Review: Sesame Place!!!

I've mentioned before that we don't allow the girls to watch TV. But, despite my attempts to prevent them from turning into commercialized beings, they still learned to love Elmo. That's why we were excited for the opportunity to go to Sesame Place and meet Elmo in person as part of a review team for The Parent Bloggers Network.

See Elmo we did and, frankly, he didn't do much impressing among our set.

The park, on a whole, did not work out for us. We were granted free tickets for media day, which was also the day -- I learned later -- that general admission offered bring a friend promotion.

In other words, it was mobbed. We arrived to the park at 10:15 a.m., which might have been a great time except we had to wait to park for about a half hour.

Do you know what it's like to wait in a long, hot line of cars with two 2 year olds?

Then, finally with tickets in hand, guess what we had to do for another half hour? Yup, wait in a long hot line of people. With two 2 year olds.

Can you say cranky before entering an amusement park? Yes, I was.

So, after a 2 hour drive, an hour long wait we were finally inside the great home of Elmo.

And the girls wanted nothing to do with him. Most of the rides that we came across were too much for them. We never even found Elmo's World, despite the fact that we thought we had since, well, that's where Elmo was standing for pictures.

We were inside for one hour before it was lunchtime.

All in all, our experience was not pleasant and a lifetime would be too soon for me to return. But, then again, I'm not into commercialized spaces and events. I'm just not. And, by the looks of our girls after we left, they aren't either.

However, to balance out this review, I'm lucky enough to know that our experience was just ours. That other people, including my friend Deanna and her husband and twin boys, were able to go on a Monday, where no lines were found, and had a great time. She even sent this picture as proof:

Deanna wrote in her email: "We got to see a live show of Elmo's world, they "played" Elmo's piano, rode rides, did the water park and at the end of the day we got to see a parade with all the monsters! While waiting for the parade to start we sat on the curb close to a locked trash can and Logan kept looking for Oscar in this trash can, he thought Oscar was in there (he wasn't), so we told him Oscar was sleeping..."

So, I think the bottom line is to make sure you choose a day that isn't connected to some big promotion to avoid the lines and plan to arrive extra early, just in case, so that you spend more time inside the park than out. Also, get ready to get wet since most of the park is a water park.

But, to be very honest since this is a frugal-living review blog ... I think it is ridiculous that Sesame Place charges the same for an adult and a 2 year old since most of the activities are for the older crowd. However, my friends' who went and enjoyed their day argued that buying the 2-day pass, which is the same amount, is a good option since that second day pass doesn't have to be used consecutively. In other words, you could return later in the same summer. So, that's a good tip for those of you whose children actually watch Sesame Street and know all of the characters.

I do want to commend the person who played Ernie. He made our little Liana's day. He was charming. And sweet. And awesome with kids.


The Monster Maze was pretty fun for our family:


And, Bert was nice, too. He's actually hugging Liana here, but Dan got some Bert action, too.


It was a good experience to learn now that we can probably avoid such events in the future because we are just not that kind of family. Not all families are into long lines, crowds and adventure on a hot, summer weekend. I think lazy picnics next to the ocean is more my speed. Then, the only waiting I'll be doing is for taffy or French fries. I am grateful to have had this experience so thanks to Parent Bloggers for offering this to my family.