One Way Sesame Street: Muppet Fonzie Jumps the Shark Teeth

 "One Way" is one of my earliest memories of watching Sesame Street as a three year old in 1978.  "One Way" featured a parody of Henry Winkler's "The Fonz" from the TV show "Happy Days" on his motorcycle trying to navigate his way down a one way street.  The song "One Way" was performed by singer and composer Christopher Cerf, who created a great deal of music for Sesame Street.  "One Way" was released on record albums, attributed to Sesame Street's resident rock band, "Little Chrissy and the Alphabeats" (Cerf also performed for these musical Muppets, notably the song "You're Alive").

"One Way" was simply a memory stuck in my head for decades until I finally saw it again on YouTube.

I created Muppet Fonzie, the motorcycle, and the One Way sign using shells, rocks, and other sea junk found on the beaches of Venice, Florida (I used paint and glue, too).

Interestingly, Henry Winkler was speaking at an event for the Tidewell Foundation in nearby Sarasota last month and I unfortunately did not get to go see him.  That would have been cool, like Fonzie.

The Good Sesame Place

How does one get to Sesame Street?  Well, in Florida, you can find Oscar, Ernie, Big Bird, and Bert in a few different locations.

The biggest bird in the Sunshine State isn't a pelican.  It's a yellow Muppet.

 Big Bird is one of the latest sculptures I've made using materials I've found on the beaches near my home in Venice, Florida.  Here in Florida, the Sesame Street Muppets can be found at Busch Gardens in Tampa (Sesame Street Safari of Fun, opened in 2010) and SeaWorld in Orlando (Sesame Street Land, opened in 2019).  While these are relatively new additions, Sesame Street is no stranger to theme parks.
The very first Sesame Street theme park, Sesame Place, opened in Pennsylvania in 1980.  The small play park, operated by Busch, eventually morphed into a (still small) ride and water park.  Eventually, Sesame Place started getting cross promoted in materials for its sister Busch Gardens and SeaWorld Parks, appearing on brochures, shopping bags, and eventually in the form of small "lands" with attractions and shows.

A second Sesame Place is coming to San Diego in 2021 (replacing the existing SeaWorld Aquatica water park.
While Big Bird is no longer considered the main character of Sesame Street, the endearing modern day feathered dinosaur is still the mascot for Sesame Place parks.  For now.

Big Bird's best buddy is Mr. Snuffleupagus.  For many years, quite a few adults on Sesame Street thought that Snuffy was an imaginary friend that Big Bird had made up (because they never saw him).

Snuffleupagus started appearing at the Sesame Place theme park in Pennsylvania fairly recently.  He has also appeared at Busch Gardens Tampa, where he has his own ride called "Snuffy's Elephant Romp" (featuring Muppet Elephant ride vehicles) in Sesame Street Safari of Fun.

Grover is a rather super monster on Sesame Street, and in the world of theme parks.  Grover (and his alter-ego, Super Grover) has his own high-flying roller coasters at Sesame Place, Busch Gardens parks, and SeaWorld parks.

Grover was sort of the original "breakout" Monster character of Sesame Street.  Before a certain ticklish, crimson-colored Muppet took over the spotlight.

Sesame Street airs all over the world, and often features localized characters.  These international Muppets used to be showcased in Sesame Place at a ride called "Grover's World Twirl".  One of these characters was Nimnim (which means "Tiny") from the Egyptian version of Sesame Street called "Alam Simsim".

Nimnim is the colorful Egyptian counterpart to Big Bird.

Boombah the Lion takes on the Big Bird role in Galli Galli Sim Sim, India's version of Sesame Street.

Galli Galli Sim Sim has a very catchy theme song.

In 2014, Sesame Place debuted Cookie's Monster Land.  This area features play components and five rides, including the Disco themed Monster Mix-Up, which replaced Grover's World Twirl.

Me want Cookie!  Me from the beach, so me want Pecan Sandie!

Bath tub loving Ernie is the go-to guy for interactive water play elements at Sesame Place and the Sesame Street lands.  Whether it is a fountain, water slide, or wave pool, Ernie is ready with his rubber duckie.

Of course, the giggling Ernie was first performed by Muppet founder, Jim Henson.

