The cabanas include a safe (perfect for a wallet and camera), a refrigerator stocked with bottled water, and beach towels. The area is attended, so you can leave your stroller and other large items without fear of someone taking them. But the best part of all is that the cabana rental comes with VIP access to all of the characters before the parade. It’s the only time all day that ALL of the characters are in one place at one time, and there is only access for a limited number of people. It means that the kids can just walk up to all of the characters without having to wait on line. For some people, that alone is worth the price of cabana rental.

Do not try to park at Sesame Place if you’ll be spending the night in the area. Parking is something like $15/day at Sesame Place, and there are several hotels nearby that run free shuttle busses to the park. If you’re going to stay at one of those hotels, use the shuttle, and you can skip paying more for parking…

Wear, and have your children wear, water shoes with closed toes. The kind that stay on. You won’t be sorry. Flip flops and crocs just don’t work and aren’t as safe. If you and your kid have rash guard shirts, wear them, you’ll see horrible sunburns on people. Its all sun and water. Hats and sunglasses are a must too.

Remember that the goal is to have fun, and that preschoolers are learning how much to trust their parents. It is so sad to see crying toddlers being forced to go down slides they are afraid of. What is the point? There is plenty for them them to enjoy, and they’ll move on to the more challenging things at their own pace.

There is a Red Roof Inn near the park — not a walk, but call them, you might be able to get a cab– its less than a mile away. Parking is $!5, so its worth it. You can bring a small cooler — the kind people can carry in one hand –which I recommend you keep in your stroller. The food is expensive park food. Pizza and french fries, soda. Bring a healthy lunch and a water bottle. and enjoy an ice cream or funnel cake.

We were there on a busy weekend — and lines at the big slides are long. Be strategic. The last hour of the park lines are much, much shorter.

Character meals are expensive. You can get individual photos with Big Bird and Elmo and your kid at the photo place in the back right. (Characters are there all the time, and the lines are short!) They’ll take the photo, or they’ll let parents take them too. Really nice.