Hi - is this board just for Disney, or all theme parks?
We're going to be at a wedding very near Sesame Place on DD's second birthday, so since she adores Elmo we figured we'd take her there. I was there as a young kid but don't really remember anything.
Any tips? What should an Elmo fan not miss? Do they have any special perks for a birthday kid? About how long did you spend there with your two-year-old, and what rides or attractions did (s)he enjoy best? Are any of the stores or restaurants particularly good/bad?
Also, is there a way to get discount tickets? (MH is a teacher and I saw something about how teachers may qualify for a discount.)
Post by mccallister84 on Feb 25, 2019 11:55:56 GMT -5
We went when DD1 was 22 months and she loved it. We did all the rides in the morning, ate lunch and then did the water rides. We were basically there from open to close.
There is a character meal that we thought about doing but ultimately skipped. We got tickets from a friend who has a scout trip - scouts can buy them in bulk packs at super discount, we paid $17. I would definitely google for deals. If you buy in advance they are cheaper too but I don’t remember if that is just during the week.
We stayed at the spring hill suites which is right across the street - you can leave your car there all day which saves you the parking fee and they have free breakfast.
Post by minionkevin on Feb 25, 2019 11:56:11 GMT -5
There is a teacher season pass that is free but you have to sign up in October. It is also good only for the teacher so that doesn’t work for you and your DD.We have season passes and I can purchase day tickets for half off for up to 12 people/season, if you can’t find any discounts less than that when you are looking to go. We used exactly 0 of these tickets last year! No one wanted to go with us. I don’t think there are individual day ticket discounts for teachers. (ETA: I didn’t see anything teacher specific on the website besides the season pass when I just looked but this may change closer to when you are looking to go). I would create an account and wait for emails/promos. My kids aren’t into characters at all; we did the character breakfast for Kid2’s birthday (he was also 2) and my older one freaked the F out, but an Elmo lover is probably going to be ok. We haven’t had lunch or dinner there but the breakfast was pretty bad - powdered scrambled eggs, frozen French toast sticks, sausage patties, bacon, minimal fruit. There is an all you can eat pizza and pasta place, both of which are pretty hard to screw up, so I would probably go there, if possible. My oldest loves the rides; my littler one doesn’t like rides so things are hit-or-miss depending on mood. On really hot days, all around the water rides smells like pee, especially the lazy river, so beware.
Post by tacoflavoredkisses on Feb 25, 2019 11:57:20 GMT -5
We did sesame place twice last year- the Thursday right after Memorial Day and then at Christmas. The day in May was a cooler cloudy day and right after a holiday weekend, so it was pretty empty. I definitely recommend that time to go.
The Elmo the Musical show is very cute, so I’d definitely recommend that. DD did enjoy the character meeting with Elmo and Abby that was over by the rides, but she was a bit intimidated by the characters up close the first time (she was 26 months when we went that time).
For a discount, we found Groupon to be a good way to go if you plan to go more than 1 day- each Groupon covered 2 days and had 1 meal.
The food is totally garbage. When we went at Christmas we just brought snacks in or backpack and planned to eat dinner at friendlys down the street, because it was cheaper and came with ice cream.
If you are planning to stay overnight I highly recommend the holiday inn express. It’s clean, nice updated rooms, a free shuttle to the park, and continental breakfast.
Post by tacoflavoredkisses on Feb 25, 2019 12:00:09 GMT -5
For rides DD LOVED the flying fish- she must have gone on that 20 times. She didn’t love the carousel for some reason. Also loved the disco cups and the Cookie Monster boats. She hated the Elmo ride that goes up and drops down.
I really think you can skip the character meals and just pay attention to the times when they come out for photos to meet who you want. Also, I recommend getting a parade spot about 30-45 mins early. I parked out and DH took DD around for a bit before the parade started. We found being to the left of the parade and sitting up near where a snack cart is (near where they have an accessible area marked off) was a great location to watch.
My family loves Sesame Place. We went for the first time when she was 18 months, again the next year, and then we had season passes for the next 4 years. My daughter loves characters, shows and small rides, but not thrill rides, so SP is perfect for her. The first time we went we did a character meal, but usually we just meet characters during regular meet and greets. As far as Elmo specific stuff there are Elmo meet and greets, Elmo The Musical (show) and an Elmo ride area. The shows are pretty cute and there is also a story time which includes a character meet and greet. the parade is really fun, too.
If you are on FB there is a Sesame Place Fans group. Lots of great tips on there.
I highly recommend signing up for their emails. I feel like they send some pretty good deals.
Also, check out the stay and play options at some of the local hotels. They usually offer great packages including free kids tickets and character dining.
We live about 40 minutes from there and love going!
What time of year are you going? I went with both kids over the summer and they loved it, but we spent most of our day at the water park. It’s really cute and the parade is adorable, and it’s all very doable- the lines don’t ever seem to get insanely long and there’s always something to do, see, or play.
We're going to be at a family wedding in Blue Bell the day before her birthday. And we live about 90 minutes away from SP. So after the morning-after wedding brunch we'll go to SP, stay there a while, then head home once we've all had enough. So we won't need another hotel for Sesame Place.
tacoflavoredkisses thanks for the advice on the restaurants. I was looking at the website a few weeks ago and it looks like it's mostly quick service things? I love Friendly's so I'll have to tell MH that we should follow that plan instead
We're not swimmers and DD is young, so while I might bring a bathing suit for her (because, why not) I doubt we'll actually do the water stuff.
IDK if DD will go for the character meals. She has a tendency to freeze up when meeting someone new and I think having Elmo come up to her during breakfast with lots of other strangers at a table won't be worth it. Probably best to just walk around the park and let her go up to the characters on her own time.
I'm already signed up for their emails, although most so far have been promos for season passes. And I'm keeping an eye on Groupon.
We're going to be at a family wedding in Blue Bell the day before her birthday. And we live about 90 minutes away from SP. So after the morning-after wedding brunch we'll go to SP, stay there a while, then head home once we've all had enough. So we won't need another hotel for Sesame Place.
tacoflavoredkisses thanks for the advice on the restaurants. I was looking at the website a few weeks ago and it looks like it's mostly quick service things? I love Friendly's so I'll have to tell MH that we should follow that plan instead
We're not swimmers and DD is young, so while I might bring a bathing suit for her (because, why not) I doubt we'll actually do the water stuff.
IDK if DD will go for the character meals. She has a tendency to freeze up when meeting someone new and I think having Elmo come up to her during breakfast with lots of other strangers at a table won't be worth it. Probably best to just walk around the park and let her go up to the characters on her own time.
I'm already signed up for their emails, although most so far have been promos for season passes. And I'm keeping an eye on Groupon.
Thanks all!
There was a deal last year for weekday tickets in June - I forget how much, but it was super cheap. DD had just turned 3, and she had a great time. It ended up being a cooler day, so we stayed on the dry rides.
If you can, splurge on the thing that lets you cut the lines. We didn't, and by the afternoon really wished we had. DD's favorite ride was that Oscar garbage can thing, and so few people got on each time as it was, and then the fast pass people took the majority of the spots.
The park is so small you can easily do it in a half day especially if you don’t do the water rides. At that age, I’d go to the Elmo the Musical show because it’s air conditioned. And let her say yes or no to what rides she wants to do. The food there is miserable. Very average typical theme park food. Sometimes the waits for food are worse than the rides.
We also got season passes and I actually can’t wait for it to reopen. Between our last trip when DS was 7 months and now at 12 months, he has become obsessed with the characters faces. DD and I are very eager to see how DS will react to seeing character faces everywhere.