Bert would be happy to know that there are indeed pigeons on some of the beaches in Venice, Florida.

It's kind of crazy that the original performer for Bert (Frank Oz) would later become a director for some wild films like Little Shop of Horrors and What About Bob?

I also made Oscar the Grouch.  He's created using genuine sea trash, like bits of coral and sharkteeth.

Sesame Street's resident bad boy got his own wooden roller coaster, "Oscar's Wacky Taxi"
 at Sesame Place in Pennsylvania in 2018.

Oscar and Big Bird were both performed by puppeteer Carroll Spinney.  Oscar's character was inspired by a taxi driver that Spinney encountered.

OK, that's it.  Now SCRAM!

Sea is for Cookie: Sesame Street in Orlando, Florida

Sea is for Cookie, that's good enough for me.  Cookie, cookie, cookie starts with Sea!

In honor of the new Sesame Street opening at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida, I decided to do a drawing in the spirit of Sesame Street parodies.  This one is based on Walt Disney World's Pandora: The World of Avatar attractions, AVATAR: Flight of Passage and Na'vi River Journey.  Grover and Big Bird and Little Bird star in Sesame Street: Height of Knowledge.  Cookie Monster and the Yip Yip Martians take visitors on a journey down a river of cookies and milk on Cookie Eater Thirsty.

Dizzy Mixer's Mewantcookie is inspired by Disney Pixar's Ratatouille.

It's pretty clear to me that Remy from Ratatouille takes some inspiration from Sesame Street's Grover.  The colors are very similar, as is the mouth.

Oscar the Grouch and Snuffy take on Universal Studios Grinchmas.

Oscar makes the perfect Grinch, and Snuffy is well cast as Max the dog.

Bert and Ernie take on E.T. with Er.Nie.

The E.T. Adventure is one of the last surviving elements of the original Universal Studios Florida.  Ironically, a Sesame Street dark ride exists in Universal Studios Singapore, replacing a planned version of the E.T. Adventure.

The opening of the new Sesame Street at SeaWorld has many on social media questioning its very existence, or shocked at the partnership.  But SeaWorld and Sesame go way back, starting with the opening of the very first Sesame Place park in Pennsylvania in 1980.  Sesame Place was operated by Busch Entertainment, the same company that operated Busch Gardens parks in Florida and Virginia.  Later, Busch bought SeaWorld parks.  Sesame Place has been featured on SeaWorld/Busch Gardens materials for many years.  Sesame Street characters eventually found their way into Busch Gardens and SeaWorld parks across America.  Orlando was the last to get a dedicated area for the characters.  The addition is quite possibly the smartest attraction ever created for SeaWorld.  I get the feeling that Shamu Stadium in Florida is ground zero for an eventual Sesame expansion.

Busch Bay: A New Name for SeaWorld

It is rare for a theme park to get a new name, but it does happen.  Case in point: Walt Disney World's Disney MGM Studios became Disney's Hollywood Studios.

My pitch to SeaWorld:  change the name of SeaWorld to Busch Bay.  I think it could solve a bunch of problems.

SeaWorld has been struggling with its image.  Rumors about the future of the parks have been swirling online for years.

SeaWorld getting sold or closing down is the biggest rumor on the internet lately.  While nobody should believe everything they read online, one SeaWorld park has closed in the past: SeaWorld of Ohio (1970-2000).

SeaWorld Ohio was not allowed to build rides.  So it was sold off as expansion to Six Flags Ohio.  Ironically, Six Flags Ohio was sold off to Cedar Fair, and the former SeaWorld site became a water park.

The addition of roller coasters to SeaWorld parks started in 1997 with The Great White inverted coaster in San Antonio.

Anheuser-Busch bought the SeaWorld parks in 1989.  So SeaWorld slowly started to resemble its sister Busch Gardens parks.

SeaWorld Orlando got Kraken in 2000, giving the Orlando market a new place for big thrills.

Some of the marketing and merchandising for SeaWorld's Kraken was very similar to Busch Gardens Williamsburg's Loch Ness Monster roller coaster (opened in 1978).

Kraken and the Loch Ness Monster promotional mascots: Fraternal Twins!  (Recently Kraken was switched to a more traditional "release the Kraken" squid as part of the new "Kraken Unleashed" VR overlay).

