San Diego's Sesame Place will no longer be open year-round.
The Chula Vista water park announced that it will close for the 2025 season this Sunday, September 21. The early closure means that Sesame Place has cancelled its holiday events, The Count’s Halloween Spooktacular and A Very Furry Christmas.
"By focusing on our most popular times of year, we can deliver the best possible experience from the moment guests arrive until the moment they leave," the park said in a social media post.
Sesame Place San Diego will open for the 2026 next spring. To compensate guests who bought 2025 season passes to Sesame Place, the park is offering them a complimentary SeaWorld Fun Card that is valid through the remainder of the year. That would provide admission to SeaWorld San Diego's Halloween Spooktacular and Christmas Celebration events.
Sesame Place opened in 2022, adding Sesame Street theming, a parade, shows, and attractions to the former Aquatica water park. The park first opened in 1997 as White Water Canyon before being rebranded as Knott's Soak City U.S.A. in 2000, following its purchase by Cedar Fair. SeaWorld Parks obtained the park in 2012, rebranding it as Aquatica the next year.
Here is our video walking tour of Sesame Place San Diego from its grand opening in 2022.
That's true DangerGoat, but as Six Flags is discovering, you can't establish a calendar at the beginning of the season (and market season/annual passes based on that calendar) and 8 months later announce you're closing up shop for the year and cancelling 2 anticipated seasonal events. Six Flags/Cedar Fair have run into the same issue with the cancellation of Fright Fest and Winterfest events around the country that were initially on parks' operational calendars when season passes went on sale last fall/winter. While folks that bought season passes and had the rug pulled out from under them have received compensation, as is also the case here, it's disappointing, especially with the cancellation of seasonal events that some people really look forward to.
Hmm maybe they could actually add some dry rides to this park to drive winter attendance?
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Other than the timing, I don't understand the controversy. Most waterparks in Southern California are seasonal.