This seems like a really cool concept. Like 'Build a Bear' but cars. We stopped in on a busy…read moreSaturday and there was a bit of a line. There were only 2 people working at the time and they were both at the stations building cars with customers. This is for sure the type of place that could benefit from having a greeter or just someone that can just help answer questions while waiting. I feel like after waiting 10 or so minutes we kind of lost interest as the line never moved and we were still unsure about a few things. Would maybe circle back later on if my little cousins show interest again.

Two stars for the great employees. ZERO for management. I'm an older retiree with a love of…read moregadgets and toys. I was having a me day at the mall, and passed this shop. I was lured in by the young man racing a radio controlled car our in front. It started out well, everything was fun, bright and colorful cars, lots of customization options. I watched families play with toy cars, I priced out several models, and seriously was trying to figure what to get. Perhaps I talked to the employees a bit much, old people do tend to over talk the staff, we get a bit lonely. But I was really enjoying the place. (even if it was a bit overpriced for what it is, think theme park toys) Imagine my shock when the staff got a call from the manger (who watches the employees remotely on a camera) that I was to be considered a loiterer (I spent too much time shopping and not buying fast enough you see) and was to leave the store. Staff apologized to me, but I had to go. I'll take my 800+ credit rating and my stack of empty credit cards to a real RC shop that does not treat customers like dairy cattle. Avoid, you can get better RC cars from a company that does not treat potential customers like panhandlers. Really disappointed, I wanted to bring my partner and I in to buy cars this weekend. But we will go someplace where we are wanted. They call this the "Build a Bear" of RC cars. But I've spent a lot of money at build a bear and NEVER been treated like this.

I love this place!…read more You know how your kid bugs you for a fish tank and promises to take care of it only to lose interest as soon as the first pair of guppies dies? Well, that was me over 50 years ago except I never lost interest. I've been keeping fish and visiting fish stores around the country for my entire life. The people from World Of Fish who started RiverShore Aquariums have done a great job. Located not far from the original World of Fish, RiverShore has clean tanks, friendly and knowledgeable staff and they are super keyed in on planted tank setups. These days my tanks are relatively simple just to keep things easy, rocks and driftwood mostly, but I've been wanting to do a planted tank for a while. I know the basics but had some questions on substrate, plant selection and lighting for what is basically going to be a freshwater nanotank. The staff person who helped me was super knowledgeable, answered my questions and gave me some good advice for getting started. They had a good selection of different kinds of gravel as well as an assortment of driftwood and rocks. I liked that they have a table where you can do a little aquascaping trial and error before you make a final selection. The fish were high quality and appeared healthy. Most were smaller species suitable for planted tanks. I even discovered a new species that I had never heard of - anchor catfish. Super cool and perfect for my little nanotank. I know enough about fish and have been to enough fish stores to know which ones are really good. Rivershore is at the top of the list if you live in the Twin Cities, and especially if you're interested in giving planted tanks a try. Even if its plants aren't your thing or you are new to the hobby, I'd checkout Rivershore for your first aquarium.

This is such a fantastic fish store. You know that one friend whose house is always immaculately…read morepristine, such that -- no matter how recently or how well you've cleaned your own house -- you always feel a little self-conscious & guilty when you visit theirs? Rivershore Aquariums is that friend: All the tanks are SO clean, and so perfectly lit, and all the fish are ready for their closeups. It's like an aquatic Parade of Homes in there -- 0% chance of the "Oh gosh, that fish looks so sick, should I mercy-buy it & set up a hospital tank & try to save it? Or should I not give this place my money?" experience. You should definitely give this place your money. They also sold me the sweetest, most industrious little pleco I've ever had in my life. I bought her as a bristlenose pleco, but she's secretly some kind of Turbo Pleco -- as in, my tank gets direct sunlight (can't be avoided), and it had the algae to match, but a week after I brought my new plec'ling home, I found myself asking a visitor, "Hey, you didn't clean the inside of the 55gal while you were here, did you?" (Spoiler: No, I do not have tank-cleaning houseguests. I just have a magic pleco.)

