The first Sesame Street theme park on the west coast of the United States is set to open next month, boosting the San Diego tourism market as it recovers from the pandemic impact of the industry and easing restrictions.
Featuring Big Bird’s Beach, Oscar’s Rotten Rafts and Cookie-Monster towers, San Diego’s 17-acre (6.5 hectares) year-round theme park Sesame Place – in Chula Vista, south of San Diego – opens on March 26 for season card holders. The first Sesame Place theme park opened more than 40 years ago outside of Philadelphia.
Sesame Place San Diego is the first theme park in nine years to be opened by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, which has a longstanding relationship with Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization behind the popular educational show, which airs in more than 150 countries.
Sesame Place San Diego (pictured above) will have child-friendly canals, slides and a lazy river, as well as one of the largest wave pools in Southern California
The new park will have 18 Sesame Street attractions, including a child-friendly roller coaster roller coaster ride and an Elmo Choo Choo train (pictured above)
Owned by SeaWorld, Sesame Place San Diego (pictured above) is the company’s latest offer to retire from live animal shows, sparking worldwide criticism of its attitude toward whales since the 2013 release of the Blackfish documentary.
The park is the latest move by Florida-based SeaWorld to move away from live animal shows, which have sparked worldwide criticism for their impact on whales and caused profits to plummet, especially in the San Diego Park. SeaWorld’s Orlando Park opened a section of Sesame Street in 2019.
And the San Diego Park could not open in a better time as people emerge from the pandemic boredom and itch for a new experience, said Dennis Speigel, owner of International Theme Park Services Inc., a global industry consultant.
“2021 was an amazing year of recovery for theme parks,” he said. “People came back en masse.”
Sesame Street is also witnessing a resurgence of popularity among families, Spiegel said.
Visitors will enter an interactive neighborhood on Sesame Street, a copy of the one in the TV show with 123 Lean forward. It will include Elmo’s window, where Elmo’s bedroom window comes to life so children can play, dance and sing with him and his friends.
The park will also have 18 attractions on the theme of Sesame Street. These include Cookie Climb, which leads to the top of Cookie Monster-themed towers; Elmo’s Rockin ‘Rockets, which flies on an imaginary space trip; and Super Grover’s Box Car Derby, a kid-friendly roller coaster ride. It also has a swimming pool with waves of 500.00 gallons, one of the largest in Southern California.
The theme park area for the street food truck (presented above) will offer Sesame Street snacks, including sweet treats for all visiting monster cookies
Visitors will enter an interactive replica of the neighborhood on Sesame Street (presented above), which will include the window of Elmo’s bedroom, where children can play, dance and sing with the hairy red doll
Employees will be specially trained to work with children with autism and other special needs. In recent years, SeaWorld has offered specialized services in its parks for visitors with autism.
SeaWorld announced the end of its breeding program in March 2016, after years of pressure from animal rights activists and a change in public opinion about killer whales.
Protests have intensified since the release of the 2013 documentary Blackfish, which focuses on the life of Tilicum, the killer whale responsible for killing a trainer when he dragged her into a pool in front of shocked visitors in 2010.
CEO Mark Swanson, who took office in 2020, is taking steps to rebuild the company. He previously worked at the original Sesame Place in Pennsylvania. He said he expects families to create similar “lifelong memories” in California.
“We are excited to debut in this new park and add a premier tourist destination in California that is so attractive to families,” Swanson said in a statement.
Seasonal gaps before opening are on sale now for $ 129 (£ 95) and the SeaWorld Pass can be added for $ 84 (£ 62). The park was built on the site of the former Aquatica water park in San Diego of SeaWorld, which was closed in 2020.