Sesame Place

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Sesame Place is an American theme park in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, a Bucks County suburb of Philadelphia. Coordinates: 40°11′05″N 74°52′19″W / 40.1846, -74.8718

It derives its theme from the Sesame Street television program and characters like Big Bird, Elmo, Ernie and Bert. Sesame Place includes a variety of rides, shows and water attractions, much more suited to very young children than their counterparts at other theme parks. Two of the more popular attractions at the park include Sky Splash and Vapor Trail. Sky Splash is a large raft water slide that stands more than 6 stories high, from which one can see the Philadelphia skyline on clear days. Vapor Trail is a roller coaster catering to the tastes of younger thrill seekers (even as young as 3 years of age). Elmo's World, the newest attraction in the park, opened in May 2006 and features dry rides for young children.

Families may have breakfast with the characters an hour before the rest of the park opens. This is not included in regular admission. The entire Sesame Place crew struts down Sesame Street twice a day in the "Rock around the Block" parade. The parade features all of the Sesame Place characters, large floats, dancers and lots of music.

Sesame Place is one of 10 parks operated by Busch Entertainment Corporation, the family entertainment division of Anheuser-Busch.

Sesame Place first opened in 1980 near the Oxford Valley Mall and initiated the expansion of the commercial complex in the vicinity. The park is open from early May through October. The original park was 3 acres (12,000 m²) and featured play areas and large computer labs where kids could color their favorite Sesame Street characters. Since then the park has expanded to 16 acres, with rides and water attractions.

Several expansions have occurred, including Sesame Island and Twiddlebug Land. In recent years, the park has constructed more 'dry' rides, including the 'Vapor Trail' roller coaster.

In 2007, Sesame Place became the first theme park in Pennsylvania to become completely smoke-free.[1]

A Sesame Place park also existed in Irving, Texas from 1982 - 1984, closing its doors due to poor attendance and a large number of water parks competing for its business. Another in Tokyo, Japan (Tokyo Sesame Place) was open from 1990 until December 31, 2006.

There are also several international Sesame Street themed locations including Monterrey, Mexico (Parque Plaza Sesamo) and Sao Paulo, Brazil inside the Hopi Hari theme park.

The theme park featured in a recent episode of the reality TV series Jon & Kate Plus 8.