Sesame Place Philadelphia — Attraction in Middletown Township

This was our first time going to Sesame Place. And I decided to leave a good review because I read so many bad reviews here that I’m not sure why?

Yes, it’s expensive, but not as expensive as Disney World. They charge for everything! I think it’s because they want to control the type of crowd that attends. If parking were free or cheap - everyone and their mother would want to go. Only people who can afford it, will plan to go.

We went on a Thursday in August. And it was packed - but normal for a theme park. I can only imagine how crazy packed a weekend would be. Therefore, we think that we’ll never go on a weekend.

Because we read all the bad reviews on Google, we had really low expectations. LOL

In the morning the bathrooms were clean - but by the end of the day - the bathrooms were a bit dirty - but it’s expected. Nothing super disgusting, like reviewers say.

The security lines were like at the airport TSA - but that made me feel safe. My husband by accident left a small bottle of booze in my diaper bag and the security guard found it. Which is a good sign! He returned it back to our car. They moved quickly.

We went to celebrate my kid’s 4th birthday. We wanted to book the birthday party package but they don’t offer it on weekdays. Plus it’s $600 for just frozen pizza and one hour room rental.

It was too many of us to rent out the expensive Cabana - we would’ve need like 5 cabanas just for our group and that’s just too much money.

And after reading about how terrible the food was at the Dine-With-Elmo, we decided to pack our own lunch. We packed a big cooler with lots of ice and added our drinks, cupcakes and sandwiches and left it in our car. We paid for preferred parking and got there early in order to park near the picnic tables that are just outside the park entrance. That way when we came out to eat our lunch, we were able to easily retrieve our cooler and bring it out to the picnic tables area without any problem. It was really close by. Around 1:30 pm, we left the park to eat our lunch outside. They stamped our hands and I put a birthday tablecloth on one of their picnic tables, put out some goody bags and setup a cupcake tower - we sang HBD and my kid loved it. Way cheaper and just as nice than buying their expensive birthday packages inside the park. LOL

Also, they do allowed smaller soft coolers and you can brings drinks and snacks and food - just say you’re allergic or eat kosher. They can’t deny you that. I saw plenty of families with those type of coolers.

The characters aren’t walking around but there is a set schedule and if you show up a few minutes before, you can stand in line and meet the character and a picture. We met Abby Cadabby and my birthday kid was the happiest kid in the world. There were many characters and opportunities to see all the characters.

One thing I learned, which we will be ready for next time - is that people show up early and put their towels to save a chair or a table and leave all day. That’s annoying. But they do it especially in the shaded areas. We managed to find one empty Adirondack chair in the sun near a shade umbrella. One family member sat there. Eventually the family next to us got up and left, so more of our family members were able to sit in the same area and that became our home base. But next time, I will use a towel to save a table near a shaded area and bring my lunch in a cooler into the park LOL

My toddler was happy at the lazy river, carousel, Count Splash castle and the Big Bird kiddie beach. We didn’t do the slides - but everything seemed open to me. Although I didn’t know because it was our first time. The park seemed staffed by young adults - but they were all nice and helpful. They didn’t do the best customer service but they were able to answer our few questions. Nothing bad like other reviewers mentioned.

The entrance to the park was nice. There were flowers and it seemed clean and well painted. I thought I was going to find an abandoned or left for dead theme park but it was actually decent and nice. We are...

Context: My husband and I took my 21 month old son because he LOVES Elmo and Sesame Street and I thought it would be fun to visit for Christmas. Because it was off season, the water park portion was closed, so only the shows, “dry” rides, dining and playground were open. We also paid extra for the Dine w/ Elmo & Friends. Park hours were 11-7. The park was also not to capacity so we never had to wait more than 1 ride cycle for the rides we wanted to get on. We had a 2 hour commute to get there.

First off, my son LOVED it. He loves the shows and the characters and the playground for kids was awesome - very interactive, lots to do. He wasn’t big on the rides so the playground is where we spent a lot of time. The toddler playground was 3 tubes - not worth it. But the main one for kids 2-10 was fantastic.

We had ample time to do everything. We took pictures with all the characters. Rode 3 rides, shopped, saw all 4 shows, parade and did the dining experience.

Food - We bought a pizza from a food truck which was $16 and not good.

Characters - they had multiple times for character greets but I thought it was odd that the only time you could get a photo with Cookie Monster was if you did one of the extra events like the Dine w Friends. We could also get photos w Santa and rudolf.

Shows - shows were cute, offered at multiple times and were short for kids attention spans. So that was great.

Rides - seemed like carnival rides. We didn’t need any sort of fast pass situation because the park wasn’t full.

Staff - some were fantastic - Dancing Thomas and Manager Kathy! The ones running the shows were great. Others were awful. No customer service, poor attitudes and no personality which I would have expected for such a kid place.

