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!

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!

I started seeing the billboards around town and looked up more about Crystal Cave. We decided to…read moremake a visit and were pleasantly surprised! It's about a $$$ rating on cost, but is really well organized with a variety of things to do. They have picnic areas, mini golf, trails and gift shop. Not much for concessions so bring your own food if looking to eat. We did the cave tour and gem mining. Tour was about an hour, advance reservations recommended. I had two 6 year olds and they had a blast, they got cold but not too bad. The tour guides do a great job explaining the history, what you're looking at and all kinds of cave facts. It's big inside, there are low spots but you don't really feel claustrophobic if that's something you're concerned about. Gem Mining was a good time, kids were super excited about the treasures they got to bring home. If you're looking for a different activity to do with the kids, adults or family then you should check it out "!

This side quest was time well spent. Caves are always fun to explore, especially on a hot day when…read morethe cave temperature is in the mid-50s. Lots of fun information about the history of the cave, and a very fun tour guide.

Could be SO much better…read more Just moved here from out of state recently. My 4-year old son misses his friends, so I wanted to take him to a place where he could play with other kids. I searched online for an inflatables place and was surprised there weren't more of them in the Northeast suburbs. Pump It Up wasn't too far, so we went there. My GPS took us right to the building, but I had to drive around a bit to find Pump It Up. It's in an office building complex and it's at the far end of the building. We went inside and the reception area is nice. They have a vending machine for snacks and before you go in, the parents and kids have to watch a safety video, which is short and helpful so everyone understands the rules. Then we are led to the rooms with the inflatables. The place seems clean, but it's too dark to really tell. I didn't think they were overstaffed today. There was one person at the front desk and two staff in the play area. They seemed attententive. One of them helped a boy find his family (because it was probably too dark in there for him to see). As Eva B. stated in her review, there are two rooms with inflatables and three inflatables in each room. Not a lot of variety. There weren't a lot of kids there, so over-crowding wasn't an issue. Each room is pretty dimly lit (think of a movie theater before the previews start). There are two very uncomfortable benches for parents to sit in each room. One room was pretty warm and the other was cool - they were connected by open doors so the kids could go from room to room. One of the rooms has an air hockey table that appeared to be free, although it was so crowded all the time, we didn't go over there to check it out. The inflatables places I'm used to going have tables for the parents and wi-fi access. They also have snack bars. You won't find those things here, I'm afraid. Some parents were even sitting on the floor because the benches are so uncomfortable. This place only has 4 open play sessions each week for only an hour and a half each. At $6, it seems pretty expensive. Still, we'll probably go back simply because of the lack of options. The staff is friendly and my son had a good time.

I've always been skeptical about expensive birthday parties for kids. However, after attending a…read moreparty at Pump It Up in Oakdale, I'm convinced that they are worth their value. The parking was very easy, pulled right up to the door, walked right it (moms with young kids know how nice this is, especially in snow & ice). The staff greeting us warmly, and showed up around, took my son's jacket and gear, and then the birthday present. We sat in a nice waiting area, watched a safety video, and then the kids got started jumping. I felt at ease for an hour chatting with other parents as we watched the kids, it was safe and so much fun for them. It wasn't crowded either.Then we all went into the party room, ate pizza and cake. The staff has the routine down like a well-oiled machine. They gave the kids friendly instructions and got them to participate during each transition, they even wrote down each gift and the gifter for the parents, so the parents could take pictures and watch the birthday girl enjoy. We ended exactly at 3:00 as it said on the invitation said. The airlines could take a few lessons from their staff: friendly, fun and on time. I had so much fun and so did my son that we've decided that it is worth the splurge to have his next party here.

This is going to be the weirdest review I've ever written, but I don't even care. For some reason,…read morethis place has some of the best pizza in the area. I'm a NYer and my standards are pretty high; the cheese is thick, the sauce is sweet, and the crust is buttery. I have no idea why this place has such good pizza. It's also very fun for kids, parties and the staff was very helpful. They smiled during every interaction and were really patient. Parties and pricing were very reasonably priced. But the pizza! I don't get why it was so good!

