Can You Tell Me How to Pay at Sesame Place?

My two-year-old daughter loves Cookie Monster. So naturally I thought she’d also love the Flying Cookie Jars ride at Sesame Place.

Not even a little bit.

Seconds into the ride she put herself in such a catatonic state that I was worried we might never get her back. I’m not kidding – mentally, she was checked out. It wasn’t until the ride ended and we settled down on a nearby bench that the color in her face began to return.

But this was far from the only surprise during my trip to Sesame Place Philadelphia last month.

I also didn’t anticipate that “lovable, furry old” Grover would slap my back so hard I would still be feeling it the next day. According to my mom, who also came on the trip and initiated the photo with the blue monster, I loved Grover as a kid. I have no memory of this. My feelings now are mixed.

Then – and this is the ultimate reason I’m writing this blog – there was the cash I specifically took out to use at the park that was rendered completely useless in the park. As it turns out, unbeknownst to me (and perhaps other visitors), Sesame Place is a “cashless” operation.

When I booked the trip in May, I didn’t see anything on the Sesame Place website about the park not accepting cash. Revisiting the site this month, I found the cashless policy buried behind a “Park Info” tab and at the bottom of the site. Notably, it does not appear on a page listing a number of things you should “know before you go” or in any of the theme park’s Meta ads.

As an alternative, the park offers “cash-to-card machines” where visitors can load their cash onto a Visa prepaid debit card. There is no charge – at least not initially. Fine print on the back of the card reads:

Beginning after 92 consecutive days of no transaction activity on this card, a $3.95 fee will be charged each month.

Fortunately, I was able to budget my in-park purchases such that the $100 I put on the card was used up by the end of our visit, avoiding this monthly charge. My mom wasn’t so lucky. When it came time to leave, she still had a remaining balance of $175, which she was forced to use at the Sesame Place Store (strategically located on the mandatory path to exit the park).

You see, we were under the impression – based on the theme park logos on the front of the card – that the card could only be used at Sesame Place or one of its sister parks. But as it also turns out, this isn’t the case either. According to Sesame Place, the card can be used “anywhere Visa is accepted.”

The theme park also does not accept cash at its San Diego location. Sesame Place explains its reasoning on its website:

Cashless, contactless transactions are faster, safer, and more secure. It’s one more way we can help to provide you with a more streamlined and worry-free experience.

But lacking any prominent disclosures on its website that it is a “cashless” park, consumers may not be aware of this policy.

And while Sesame Place allows visitors to use their own debit or credit card in its parks, if they’ve already taken out hundreds of dollars in cash, they may have no choice but to put it on the Visa card and many people do not have a credit card or would rather not rack up debt if they can pay with cash.

At a minimum, Sesame Place should be clearer about its “cashless” policy and not bury the information on its website. And something tells me that charging visitors a $3.95 monthly fee just to use their cash is not a practice Elmo would approve of.

Sesame Place did not respond to a request for comment.