My daughter attended this camp in the Bloomington location. Her counselor who checked her in and…read moreout was very immature and oddly didn't acknowledge me at all and only spoke to my daughter when I was standing right next to her, attempting to have a conversation. On Friday there is a parent tour hour that is hosted from 2-3. Due to work commitments I arrived at 2:30, most parents were walking children out and I couldn't find anyone who knew where my daughter was. She wasn't in the two places they said she would be. My recommendation is to send kids with a GPS watch if they are attending this camp. My daughter loved it despite not making any friends in this camp.

My sixth grader has been going to the Saturday Armory series and has come home with some of the…read moremost amazing creations. He speaks highly of the staff who he works with, and looks forward to it every Saturday.

I felt like the prices were ridiculously high for just a few things for the kids to climb. That…read moresaid, the kids had SO much fun exploring each of the climbing structures. The designs were playful and cute too. I would definitely recommend taking smaller children (10 and under) here as a special treat. Our tweens and teen cousins didn't even want to try this place out, so they just went shopping while we checked this place out.

Great experience! Friendly staff and lots of climbing walls to choose from with a variety of…read moredifficulties. Great value for the unlimited option. Definitely a fantastic way to let kids burn off energy-- my daughter always wants to go here when we visit the MoA!

Not to be confused with the Ditchman's Dick (which is legendary. He works construction and is very…read morewell endowed). The Mall of America is absolutely full from top to bottom of spectacular kids adventures but they're extremely expensive and tickets will set you back a lot. For this reason I'm not a big fan of these things... but if I was five years old it would be paradise and I wouldn't really care how much my parents had to pay for it. So if you're rich or your parents are rich and you're a little kid then come on down and knock yourself out and spend all your money. According to my BFF's little one this ride which I bought for him was one of the better ones out of the several that he went on, on the day that we were in the Mall of America.

This was a fun course, but it's ability to please me was immediately overruled by the lack of…read moreefficiency, rudeness, and carelessness of the staff and their system. The wait was excruciatingly long, the harness was painful, and several of the workers had an authority complex. Would not recommend if you're looking for a light, fun activity.

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!

This was pretty cool! A theme park in the mall, what a…read moreconcept! It's Nickelodeon themed, so it definitely appealed to my inner child! They have plenty of rides for all ages. I didn't go on the roller coaster to kill some time. It was a blast! I could easily spend a whole day here!

Run, play and have fun! What a great place for kids to run around especially in the winter months…read morehere in Minnesota. Lots of different sections/areas for kids to run around! It costs $12 for a daily pass for one kiddo. They have a location in Eagan and Woodbury. Some of the areas include a toddler only area, a bouncy area, some indoor playgrounds for littles through pre-teen, basketball court, soccer field, ninja gym, and an area to eat, relax with tables and chairs. They do have great vending machine options. They also have cubbies for shoes, coats, etc.

