Logo by Chris Mercaldo

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

A Tale of Two Cable Glides

Last week I did a post about Super Grover's Cable Glide but something just wasn't right.

It's hard to find information on these old rides so it was a combination of old newspaper articles, stills from YouTube videos and fuzzy recollections (from 30 years ago) that were assembled into a description of the ride.

Multiple newspaper descriptions described it as a zip line that went "across a 120' valley."

But these pictures showed a much smaller valley:

1980:
Image from YouTube
1983:
Image from YouTube

After the post went up a reader named Jason commented:


This is what I've been waiting for you to dig up. This ride is the #1 memory I have from the park probably because Super Grover was my favorite character. 
I am fairly certain that the original version of the ride had four sets of ropes. Two in the lower valley course, which you have pictures of, and two in a different higher course that launched from a deck but had a ramp on the opposite end. You can see this second version briefly at the 4:00 mark in this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nuskb8fEuNE
From that video it looks like they were next to each other. In all the pictures you have the higher course would be directly behind the camera.

Here is what you see (for about 3 seconds) in the video he mentions:


Images from YouTube

Now THAT looks more like the 120' valley that was described... but then, what was this attraction?

Image from YouTube

Was this just a smaller version of the same ride located next to the "big kids" version? I'm determined to find out.

Sure, it's trivial... but isn't that what the internet is all about?

Expansion Musings Part 1

NOTE: I don't have any "inside information" and i'm not really sure what land Sesame Place does or doesn't own. I also don't know any rules regarding what is and isn't allowed on the land (as per zoning and other rules.) I'm just speculating. It's all for fun.


Sesame Place is a park that has never rested on it's laurels. It has changed and evolved drastically over the 32 years it has been open. It's a safe bet that they will be expanding it again (and again) over the next 32 years (and beyond.)

I thought it would be fun to take a look at the land around Sesame Place and see where they could possibly go and grow.


First, let's look at the RED piece of land. That is the current space that Sesame Place operates it's shows and attractions. It's full. It's not overbuilt, but they have utilized all of the available space nicely. Any more additions (without some subtractions) and the park would feel cramped.

So, let's jump over to the WHITE section. It contains the vast forecourt with ticket booths, VIP parking lot and some small buildings. It seems like an obvious place to expand! First thing I would add would be a bridge so the people parked in the YELLOW section don't have to wait for traffic and the traffic doesn't have to wait for them. The YELLOW section is where the main parking lot is. More on that later.

Next is the PURPLE section. This is currently the home of Uno's restaurant. This seems like an obvious place to expand to. Look at all that space! Perhaps Uno's doesn't want to give up the income from the Sesame Place audience.

Not a problem, I say!

Let Uno's operate a wonderful sit down Sesame Street themed restaurant INSIDE the gates of Sesame Place. You could call it Pasticcino's Pizzaria (since I believe Pasticcino is Cookie Monster's name on the Italian version of Sesame Street.)

Next is the GREEN piece of land. On the left is (I think) the corporate offices. They have a HUGE parking lot. This is the preferred parking lot. I can easily see the park expanding into that area at least a little. I also have ideas for where we could put those cars if the lot was completely replaced with fun.

That brings us to the YELLOW piece of land. This houses the main parking lot. It's huge, but obviously necessary for business. The area on the right beyond the trees may (or may not) belong to Sesame Place. If they expand the lot there, that would accommodate some of the cars that I have talked about evicting from the GREEN and WHITE sections. But let's think bigger.

When Disneyland opened they had a massive parking lot in front of the park:


Eventually Disneyland got rid of that parking lot and stuck a whole new park there:

Image from Disney.Rocket9.net

Where did they put all the cars? They built a massive parking garage.

What I propose is to either build a parking garage in the YELLOW area to accommodate cars from the GREEN and WHITE section or build a parking garage in the GREEN section and turn the YELLOW section into a whole second park. I would suggest a Sesame Street themed shopping and restaurant area (like Downtown Disney or Universal City Walk,) but the Oxford Valley Mall is so close that seems unnecessary.


Or maybe you move the road to the back of the existing lot giving Sesame Place a massive area of land to really work with.

