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View Full Version : Sesame Place and Crayola Factory trip questions



mikeys_mom
04-08-2010, 04:38 PM
I have read through many of the Sesame Place posts and there seem to be such different opinions that I am now utterly confused :)!

We live near the Toronto area and are considering a trip there this summer. It is pretty far so I want to make sure that it is really worthwhile before we decide to go.

BIL and SIL went a few years ago (from Toronto as well) and gave it rave reviews. SIL thinks my kids are the perfect ages. At the time of the trip they will be 5.5yo, 3.5 yo and 1.5 yo (twins).

The tentative plan would be to go the 1st week of August. We would drive on Sunday to Crayola Factory area - about 8 hours. Monday morning to mid-afternoon we would spend at Crayola Factory and then drive to Sesame Place area. We would then spend Tuesday and Wednesday at Sesame Place and drive home on Thursday - very long drive!

My specific questions are;

1 - Some posters indicate that the park is dirty. Can you give me specific examples of what this means? Is it run-down, trash on the ground, rides seem grimy, etc...?

2 - Is 2 days there too long? Posters are saying it is small, which I like and is what SIL said as well. She said they spent only 1 day there and could have easily gone back for a 2nd day. Do you think they will get bored on the 2nd day? Would you do shows and rides one day and waterpark the next day?

3 - Waterpark - Is there a lot of splashing and spraying? DS would love that and always has a blast at waterparks. DD#1 does not like water spraying at her or when there is lots of wild activity around her. She is happy in the water as long as she can do it at her own pace. I imagine the babies would also not like that. Will it be very difficult to navigate the water areas with the 4 kids?

4 - Many people suggest Dutch Wonderland as an alternative to Sesame Place. It looks cute but we have season passes to our local amusement park http://www.canadaswonderland.com/#actions and I am concerned that it will be too similar. Why shlep that far for something we have so close to us IYKWIM? I thought Sesame would be different because of all the characters and shows.

5 - Are the shows worth it? My kids aren't super into Sesame Street. They don't watch it on TV much but are familiar with the characters and have some Sesame themed books. They love music and dancing so pretty much any musical type shows will be a hit with them.

As an alternative to a 2nd day at Sesame Place, SIL suggested the Touch Me museum. Any thoughts on that?

We are not looking for an action packed trip, just somewhere to go for a few days that's different from the usual stuff we do and let the kids have a good time.

I'd love to hear people's thoughts and experiences. Thanks.

bnme
04-08-2010, 09:13 PM
We went once, 2 years ago. My kids were 3 & 4.5 at the time. They love water and loved all the rides. I don't remember all the attractions that well. There were several wading pools, some with random sprayers and mini slides. Perfect for smaller kids and going at your own pace.

1) I did not find it dirty. Six Flags (NJ) I found dirty (not filthy), but I thought Sesame was nice. It is not WDW, but nice.
2) My kids could've done 2 days there. Not sure if I would want to. It may be a good idea to do 2 shorter days and have a relaxing evening. It is located right in a busy shopping district across from the mall. It is a good idea to do wet and dry on different days but I don't think we did that much of the dry stuff so I really can't say. Changing and being wet is kind of a pain so only having to deal with it once would be good.
3) See above. And yes, 4 kids would be hard (for me at least, LOL!). Unless the 2 older ones are in synch as to what they want to do (so one parent could stay with them, one with the babies). Me and DH split up often due to the kids different abilities at the time (3yo was much more timid and did not meet some height reqs).
4) Never been to Dutch Wonderland
5) My kids loved the parade and I think we saw a show or 2. They were brief IIRC, so easy to watch, and the kids liked everything we did.

I would plan something else for day 2. You can always decide once you are there if you want to go back or do the other thing.

HTH
edited for typos and clarification

egoldber
04-08-2010, 09:38 PM
1. Well, I am mainly comparing to WDW and Seaworld (which are exceptionally clean), but even compared to places like Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Water Country USA, I thought it was dirty. By dirty I mean: trash not emptied and maintained, bathroom floors dirty, debris in the water at the water rides, etc. Also, the last time were there it rained heavily and the bathroom nearest the Elmo show started backing up water from drains and totally grossed me out. And seriously, I have a VERY high gross tolerance.

2. I think 1 1/2 days is probably OK. The problem with going in August is that if there is a thunderstorm, they basically shut down the park. So you may need 2 days to even get to do all the park attractions.

3. In some places there is a lot of splashing and spraying. In some places not. Also, there are very large water areas where if you are not keeping a sharp eye, it is pretty easy to lose track of your kid.

4. I do like DW very much, but it is much farther away.

5. The Elmo show gets VERY VERY crowded and they also do VERY poor crowd control. They let the show get totally overcrowded IMO. But the other show are much less crowded. My kids enjoyed all of them.

I have not been to the Please Touch museum since they moved to their new location, but the last time we went my kids had a blast!

mikeys_mom
04-11-2010, 08:20 PM
Thank you both for sharing your experiences there. It is helpful to hear other's opinoins. We are still in the process of deciding where to go for our vaction this summer. I think Sesame is something we will consider. Sounds like my kids would enjoy it.

Fortunately DD#1 is quite tall and fearless on rides so it is pretty easy to split up where DH takes the two older kids and I take the babies. The only part that will be a challenge is the water areas. DD#1 is quite timid around water and it's not fair to restrict DS from all the bigger slides that he enjoys. We'll have to try out different strategies at our local amusement park/waterpark first.