KIDS AT HEART
Anyone…read morefrom 2 to 92 can have a blast at Mall of America's indoor theme park.
Located in the center of the USA's largest mall is Nickelodeon Universe, a sprawling 7-acre amusement park covering 3 floors. It's open year-round from 10am to 9pm with reduced hours on Sundays, and tickets can be bought online or in-person.
I came here once in 1998 as a kid (back then it was called Knotts' Camp Snoopy) and in 2026 I returned with my wife and kids of my own. Despite a colorful rebranding in 2008, this place seems frozen in time and looks virtually the same as when I visited 28 years ago. Wow!
We took advantage of specially priced "toddler Tuesdays", where kids admission is only $16. A full day adult wristband is $52 but specially marked 'deal days' bring this down to $42. Important note: if you have a kid under 48", you can go on rides with them as a designated chaperone and not have to pay! This is HUGE and saved us $40 since my wife got to ride for free.
There's enough attractions inside Nick Universe -- 26 in total -- to fill up an entire day. I've delved into each of the major coasters plus the outstanding Log Chute (legitimately one of the best in the country) with separate reviews, but here's a brief summary.
* Pepsi Orange Streak: a custom steel family coaster with a mesmerizingly long train, and one of the OG rides here
* Fairly Odd Coaster: a chaotic spinning coaster with a decent amount of G-forces (beware the slow dispatch times)
* Avatar Airbender: a brief U-shaped ride with a funky surfboard train and spinning seats
* Spongebob Squarepants Rock Bottom Plunge: an intense roller coaster with 3 inversions that nearly scrapes the glass ceiling
* El Circulo del Cielo: a large Ferris wheel delivers a relaxing ride and offers great views of the park
* Shredder's Mutant Masher: an inverting 'Frisbee' ride with a Ninja Turtles theme, great for teens
* Log Chute: a STELLAR log flume with a super long ride time and wonderful Paul Bunyan theme that doesn't soak you
My 5yo son loved the Big Rigs, Crazy Cars, Diego's Rescue Rider, and Guppy Bubbler. Our 2yo daughter enjoyed the Adventure Bay kids play area but kept her distance from most of the rides. Swiper's Sweeper was a surprise hit, a 'whip' style ride where small cars on an oval track drift around tight curves.
Staff were ~incredibly~ friendly and cut us plenty of slack when I brought my son with me on a couple rides that weren't part of the Toddler Tuesday discount wristband (oops!) They waved us through and said, "don't worry about it, have fun!" Big kudos to them for grace and understanding; this went a long way towards a 5* day.
* TL;DR *
It's always 72° and sunny inside Nickelodeon Universe, perfect conditions for fun.
This amusement park is home to a plethora of rides including 5 roller coasters (1 kiddie, 3 moderate 'thrill' coasters, 1 'extreme' coaster), a Ferris wheel, bumper cars, a fantastic log flume, a drop tower, a swing ride, a dark ride shooter, and lots of smaller attractions.
While I can't comment on the quality or cost of food within Nick Universe, I do feel that we got a great value for admission. We felt safe and the ride operators we encountered were very kind. The natural sunlight gives this park wonderful energy year-round.
If you've got kids (or if you're an adult who really likes rides), I highly recommend spending a day at Nickelodeon Universe!