SeaWorld parties with birthday parade for Sesame Street Land

SeaWorld Orlando is celebrating the fifth birthday of its Sesame Street Land, and one of the special events has been a dance-heavy, Muppet-happy, sunny-day sort of parade.

The Sesame Street Birthday Parade is not a drastic departure from the park’s usual parade, including the way that the floats roll out onto the street, park for the performance and then roll backstage again. It maintains the upbeat tempo and attitude but throws in birthday greetings.

Here are five notable moments in the birthday parade.

Hat-hat hooray

The park’s everyday floats have been festooned with colorful bunting, balloons and even oversized cupcakes that eventually become props during a dance segment. Better yet, each costumed Sesame Street character is now outfitted with a pointed party hat. An exception: Big Bird, who has enough height already, apparently.

Party hat Easter egg: Ernie’s is decorated with rubber duckies. He’s the one.

Dance break

The parade begins and ends with “Meet Me at Sesame Street,” a catchy if wordy song now with a pinch of happy birthday sentiment incorporated. Much like the everyday parade, workers, including firefighters and trash collectors, are mentioned.

Then there’s a crowd participation number about birthdays, and it has “Cha Cha Slide” vibes. You’ll see hip action and, because we’re on Sesame Street, a safety message about lighting candles. That moves seamlessly into a more traditional-sounding birthday song that winds up with skipping, the waving of flags and those big ol’ cupcakes.

Cardio choreography

The birthday parade upholds the unit’s five-year tradition of high-energy, continuous-motion choreography. This includes the folks in big furry or feathered costumes. You don’t expect Grover or Big Bird to have moves (the latter surely must have challenging center-of-balance issues). Midway through, Count von Count pirouettes and works his cape.

And it’s more than repeated box-step moves. There is partnering, and it goes along with the music and the prerecorded dialogue. It continues even during the traveling music to get off stage.

Among the non-costumed performers, there’s a lot to do in the 10-minute show, and there’s rarely a beat not danced to. Final straw: Some performers are jumping rope, moving forward with irregular steps as the parade exits. Ah, youth.

SeaWorld offers $60 tickets for 60th birthday

Curb appeal

If you have kids, and surely you must know some if you’re reading about Sesame Street, beware that young ones may want to jump into the flow of things. While that’s a bad idea while the floats are in motion, folks are invited to dance along during one segment. Kids might be confused when that part of the party is over.

Performers clearly are trained in how to return children back to their groups on the curb. But dancing is addictive and little ones can get loose.

The end

If you’re a parade audience member who likes to bring up the rear, there’s a treat as the final floats go backstage. The banner carriers turn around just past the fence and have even more choreography set to the end of the music.

During this birthday party finale, we see more cupcakes and waves, so there’s that treat.

The birthday parade will continue through April 28, but it’s not a daily thing. Check the entertainment schedule online or on SeaWorld’s app.

Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. Threads account: @dbevil. X account: @themeparks. Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters.

Royal star sighting: Queen Latifah, Princess Tiana at Magic Kingdom