Monster Maze

Monster Maze is an attraction at Sesame Place that has been there since opening day in 1980.

1985 Image from YouTube

Kids run through a maze of 40 lightweight punching bags.
Faces and monster horns have been added to the bags since opening day. 

 2012 Image

In the 1980s the signage featured Sesame Street character Frazzle:

1986 Image from YouTube

The current sign emphasizes safety and declares "no punching bags".

2012 Image

However in 1980 punching was allowed. 

The opening day brochure said "Youngsters can punch, push, shoulder and dodge their way through a forest of 40 six-foot-high lightweight punching bags to get to the other side."

Image from Henson

The attraction is located right in front of Ernie's Bed Bounce.

Posted by Guy Hutchinson

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.

UPDATE: Mr. Hooper's Emporium sign

Recently we looked at this photo which showed part of the old sign at Mr. Hooper's Emporium:

Image from Facebook

A Big Bird Bridge reader alerted me to a full shot of the sign over on the AP archives:

 Image from AP Images

This shows that the sign stuck around until at least 2005, here is what the sign looks like today:

Image from Google Street Views

Thanks again to Gill22 for sending me the link to the AP image. If you have any Sesame Place images, please share!

Mr. Hooper's Emporium sign

Here is picture that shows part of the old Mr. Hooper's Emporium sign:

 Image from Facebook

The image is undated, but based on the uniform of the Sesame Brass band member in the shot, it's likely from the late 1990s.

The sign shows Bert, Elmo, Grover, Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch. It's likely Big Bird and Ernie are far left just out of the shot.

Image from Google Street View

The store is still open, now with a sign that features Ernie, Bert, Elmo, Oscar, Zoe and Grover.

1999 Finders Keepers Gifts sign

Finders Keepers is a gift shop located just past the turnstiles at Sesame Place:

In 1999 I snapped this picture of a sign outside the store featuring Elmo, Big Bird and Cookie Monster:

Today the sign has been removed and the area is home to a small tent where they often have a few computers set up to do customer service surveys.

The store is still open and the exterior walls look very much the same as they did in 1999.