Nickelodeon Universe: Theme Park inside the Mall of America

You’ve probably heard of the Mall of America in Minnesota. It’s a mega mall with shopping and food galore. But the main attraction is in the center court. An entire theme park with roller coasters, Merry-Go-Round, a log ride, thrill rides, kiddie rides and more. Nickelodeon Universe is a great place to spend several hours, and when you need a break from the rides you can do some shopping or grab a bite to eat in the mall.

Here’s a rundown on what you need to know to as you make plans to visit Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America.

Ticket Options to Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America

Depending on your plans for your visit to Mall of America of Nickelodeon Universe, there are two main ticketing options to consider.

• Unlimited Ride Wristband: Valid for all rides on the day of your visit
• Point Passes: Redeem points to use on the select rides you want to experience

My recommendation is to go with the Unlimited Ride Wristband. It gives you the flexibility to ride whatever ride tickles your fancy, without worrying about any points and how many you have left. You can ride the same ride over and over, or try to hit up every ride during your visit. You can purchase your tickets to Nickelodeon Universe online, or in-person when you arrive.

There are a few other attractions in the mall you can snag tickets to (they aren’t included in the Unlimited Wristband option):

• Moose Mountain Adventure Golf
• Rock of Ages Blacklight Mini Golf
• FlyOver America
• Crayola Experience

We arrived around 4 p.m. the day of our visit and rode things until 9 p.m. We got on the majority of the rides we wanted to, although my son avoided some of the more serious roller coasters (he doesn’t like going upside down or experiencing free-falling drops).

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Five hours worked for us, but you could easily spend an entire day (open to close) at Nickelodeon Universe. When you get hungry, hit up the food court or a restaurant in the Mall of America. There are lots of options. You can also do some shopping at the stores, including a few that offer Minnesota souvenirs.

Directions to Mall of America and What to Bring

Nickelodeon Universe is housed inside the Mall of America at center court. While many people associate it with Minneapolis, it’s actually in a suburb known as Bloomington. It’s south of Minneapolis (and just across the street from the Minneapolis Airport) and easily accessible via car or metro.

Since we were exploring other amazing museums and touristy things during our trip, we ended up taking an UBER to the Mall of America. We were dropped off at one of the entrances, but if you’re driving your own vehicle, there are large parking garages on the east and west side of the mall.

Another great option is the metro. We used the metro to get back to our downtown Minneapolis hotel – the Courtyard Minneapolis Downtown. The blue line metro ends (or begins) at the Mall of America. The access point is on the east side of the Mall of America, one floor down. Follow the signs, but if you need to ask for directions, that’s okay, too. The blue line runs between downtown Minneapolis and Mall of America (with a stop at the airport).

Since we were visiting multiple attractions throughout Minneapolis, we had a small bag with us. We didn’t want to carry it with us on all the rides, so we simply rented a locker for $9 and stored all our gear there. I highly recommend going this route – although there are usually little cubbies you can put your gear in while you ride – but I wasn’t about to do that with my $4,000 Canon camera. The secure locker gave me much more peace of mind.

The Thrill Rides for the Adventure-Seeker

My son’s favorite ride was the Fairly Odd Coaster. I would have to agree. We loved it so much we rode it a second time as we wrapped up our visit. But there are other high-thrill rides at Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America.

My son does NOT like roller coasters that take him upside down. So there was a roller coaster we avoided – Spongebob Square Pants Rock Bottom Plunge. It thought it looked fun, but we were there together and I didn’t want to leave him high and dry while I waited in line for the ride. The other one he didn’t want to ride was Avatar Airbender. It doesn’t go upside down, but it gives you that feeling of free falling, which he doesn’t like. I was mixed on riding that one, because the somewhat spinny-nature and free-fall feeling together may have been too much.

We also didn’t make it onto Shredder’s Mutant Masher, as we felt our stomach’s wouldn’t like it. But enough about the ones we didn’t ride.

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We LOVED Brain Surge. I let my son handle the controls and he took us for a ride. As we went around the circle, he spun us upside down. There’s no feeling of free falling, so he was okay being upside down for that one. The Pepsi Orange Streak was a fast and fun roller coaster that gave us a good view of the layout of Nickelodeon Universe. That was another one of our top rides. The final thrill-level ride we enjoyed was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shell Shock. Your ride is different every time because you control the amount of spin you put into your flying machine.

Junior or Family Rides for the Leisurely Experience

If you’ve got younger kids with you, there are plenty of great rides and experiences for them to enjoy. We didn’t ride the rides focusing on these younger kids – like Rugrats Reptarmobiles (a.k.a. bumper cars). Well, okay… we did ride the Back at the Barnyard Hayride and probably looked a little odd to the parents watching us laugh, knowing I’m old enough to be the parent of all the kids on the ride. 😉

Another fun and engaging ride was Ghost Blasters. We each had a laser tag gun and shot at different targets throughout the ride. I’m proud to say I had the highest score. But my son argues that his gun wasn’t registering the targets when he hit them. A likely story. 😉

The Log Chute is a leisurely ride down a river canal, with a few drops. The line was long, but I was also glad we didn’t get soaked on the ride. You will get a little wet, but shouldn’t get soaked.

All the rides I’ve listed above are ones we did ride. But there are several others, specifically for younger kids, that we didn’t experience. Check out their full list of rides to see which ones interest you and your kids.

The Details

Address: 5000 Center Court, Bloomington, MN 55425

How long to spend: At least four hours, but the more the better.

Cost: Unlimited Ride Wristbands are $44.99 each. Point passes start at $4.05, while admission to additional attractions start at $11.99.

Hours: Monday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Website: https://nickelodeonuniverse.com/home/

Phone: (952) 883-8800

DISCLOSURE: I received two complimentary Unlimited Wristbands to Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America for the purpose of review. All opinions are my own.

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