Send me your pictures, video & memories!

I see the stats on this site and I am always surprised how many people want to read this site.

It's interesting to know that every day dozens of people search terms like "Herry's Hand Over Water" and wind up here.

But virtually all of you flip through the articles (sometimes spending up to 20-30 minutes on the site) but don't click the email link (on the right sidebar) to send me your photos or post memories in the comments.

I know, we are all busy. I'm guilty of this too. I "lurk" in plenty of sites... but I want you all to contribute here!

Here is an example why:

My sister in law sent me this picture. That's me standing in front of the Big Bird Steps in 2004. I was a chaperone on a day trip to Sesame Place and I remember some of the details of the day, but I don't remember posing for this picture.

It's very cool to see a picture of me standing in front of the long gone remnants of Big Bird Bridge and it offers another bit of trivia:

In the background we can see the old, circular Sesame Food Factory sign. This means that the named didn't become Elmo's Eatery until at least 2005.

The other thing I noticed is that I still wear that T-shirt. I should probably update my wardrobe.

The point about this is, little details like a sign- way in the background - that only 4 letters of are only HALF visible, can be very helpful when archiving the history of an ever changing theme park.

Please: pull out your old pictures, digitize that old video and let me know what you remember about the Sesame Place of days gone by!

Sesame Food Factory

The Sesame Food Factory was created by Joe Baum (link) who also created  The Four Seasons Restaurant, Windows on the World, and the restored Rainbow Room.

1986 Image from YouTube

The menu emphasized whole grains, vegatables and fruits. No fried foods. Low nitrate hot dogs and oven baked pizza available.

1986 Image from YouTube

Styled in "High Tech" with colorful pipes and panels. Glass walls separated the kitchen so people could see food being prepared.

1986 Image from YouTube

Healthy food was stressed. Sandwiches were made from whole-grain and unbleached flours, pizza of whole grain flour and bran.

1986 Image from YouTube

There were no french fries, instead "Potato Snuffles" which were shredded and baked. Small white bags with crunchy raw vegetable sticks were also served.

Image from YouTube

Natural fruit juices as well as soda were available. The cups showed Cookie Monster in a circle that read Sesame Food Factory:

1982 Image from Mid Cities Daily News

Today the restaurant has been replaced by Elmo's Eatery.

Big Bird's Helpful Tips

A 1982 article about Sesame Place's Food Factory (today Elmo's Eatery) talked about some interesting signs.

 The Day - Jul 31, 1982

The signs featured Big Bird and gave tips to children about how to eat (and live) in a healthy manner.

I haven't been able to find a good shot of these signs, but I did spot them in the background of some YouTube videos:

 Image from YouTube

 Image from YouTube

The signs featured a flat torso and head of Big Bird with three dimensional hands and a three dimensional beak.

He is holding a sign that had several tips written on it.

Here are some of the sayings that were included in the 1982 article accompanied by a photo of everyone's favorite yellow bird:

Big Bird image copyright CTW

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!

Sesame Sandwich Shop

Image from YouTube

The Sesame Sandwich Shop was a counter service restaurant that opened between 1982 and 1986. It stayed in business at Sesame Place until sometime after 2000.

When Sesame Place opened in 1980 there was one place to eat, a 720 seat restaurant called Sesame Food Factory.

As the park continued to expand, Sesame Sandwich Shop was one of the other places to grab a bite.

Currently the location (across from Count's Splash Castle) is called Count's Cool Creations and serves frozen drinks on hot days.

Image from Google Street Views

Count's Ball Room News Photos

As I researched yesterday's post on The Count's Ball Room I found three images in three different newspapers that appeared to all feature the same kids.

These pictures were probably all taken within a minute of each other and then sent out to different newspapers.

The first one is from the St. Joseph, MO., News-Press from Sunday, June 7, 1981.

This one features a nice article that lists all the new additions to the park as it started it's second season:
-14 new challenges to "the nations largest collection of computer games" at The Computer Gallery
-More merchandise added to Mr. Hooper's Store
-Several treats added to the Sesame Food Factory menu
-All but three attractions are now open to children AND adults
-Addition of a second Ball Room

The article also lists the park as 2 and 1/2 acres (rather than the often quoted 3 acre opening day size) and says it can accommodate 4,500 guests a day.

Next, an image of the kids in the Ball Room was used in the Youngstown Vindicator on June 29, 1981. This article mentions that the balls are purple and that the park has "40 outdoor play elements, 24 hands-on science exhibits and 60 educational computer games."
The article from the St. Joseph, MO., News-Press from earlier that month listed the educational computer games as numbering "more than 70".

The final one is from The Mount Airy News from Friday June 26, 1981. This one has a similar description to the one above, but with different wording: