Off to Sesame Place

Denisa and I went with the kids (and their cousins and other extended family) to Sesame Place on Friday. They’d been before, but it’s been a few years. The park’s a lot of fun, though it was crowded (which makes sense, it being a sunny summer day and all that).

The first ride we went on was the Vapor Trail–a small steel roller coaster that DC looked intimidated by. TRC really wanted to go on it, though, so we convinced DC that she wanted to go to. (She didn’t need that much convincing–all her cousins were going on it, and it’s surprising how much influence that has on a little girl.) Still, I wondered what she’d think about it. Getting in line is one thing, standing in line for thirty minutes, watching the roller coaster is another. (No real steep drops–it’s more of a twisty turny ride.) Still, she got on with no complaining.

And loved it.

Her smile was a mile wide the whole time, and she wanted to go on it again right after. It looks like we have a little daredevil on our hands. There wasn’t a ride she wouldn’t go on. She might only be four, but she’s very tall for her age–tall enough to go on any ride in the park by herself. And she did. It was fun to see how much she enjoyed them all, even the ones I thought she’d be scared of.

We went from the Vapor Trail over to the Count’s Fount–a gigantic splash zone with a huge bucket that dumps water on everybody every five minutes or so. It . . . wasn’t as much fun. We waited in line for one of the small water slides. The thing is, they have all these water fountains set up to spray everywhere. It was a slow line, and for most of it, I was getting sprayed right in the face with water. Not exactly enjoyable. TRC didn’t like it one bit. Enough that he was then convinced he didn’t like water slides at all.

It took some coaxing, but he eventually changed his mind, and we went on many fun water slides together. (Having cousins going on the slides helped, once again.)

We all ate lunch with the characters (Cookie Monster, Count, Abby, Big Bird, and Elmo). The kids really enjoyed that. (Though I think they might have enjoyed the all you can eat ice cream even more). The only drawback to the day was all the lines. No one got sun burned, and there were only a few bouts of crying here and there.

One of the biggest pluses for me this time was that I didn’t have to go on the giant nets. The park has this huge net area, where kids can go and climb all over the place. Last time, I went with TRC, because he was too small to really think he’d be okay in there on his own. It was one of the least enjoyable experiences I’ve ever had. The nets cut into my skin, it was small and cramped (have I mentioned I’m slightly claustrophobic?) and it was impossible to keep up with him. This time? I sat on the ground and waved. Much easier.

I’ll leave off with a pic of TRC, DC, and their cousins. Sorry about the streakiness. It was a tad humid, and I’d just wiped the lens of my iPad.