC]

How many days should we plan for Sesame Place? My in-laws live about 45 minutes away from Sesame Place and we are planning on taking our daughter for a visit this June. She successfully spent 9 days in Disney World last week, so we think she'll do just fine. I was wondering if we should plan on getting a hotel room for a night, or just spend one day. Any thoughts or insight would be appreciated

 

[supersuperwendy]

Hi Lauren,

One day is enough for sure. There's lots of fun water stuff like slides, splash areas, lazy river. There's a cute roller coaster and small rides too. There are also playground type areas too. I grew up going to Sesame Place... and now my kids love it...it's so fun! I'm guessing you'll be in the Philly area. If you would like input on other fun places for little ones feel free to PM me!

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

We have done it twice in June, I think it depends on the weather. First time it was 100 degrees- it was the day they filmed Jon and Kate Plus 8 in the park if you have ever seen the episode. One day we did shows and rides and a little bit of water, the next day no shows, but rides and water. The last June trip we took it was rainy and freezing- we only did 1 day and ended up going to the Please Touch Museum instead the 2nd day.

If you get a hotel, I recommend the Marriott residence inn. Free breakfast and shuttle to the gate to save on parking. There are set times for the shuttle to pick you up, but they give you the driver's number incase you need to come back sooner.

 

[PHLtoMCO]

One day as Sesame Place is sufficient and about all I can take! Everytime we go, I'm usually always depressed we're not at Disney!

 

[AlixaLock]

We were just there Saturday and I whole-heartedly agree that 1 Day is ENOUGH! LOL! It's so much fun, but I couldn't spend more then one day at a time there. The kiddies love it, but there is very little space to relax and sit ... it's pretty much go, go, go until you drop. Oh, and the food ranges from nothing special to pretty bad ... lol! No biggie for one day, but more then that would be hard. We had dinner at Pizzeria Uno right outside the park after we left and it was super-yummy!

 

[kimkoz]

1 day is plenty. For us we do make it 2 days but thats because we have to drive 4 plus hours but if its only 45 mins away I'd just go for the day.

 

[LaurenLC]

Thanks so much for all the replies. I thought we would need two days, but it looks like I was wrong..... My husband will be thrilled to hear this!

 

[sparks19]

Agreed one day is enough but I think they only sell "two day passes" at least online they do. there aren't any single day ones (the idea is you get the second day for free lol)

so you only NEED one day but if you can you might as well use both days if you can't get a single day pass

We are going in June and we went last year and we like it there. It's the perfect size for kids that age. lots to do but it's not huge

 

[dana1003]

sesame is very small and if your spending the whole day there its becuz your doing the rides 2 or 3 times each..food is horrible and expensive..dont like it all but we go cuz the kids like it. btw the water is freezing..your probaby better off goin at like the end of august and ditto about there being no place to sit and relax...has anyone been to dutch wonderland? im trying to talk the kids out of sesame and was thinking of giving this a try..any opinions?

 

[sparks19]

sesame is very small and if your spending the whole day there its becuz your doing the rides 2 or 3 times each..food is horrible and expensive..dont like it all but we go cuz the kids like it. btw the water is freezing..your probaby better off goin at like the end of august and ditto about there being no place to sit and relax...has anyone been to dutch wonderland? im trying to talk the kids out of sesame and was thinking of giving this a try..any opinions?

Dutch Wonderland is fun. it's small but lots of things to do. Great for younger kids. I don't know that I'd travel in for it if I lived out of town but if I was visiting the area anyway I'd probably stop by (I live in Lancaster so we go every year)

 

[Lstar311]

I'll go against the grain and say 2 days. We get season passes and go a lot. I'd think one day for water rides and one day for dry rides and shows. I agree with the pp the food is awful and expensive. Pack a lunch and bring your cooler in, they let you.

 

[LaurenLC]

I'll go against the grain and say 2 days. We get season passes and go a lot. I'd think one day for water rides and one day for dry rides and shows. I agree with the pp the food is awful and expensive. Pack a lunch and bring your cooler in, they let you.

Thanks for the food tip... I appreciate it.

 

[amitrat]

We have Season passes this year - I have always had one "Middle Level - Bigbird" season pass for the free parking and 30% off the food and merchandise. Also, with the Dine With Me, kid eat free with a paying adult for dinner and when I called (I would call), they took the extra $10 - it was just under $60 for 4 of us to eat dinner - if you stop at the Chili's on the way out, it would be about the same with tip. Plus, an hour with the character and singing and dancing make the best pictures.