Eventually, the SeaWorld/Busch Gardens chain was sold off by the owners of Anheuser-Busch.  This brought the new SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment chain that includes Busch Gardens, SeaWorld, Sesame Place, and several water parks.  The Busch name is licensed to SeaWorld Parks.

Once Upon a Time, Shamu and his crew appeared in McDonald's Happy Meals.

These days, the cartoon Shamu is not quite as visible.

The old Shamu has a bit of an image problem today.  So does this old Ronald McDonald.
SeaWorld Parks have a secret weapon.  And that weapon is Sesame Place.

Opened in Langhorne, Pennsylvania in 1980, Sesame Place is a small Sesame Street theme park.

Sesame Place is very successful for SeaWorld.  A new park is planned to open somewhere else in the United States.

Sesame Street lands exist in both Busch Gardens parks and at SeaWorld parks in California and Texas.  Florida is next (could it be a mini Sesame Place?).

Additions like hypercoaster Mako (added to SeaWorld Florida in 2016) further added to the idea that the park was becoming more like Busch Gardens.

The next new ride for SeaWorld Orlando is Infinity Falls, a raft ride with a vertical lift that opens in 2018.

I thought of a new marketing slogan for Busch Bay:  Come Sail Away at Busch Bay.

They'd have to use the Styx song "Come Sail Away" in the commercials.

Busch Gardens Tampa On Christmas Day

On Christmas Day, 2016, I woke up bright and early and took my Mom on a trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida.

Montu welcomed us as we entered the parking lot and boarded the tram to the entrance.  This was unlike any Christmas Morning I've ever experienced.

On my first visit to Busch Gardens in 1996, Montu was new, and I was too afraid to ride the coaster.  Times have changed, and I was thrilled to finally ride it.

 A Lion Topiary greets visitors, eager to be a background for Portraits and Selfies.  It was too crowded for me to get a picture of his face.

Cheetah Hunt looms high in in the sky.  Time for adventure!

Busch Gardens was fully decked out in Tropical Christmas wonder.

This Peanutcracker attracts a hungry elephant.

Cheetah Hunt is my first ride of the day!

There are real, live cheetahs on display in this area (plus a topiary one).

On Christmas Eve last year, I found this Cheetah Hunt cup for sale at the Goodwill store in Venice, Florida.

I never would have guessed that a year later, I'd be at Busch Gardens on Christmas Day!

Cheetah Hunt is an Intamin roller coaster with three launches.  This ride opened in 2011, and had the good fortune to be in an amazing location.  The ride has the Serengeti Plain as a backdrop, and uses part of the old Rhino Rally attraction's water features.  Cheetah Hunt also uses the park's old Monorail Station, which it shares with the Skyride Station.

Cheetah Hunt has some well-designed, unique "Essence of Cheetah" roller coaster trains.  I really wish Busch Gardens would sell die-cast models of the cars.

Busch Gardens has an amazing Skyride that offers some fantastic views of Cheetah Hunt (and the rest of the park, too).

The roller coaster trains are launched up into the "Figure Eight" Tower and then plunge down, then under and over the Skyride.

As the Cheetah Hunt coasters roar over the Skyride, we can also see the Falcon's Fury drop tower and the Kumba roller coaster on the horizon.

Falcon's Fury is 335 feet tall (and yes, I rode it!) and opened in 2014.  Kumba (which I also rode) opened in 1993.

Pantopia is the home of Falcon's Fury and a bunch of other rides, including the Scorpion roller coaster shown here (in the background).

At night, Pantopia is hopping with activity.  Many of the tall palm trees were decorated for Christmas.  On this trip, I skipped Scorpion (which I did ride in 1996).

Here we see Scorpion (far left), the closed Gwazi coaster (in the background), SheiKra (far right), and the Stanley Falls log flume.

You may be wondering what the crowds were like here on Christmas Day.  Well, it was pretty busy, but not too bad.  It did get busier as the day progressed.  But taking the Skyride to the back of the park, I did notice that quite a bit of areas were nearly empty---probably because the crowds were still at the front of the park.

