Sesame Place in Philly definitely has a higher base price, but they run deals very often.
(The $37 price tag you mentioned is due to the current Black Friday sale - the normal starting price is $108 lol)
It's also open basically year-round aside from January. They open on weekends in February and only increase hours from there.
I think when things are built at this scale, it's also done with the idea of expansion. If the Frisco park is a success, I won't be surprised if we see "Universal Kids Philadelphia" or "Universal Kids New York" in the coming years!
But like you said, it's definitely a different scale. I think it's like 25 acres max?