Why did SeaWorld Parks convert its Aquatica water park in San Diego to a Sesame Place?
SeaWorld has licensed the U.S. theme park rights to the Sesame Street franchise for over 40 years. You can find Sesame Street characters and attractions at all SeaWorld and Busch Gardens theme parks across the country, as well as at the SeaWorld-owned Sesame Place theme park outside Philadelphia. But SeaWorld's agreement with Sesame Workshop also required the theme park company to open a second Sesame Place by 2020.
Converting an existing property to a Sesame Place theme made the most business sense for SeaWorld Parks. It eliminates land acquisition costs and places the "new" park in a market where the company already has a promotional presence. Pick the right property to convert, and SeaWorld can minimize construction costs, as well.
So where would Sesame Place fit best within SeaWorld's existing properties? Obviously, SeaWorld Parks would be looking for a property that could improve its attendance and revenue by making the switch - not one where the new theme would represent a downgrade. Given that a Sesame Place theme park is going to be sharply focused on families with young children, SeaWorld's smaller properties would make the best candidates. No SeaWorld-branded or Busch Gardens theme park is going to make this switch.
That leaves the chain's water parks to consider. Ideally, SeaWorld would want the site for its second Sesame Place to be far removed from the Philadelphia original, which would eliminate Virginia's Water Country USA. Orlando's Aquatica ranks as one of the country's most-visited water parks, so there's no chance that SeaWorld would want to mess with that success. Tampa's Adventure Island and San Antonio's Aquatica also rank in the U.S. Top 10 water parks.
So that leaves San Diego. California is not a big water park market, with no parks in the state ranking in the U.S. Top 20. Perhaps the addition of some dry rides, entertainment, and a popular IP could help draw theme-park-loving but water-park-skeptical locals to this Chula Vista location. And even though the percentage of preschool and early elementary children that make up Sesame Street's core audience has been declining for years in the United States, the Southern California market is so large that it can provide millions of potential visitors for the park. Proximity to Mexico also makes the park a potential draw from the large Tijuana market, as well.
That's why SeaWorld Parks announced in late 2019 that it would convert the San Diego Aquatica into the west coast's first Sesame Place theme park. The pandemic delayed the switch for a year, but the new Sesame Place San Diego officially opens to the public today.
I spoke yesterday at the park's media preview day with SeaWorld San Diego and Sesame Place San Diego Park President Jim Lake about the change.
The Sesame Workshop relationship is crucially important to SeaWorld Parks. To maintain that relationship, SeaWorld not only needs to fulfill its contractual obligations to Sesame Workshop, it needs to show that its Sesame Street-themed attractions support Sesame Workshop's mission for promoting healthy childhood development. That's why the emphasis on becoming a Certified Autism Center and expanding the water park's line-up to include kid-friendly rides and entertainment.
The one response from Lake that surprised me came when I asked about the future of Sesame Street at SeaWorld San Diego, which had offered a Sesame Street Bay of Play kids' area for years.
"As we open Sesame Place here, we are continuing to evaluate Sesame Street IP in our SeaWorld park, and we'll make a decision as we move forward which way we want to go with that," Lake said.
I wasn't expecting Lake to throw Bay of Play under the (school) bus, but here we are. I suppose it makes sense to take a hard look at what SeaWorld San Diego has to offer with Sesame Street. The less that Sesame Place is redundant to the long-established and more-visited SeaWorld park across town, the better its chances to succeed.
As I noted in my newspaper column this week, SeaWorld Parks has not developed the all-ages Sesame Street dark rides that Sesame Street theme park rights owners in Asia and Europe have installed. As a company, SeaWorld rarely does well with dark rides, and when it does, the company has trouble sustaining them. (RIP Curse of DarKastle.) But if SeaWorld San Diego were to replace its Sesame Street Bay of Play with something like PortAventura's Sesame Street: Street Mission, it would expand the market for Sesame Street attractions while creating a clear distinction between what was available at SeaWorld in Mission Bay and Sesame Place in Chula Vista.
Win-win for all.
Of course, designing and building a compelling dark ride costs money. So you might forgive local visitors baking in the sun because SeaWorld would not spend the money for a cover over its Sesame Place Theater or Emperor load platform at SeaWorld for being skeptical about SeaWorld's willingness to pay. But if SeaWorld can afford to make an all-cash offer to buy the Cedar Fair theme parks, it can afford to develop the world-class dark ride that SeaWorld San Diego needs. Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood, Knott's Berry Farm, Legoland California, and even Six Flags Magic Mountain offer well-received dark rides. Only SeaWorld lacks one.
With a new attraction line-up aimed at finding a loyal audience in a competitive market, Sesame Place San Diego offers a solid upgrade over the Aquatica water park it replaced. Along with the four new roller coasters the company has opened at parks across the country, Sesame Place San Diego shows that SeaWorld Parks can take strong steps forward. The more that SeaWorld Parks continues to do that in the future, the more that theme park fans will benefit.
Previously: A Visitor's Guide to the New Sesame Place San Diego, including photos, videos, and a link to discount tickets.
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I think there’s also a bit of revenge in SeaWorld’s choice—mostly due to the decision of Merlin to build a LEGOLand in Goshen, NY in the NYC metro area, which was a heavy marketing area for Sesame Place in Langhorne. By putting the second Sesame Place within one of LEGOLand’s key markets, it was a bit of payback.
What I found most compelling is the lack of interest for water parks in the CA market. Any particular reason why?
That’s actually going to be my OC Register column this week.
@sxcymike - I think the lure of California's beaches and cultural disposition of locals to prefer natural destinations over artificial ones undermines potential waterpark success in the state. However, I think if you build a highly themed, experiential park (more than just a bunch of slides, wave pools, and lazy rivers), you could draw pretty well in California.
The problem is that such a park requires a lot of front-end investment to really appeal to the California market, and I don't think even the heavy hitters (Disney, Universal, and Cedar Fair) are willing to take that risk. Also, water parks just aren't very profitable enterprises, and require tons of resources for maintenance and labor (lifeguards make 20-30% more than regular theme park workers), so in addition to the massive investment it would take to build one that appeals to the California audience, getting return on that investment would take a lot longer than a regular theme park.
We (everyone at Sally Dark Rides) would love to create a Sesame Street dark ride for SeaWorld parks. It's such a special IP that appeals to so many. And to us, there is nothing more important at a theme park than having rides and attractions that the whole family can do together. That's how those special memories are formed, and that's what leads to generations of family members coming back for years. We're sure Sesame Place is a great addition for kids, but we hope there's a family experience planned for the future. We're sitting ready!
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Very interesting read up on this. I especially liked the analysis of the Sesame Street Bay of Play area at Sea World up the road and what may happen to it in the future. You are also totally right on the Mexican market for this park. Sesame Street is huge in Mexico. There actually is a fully licensed and operational Sesame Place in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon in Northern Mexico about a 2 hour drive from the Texas border.