Dec 10, 2024
Sunny Day! Splashing the day away! - Everything costs. There. Now that that has been said, we had a great time! We had free tickets but still managed to spend money parking, a locker and eating. Highly recommend going in the off-season and readying for water play. We had a perfectly warm day in October and enjoyed the water activities and the rides. The water is NOT heated! We had a perfect weekend for it and all of the rides are friendly to just about any size of walker.
The bright colors and characters added to the excitement of the day and I recommend getting the all day eating pass as soon as you walk in. You can snack as a family on a meal or two every 90 minutes and this really was a good value for our money as we bought one adult pass (for 1 adult and 3 children) and cashed it in every chance we got.
Facilities were available and clean for changing, nursing and going to the bathroom. We loved snapping pictures on Sesame street too!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jul 19, 2024
Great for toddlers - My 2 year old had a blast at Sesame Place on her birthday. What I liked the most is that the characters were all over the park. The little rides had little to no line even though there were like 3 buses of students that came that day. I did see that the big slides had lines though. We booked “dine with elmo” and it was on sale since we came on a Monday. They even called the kids that were celebrating their birthdays and sang happy birthday to them. The staff were friendly, food was just ok but seeing my toddler dancing and having the time of her life with elmo and friends made it all worth while!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
May 25, 2025
Great Park for Littles - Sesame Place has a lot of positive aspects. If you have a little kid into Sesame, this place can feel quite magical. This was our second time going. We went on Memorial Day weekend and the lines were extremely short for the rides! We love that the park isn’t massive like Legoland and Disneyland so you can actually get through it in a day. We got on every ride within less than 10 minutes. The kids’ splash pad was very cute and fun. The wave pool was super fun but the water was a little cold. We attended both the welcome to sesame show and parade and both are super high quality. There is only one true minus and that is the food. It is terribly unhealthy and does not embody what sesame teaches about eating healthy and diverse foods. You basically have three options: pizza, burgers, or fried chicken. This is such a missed opportunity for this park! They could really set themselves apart by having fresh fruits and vegetables and a diverse array of foods. I’m picturing Cookie Monster and Gonger doing their whole monster foody thing. Also on the business side, the park should do a better job of advertising that it is a true big kid water park — they should just rebrand as Sesame Place and Waterworld to attract big kids, and maybe even divide it into two sections. On balance, we love this place and recommend going—especially if you have Littles who enjoy the characters.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
May 21, 2025
Great for what it is. - In our opinion, this is the perfect theme park for families with toddlers. In other words, a great starter park. It isn’t too big, our 3 year old could go on every ride and it wasn’t totally overwhelming. Our 1 year old could also go on half the rides.
We read a lot of negative reviews and to be honest, they aren’t fair. If you are expecting Disneyland, you will be super disappointed. If you think of it as an amusement park for toddlers, you will love it.
The water rides were not open on the day we went but my daughter rode all the other rides at least 5 times each. All the employees were friendly and helpful. We did a “dine with Elmo” experience which was awesome! The entertainment and the food were both great!
We watched the parade which was the perfect amount of time and stimulation for our 3 year old. We also attended the story time and a furry friends dance party, both of which were very well done.
The coat of admission and parking is the only reason I am giving it a 4 not a 5.
Others have complained that the shops were super expensive but we didn’t find them to be any more expensive than any other tourist attraction.
We look forward to visiting again in the future.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Apr 27, 2025
Everything I Thought Sesame Street Would Be - We went to Sesame Place San Diego for my son’s second birthday and I couldn’t be happier that we went despite the many negative reviews. It’s SO cute and we had so much fun!! The decorations and theming are just incredibly. 10/10 on that!
It’s definitely expensive but every single theme park is and there are (semi) cost effective ways of doing it! Absolutely buy tickets ahead of time to save some money! Tickets are like $20 more at the gate. I don’t recommend pre-paying for parking. I did and it was pointless - literally nobody checked or scanned anything when we pulled into the parking lot. I don’t know how common that is but if we do come back (which I would like to - probably when they have a free child ticket promo or something like that going on) I’ll definitely just risk it and pay at the lot if I end up having to pay. I’m very annoyed that I wasted $40 on that one.
I recommend buying the all day dining pass. I didn’t see an option to buy it at the park but it’s available on their website/on the app. The food portions are both huge and expensive and with the dining deal you get an entire meal including a drink every 90 minutes. If you’re there all day you can eat *6* times. We did one adult meal deal and one kids meal deal for two adults and a toddler and we definitely could have gotten away with just one adult deal with how much food they gave! The food options were a bit lacking (Telly’s was out of all of their sides for example) but what they did have tasted pretty solid for a theme park. The kids meals also came with fruit which was a nice addition.
It was very clean and the staff were all very nice. Some of them were more helpful than others but I don’t expect perfection from customer service workers at all times.
The merchandise is expensive and there’s A LOT OF IT but once again, it’s a theme park. They have 50% off merchandise after the exit that I wish I had known about. You can leave and re-enter the park so you could hypothetically go directly to the exit, but clearance merchandise to satisfy the itch, and then head right back into the park!
The weather wasn’t fantastic when we went so the water rides were closed but I was totally okay with that and there was still plenty to do! My son absolutely LOVED meeting all of the characters that were out. It was a bit disappointing that not every character was out for a meet and greet (he loves Abby) but he was obsessed with Cookie Monster and Elmo! They were so kind and patient to a toddler that is just learning the concept of boundaries and I appreciate that so much. It wasn’t very busy so the lines weren’t too long for the meet & greets or the rides. A fast-pass may be worth it later in the summer but just like the parking pass, I think I’ll risk it and see how it is when we get there.
