It’s no lie that SeaWorld Parks and Resort have been on a little bit of a roller coaster the past few years, with attendance and revenue varying wildly over the years. And though the resort group has been on a bit of an upswing in recent years, it looks like they are taking a really big step towards keeping their forward momentum, and have announced a brand new theme park, coming to San Diego in 2021!
Introducing Sesame Place San Diego
Image: SeaWorld Parks and Resorts
I was announced this week that SeaWorld San Diego is adding Sesame Place to its resort, which will be a 17-acre park featuring rides, attractions and more inspired by the classic children’t TV property. Interestingly, this new park is being built where Aquatica San Diego now sits, and will incorporate Aquatica’s water rides and slides into the new park with updated theming.
The centerpiece of the new park will be Sesame Street Neighborhood, an interactive area that will bring the show’s famed 123 Stoop to life. Fans also will see Big Bird’s Nest, Abby Cadabby’s Garden and other locations familiar to fans of the show. Character shows will take place throughout the day.
Image: SeaWorld Parks and Resorts
When it opens in 2021, Sesame Place San Diego will feature seven brand new rides, including the following:
- Super Grover-themed family coaster
- Spaceman Elmo-themed spaceship spinning ride
- S.S. Duckie-themed rotating pendulum arm ride
- Abby Cadabby-themed wave swing ride
- Cookie Monster-themed rope climbing tower ride
- Hot air balloon-style spinning ride
- Big Bird-themed carousel
Saying goodbye to Aquatica San Diego
- Cookie Monster Mixer 6-story-tall tube slide with giant funnel finale
- Oscar the Grouch-themed family raft slide
- Bert and Ernie-themed towers with 6 tube slides
- Snuffleupagus tower complex with 6 body slides
- 350-foot-long mat racing slide
- 4-story-tall water play tower with 500-gallon dump bucket
- 500,000-gallon wave pool
- 1,250-foot-long lazy river
One attraction that unfortunately won’t make the transition from Aquatica to Sesame Place San Diego is Hoo Roo Run, which is a body slide with an 80-foot-drop (and a very high height restriction), which won’t really fit the family friendly theme of Sesame Place San Diego and will be removed from the Aquatica water park after next year.
Though it might seem a little weird to convert an existing water park into a theme park aimed at children, it’s worth remembering that Aquatica San Diego hasn’t exactly been the best-performing water park under the SeaWorld Parks and Resorts umbrella, and hasn’t actually recieved a new attraction since 2014, just one year after this park’s original conversion from Knott’s Soak City park. This park also doesn’t have the marine life exhibits other Aquatica parks have, which have always made this location one that doesn’t quite live up to the Aquatica theme so familiar to those who have been to other locations.
Image: SeaWorld Parks and Resorts
By injecting a new theme, adding more rides, and making this a combination theme park and water park (kind of like LEGOLAND Florida), SeaWorld can hopefully draw more families to this destination in the coming years.
A specific opening date has not been revealed for Sesame Place: San Diego, but we know that work on the transformation will begin soon, with 2020 being the last one for Aquatica San Diego and the new park opening in 2021.
