Simple Pleasures: Sesame Place

We arrived at our hotel on Monday to start our official vacation and look who was in the lobby to greet us...

Ryan could not have been more excited and had to greet Elmo each morning.

We spent two days at Sesame Place, arriving at 10:00am each day, leaving for dinner and some down time in the hotel before returning in the evening for the parade. We finally left the park at 9:30pm each night. I'd say we maximized our time!

According to Ryan, we went to "Elmo Street" which was pronounced "Emo Steet." Love it!

You are going to have to use your imagination for most pictures. We spent our days in the water park minus the camera as the temperatures went from the high 90s to the low 100s. Crazy!

We were sure to go on each of the dry rides, but mostly in the evening. This one was the flying fish. I think Tyler is mad at me in this picture for making him wear his sunglasses.

Ryan wore a smile most of the time.

Ryan was able to go on almost all of the rides and water slides. I was really surprised. And, he actually did them!! But, he wasn't old enough for the rollercoaster so while Tyler went to check that out, we had a chance to see some of the characters.

Grover.

Abby.

Oscar the Grouch aka "gouch."

Big Bird. Tyler wasn't happy about being in this picture. I think Ryan was laughing at him.

Elmo!

When we returned to the park Tuesday night there was a brief, intense rain storm which resulted in an empty park and some great pictures.

Do you see the rope obstacle course behind the banners?? Tyler dragged Dan through the whole thing... in the heat. I'm so glad it wasn't me!

I loved the bush/plant characters all over the park.

Sesame Street.

The Count and Zoe! Tyler only agreed to be in this picture if he could be in front of the Count. Too funny.

The Elmo bush/plant was actually red! I think it was begonias.

Yes, I got a little picture crazy with an empty park. It is a good thing they love me.

The brownstone.

Check this out... we spent a ton of time in this area. There was water spraying and dumping everywhere! And, Ryan went down all 4 of the water slides coming off the sides by himself multiple times. This area, the big raft that we could all go in together, the lazy river and another big slide with a double raft were our favorites.

Tea cups.

On Tuesday, Heather and her family met us at the park. On Thursday another friend, Tara, and her son met us. It is a lot more fun with friends. Here we are with Colin on the tea cups.

Thursday evening we caught one of the shows before the parade. Ryan was fascinated.

A few more dry rides.

This next ride is the Peek-A-Bug and was a favorite for both boys. It went back and forth and around on a wide U-track. It was fun!

At the entrance of the park, each of the characters had their footprints. Tyler was able to read all the names himself!

Here's our Ryan holding tight to his Oscar the Grouch, eagerly awaiting the parade.

Seeing the parade during the day in the heat was not an option. It wasn't as bad at night. It was very well done with 23 minutes of catchy music, dancing and lots of activity. I captured some of it and have loaded it at the end.

I really hope there is air conditioning in these suits.

Oscar. A new favorite.

I have no idea who this is.

I have a better picture of the Count, but this picture makes me smile. The girl is crowd control and she took her job really, really seriously. They had dots on the ground and if you were one inch over she was on you in a second. It was rather humorous! Check out her fist... she's just waiting for the next deviant at the Sesame Street Parade!