Families with young children will soon have a new Southern California theme park to look forward to experiencing, as SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment transforms the former site of its Aquatica water park into the new Sesame Place San Diego.
The product of SeaWorld's existing partnership with Sesame Workshop, the new amusement park dedicated to PBS' long-running television kids' show is set to open in March 2022, though no exact date has yet been announced. It will be the second immersive 'Sesame Place' experience in the U.S., joining the first park that's situated in the suburbs surrounding Philadelphia.
Located just south of San Diego in Chula Vista, California, the 17-acre park will reportedly make use of the existing aquatic infrastructure, meaning that it's likely to feature more water attractions than its Pennsylvania counterpart.
Frommer's reported that 11 of the aquatic attractions previously in place at Aquatica San Diego will remain in a reimagined form, including multiple water slides and a 500,000-gallon wave pool. The hydro-centric attractions, which will open each year around Memorial Day, are essentially receiving Sesame Street-themed overlays to integrate them into the new park.
The rest of the park will remain open for guests to enjoy year-round. It will feature an interactive Sesame Street neighborhood, a detailed replica of the show's principal filming set, complete with the iconic 123 Stoop, Hooper's Store and more highly recognizable spots from the show. A 2021 press release stated that the streetscape will offer kids a world of "immersive physical and digital character experiences", with plenty of opportunities to meet and take photos with their favorite costumed characters.
Sesame Place San Diego will also boast plenty of waterless rides, including:
-Elmo's Rockin' Rockets takes kids flying up, down and around on an imaginary trip through outer space.
-Sunny Day Carousel is a classic, colorful ride appropriate for all ages.
-Cookie Climb sees kids climbing Cookie Monster-themed towers amid clouds of cookie crumbs.
-Abby's Fairy Flight, an all-ages swing ride featuring the furry fairy-in-training.
-Rosita's Harmony Hills lets kids create beautiful "música" as they climb, crawl and play among rolling green hillsides.
-Rub-A-Dub Sub has riders spinning in every direction when they climb aboard Ernie's toy submarine, the S.S. Duckie.
-Sesame Street Soar & Spin lets guests ride high in a character balloon for a bird's-eye view of the park.
-Super Grover's Box Car Derby is a not-too-rough rollercoaster ride for the whole family.
A live character show, exciting daily parade, and a lineup of family-friendly events and seasonal celebrations are also planned to round out park offerings.
Like the East Coast location, Sesame Place San Diego will open as a Certified Autism Center (CAC), with all staff having undergone autism sensitivity and awareness training, and pre-visit planning resources-including a park-specific sensory guide-made available to better enable parents to plan activities best suited to their children's individual needs. The company says that Sesame Place Philadelphia was the world's very first theme park to achieve a CAC designation, and Sesame Place San Diego will live up to the same standard.
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