left to right: Paul Firstenberg, Joan Ganz Cooney, Eric McMillan, W. Randolph Baker, 1979
Eric McMillan (b. 1942) is a Canadian designer who was on the design team for Sesame Place.
In the early 1970s, McMillan developed numerous interactive play elements for the Children's Village at Ontario Place in Toronto, Canada. McMillan incorporated many of these elements into Sesame Place, including butterfly race, punch bag forest, together toys, balancing buoys, king of the castle, air mattress, hand slide, and hand over water.[1]
In 1976, McMillan created the world's first ball pit at SeaWorld Captain Kids World in San Diego, another element that would be used at Sesame Place.[2] Due to his innovations, he is often called the "father of soft play."[3]