This place was really busy on a Friday afternoon. We went to play putt-putt and had a nice time…read more It's an 18 hole course and fairly challenging. It was a pretty good deal. There was one really big problem. Both the men's and women's restroom were closed. Not sure if something happened while we were there but there was a single bathroom for the entire building. When we went to the bathroom there were 5 people standing in line.

We had so much and left completely DRENCHED in sweat. While it is tempting to want to try some of…read morethe more "difficult" scenarios for your first visit, I would definitely encourage you to start with something a tad low-key. We had 5 of us and we did the zombie apocalypse/walking dead-type experience and while it was definitely fun, we wish we would have tried something easier for our first experience. We did end up running into each other once in a while or hitting each other in the head! It was chaos to have a billion zombies coming at you and so we were kind of just spinning in circles and shooting at everything! I was a bit nervous because I am known to get vertigo but it didn't affect me in that way at all. Expect to sweat and make sure to wear closed toed shoes!!

Went today to Extreme Sandbox in Hastings and had a great time. There were three of us and operated…read morethe large excavators. Wyatt was our instructor and did a fantastic job. Overall it was a fun experience and I would do it again.

Very solid experience with the Go Karts & Mini-Golf. They just added an arcade which is a nice…read moreadd-on to the attractions. There is a food stall in the facility which sells icecream and hot dogs. Everyone in our party had a great time. The prices are reasonable and the place is clean and you can easily spend a couple of hours there, having wholesome fun! Now comes why not 5 stars. As the other reviews mentioned, maneuvering around can be a bit tricky as to get to the go-karts, you have to go outside the business and walk around :/ The place is run by teenagers so do not expect great customer service and if you have young ones and they are doing the regular go-karts, make sure that you are buckling them up cause the workers there absolutely do not check seat belts on anyone.

Immediately I was surprised when we pulled up, I've been here as a child many times but never here…read moreduring the spooky season. Super easy to get your equipment (golf balls and clubs) and very easy to follow the holes. I would recommend this 100% for date night, family night or a night out with the friends. I recommend going before it gets too chilly!

I've lived in Minnesota for ten years and FINALLY made it to Valley Fair!!…read more As a millennial, childless adult with plenty of disposable income, we bought everything we could to make this an easy experience, so keep that in mind. We went with the Four Pack deal, which was being offered at the time and was tremendous value: admission, refillable drink cup, parking, and a combo meal for $55. Thought that was incredibly worth it! We also did the Fast Lane so we wouldn't be bogged down by the heat and lines, which was QUITE steep at $85 a pop, but so few people had it that we never waited more than 5 minutes for a ride the entire day. Up to you on how much you value your time, but we thought it was worth it from a sanity perspective. The park was VERY clean and well landscaped. It didn't feel like a concrete jungle by any means. Now the park is celebrating 50 years, and you can tell a lot of the park hasn't been touched in 50 years from the dated color schemes and peeling paint. Some people might find it nostalgic, but I found it to be a bit drab. Food and drink options were plentiful, and quite tasty! We had the chicken tenders for lunch from the Beach Bites cafe and they were juicy and delicious! I was a bit weirded out that the ranch was out in the sun all day, but I didn't get sick ;) Overall, this isn't the largest theme park I've been to, but it checks the box for the thrill seekers out there. I found the water park to be crowded and underwhelming, so I'd stick to the rides myself! I don't need to rush back, but I look forward to coming back in a few years to check it out again!

My son and I have been coming here for years. Today, we arrived and said "wow there's not many…read morecars". Should have been the first sign. Multiple rides closed. The one we did get in broke midway and left us sitting for 30 minutes. In return we got a fast lane pass FOR ONE RIDE! Remember the no cars. There's no lines. After an hour, my son asked to leave. "All the rides are broken anyway daddy, so let's just go home". New management. Extreme price hikes. Zero enjoyment.