Photo Trip Report: Nickelodeon Universe

Well, here it is. My first trip report in what feels like forever. I guess it makes sense since I haven't been to a Theme Park in forever so why not choose the BEST amusement park in America...Nickelodeon Universe! Why is it the best amusement park in America...because it's in Mall of America. If this is America's Mall then that means that the theme park within in it has to be America's best theme park...right? Well...probably not, but at least it's something.

 

The main reason why I visited Minnesota was because my dad only had 2 states to mark off his list and then he'd have 50 states. Unfortunately for him (and fortunately for me) they were Minnesota and North Dakota. I told him I wanted to come as long as I can go and ride some coasters. He agreed so off we went.

 

Friday night was spent at the Mall of America, not a bad deal at the park for the twilight deal, after 5:00pm, all day wrist band was pretty cheap.

 

Saturday was spent driving...ALL DAY...literally! We left our hotel parking lot space at 8:00am and returned at 8:01pm...5 states later. He hit up Minnesota (duh), North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska. Why? because I needed all those states to check off my list.

 

Anyway, on to the pictures with super serious commentary following each picture.

We're here! And random Nick characters welcome you. Sadly, there was no Ren & Stimpy, Rocko, or AHHH Real Monsters invading this park.

Unfortunately, America's friendliest Sponge welcomes everyone. Damn, he's got a big nose!

Since my dad doesn't ride coasters and I was a single rider, this thing spun like CRAZY!

I'm glad I didn't go to the bar before this ride!

First up, spinning death.

No everyone imagined Robb saying "weeeeeeeeeeee". Don't know what I'm talking about? Watch almost any of his coaster videos.

Then you plummet down (only exciting part of the ride)

Loop de Loop!

SpongeBob is peeing in his pants at this point....

Seriously, he probably urinates throughout entire episodes but you can never tell!

By SpongeBob and who ever the hell you are behind him.

First you go up, nearly hitting the ceiling!

...but you can't tell because he's underwater.

Only saw 1 person all the way at the top. That slide looks pretty sweet

Pretty amazing up charge ropes course.

Here's the main ride of the park...SpongeBob's Pants Fall Off!

Now there's a James Cameron Avatar I can deal with!

One for the kiddies! And themed to cows! Makes perfect sense since we are in a farming state.

el Circulo del Cielo...which means Circle of Life (stolen from Disney's Lion King) for those of you that don't know English.

Avatar! Coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom soon!

Swings...

Here's the entrance...too bad this entrance was closed because they are making additional parking for all the handicap spaces to be closer to the entrance.

Mall of America...where America is always under construction.

Here's the Mall map...I don't care about anything on it except that orange blob in the middle.

Here's the Park Map for all you Park Map enthusiasts...you're welcome.

Ok moving on, here's the original coaster from back in the day when this park used to be Knott's Camp Snoopy.

I think if this was a Coke themed coaster train, they would be longer...

...and I've never seen Orange Pepsi. Why couldn't it be themed to Fanta? That's so much better!

Weeeeeeeeeee!

Jimmy Neutron got his amazing hair after riding this ride

This used to be my favorite ride at Knott's Berry Farm when I was a kid.

Log Chute. This was interesting because there was still Knott's theming within the ride.

Sploosh!

Another ride that scared the crap out of me while it was at Knott's Berry Farm.

It goes over the entire park

Pretty fun ride.

BrainSurge = vomit!

Oh look, they had a LEGO store!

We had some company while we ate.

They watched me eat my food the entire time!

Ok, park done...now it's time to eat. We had priority seating because of the hotel we stayed at. Boo-Ya!

SpongeBob likes water to be shot up his @$$. He's a sponge...why not?

Ninja Turtles had a ride...to bad Megan Fox wasn't there to promote the new movie.

Awesome Shooting Dark Ride... not sure what the theme was but I shot the crap out of a lot of ghosts.

I think it was themed around this guy but not entirely sure...I shot him anyway

Stuff for thee lil ones

Aren't those lil cars so adorable

Here's a flying bus. It's not the Magic School Bus though so I was disappointed.

And for all the girls...they had this store. I think it would be terrifying if they had a store like this for My Little Ponies! That is probably the most horrific thing that could ever be conceived.

I remember the Tumbler way back in the day...so fun!

Say Good-Bye to the Mall and Nick Universe!

...it had a lot of lakes.

Then made it to North Dakota...

Next South Dakota...

...where family dining meets family/adult entertainment!

...where there was a lot of farm...uh...things...yeah that's it.

We hit Nebraska (sadly no picture of the sign) and then finally Iowa...

The next day was a day of driving...we started in Minnesota...

...where the eyes were watching us the whole way.

And that's all folks. Now the eyes will watch you while you sleep!

Nice architecture though.

Thanks for this PTR from this fun-looking little park.

 

And unlike many American parks featuring a great lineup of flats. I love this new Chance inverting thingy - tried it at Belmont - and always good to see a today seldom found Zierer Hexentanz/Witchdance.

I'm not into flat rides, but I like the Jimmy Neutron ride, too.

Isn't "el Circulo del Cielo" Sky Circle? Or, as Google Translate says, "Circle of Heaven"?

^Nope. Pretty sure it means "Circle of Life" and the Lion King Theme song plays while you go around the Ferris Wheel.

 

Jimmy "Don't believe everything you read on the internet" Bo

So you flew to Minnesota and then spent all day Saturday driving in one big loop to get the state credits? Awesome!

Great report! That sounds like a really cool trip.

Great trip report, especially some of the captions Even though I have been here I don't follow this park much and I was thrilled to hear the Naked Brothers no longer sponsor the Bumper Cars

Awesome report! Thank you!

Sounds like a very fun place! Thanks for the TR!

Well, I'll add that park to the list of ones I still need to visit. I'm very intrigued by the Ninja Turtles ride...

Even if you don't like rides such as these, you gotta admit that they look really cool!

^ I saw a POV of that a few months ago. It gets so close to the roof I thought it'd hit every time, haha.

^^ If you know how to work the thing, it can become possibly the most intense flat ride you'll ever experience. If you get the outside seat, and start the full rotations on time and hold the wings that way, the speed just keeps increasing until you let go, at which point you get thrown all over the place with no sense of direction. It's the closest I've ever come to vomiting on a ride.

When we made a trip out to South Dakota, we stayed in the hotel pictured behind Kandi's Gifts. It's quite amusing when you read a trip report of a place you've already been to, and the pictures take you back a little...Very nice trip report!

I've got all the states except South Dakota and Alaska (helps that I'm a truck driver) and I can say that western North Dakota is more interesting. Its funny to me when people talk about 12 hours on the road as I am routinely out for 14 hours a day, driving 10.5 of them. Since MoA has truck parking (or at least had), I've been there a few times for 'rest' breaks.

^ My dad kept saying that the Western part of South Dakota is a lot more interesting as well. There is something there that has faces on a mountain but I don't care too much about it...it's no Expedition Everest or Matterhorn.

 

^^ Do you enjoy your adult entertainment at Kandi's? We sure saw some interesting people go in and out of there.

 

To add to an earlier response about the Ninja Turtles ride...yeah...that thing looked crazy! There were a couple of people that knew what they were doing and were flipping like crazy. Then there were younger kids just cruising around, not really doing much. It's one of those rides where you can definitely make yourself puke!

 

Jimmy "Everyone should attempt to visit every state!" Bo