Life Is A Roller Coaster

During our recent visit to Iowa, Lex and I had the opportunity to make the 3-hour trek north on I-35 to visit the Mall of America! We were not going to be shopping, however. Instead, we spent our time at Nickelodeon Universe:

Lexie was really excited to see the place where my experience with theme parks began. I do not want to say that I became obsessed with theme parks because of Nickelodeon Universe, but it definitely made theme parks a part of my life at a young age.

The first thing we did was take a lap around the park. Although located completely indoors, Nickelodeon Universe has a pretty extensive collection of rides and attractions. During our walk, I noticed the park’s dedication to signage, entry facades, and ride theming, which is a huge positive in my book!

Most of the attractions have undergone a large re-theme to account for the park’s change from Camp Snoopy to Nickelodeon Universe.

Question for the readers: Is Blue’s Clues still on Nickelodeon? There are a few IP’s at Nickelodeon Universe that I can’t imagine the younger generation are aware of (Hey Arnold, Jimmy Neutron, Avatar, etc.).

This is one of the many awesome entry facade elements at Nickelodeon Universe.

Dutchman’s Deck is a ropes course with an intense-looking slide and an awesome zip line.

Pepsi’s Orange Streak, formerly known as Pepsi Ripsaw, was the “big kid” coaster when the park first opened.

Since the park opened, an additional 3 roller coasters have entered the Nickelodeon Universe ride lineup. The ferris wheel offers awesome views of the entire park.

Diego’s Rescue Rider, previously known as Camp Bus, was a staple for me as a kid. I (supposedly) needed to ride all of the rides in the same order or else I’d throw a fit (thanks for dealing with that Mom).

I think I am too old to know this show, but regardless I was impressed with the beautiful signage and ride theming.

Isn’t that pretty? I was so happy to see that Nickelodeon Universe makes the investments needed to adequately theme each attraction.

Now that we had made our rounds of the park, we bought our twilight ride wristbands ($26.99+ tax after 5PM) and set off to knock out as many rides as we could.

Fairly Odd Coaster is a Gerstlauer Spinning Coaster that opened in 2004.

I am pretty sure I am in the minority here, but I enjoy these models. We also lucked out and were able to have a vehicle to ourselves. Since we sat on the same side, the ensuing spinning was absolute insanity.

The ride navigates through the surrounding area seamlessly.

We then made our way over to Nickelodeon Universe’s Intamin Half Pipe, Avatar Airbender.

The ferris wheel provides a better overview of the attraction.

This is the only Intamin Half Pipe I have been on, since 6 of the 8 are overseas. Avatar Airbender is an easy ride to enjoy, providing good moments of airtime and a nice sense of speed.

Next we stumbled upon this unique thrill ride, Brainsurge. I have never been on this type of attraction before, but it was intense!

Brainsurge is a Chance Rides Unicoaster, which allows riders to control their ride experience. The joystick can be pushed forward to do front flips for the entire ride, or you can position yourself so you are upside down for the duration of the experience (not recommended, but awesome!).

Spongebob’s Rock Bottom Plunge is a Gerstlauer Eurofighter that entered the Nickelodeon Universe attraction lineup in 2008.

It’s a fun little coaster, but it features a few uncomfortable jolts here and there. For those who have ridden Eurofighters, the uncomfortable jolts are a common complaint.

Spongebob’s Rock Bottom Plunge tops out at 43.5mph, but the quick transitions and ride elements make it feel a bit faster then that!

The ride features 2 inversions, a vertical loop and a heartline roll.

I think it is safe to say that Spongebob’s Rock Bottom Plunge is the most intense coaster that Nickelodeon Universe has to offer.

Next ride up was one of the original “thrill” rides at the park: Pepsi Orange Streak.

The 2,680-foot-long Tivoli Family Coaster is not very thrilling, but it offers every view you could ever want of the park. The coaster successfully navigates through the majority of the attractions in Nickelodeon Universe.

