Street Mission

Street Mission officially opened at PortAventura Park in April 2019. The interactive dark ride sent visitors on a mission with detective Grover to find a stolen cookie, with points earned by hitting targets along the way. SésamoAventura now had the indoor family attraction that had been announced a year earlier, but in finished form: a playful mystery built around familiar Sesame Street characters. The ride combined physical sets with 3D screens and animatronics from Sally Corporation. Grover, Bert, Ernie, Abby Cadabby and Big Bird appeared as moving figures, while Elmo, Cookie Monster and Oscar were among the characters shown on screens. Its 15-million-euro budget underlined how central the project was for the park. Looopings also described Street Mission as the only dark ride in Europe inspired by the famous children's series. For visitors, the opening added a sheltered, interactive experience that gave families a strong reason to head into SésamoAventura beyond outdoor rides and thrill attractions. Historically, the launch coincided with PortAventura extending its Sesame Street agreement until 2031, placing Street Mission within a longer family-focused strategy.

Six months after the investment announcement, Street Mission became much more concrete at the IAAPA Attractions Expo in Florida. PortAventura showed that the new Sesame Street attraction would not be a simple shooting ride, but a six-minute detective adventure built around Grover. Visitors would help him solve a mystery, aiming at more than two thousand virtual and physical targets across scenes with moving figures and video screens. The scale also came into focus. The dark ride was planned for a new 1,300-square-metre building in SésamoAventura and would include a preshow of about ten minutes. Two curved screens promised added spectacle, letting riders fly through Count von Count's castle and dive into Oscar's trash can. For theme park fans, the mix of techniques made the project stand out. Sally Corporation supplied animatronics, including Big Bird, while PortAventura combined them with screen scenes and interactive gameplay. That turned expectations for Street Mission into something bigger than another family ride: it looked like a layered dark ride with story, scoring and recognisable Sesame Street moments.

PortAventura World set the stage for what would become Street Mission in May 2018. The resort announced an investment package worth 40 million euros: 25 million for a hotel expansion and 15 million for a new family attraction in the Sesame Street-themed SésamoAventura area. Director Fernando Aldecoa described the planned ride as a family attraction featuring the well-known Sesame Street characters, targeted for opening the following year. For visitors, the location mattered as much as the budget. SésamoAventura had existed since 2011 as a children's and family area, but this project promised a much stronger anchor than its existing outdoor rides. Rather than adding another thrill ride, PortAventura chose an indoor, story-driven experience aimed at children, parents and fans of the television characters alike. In the history of Street Mission, this announcement is the starting point: the ride was presented not as an isolated addition, but as part of a wider resort strategy that paired family growth with extra hotel capacity.