There were plenty of rides he could go on and they were a lot of fun even as an adult in my opinion. There would be have been even more had the water rides been open but I was just there for the vibes honestly and it was so much fun. The shows were so energetic and fun - absolutely loved them! We didn’t watch the parade because we left for nap time but I’m sure it was amazing.
I wish I had taken more pictures of the building facades and decorations because they were impeccable. I highly, highly recommend going if you’re considering it and have children that like Sesame Street. Or if you like Sesame Street. I’m not going to lie I think I was more excited than my toddler when we walked in!
But yeah, definitely wouldn’t pre-pay for magic queue (I didn’t do that this time around but the lines were so short) or parking next time.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jul 30, 2024
Poor quality dining pass program - First time visit. Bought an adult ticket for discount and had 2 child passes gifted from a friend with a season pass (passes offer free tickets to friends- a nice perk). A few highs and lows.
Highs- good supervision from lifeguards, rides were fun for kids (age 3-10 with my group) and adults. Lines not too bad except for Bert/Ernie double raft line (heard people waited 1+ hour compared to 15 min for single raft!).
Lows- 1) Dining pass program is poorly run and not a good value. I bought dining passes for 1 adult & 2 kids -not a good experience in food availability, customer service, or food quality. Specifically:
First use: I was immediately told that 2/3 items on the kids menu were not available and hadn't been for days. Was told drink did not come with meal plan (not true- given drinks at next 2 uses) The options are already pretty limited.
Second use: Lines got very long at 12-2 peak, but there were many windows closed. No sense of urgency of staff. Weird change of clerk for break in the middle of me ordering and had to repeat my order 4 times, then waited 45 min for chicken tenders. Given drinks but no ice available. No ranch or bbq sauce, nobody checking stations to restock.
Third use: no salads available, no ice in drinks.
Overall it was a stressful experience to use the dining pass, with too many systematic failures. The park doesn't allow food in, so their program needs to be high quality. I spent way too much time messing around with the food situation.
2) Cabanas are expensive with very little value. Should come with a dining platter, discount, pitcher of soda, magic queue or something. People were freely allowed in the wristband only area with no oversight, using open tables like the one we had paid for, so the only real perk was guaranteed shade and a table. That's not worth $400+
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 13, 2024
Very disappointed - The park has excessive rules that aren’t fair nor practical given the fact that the park is too small.
My daughter and husband couldn’t get on the carousel because she had a swim suit and he didn’t have a shirt but yet a lady did get on with just a small bikini top on, how’s that fair ?
The section to see the parade is so small because the employees don’t allow any guests on the other side where the shops are. They moved us from a spot where we weren’t on the way of anyone and so we weren’t able to see the parade it was ridiculous. Over all the place is so small for the all the money we spent . We were a group of 10 and we were just so disappointed on almost all the aspects of it. Rides last 20 seconds, not enough shade through out the park, employees are rude etc. definitely not your moneys worth. Not going back again
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 13, 2024
Not worth the money for kids under 5 - Budget high for the extras at this place, parking was $35 and a locker was $50!!! We wanted to bring our 3 year old and she could only use 1 waterside cause ALL of the others for her age group are out of order. You would think that a place called Sesame Street land would cater to little children. We were so disappointed and will never go back.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jul 30, 2024
Small park, awful customer service, overcharging on my contract. - They are trying to over charge my season passes. I have paid in full the 300 dollars in my contract. I've called several times and been told every time that my passes will be reactivated. It's been 3 days and it still hasn't happened. At this point i don't even want to take my family to this place anymore. I will not be paying you the 150 for a total of 450 when my contract states clearly it is 300 and I have paid that. I would stay away from this place.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jul 28, 2024
Minimal Output for Maximum Cost - Unless you are really a major of fan of Sesame Street, do not visit Sesame Place. We visited Sesame Place on Friday, the 26th of July 2024. This business (United Parks and Resorts) defines the term "price gauging" as they seek to minimize operating costs via limited capital and labor while charging exorbitant prices. It was not a crowded day and eleven slides were closed throughout the park: multiple spaghetti slides, the Ernie tunnel, the Cookie Monster Mixer, the Grouch slide, all four slides within the Count's castle, and the speed slides. This resulted in unnecessarily long wait times (we were at the park for all seven operating hours, and we were only able to ride 4 slides). One pays full price for a fraction of the available services.
The metal railings leading up the stairs to the Snuffi Spaghetti slides were teeming with an infestation of ants. Unfortunately, most people did not realize this until they noticed ants crawling all over their bodies. My daughter, my wife and I had them all over our bodies and faces. Once at the top, the ants were all over the wooden stairs and the platform. Children screamed and parents slapped at their bodies to help while also trying to remove the ants from their own bodies. Nothing was done to help guests. Nothing. Parents were washing off ants from their kids' bodies in the water at the top of the slides while "lifeguards" tried to prevent them from doing so. We had bites all over our bodies, including our faces.
This was also the case leading up to the Bert tunnels. However, a ramp leads to these slides, thus, fewer people make use of the hand rails and most were spared the experience of ants crawling all over them at this particular slide. I was not one of them. Other businesses providing entertainment services would have taken steps to prevent this situation, however, again, Sesame Place takes every measure to cut operating costs.
Lastly, a quick search clearly demonstrates the high prices. As such, I will share one more example: 2 slices of Pizza, 1 kid pizza, 1 juice box, and 2 sodas cost $68. Disgusting.
Review provided by Tripadvisor