The Sesame Street Party Parade

"Sesame Place will debut a brand-new parade in 2011. The “Neighborhood Street Party” parade will feature three show-stopping performances that help kids learn about letters, numbers and friendship. With 11 larger-than-life floats, the parade is a neighborhood celebration filled with fun, friends and memories. During the "Neighborhood Street Party" guests will experience an energetic neighborhood block party on iconic Sesame Street with all of their favorite friends, including: Elmo, Count Von Count, Bert & Ernie, Abby Cadabby, Zoe, Cookie Monster, Rosita, Big Bird and Telly. The parade will feature familiar contemporary tunes, as well as, Sesame Street favorites that are sure to get everyone joining in the fun." -official description

The Sesame Street Party Parade (formerly Neighborhood Street Party) is a parade that is located at various SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment theme parks across the United States. It features the *Sesame Street* characters riding on floats, with some themed after famous locales like Hooper's Store, and stopping to interact and dance with guests along the parade route.

## History

The original version of the parade, which was named the *Neighborhood Street Party*, debuted on April 30, 2011, at Sesame Place, replacing the park's long-running The Rock Around the Block Parade. A nighttime version was introduced on June 18, 2011. The parade was directed and written by Sherri-Lynn Draper.

In 2018, the parade was repurposed for the SeaWorld parks in San Antonio and San Diego, and were also the first locations to use the parade's current name. The floats in this version were reconstructed and some of the characters moved places. Murray Monster is not featured, and sections of the soundtrack were redubbed with newly recorded lines from Elmo and Abby Cadabby.

The addition of Sesame Street Land at SeaWorld Orlando for 2019 also brought in the Sesame Street Party Parade to the park. This version excludes some of the floats that were featured at the other parks. This version also changed the song order for the show, which resulted in Abby and Elmo having more newly recorded lines. This version of the parade would be recycled for Sesame Place San Diego in 2022.

For the 2022 season, the Sesame Place version of the parade was renamed to the "Sesame Street Party Parade." The SeaWorld San Diego version was relocated to Sesame Place San Diego for its grand opening in March.

## Floats

The parade contains nine floats. The characters however will move from float to float so they don't have a specific location.

* **Opening**: Added in 2015. The parade begins with Big Bird and other walk-around characters (normally Rosita and Telly Monster), followed by a float that represents a Sesame Street building. The float's LED screen displays video, pictures, and has a "Welcome to the Neighborhood" sign. The SeaWorld Orlando and Sesame Place San Diego versions of the parade exclude this float. This float would be removed from the Sesame Place version of the parade by the middle of 2021, and only remains in SeaWorld San Antonio.
* **Sunny Days**: This float features a large inflatable smiling sun with sculptures of vegetables, a tree, a fire hydrant, a dog house with an animatronic Barkley inside and the Sesame Street sign. This float normally leads the parade, but from 2015-2021, this became the second float following the previous float's introduction. Since 2021, with the exception of SeaWorld San Antonio, it has gone back to its original place leading the parade.
* **Swing-Set**: The float is decked with stars, flowers and butterflies. On the top of the staircase is a roof-covered swing set. Abby Cadabby and Zoe normally ride this float.
* **Hooper's Store**: A small wall-less replica of Hooper's Store, with two chairs and a table inside. Bert and Ernie normally ride this float. The SeaWorld Orlando and Sesame Place San Diego versions have this as the second-to-last float, replacing the Slide float.
* **Oscar's Trash Can**: With a trash and junk theme, Oscar's very own trash can is on the top with of course, Oscar the Grouch inside, alongside Slimey and Sloppy.
* **Letter Bugs**: This float has a section for characters to stand on, and at the back, various letters of the alphabet being carried around by bugs. Elmo and Prairie Dawn normally ride this float.
* **Cookie Jar**: A motorized jar of cookies, usually with Cookie Monster riding.
* **Count von Count's castle**: An inflatable replica of the Count's Castle adorned with gargoyles appears on this float with Count von Count himself riding.
* **Slide**: A yellow curly slide on a flower-covered float, normally ridden by Murray Monster. Originally, this float was excluded from the SeaWorld Orlando version, however it was added in and replaced the Finale float as the last float in November of 2021. However, this float is not present at Sesame Place San Diego.
* **Finale**: The parade ends with three bikers (two live performers and Super Grover) leading the ways to a float that represents the doors to 123 Sesame Street. A giant inflatable Elmo is seen holding face balloons (previously, they were lollipops) and next to him are models of Baby David and Dorothy. The back of the float has the Sesame Street logo. This float was removed from the SeaWorld Orlando parade in November of 2021.

## Soundtrack

Jon Baker composed music for the parade.

* "Meet Me on Sesame Street" sung by the cast
* "Sesame Street Medley (Sesame Street Theme/I Love Trash/Rubber Duckie/Elmo's Song)" (instrumental)
* "ABC" sung by Ernie, Bert, Abby and Count Von Count
* "Do the Alphabet (song)" sung by Ernie, Bert, Abby, Count Von Count and the cast
* "Count It Higher" sung by Count Von Count, Abby and Ernie
* "Walk This Way" (instrumental)
* "Feel the Beat" (Hi-5)/"Move Your Body" (Hi-5) sung by Elmo, Zoe, Cookie Monster and the cast
* "Jump" (Flo Rida/Nelly Furtado)/"Apache [Jump on It]" (Sugarhill Gang) sung by Elmo, Cookie Monster and the cast
* "How Do You Say 'Hello'" (from Out of This World) sung by Rosita, Murray, Telly and the cast
* "No Matter What Your Language" Sung by Rosita, Telly, Murray and the cast
* "We Are Family" sung by the cast
* "Meet Me on Sesame Street (reprise)" sung by the cast

For the transcript of the parade, click here.

## Sources

*Neighborhood Street Party*. (n.d.). Muppet Wiki; Fandom, Inc. Retrieved December 11, 2023, from https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Neighborhood\_Street\_Party

*Sesame Street Party Parade*. (n.d.). Sesameplace.com. Retrieved December 11, 2023, from https://sesameplace.com/philadelphia/shows/neighborhood-street-party-parade/