Visit to Sesame Place

I recently visited Sesame Place in Langhorne with One Philly Son, a friend of mine and her 1 year old.

I'd never been, but purchased a season pass. What I purchased was really a season pass for 2011, but it included the rest of the 2010 season. Children under 24 months are free, but everyone else costs $53 for one day (though there is currently a special, if you buy one day, you can get a second free, that you can use in either 2010 or 2011), and parking is $15. So I purchased a Season Pass (the Big Bird, I think) for $122 that gives me unlimited access for the rest of this season and next season, as well as parking. If we go twice between this year's remaining season and next year's, it will pay for itself.

Additionally season pass holders get additional benefits, like a 30% discount on all purchases in the park, and occasional days to bring a guest for free (there's one coming up September 11 and 12), so I think its well worth the investment. The whole One Philly Family is planning on going so One Philly Daddy can see what all the fuss is about!

On the day we were there, it was 95 degrees, but there are plenty of small wading pools for the kids and they had a great time. There were a lot of people there, but it seemed to be there was still room to move around, and get to the attractions.

But, I have to say the best part was when we got in line to meet Cookie Monster. The characters appear at intervals throughout the day and a non-character staff person moves the line along very quickly for kids to greet the characters. Everyone has plenty of time to hug and greet the character, so I don't want you to think the staff will rush your visit.

Even cooler - you can take all the pictures you want with your own camera with whatever characters you can manage to track down, so its really not a ploy to sell pictures. (They'll get plenty of your money. I did purchase a Gatorade at the park, and it cost me $4, so the least they can do is let us take pictures of Elmo and Cookie Monster without charging us.) They also have Sesame Street set up, so you can get pictures with your kids on the steps, or in a Fire Engine.

We got our picture with Cookie Monster, and One Philly Son went WILD! Squealing, shrieking, smiling - I swear he thought he was meeting THE Cookie Monster! He is a HUGE fan of Elmo, I'm not even sure he knows who Cookie Monster is, but he was definitely still star-struck!

Its a big park and One Philly Son is a little too young to last more than a few hours (he was asleep in his stroller before we made it to the car), which is another reason to invest in the Season Pass - when he's tired, we can leave without feeling like we're wasting money.

They also have special events - fireworks, shows, holiday celebrations.

If you're in the Langhorne area with young kids, it might be worth checking it out.