Mall of America

Nickolodean Universe at Mall of America

I'd been in touch with Irene (irenchen) for about a week and we arranged for me to pick her up at her youth hostel in Minneapolis.  The hostel was a cute brick building that looked like any of the large homes on the street.  Turns out it was only a couple of blocks from one of my work sites.  I wanted to go to the Old Spaghetti Factory, but they aren't open for lunch, so I suggested the Mall of America and one of the many restaurants there.  I thought maybe the Rainforest Cafe would be fun (see my review) because they have such a fun, jungle atmosphere and decor.  The food isn't that great, but its still a neat experience. 

After lunch we walked around the Mall for a while.  It was my first time to the mall since Camp Snoopy re-opened as Nickelodean Universe (in March 2008).  In case you aren't familiar with the Mall of America, it has 4 floors of shopping and dining and an indoor amusement park complete with 3 rollercoasters.  They redisigned the park by adding some new rides and removing some.  And of course, everything is Nickelodean character themed.  There is a rollercoaster where the car you sit in actually rotated while it follows the tracks.  It looked like fun!  But I can never find anyone to ride the rides with me.  They are a little expensive - up to $6 per ride if you buy single tickets, but cheaper if you buy a wristband for the day or evening.  Its about half price after 5 pm.  One of these days I'll spend a day on the rides (by myself).  I only live 15 minutes away, afterall, you'd think I'd go there more often. 

After exhausting ourselves by walking around the mall a couple times we decided to take in the outdoor beauty of Minneapolis.