Finally you have the ORANGE plot of land. Historical aerial shots indicate that the lake in the ORANGE section wasn't there before Sesame Place which means it is man made (probably by Sesame Place or the Oxford Valley Mall.)

Here is what the land looked like before Big Bird moved in:

 Image from Historic Aerials

However, in 1999, Sesame Place had a plan to pave over the lake. It was met with such resisitance that they abandoned the plan altogether. It's likely this piece of land is still untouchable... but you never know.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Big Bird & Company Musical Review

Big Bird & Company was a stage show that opened in 1989 at the Big Bird Theater (today called the Monster Rock Theater.)
Image from YouTube

The 18 minute show featured Big Bird dancing the robot to Axel F and characters doing the moonwalk.



The show featured both Honkers, Ernie & Bert, Prairie Dawn, Cookie Monster, Grover and of course Big Bird.


The opening of the show went like this:

Big Bird: Hi everybody, my name is Big Bird. What's your name? 
(Every child in the audience shouts their name out) 
Big Bird: Well, nice to meet you Jim, Pat, Dave, Jan, Howie, Reuben, Jeanie, Frank, Debbie, Tommy, Michael, Lisa, Betsy, Warren, Clyde, Harold, Willie, Carol, Paul.  
(Axel F starts playing and Big Bird begins to do a robot dance with the Honkers.) 
Big Bird (sound robotic): Doug, Frank, Debbie, Jim, Pat, Dave, Howie, Rueben, Dee, Burl, Bret, Joel, Sherry, Jesus, Betsy, Warren, Clyde, Carol, Willie...


Image from Flickr


Muppet Wiki lists 1992 as the closing date, but a 1993 article about the park mentions the show.

Today the theater hosts the Elmo Rocks show.

Monday, June 11, 2012

The Balancing Buoys

A video from opening day shows this play item that I think may have been called The Balancing Buoys:
Image from YouTube 

The Balancing Buoys was listed in a 1982 (Texas Sesame Place) news article as "The Balancing Bouys (sp) - By shifting the center of gravity, guests become human pop-up toys.


I assume there were several of these, possibly in different colors. The one in the image above appears to have a Big Bird head attached to the pole in the center. Perhaps they had different ones with different characters.

Update: A closer look at the image below reveals that The Balancing Buoys were next to Big Bird's nest in the area where Crystal Climb opened in 1983. 
Image from YouTube 


This means this attraction probably was moved over to Texas for it's 1982 opening.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Rubber Duckie Pond

 Image from CardCow.com

 Rubber Duckie Pond was an opening day attraction that was located directly below Big Bird Bridge.

Image from Flickr

The attraction was simply a giant water bed. Kids would jump and bounce on the surface as an employee stood watch.
Image from YouTube

The surface was maroon on opening day. Years later it replaced with a blue surface.

 Image from CardCow.com

 Rubber Duckie Pond was eventually re-themed to be a splash pool. It's still kept the same name.

Image from Google Street Views

In the center of the splash pool incarnation of Rubber Duckie Pond was a statue of Ernie and Bert going fishing.

Image from Flickr

Ernie caught a boot and Bert caught a bucket.

After the 2010 season, Rubber Duckie Pond was replaced with Elmo’s Cloud Chaser, a swing ride. 

Image from Articles.wn

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Ernie's Bed Bounce

Ernies' Bed Bounce is an attraction that has been at the park since 1980. It is still open and is one of the few attractions that remains essentially unchanged since the early 1980s.

  Image from YouTube

Children enter a giant inflatable bed and jump up and down. 
 Image from Google Street Views

In the early days of the park parents and kids could jump on the bed together. Today it is restricted to children 7 and under.
Image from SesamePlace.com

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Big Bird's Feet

Here is an odd thing I noticed when I was looking at some old videos of Sesame Place, the entrance to Big Bird Bridge once had feet:
Image from YouTube

In fact, if you look at this piece of concept art, he was designed with feet AND hands:

Image from YouTube 

The hands were never part of the entrance to Big Bird Bridge, but the feet were built and did exist (in the center, not off to the side like the concept art shows.)

Image from YouTube 

The feet were removed between 1985 and 1986. Most likely it was to create a better traffic flow in the area.