Big Bird's Rambling River Sign

Here is something interesting about this old Sesame Place picture:

Image from Facebook

Despite all the changes in the years since this was taken (the amount of open space in the photo, the ability to see nearby buildings from inside the park, hairstyles etc) the sign (or a very similar one) is still at Sesame Place:

 Image from Google Street View

The sign has likely been relocated as the landscape around the sign changed, but the sign still exists and may be the same one that was with Big Bird's Rambling River when it opened in 1990.

Sesame Place 30 Great Years - Album 1

Over on the Sesame Place Facebook page there is an album of photos titled "Sesame Place 30 Great Years - Album 1".

All images property of the Sesame Place Facebook page

The description is:

The first of hopefully many albums of nostalgic photos of the park over the past 30 years

Sadly, the album has been up for a couple years and "Album 2" has yet to materialize.

I wanted to show the images here so we can look at them a little bigger (they are very small on Facebook) and so they can be archived here in case the album ever gets deleted from the Sesame Place page.

This attraction was called Herry's Hands Over Water.

 This shot shows Big Bird's Rambling River, but more interestingly shows how much empty space the park at this time. Look at all the grassy area!

 This shot shows the back of Sesame Neighborhood, likely from Big Bird's Rambling River! Notice the blue inner tubes stacked up on the right.

Here is a nice shot of the Sesame Brass band in front of the entrance to Big Bird Bridge. Look closely at the mouth and you can see the bridge was still open at this point.

 This photo shows a large crane raising the centerpiece of the Nets 'N Climbs into place.

 Another nice construction picture of the Nets 'N Climbs. This looks like a reverse angle of the previous picture.

Here is a nice picture where you can see kids jumping on Rubber Duckie Pond and a few people walking across Big Bird Bridge.

This tower was in the center of Big Bird Bridge and had the name Sesame Place Water Tower. It was a place where kids could pump water to the top of the tower and watch it flow down the water wheels.

The green tarp in the foreground was Twiddlebug Hop, a rope swing attraction.

Here kids are seen climbing through a giant plastic maze of geodesic shapes. This attraction was called Crystal Climb.
Notice the employee in the green and yellow polo shirt with red shorts.

This is a great shot of the old entrance looking towards the parking lot. Today this would be facing the "fire station" facade of Sesame Neighborhood.

This is Twiddlebug Hop, an attraction where kids would swing on a rope over a series of bumps.

Make sure and visit the Sesame Place Facebook page and click "like"!

1992 News Article: Park's Theme is Education

Here is an article about the park from 1992. At this point the park had been open for 12 years. It's interesting to note that this was in the Milwaukee Journal, far away from Langhorne PA and appeared in September - just a month before the season ended.

Here are some of the facts from the article:

-Sesame Food Factory (referred to as Food Factory) was still open and still had a glass enclosed kitchen where guests could watch food being prepared. Today the restaurant is named Elmo's Eatery and the kitchen is still visible to guests, but without any glass.

-No fried food was sold at the park at this time. The fries were baked and flavored ices contained real fruit.

-Captain Ernie's Cafe (now called Captain Ernie's Bistro) was the only place to buy hamburgers.

-Rides mentioned are: Big Bird's Rambling River, The Count's Ballroom and Cookie Mountain.



The image is a bit difficult to understand, I can see the recycling can and the can of Minute Maid juice being deposited by what seems to be Oscar the Grouch. According to the article, posters above the trash cans featured Oscar showing how to separate trash from recyclables.

I have traced what looks like Oscar to me:

Do you see something different? Maybe this is a Sesame Place Rorschach test!