One of my favorite ride experiences at Busch Gardens is SheiKra.  I rode this and Cheetah Hunt twice.

SheiKra is a 200 foot tall , floorless B&M Dive Coaster that opened in 2005.  The view at the top is breathtaking, as is that drop.  We ate lunch at the nearby Zambia Smokehouse (Pulled Pork sandwich---Yum!).  This is the restaurant where I picked up a cardboard Cheetah hat.

Nearby, we enjoyed visiting the birds at Lory Landing and the Kangaroos at Walkabout Way.

The Kangaroos know how to enjoy a beautiful, sunny December day in Tampa.

Busch Gardens knows a thing or two about synergy.  They have a SeaWorld topiary!

My Mom and I went to SeaWorld on November 22, 2016.  It was all decorated for Christmas, too.  I finally got to ride Mako!

Sesame Street Safari of Fun opened in 2010.  This area replaced the Land of the Dragons, which was still fairly new on my visit in 1996.

You can see that the Land of the Dragons did not really go away completely.  The area added Sesame Street themes.  You can even see a dragon tail here in this picture.

Sesame Street Safari of Fun has rides and shows for little visitors.  And a shop, too.

Abby Cadabby's Treasure Hut sells a variety of Sesame Street Busch Gardens merchandise that seems to be exclusive to this one location.

Sesame Street Zebras, Lions, and Cape Buffalo make a very cute carousel.

Safari of Fun is like a Muppet version of Busch Gardens.

Some of the merchandise sold at Safari of Fun is also sold at the Sesame Place theme park in Pennsylvania.

A number of stores in Busch Gardens have special promotional items available to purchase after spending a certain amount of money.  Abby Cadabby's Treasure Hut offered a Sesame Place blanket for sale (I tried to buy it without making a purchase, and they wouldn't let me).

C is for Calories, Cholesterol and Clogged Arteries.

Cookie has a sense of humor.

As part of Busch Gardens Christmas Town, the whole park got a Christmas makeover and each section got a new name.

Most of the Holiday fun could be found in Holiday Hills, Ice Wonderway, Three Kings Oasis, Christmas Time Terrace, Celestial Crossings, Mistletoe Memories, the North Pole, Jungle Jubilee and Christmas Town Village.

The newest ride at Busch Gardens is Cobra's Curse, a Mack spinning roller coaster that debuted in 2016.

The highly detailed ride model is on display inside Celebration Village.

The highly detailed ride is found in Egypt.  It is a fun coaster to ride and a fun coaster to watch.  It starts off with the cars facing forward---then it changes to facing backward---and then it starts spinning.

The line for the ride is in an air-conditioned building (with show elements and live snake displays) that used to house the old Tut's Tomb.

Busch Gardens closed down the infamous Gwazi wooden coasters (which had a reputation for being very rough), but the name (and logos) continue to be used elsewhere.

In addition to this Gwazi themed game, the park has a flat ride (Gwazi Gliders) and Gwazi Park (which hosts special events).

One such special event is Christmas Town Village, which opened at 4PM.

We avoided this area due to growing crowds as the sun started setting.

Earlier in the day, we were among about five people to board the train in the Congo section of the park.  After dark, the train got a Christmas Sing Along theme, and was mobbed.

The Tiger Topiary proved to be a popular photo spot all day.  I could never get a picture of him from the front.

Our last rides of the day would be in Pantopia.  We rode the Grand Caravan Carousel.  Then I finally rode Falcon's Fury.  It is fun and terrifying at the same time.

I actually bought this Falcon's Fury cup at the Venice, Florida Goodwill---the same place I got the Cheetah Hunt cup last year!

We had planned on stopping to get dinner on the drive back to Venice.  Then I thought---would many places be open on Christmas Day?  We decided to eat at Zagora Cafe at the front of the park.  Lots of other people had the same idea.

At the end of the day, we explored the shops.  I loved the Busch Gardens Nutcrackers (SeaWorld had some great ones, too).

I hope to return to Busch Gardens next Christmas.  There is quite a bit that we did not experience.  The park is huge.  I'm kind of in shock that we missed the Edge of Africa exhibit and the Myombe Reserve.

Maybe next year I'll find a Cobra's Curse Nutcracker.