Sesame Place – Some Gravity Group Grouchiness

Last week I was able to visit my first amusement park of 2026 in Kings Dominion. Jen saw the park was open for Spring/Easter break and wanted to go. I asked Greg and Sam if they’d also like to go. Greg was able to, but Sam was not. She really wanted to, but she was scheduled to work that Monday, so it wasn’t in the cards. Little did we know, we’d end up at Sesame Place (Philadelphia) and Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) one week later.

Sam and I were looking to get into something on Monday, April 6, 2026, but didn’t know exactly what. I had some ideas in my head, but out of nowhere Sesame Place popped into my thoughts. I checked their hours and they were open. Years ago when I visited Sesame Place for what was my only visit prior to this one, I paired it up with SFGAdv. Knowing we wouldn’t need a ton of time at Sesame, I decided to see if we could jump over there again when we finished up. Luckily for us, SFGAdv was also open. We had found our plans. Sam was extra happy as she had been going through some coaster withdraw, especially since she couldn’t join us the week before.

After finding out Vapor Trail was closed, we walked over to Oscar’s. When we arrived there was a closed sign out in front of the ride’s queue entrance. Both of our stomachs sank as we intially thought both coasters were going to be closed. We held out some hope though as the sign looked like a temporary one, which it turned out to be. A ride supervisor came down a few minutes after we arrived and told us the ride would open in about 10-15 minutes. And it did.

We decided to do our first ride in the front row. We were the first and only people riding this first train of the day, so why not? Just in case a rush of people came over, we thought that was a good idea, although the park wasn’t at all crowded.

As for the front row ride, it was okay. It was chilly, the first train of the day, and we were the only two people on the train. All those things tend to result in slower than usual rides. I didn’t feel a ton of airtime. At least not like what I remembered getting a few years ago. Those rides were in the summer, with full trains, and after they had been running for a few hours. It was to be expected.

After our ride we went back up for a ride in the back row and would stay on for a third ride since no one else was in the station. These rides were much better and the airtime in the back was much more noticeable – especially on that first drop. This was closer to what I remember.

Sam really enjoyed her rides on Oscar’s, which made our stop worthwhile. We rode Kentucky Flyer last year with when we stopped at Kentucky Kingdom in early June. I told her while that ride was fun, Oscar’s was better. After these three rides, she agrees. Now we have to get her up to Quassy for Wooden Warrior, which I also enjoy.