Family Guide to Sesame Street Land at SeaWorld Orlando

SeaWorld Orlando has been a popular family destination in Central Florida for many years now, but the recent addition of Sesame Street Land gives young families even more to love.  This new land opened in Summer 2019 and adds so much fun for little ones when visiting SeaWorld.  Before our visit, I had a lot of questions and I want to share answers to some of those questions that may be on your mind too as you plan your visit!

What is in Sesame Street Land?

A lot!! In this relatively small corner of the park, you'll find 6 rides - all perfectly sized for pint sized visitors, a playground area, a splash pad, shopping, interactive displays, food trucks, character greetings, and a parade.  See. . .it's a lot!  At the time of our visit, my boys were 4 and 7 which was perfect for visiting.  Throughout most of the rest of SeaWorld, my youngest was too little for almost all of the rides, but here he could do everything.  His favorite was the Cookie Drop.  My oldest is still a little shy when it comes to roller coasters, but the Grover themed roller coaster here had him all smiles - he rode it 3 times in a row!  The interactive displays are all very well done too.  You can actually walk along Sesame Street ringing doorbells, knocking on Oscar's trashcan, racing bicycles, and building monsters.

How do we meet characters?

There are two different ways to meet and greet with characters.  Inside of the store in Sesame Street Land is a staged photography area where professionals are ready to snap your pictures with green screen fun.  You can purchase photos here if you're willing to shell out some money, or they can snap your picture with your cell phone.  I think these characters rotate occasionally, but while we were there it was Elmo and Cookie Monster.  There are also characters that meet outside near the rides and attractions.  We ran into Bert and Ernie for a quick picture and we saw Count von Count posing with other guests while we were in line for a ride.  Lines were not long for the roaming characters.  I didn't see a printed schedule of their times, so I'm not sure that you can plan for these but the lines weren't long so it was easy to pop in for a quick picture.

What's the best spot to view the parade?

I don't think there is a bad spot to view the parade.  As I mentioned earlier, Sesame Street Land is pretty small so the parade route is not long.  As with other parades, lining up 15-20 minutes early should land you a front row spot.  We actually walked back into the land as the parade was starting and found a spot right up front for the kids.  Our viewing spot was at the beginning of the parade.  After several floats pass by, there is a break for a dance party where the celebration really comes alive in the street.  In total, the entire parade was less than 15 minutes, but, despite the short time, was a highlight of our day.

There's a VIP pass for Sesame Street Land.  Should I buy it?

My opinion - no.  The pass is currently running at $49.99 and is good for your family.  You get Quick Queue access to the inside photo op, a printed picture, premium parade viewing, and Quick Queue access for the roller coaster in the land.  We waited in virtually no lines for anything, saw the parade just fine, and are perfectly happy with our cell phone pictures that we took.  I would check SeaWorld's website frequently though if you're planning a trip because we did see several "upgrades" like this go on sale at different points.  I'm glad we saved the money to spend elsewhere, but if you catch this reduced to $30 or less, it's probably a pretty good deal to pick up.

How long should we plan to spend in Sesame Street Land?

Great question - and really dependent on your plans.  We purchased 2 day tickets to SeaWorld and, for this reason, took our time in Sesame Street Land. We spent nearly 1/2 a day there on Saturday and stopped by for about an hour or so again on Sunday.  I'm really glad that we weren't rushed as the kids enjoyed it.  We didn't even really experience everything there either.  I hadn't planned ahead for the splash pad area so we didn't change to participate in that, but it would definitely be a popular spot if we were planning a summer trip.  As with most areas in an amusement park, you can plan to spend as much or as little time as you like.  If you're traveling primarily with preschool aged children to SeaWorld, I would plan a good 2 hours at a minimum to really relax and have fun there.  That may sound like a lot, but consider that most of the other rides at SeaWorld really aren't "little kid" friendly so you should still have plenty of time to see what you want around the rest of the park.

Want to "SEA" what you can enjoy?  Check out my YouTube video below and enjoy planning your visit with your family!