Pepsi Orange Streak also has a ridiculously long train.

Our next stop was something Lexie insisted on. Back at the Barnyard Hayride, formerly Li’l Shaver, was my first of 470 coasters. Yes, I was coerced into going on this beast for “memory-sake” or something like that. No shame.

In the back corner of the park is Ghost Blasters, a Sally interactive dark ride. Even though it is 20 years-old, Ghost Blasters is still a fun ride. We ran into guns that weren’t registering shots as well as others, but it’s hard to not have fun on these type of rides.

The next ride up is the only installment of its kind in the United States, a Gerstlauer Sky Fly by the name of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shell Shock. It is a totally unique flat ride that is also extremely fun. As a rider, you are challenged to attempt to flip your vehicle through a combination of your body weight and two personal “wings.”

We were in a bit of a rush so we only were able to take one ride on Shell Shock. I felt that the ride system, theme, and experience were totally impressive. I would love to see more of these attractions open up in the USA.

The only downside I can see with them is they are low-capacity, seating only 12 riders per cycle. Gerstlauer lists hourly capacity between 240-360 people per hour.

Jimmy Neutron’s Atomic Collider was the next ride up. I really do not think I have seen this type of ride anywhere else in the USA. It appears as though Zierer has stopped manufacturing these Hexentanz flat rides. Were they prevalent at parks some point in the past?

Regardless, it is a funky flat ride. It was fun in the sense that it was unique to me, but once was enough for me.

The ride is relatively self-explanatory. The ride gondolas rotate around a central axis and the central axis rotates around the main ride structure. I would love to know how close the two ride vehicles get to each other when the ride is mid-operation. While riding, it was easy to understand where the name “Collider” came from.

Finally, we took a spin on Shredder’s Mutant Masher, a Revolution 20 model.

Everyone knows the deal with these type of rides, they are always fun. Shredder’s Mutant Masher had some absolutely awesome theming and a great “skin” compared to the standard model. Again, Nickelodeon Universe truly surprised me with their attention to detail.

Last but not least was the Log Chute, a Nickelodeon Universe/Camp Snoopy classic.

This is the ride I associate with my childhood, so it was nice to take a ride on it. It was especially exciting to see Paul Bunyan still standing proud in one of the dark ride scenes.

I also enjoy this log flume because you really don’t get all that wet. I know that may seem backwards, but sometimes I just want to enjoy the scenes and not have to worry about changing clothes afterwards.

Here is a final overview of the park:

Overall, Nickelodeon Universe impressed us. It has enough unique big rides for thrill-seekers to enjoy and plenty of smaller flat rides dedicated for the kids. It is also free admission, so if you are not in the mood to go on rides, you can still enjoy walking around the park with your friends and family. From a roller coaster enthusiast perspective, there is nothing here that will really blow you away, but all of their larger coasters are enjoyable. I’d argue that my last ride on Fairly Odd Coaster was the best of the night when it was just Lex & I on one side of the vehicle.

I know I have mentioned it a few times in this post already, but Nickelodeon Universe gets major points in my book for the attention to detail they put in each new attraction. The signage for most of the attractions was stunning and the investment in adding more thematic content to the standard ride models is a testament to the park’s desire to improve the guest experience. Since I am now somewhat familiar with the process of what goes into adding these “smaller” details to each attraction, I can assure you that it is not cheap and not something that is done in a few weeks. This fact alone makes me proud of how this park has developed over the years. We will surely be visiting again sometime in the future.

If you are within a few hours of the Mall of America, be sure to stop by Nickelodeon Universe. It is an easy park to enjoy and the Mall of America as a whole is absolutely worth walking around. Head on over to the Nickelodeon Universe home page for park hours, ticket prices, and general information.

Be sure to check out our “Theme Parks” page for additional trip reports!

I am a huge travel and roller coaster enthusiast. I have ridden 504 unique coasters across the world and do not plan on stopping anytime soon. I graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and am now working with a creative firm in Orlando, Florida.