We visited for the first time in Jan 2024 on a weekday and had a bad experience that resulted in an…read moreER visit. My toddler is 2 and baby was 7 months at the time. We got there right in the morning at 9:30am and initially, my toddler had a great time bouncing on the inflatable bouncer. However, it got crowded very quickly. There was one kid maybe 4 years old named "Eli" (wearing green in the photo) who kept pushing other kids and whose mother was on her phone or yelling at her child on the sidelines (the only reason I remember the kid's name) without physically removing him from the situation. I saw this kid push 2 other kids who left the inflatable crying. He eventually laid on top of my daughter and wouldn't get up until I yelled "hey, you can't do that!" and ran over to them. My daughter was crying and obviously distraught. The mother there said nothing and did not remove him from the inflatable. Many of the parents of younger kids were respectful but I noticed the parents of older kids weren't. At the other play areas that my daughter could participate in - like the blocks - I noticed parents said nothing as their kids bossed others around and kept all of the blocks to themselves even if they weren't physically playing with them. In addition, there weren't a lot my toddler could play with besides the inflatable. The toddler play area is mainly for babies that can crawl and my toddler got bored of the area in less than 1 minute. The smaller slides are overrun with bigger kids and it was overwhelming for my daughter to navigate with other kids on it. And on the larger wavy slide, she was brave and tried going down herself, but it was too fast and steep for her and she hit her head on the side of the slide. The day or 2 after our visit, my toddler, baby and I caught the worst viral cold/flu we have had. I know we got it from the park because we did not go anywhere else that week. My baby was physically going limp in my arms and dozing off and I ended up taking her to the ER. I understand that the park doesn't have any liability for other kids' behavior or parents' supervision, or whether or not our children get sick, but I felt like the behavior was not acceptable or welcoming for us to want to come back and it seems like the culture of the park, based on other negative reviews here. The rule on the website states "Adults who fail to supervise their children in the play areas may be required to leave the park" but I don't see how this can be enforced with no staff on hand. The park also looked dirty and I'm not sure how often it is sanitized - and I wasn't able to locate a staff member to update them in real time. It does look great for older kids 5+ who are more assertive and are able to use all features of the park but for my younger kids, it wasn't a great fit. Constructive feedback: I do think the park can benefit from maybe 1 staff member on hand for safety and ensuring the Standard of Conduct on the website is followed, and maybe a large indoor swingset with baby/toddler attachments. Edit to add: Although one staff member was cleaning when I arrived, I looked and could not find anyone after the aggressive incident to voice my concerns. The woman whose child was aggressive was yelling his name and it was echoing throughout the park, so I'm sure if a staff member was present at the time, they would have heard what was happening. I did tell the child twice that he couldn't do what he did and I know the mother heard and still chose not to remove him from the situation. I admit I could have talked to her directly, but if no action was taken after her yelling at her child, I do think an external force was necessary to enforce the Code of Conduct. I wish I could have found staff at the time because I definitely would have addressed the situation real time.

Took a night time stroll around Bryant park in uptown. I thought it was a nice open park with…read morereally unique art displays wrapped around the community center and some art installations centered around the playground. Playground is modern and up to date as well as a nice and clean half court basketball court. Nice large open field to run around or play some games in.

Pros: Jungle gym for…read moresitting. Wading pool for wading. Grassy fields for games in the summer. Sidewalk all the way around for strolling/jogging. Converts into two relatively vacant ice rinks in the wintertime: One for Minnesotans to play hockey on and one for skating-impaired Californians (me) and small children to fall upon. MUST SEE: The "Ballerina-Baller": http://www.yelp.com/biz/ballerina-baller-minneapolis Cons: Bryant Square Park isn't actually a square.

I discovered this park just last week or so with my friends and it was such a great spot to go bike…read moreriding. There's so many paths it's really a chose your own adventure situation. You can stop and grab free water at Sea Salt. Next time I want to also stop and grab some of their ice cream

Beautiful park right in the heart of Minneapolis. Go look at the majestic falls and walk along the…read moretrails that loop around the park. A great summer activity. I do think some of the graffiti/vandalism could be better addressed in certain main areas, but overall a complete must-see!

I had so much fun at FlyOver America! From the moment the ride started, it really felt like I was…read moreactually on a real ride and flying through everything. The way your feet are dangling and you're lifted up in front of the big screen makes it feel so real. The visuals are beautiful and the effects make a huge difference you can feel the wind and even a little mist, which makes it even more immersive. At some points I honestly forgot I was inside the mall because it felt like I was really traveling. It's not too scary, but still exciting enough to enjoy every second of it. I was a little nervous at first, but once it started I just relaxed and had fun. The whole experience is very well done and something different from anything else in the mall. Overall, I would definitely recommend trying it. It's fun, unique, and totally worth it . I would do it again for sure!

It was great! My brother and I loved it! We're both seniors, so it's definitely a FUN experience…read morefor ALL AGES!