Shamu Happy Harbor closes to make way for a new play area and 3 new (kiddie) rides and the Sseme Street Characters...Summer 08

Fun news though is that Haunted Lighthouse 4D movie is being replaced with a Seseme Street 4D Adventure film. woohoo!

Sounds good to me!

Which Sea World?

sorry...San Diego.

I really hope this means a major re-design for Shamu's Happy Harbor and not just a re-themed overlay. We were at the park on Saturday and that is easily the worst designed theme park play area that I have ever seen. The equipment is generally fine (and my son enjoyed playing on it), but the area is not fully enclosed, resulting in quite a few different exits. The main play area includes a series of rope bridges and tube structures, which also have a variety of entrances and exits. To make the matters worst of all, there are quite a few areas (mainly the tubes), where adults simply can't follow.

We didn't immediately drag our son out of the area as that would have been an exceptional disappointment for him and we know his personality is such that he wouldn't stray from the play area, but we did end up with a atypically short play time that was heavily marked by my wife and I struggling to try and keep track of him while working together to cover the various possible exits. During one short time when we did briefly lose track of him, my wife commented to one of the employees working in the area about the rather poor design and was greeted with a semi-annoyed response of "do you want help looking for your kid or something?" Not exactly the best of customer service...

I would hope that the Sesame Workshop folks will take a look at the current design of that play area and demand some pretty dramatic design changes, particularly the construction of walls/fences to ensure a single point of entry/exit.

-Jeff

Maybe a letter or call with that information might be in order.

The Seseme thing might just be the renting of some costumes and images. (don't know that of course)...but the company does have a long successful history with the Workshop...

http://www.sesameplace.com/sesame/pa/index.aspx

They should know what they are doing by now with the 21st Century parental concerns a bit different from when Happy Harbor was designed.

Your comments are certainly valid and should be presented.

Note the Rides on the site like Big Bird's Balloon Race and Grover's World Twirl...probably what we'll be getting. I think the Balloon is a Zamperla and is a fun little ride even for grownups. :-)

D