Following a Theme Park Trail Along the Eastern Seaboard.

• Author: BARRETT, WAYNE M.
• Position: Brief Article

Visits to Sesame Place, Busch Gardens, Water Country USA, and Kings Dominion, sandwiched around a side trip to the Baltimore Zoo and National Aquarium, proved to be fantastic family fare.

DURING THE TIME we dated and through the early years of our marriage, my wife had a hard-and-fast role when it came to vacations: It's always better to end a trip a day too early than a day too late. On our various getaways to Hawaii, Aruba, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, and Florida, her advice proved wise indeed. So it was with a little bit of shock that I heard about our latest planned adventure. We were to hit the road for nine straight days--the first and last being for travel exclusively--working our way from New York to Pennsylvania to Maryland to, finally, Virginia, while visiting Sesame Place, the Baltimore Zoo, the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Busch Gardens, Water Country USA, and Kings Dominion.

I certainly was up for such a trip, but I wasn't sure our kids could be pushed to that extent. After all, our oldest, Julie, was just four, and her younger brothers, Alex and Trevor, were three and one, respectively. Apparently, though, Margaret had done some strategic politicking with our offspring while I was at the office. They not only were all pumped up to go, daily counting down the days until our departure, but each night at the dinner table--without fail--in the weeks leading up to our vacation, the two oldest would recite our entire itinerary: listing all the places we were to go to, as well as the names of the hotels we were to stay at and the type of accommodations we were to enjoy at each, like whether it had an indoor or outdoor swimming pool, if the pools were heated, which places were suites, what nights they would be sleeping on a pull-out couch, etc.

One of the concessions I had to make once we had children was that my days of going places in the off-season were over. Although I abhor crowds and am the absolute grouchiest person on Earth if made to stand in long lines--I'll never understand the lure of Walt Disney World--I was resigned to my fate of exclusively summer vacations. However, since our oldest was only in prekindergarten, a late-spring vacation could still be a reality, at least for this year. The trouble is, with three water parks on the docket, we were gambling with the weather. Before June, it's common to run into not only rainy days, but cool ones. (Personally, I love the cold and the rain more than anything except a raging blizzard, but nowadays, the kids must come first.)

Yet, early and mid May produced near drought conditions in the Northeast for the first time in memory. Not only didn't a drop of rain fall, but there wasn't a cloud sighting for weeks. We left early Saturday afternoon under blue skies--that was to change drastically in less than 24 hours--for Langhorne, Pa., home of Sesame Place, the idea being to arrive at the hotel in late afternoon, get sealed, have dinner, then get a good night's sleep so we'd be fresh, alert, and on time to the park Sunday morning. It went like clockwork. The drive turned out to be a breeze. Despite their tender years, our kids are excellent long-distance riders--no whining about the drive being too long; no grousing about each other talking or singing or playing too loudly; and, most gratifying to their parents, no asking constantly, "Are we there yet?" Moreover, we brought along the perfect insurance policy--Video-in-a-Bag--so our trio of young travelers could watch their favorite tapes anytime they wanted. We left Julie in charge of the inventory, although it was usually Trevor, the most aggressive of our threesome, who was making the selections.

I stayed in the mini-van with the kids while Margaret went to check in. It was a bit of a long wait as there were three wedding parties (and guests) coming and going at the time of our arrival. The sight of a group of bridesmaids and their fancy gowns prompted Julie to ask what was going on. I explained that the women were on their way to a wedding, which led to a fascinating discussion in which I learned that my daughter was going to get married and be a mommy someday, but not before first being a "lady doctor" or "owning her own haircutting store." When I asked why she couldn't be a mother and a doctor or beautician, she was quite emphatic: "I don't want to do both at the same time! Being a mommy comes after I'm done with the other things." (She's since altered her career plans, and now wants to be a swimming instructor.)

After check-in, it was time for dinner. While Julie and Alex are great in restaurants, Trevor can be a terror. Not on this night, though. Dinner was devoured without incident, so quickly in fact that there was still time to go in the heated outdoor pool back at the hotel. Considering what awaited our three waterbugs the following day, this proved to be a good call.

We were up early the next morning so we'd have time to eat breakfast, check out, and get over to Sesame Place before the park opened. We got a rude greeting upon walking to the car. It was cloudy. It was cold. It was windy. Uh-oh, Mom and Dad cringed. Undeterred by the conditions, Julie said, "That's okay; me, Alley, and Trevvy can wear our spring jackets that Mommy packed." And so they did. Ah, the resilience of youth.

The day at Sesame started indoors with a newly added feature, "Elmo's World Live!" Based on the popular segment from TV's "Sesame Street," Elmo, Dorothy the Goldfish, and Mr. Noodle explore the concept of dance. Before the show, the ushers asked for volunteers to sit up front to join Elmo on stage. While Julie is hardly shy, she's not usually the volunteering type. Nevertheless, she was quite certain that she wanted to dance with Elmo, and dance she did, displaying not a lick of inhibition.

We've been to Sesame Place before, enough times to know that even minus the pools and water rides, there is still plenty to do. Topping the list on this day was Grover's Vapor Trail, the 14-acre park's lone roller coaster. Because Sesame Place is designed for young children, it didn't even have a roller coaster until a few years ago. Vapor Trail thankfully isn't one of those new-fangled thrill rides that will shave years off your life while defying the laws of physics. It has enough dips and turns to get the kids screaming, but with delight, not out of fear. Since the chilly weather held the crowds down, we were able to ride the Vapor Trail over and over again without having to wait on line. This was especially satisfying for Alex, who all day long kept calling it the "sideways roller coaster." During past trips, he had been forced to watch his sister have all the fun while he could only stand on the sidelines.

There was the requisite walk over to Sesame Neighborhood, a full-size, outdoor re-creation of the classic "Sesame Street" television set, where impromptu photo sessions with kids and their favorite characters take place. Youngsters have to run, jump, and play, too, and that's where Sesame really comes through. There are a number of non-water park areas where kids can climb (on Cookie Mountain, a vinyl cone that participants slide down once they reach the top), bounce (on Ernie's Bed, a huge, springy air mattress that's perfect for jumping and leaping), and enjoy an assortment of slides, mazes, tunnels, ropes, sand toys, and oversized building blocks. One tradition our kids have established with each visit is to climb the dozens of steps to the top (or face) of the Big Bird statue, where they yell down for us to take their picture while they proudly stand as if they've conquered Mt. Everest.

Live shows are a key part of the Sesame Place experience. We especially enjoyed David Jack's Jungle...