Dine w Elmo - Pros - Picture w/ Santa and 3 characters. We had Cookie, Elmo and Rosita. Each kid also got a souvenir cup. Food was ok and themed to a holiday meal. Kid options were OK. Cons - we got there when doors opened. We were the last seating of the day. We were not the last people in line but by the time we got to the buffet, there were no bowls for soup, no hot dog buns, and they ran out of brisket - the only protein on the buffet. People walked away with plates mounded high with this but when we got there, they told us they ran out and would replace it with turkey, which they would bring to our table. When the girl brought it, she put 3 pieces on a small plate. When I asked if we could have some for each of us, her reply was that she put one slice per person and then walked away. When they called for last call on the buffet, we missed it because it was our turn for the characters to visit our table. By the time that was done, the food had been taken away. Also, by the time they started the character program, half of the patrons hadn’t gotten food. While each table was visited, by the time the last patrons got their food and sat down to eat, they announced that we had to leave “ to prepare for the next seating”. We were the last of the evening. We paid $100 for this experience, which was technically more than we paid for admission to the park. The food was OK. Not bad but not great. Especially without the brisket.

Bathrooms - bathrooms were fine. I appreciated that you didn’t have to go far to find one.

Cost - We paid discounted prices bc of the time of year I think which was a good value based on what we received but I’m interested to see if I would feel the same way during peak season when the park is packed. The shops were overpriced and I felt like the food was too. We paid $35 to park and then the dinner. Including fees, we paid $256 for 2 people (he was free).

Christmas Theme - Great job. Lights were pretty, costumes were all themed as well as all of the shows, parade and music. During one of their shows they also had a song for each holiday (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, New Years) and they did Feliz Navidad. So that was pretty inclusive which was neat.

Overall, we had a great time, just a few downers. Had we not done the Elmo dinner it would have been a 4...

I want to preface this review by saying we utilized our free admission through the military to come visit Sesame Place. After looking at ticket prices, we would NOT come here if we had to pay for tickets.

VERY wagon & stroller friendly so bring whatever gear you need!!!

The $44 for parking is OUTRAGEOUS for a poorly-maintained lot that was barely full, so I feel bad for the 'preferred parking' suckers. General parking was only $25 online a few years ago, but when checking out I was not given the option to pay for parking online. You also have to dig on the website to find parking price information, felt bamboozled.

We're a family of 5-- two adults, 5yo and two 2yo. Most rides accommodated our family so we got to enjoy pretty much everything! It was too cold at 65° to swim so we did not do any of the water park area, but the water and rides looked very clean.

The open play area is lacking for the crowd it draws, they could use to upgrade to a climbing tower or at least a few more slides/toys!

There are lots of meet & greet opportunities around the park featuring all characters-- we didn't do these since we had a VIP experience with Elmo at the end of the day, so I can't speak on if they let you use your phone for photos or not but they did at the meet & greet!

The food is pretty reasonable honestly-- we paid $56 for two kids meals (1/2 flatbread pizza + fries) and two full-size flatbread pizzas. That fed everyone comfortably.

Bring your own drinks! We read online the policy is small coolers and refillable water bottles are OK, so we packed flavored waters for all 5 of us and saved money on drinks.

Overall, the park is small. If you like places like knoebels, Hershey, dorney, six flags, with lots of rides...lower your expectations. There are only a handful of rides and experiences, but if you hit up the water park as well then enjoying a full day here would be easy!

We paid extra for sweets & treats with Elmo and fireworks for the holiday-- this was an amazing end to a great day! The fireworks were beautiful and there was music and commentary from the characters overhead. Our kids absolutely loved it! The treats were yummy and there was something for everyone on the treat buffet! Free drinks at the meet & greet too!

The parade was so cute, small and short but can a 2yo realistically pay attention for a full Disney-length parade? Not at all, so this felt like a good duration and you get to dance along with all the characters. Watching a parade & dancing in the street out side of Elmo's house? Yes please!!!

Some parents need to really teach their kids park etiquette. I am an ADULT and I was getting shoved out of the way by older, unattended children who were cutting in just about every line we were in. This is no reflection on the park and they do have a line-cutting policy, but I don't have enough Karen in me to report children. Reflection on the world today I guess.

The only true downfall to the rides is the Abby's Magical fast-pass. If you don't pay the astronomical fee for this perk then you could be in line awhile. The suckers who paid for this were the true winners as large tribes of fast-pass holders showed up at every ride. This made lines a lot longer than they needed to be and often resulted in our group having to split up around the scattered fast-pass riders. I guess at $60-$100 per person (including 2yo and under!) for fast-pass in ADDITION to whatever they paid for their admission, those people deserve to bypass us peasants.

All in all, as a privilege given to service members to enjoy the park for free, it was a beautiful and nostalgic day and our kids had a wonderful time! It felt like a watered-down Disney experience and I love that because our kids are too young to handle Disney. We will gladly be back next year for our annual perk as this is one of the closest parks to us included in the annual military admission program. Since we get in for free I would also easily spring for a dining meet & greet again as it is buffet-style, and next time we'll...