It seems to me that the person portraying Rosita was distracted by something in the crowd and hardly saw the little girls. I seriously doubt that any disrespect was intended.
However, I couldn't help feeling a sharp sense of hurt watching the little girls reach out to her and then obviously feel slighted. If I were the person portraying Rosita I would feel terrible about it.
It seems to me, that as soon as this was called to the attention of the people at Sesame Place--and especially the person portraying Rosita--arrangements should have been made for Rosita to visit the little girls at their home, perhaps with gifts, to soothe their feelings and give them hugs and to assure that everyone knows that no slight was intended.
The incident was very sad to me. The little girls were excited and enthusiastic, and their disappointment was obvious. Sesame Place should find some way to reassure them and make it up to them. It doesn't have to be anything big. Just some small gesture of affection and reassurance.
Yes, we don’t have the muppet’s eye view of things. It’s possible that somebody in the crowd wanted something the muppet couldn’t give or was doing something the muppet didn’t approve of. And then there was the possibility that the muppet didn’t see the little girls at first. In any case, the muppet should have realized the mistake and made it up to the kids. Unnecessarily bad press for Sesame Place.