You can get discounts off of a one day pass, but it is about $5 depending on the day. We have gone every year for 5 years -

PM me if you want to talk in detail and I can tell you the best things to do and all.

I would say 2 days, but that is up to you - we live 1hour 15 minutes away - if you are within an hour to 1.5 hours, you don't need a hotel room. They are also offering some promos now until May 31st good through June.

 

[supersuperwendy]

We haven't gone to Sesame Place in a LONG time and I just checked 2011 prices. I think they have gotten way overpriced....wow.

 

[LaurenLC]

So here's another question for my new Sesame Street friends Right now they are doing a two day ticket for the price of one and you have until October 30 to use it. This is great, but we might not be back in the area before October 30. Would we be able to give our unused tickets to other family members, or is it similar to Disney where you can't do that. I'm not trying to break any rules I just hate to waste a ticket.

Thanks again for all your help!

 

[snow_white's_mom]

One day is plenty. I'm not sure if they still do it though, but they had an elmo passport and it's 2 days for the price of 1. If you get a free day I would do the 2.

 

[dana1003]

So here's another question for my new Sesame Street friends Right now they are doing a two day ticket for the price of one and you have until October 30 to use it. This is great, but we might not be back in the area before October 30. Would we be able to give our unused tickets to other family members, or is it similar to Disney where you can't do that. I'm not trying to break any rules I just hate to waste a ticket.

Thanks again for all your help!

just had to tell u that your daughter is beautiful..

 

[mnosky]

We went last year (kids 7 and 2.5) and debated much of summer over 1 day (with a tiny discount, through AAA or could get at local stores) or 2 day for just a few $$ more or season pass for a few $$ more or the deluxe season pass for more $$$ but the discounts and free dine with me (which we were doing) made it seem worth it.

We were coming from Pittsburgh so staying overnight either way one day but it we did one day might combine with Dutch Wonderland. BTW, we stayed at the Sheraton which had a free shuttle (shuttle worked great) - hotel was so-so - we actually complained (nothing major though) and got a refund of 1/2 the SPG points we used.

If we went 2 days we were doing one dry day and one wet day. Probably both 1/2-3/4 days. But we didn't do that.

So we finally decided to wait until the prices went WAY down in the Fall (and you could get a one day ticket - I think it was $18 less per person) and went in October when they had the Halloween stuff - it was really cute plus they had characters in halloween costumes and a halloween maze, shows were changed to Halloween theme, trick or treating, a free hayride with a character (mostly in the parking area but it was free). It was cute and the extra stuff took up the day - because the water stuff was mostly closed by then.

I definitely recommend the character breakfast. It's not disney - YOU have to make sure your kids see the characters - they aren't coming around to you. But most of the ones we saw weren't out any place else during the day so we wouldn't have seen them elsewhere.

THIS IS HILARIOUS--- we got one of those autograph books, like at Disney - and ZOE signed our book "ZOEY" My DH and I were cracking up - this sure isn't Disney!!! The paper they sign on even has all the character names on it in the background in their signature style - not even an attempt to be close by most of them.

Michelle

 

[princessbride6205]

Yeah, Sesame Place isn't having much character training - LOL on "Zoey." Most employees are high school students, in my experience. They have some new shows in the past few years, which are good, and a new parade this year. It looks like in mid-June they will start having the parade at night as well.

I believe that half the attractions are water. I was stunned by how small the park is, compared to Disney, Sea World, etc. You may not see all the shows and cover everything you want before your little one is tired out though. So one day may not cut it, since at that age it's difficult to go commando style. If you wanted to spread out your time and go back to a hotel for naps, you could fill 2 partial days.

 

[littlejen22]

I live 45 minutes from Sesame Place and have a season pass. Sesame is very small, do not compare it to any of Disney, it is a small themed amusement park and not Disney-like at all IMHO. I love Sesame though. If you can do 2 days I would but I probably would space them out and not do back to back but that's just me, it is not like Disney where you feel like you really missed out if you don't get to do something. At least half of the rides are water and she looks pretty young for a few of them but can do a lot, my favorite thing on a hot day is just to sit at the Ernie's WaterWorks which is a spray park and let the kids get wet.

Oh, the buffet for the character meals (I did lunch or dinner) is really bad but worth doing to see the characters. And the park food is VERY limited, my advice is to get the kids meal for the adults if it is the type of food you like (I like their chicken fingers), it comes with a drink...oh and you can get milk instead of a soda for the same included cost.