Recently, I was invited by Give Kids the World Village to attend their Coasting for Kids event at Sesame Place in Langhorne, PA. I had gone to Sesame Place so many times when I was younger, and I was even a pass holder! When the opportunity presented itself, I knew I couldn’t pass it up, especially since it was for such a great cause.
For those of you who don’t know, Give Kids the World Village is a non-profit organization based in Kissimmee, FL that works to grant the wishes of wish children who want to visit the Florida theme parks. The Village is an 84 acre property that provides week-long stays to wish kids and their families at no cost. As you can imagine, this is no easy feat, so they are always looking for volunteers and fundraising to help out! Coasting for Kids is one of the many examples of ways you can contribute. It all starts online, where you start your own fundraiser as a team or an individual. Once you hit the $100 milestone, you receive admission to a participating park of your choice for a Coasting for Kids event.
This past Saturday, I attended the event at Sesame Place with my family and one of my very good friends, Emma. At 8:15, we were checked in and received our badges and shirts. At 8:45, the welcome ceremony had kicked off, and we were able to meet Super Grover and Oscar the Grouch! At 9am, we were given unlimited priority access to Oscar’s Wacky Taxi and Super Grover’s Vapor Trail, the two main rides in the park. At 10, once the park opened, we had open access to the park.
I personally had such an amazing time at the event. I had not been to Sesame Place in many years, but coming back for such a great cause was amazing. It was so fun to see how everything had changed, and just run around and not have to worry about anything! Emma and I went on so many of the rides, took pictures just about everywhere, had some snacks, and even met a few of our favorite Sesame Street childhood friends! Emma had never been to Sesame Place before, and it was pretty cool to see what she thought of it after exploring it for the first time.
Although there were a lot of fun moments throughout the day, I’d have to say my favorites were the hour we had priority access and meeting Snuffy! I remember always waiting on such long lines for the Vapor Trail when I was little, so being able to ride both rides with absolutely no wait (and ride them both twice in a row) was amazing! Also, Snuffleupagus was one of my favorite characters when I was little. Even though I did love Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, and all the friends you could typically meet at Sesame Place, I had always wanted to meet Snuffleupagus when I was little, so I was happy when I was able to do so today!
Overall, I would totally recommend the event to anyone who is interested! You can learn more about the Coasting for Kids events, as well as other ways to support Give Kids the World Village, at gktw.org. As I mentioned earlier, GKTW is an amazing organization that makes so much magic for the kids who need it most, and I’m so proud to be helping their mission!
I did also vlog my entire day, and the video will be available this Saturday on my YouTube channel, Terrifically Toni! Be sure to check it out! Once again, a massive thank you to GKTW for inviting me, and to Sesame Place for being such a great host!
See ya real soon,
