SeaWorld’s new Sesame Place is a unique hybrid of a theme park, water park and kiddie land based on a single brand that is unlike anything Southern California has ever seen before.

The new Sesame Place San Diego debuted in late March at the former SeaWorld Aquatica water park in Chula Vista, approximately 20 miles from the SeaWorld San Diego marine park on Mission Bay.

Sesame Place features 10 water attractions, 8 kiddie rides, a parade, stage show, Sesame Street character interactions and a faithful recreation of the children’s television neighborhood show set.

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Sesame Place is difficult to figure out when you first hear the description — sounding like something entirely new yet completely familiar. Like all new ideas, Sesame Place raises a host of questions.

Do you ride the water slides in your street clothes? Do you hop on the theme park rides in your soaking wet bathing suit and bare feet? Who will come to the new park beyond kids who watch “Sesame Street” and their parents? Is Sesame Place open year-round like a theme park or seasonally like a water park? Why is SeaWorld building a new park so far away from its Mission Bay marine park? And most importantly, what is SeaWorld thinking and how does Sesame Place work?

SeaWorld San Diego and Sesame Place president Jim Lake. (SeaWorld)

SeaWorld San Diego and Sesame Place president Jim Lake sat down to discuss the new hybrid park.

“It is definitely a transformation of what was Aquatica,” Lake said. “It really is a full theme park now. The rides are dispersed throughout the park so it’s a nice mix of water and dry.”

Southern California has never seen a theme park/water park combo based on a single intellectual property and developed as a stand-alone property. It would be like Disney or Universal building an entire theme park dedicated to Star Wars or Harry Potter and tossing in a wave pool, lazy river and some water slides.

“It’s a unique theme park experience,” Lake said. “I can’t really think of another theme park where you have the water element, dry element, parade, stage show and interactive character experiences all in one place.”

For SeaWorld, Sesame Place is actually a very old idea being introduced on the West Coast for the first time. SeaWorld’s original Sesame Place has been operating since 1980 outside Philadelphia with 15 kiddie rides and 8 water attractions.

Counts Splash Castle at SeaWorld’s Sesame Place. (SeaWorld)

The new hybrid park encourages visitors to bounce back and forth between wet and dry rides without toweling off in between. Kids and parents can hop on any of the dry rides in their bathing suits provided they’re wearing shoes, aquasox or flip flops.

“It can be confusing a little bit until you actually experience it and you realize, ‘Oh, I can actually go on the lazy river and then hop on the roller coaster,’” Lake said. “It might not naturally seem like a seamless experience until you do it and then all of a sudden it’s like, ‘Oh, this makes sense. It works.’”

A faithful recreation of the “Sesame Street” neighborhood television set complete with the famed 123 stoop and Mr. Hooper’s shop serves as the centerpiece of the new park and greets visitors as they pass through the front gates.

“I grew up watching ‘Sesame Street’ all the time,” Lake said. “When I first walked through that area, it was like childhood memories coming back because I literally watched ‘Sesame Street’ every day as a kid. There wasn’t a lot else to watch.”

Super Grover’s Box Car Derby roller coaster at SeaWorld’s Sesame Place. (SeaWorld)

SeaWorld Orlando built its Sesame Street neighborhood inside the Florida theme park. SeaWorld San Diego could have done the same thing and expanded upon the park’s Sesame Street Bay of Play kiddie land. But SeaWorld wanted to build a second stand-alone park for Sesame Place and the former Aquatica water park in Chula Vista made the most sense.

“Chula Vista is a part of San Diego that’s really growing. There’s a lot of young families in this area,” Lake said. “It’s a great way to capture the market here and bring in everyone else to be able to experience it too. It made more sense for us to actually have two different destinations.”

It’s possible to visit SeaWorld San Diego and Sesame Place on the same day — but unlikely for most visitors. SeaWorld sells a $219 season pass that’s good for both parks. Most passholders will likely set aside separate days to visit each park.

“I see them as two separate experiences,” Lake said. “The SeaWorld experience is unique to that brand. The Sesame experience is unique to the Sesame brand. You could probably do them both in one day, but that would be a stretch for sure. It’s not like they’re right next to each other.”

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The new Sesame Place San Diego is targeted toward families with younger children in preschool and grade school, placing the reimagined theme park in direct competition with Legoland California in Carlsbad.

“It is the same demographic,” Lake said. “Families can have two different and unique experiences at each place. Hopefully it will be a good compliment for both companies.”

Sesame Place is also a certified autism center with sensory indicator signs at each attraction, a parade viewing area away from the main crowd and a quiet room with bean bag chairs and headphones.

“It’s a chance to escape for a little bit, relax, decompress and then come back out into the park again,” Lake said.

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The wave pool, lazy river and water play tower have heated water — but the larger water slides do not. The plan at the moment is to open Sesame Place on a daily basis during Spring Break, then go to weekends only through Memorial Day, return to daily operations through the summer and into October when the park returns to weekends only for the rest of fall and the winter with just the dry rides. Sesame Place will host the Count’s Halloween Spooktacular and A Very Furry Christmas during the off season.

Will the heated water attractions remain open in the fall and winter?

“It might be a great idea to keep the interactive island open and have some water elements,” Lake said. “We’re going to have to learn as we go.”