Mrs. Homie and I are going to the Mall of America for our tenth anniversary next month. We’ll be arriving at about 1:30 on a Friday afternoon, and we’re leaving the following Monday, so that leaves us two solid days and most of a third. We’ve booked a hotel room and are planning on driving (it’s only eight hours, so I think I’ll live through it).
Any advice? Is there anything there that’s can’t-miss?
Also, any food recommendations? We’ve done Rainforest Café before, and we can take it or leave it. We did Wolfgang Puck Express at Disneyworld and were completely blown away, so we’ll definitely be eating there! Anything else?
It’s something she’s wanted to do since she first heard about it on the Travel Channel, and since we’ve gotten all the mileage we’re going to get out of the surrounding cities (St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis), MoA it is!
Still trying to get my brain around this. Some asks for legitimate advice, and someone else replies just so they can be condescending and snarky.
Yes, the parking is free, but it can be a PITA to find a spot. When you get close, just follow the traffic. Make sure you make a note of where you parked - the parking garage is HUGE.
If you have plenty of time, my advice is to just look around. If you like seafood and haven’t been to a Bubba Gump’s you should check it out.
The last time my husband and I were at MoA, we went to the Underwater Adventures aquarium. Kind of expensive, I thought, but really cool. Look around for the little kiosks advertising the aquarium. There are usually coupons on them for $2 (I think?) off.
I’m not much of a foodie so I’m probably not much help here. There is an IKEA right by the MoA, and we went there for breakfast last time. I thought it was really good, and it was cheap.
My girlfriend did a Girlfriend’s Escape Weekend there and had a ball. She said it’s a shopper’s dream. It’s big…REAL big…so dress accordingly. Have fun!
I’ve been there too many times to count. Parking is free but make sure you take note of where you park in the ramp. For Restaurants, I’d suggest trying Tiger Sushi. If you’re less adventurous, Bubba Gump is kind of fun.
I’d also suggest taking the “Cereal Adventure” tour just for pure weirdness.
I’ve been there a few times. It’s just a very large version of every other mall you’ve ever been in, with the exception of the Snoopy theme park in the middle. Lots of chain stores like you find everywhere else, and mostly boring food. But to each his own.
Despite living only 20 minutes away, I’ve only been there a couple times. My number one advice is, Bring some good walking shoes. Oh and bring lots of money. It’s pretty expensive there. I get bored after a couple hours personally. If you like to window shop and people watch then you will have an excellent time.
I live nearby, so I’ve gone a few times. I’d second the recommendation of Tiger Sushi. I became a regular at Fuji Ya because of one of the sushi chefs there, and he now works for Tiger. Ask for JR – he’s a short, friendly Indonesian man and a wickedly talented chef.
Underwater Adventures has a cool tunnel with moving sidewalk that takes you through some ginormous tanks with tropical fish, sharks, turtles and coral reefs. Yellowval is right, it is expensive, but it’s one of the more entertaining options there.
Ditto. We live ~15 minutes away (not counting time to find a parking space and get inside), and I’ve only been once; my husband hasn’t been at all.
Underwater Adventures is cool. Otherwise I haven’t seen enough of it myself to give advice.
There’s a lot to see and do in the Twin Cities in addition to MoA. If you want other suggestions, I’d be happy to help. Even just checking out the downtown shopping and walking around the skyways is fun.
They make it a bit easier with the parking by having color and animal reminders of the various levels. More importantly, remember which side of the Mall you parked on. I usually head towards the top levels and can find something OK.
As this is a destination trip I would definitely recommend the Underwater World mentioned by yellowval. The Camp Snoopy amusement area lost the Peanuts marketing rights. They are switching to a Spongebob Squarepants theme, but I don’t think it has happened yet. Anyway, even for adults a couple of the rides (mini-rollercoaster, log flume) can be fun in the right frame of mind. (After all, you are a Doper and coming to Minnesota in March, so you can’t be that sane. )
I don’t know if you or your wife has any interest in this but there is a NASCAR race experience. Full scale cars with computer screens showing the track, servomotors to simulate bumps, etc. A fun way to blow $25 each for a few races.
If you do get bored with the Mall, there is a light rail line that has one end at (or near) the mall and the other end downtown Minneapolis. Other non-Mall possibilities depend on your interests. As you have a car, you could easily get to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The weather is supposed to be nice although a bit soggy from all the melting snow. If you like walks outdoors there is the nearby Fort Snelling State Park along the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. Also fairly close in Minnehaha Park. The Minnehaha Falls should be in full flow now. Maps and the hotel staff should be able to get you there OK. (About a 15 minute drive in non-rush hour and not getting lost.)
Oh, just to the north of the Mall is an IKEA store. Caused a lot of excitement among shoppers when it went in the other year. Mrs. Mycroft and I got there the other week and picked up a bunch of stuff. Just like another floor on the Mall!
I hate to say it but that was my impression at all. And I’m a mall person, there are some malls I really would drive several hours for. It has more or less the same stores as you could find in any medium sized city, and the stores they have are not really “flagships”. Definately plan a few side trips, I wouldn’t say MoA is the best the twin cities has to offer. We were there for a weekend last summer, I had a great time walking around downtown Minneapolis – there’s little Snoopy’s and Target logos everywhere! And there’s a outdoor mall (is that Nicollet mall?) thats very pretty.
IANAMP (Mall Person), so I’m not the best advisor, either, but… There is a Lego play area in Camp Snoopy that is pretty fun, and the Mystery Mine Ride is good, if you don’t get mothion sick. There used to be a whole lot of fun stores that you couldn’t find anywhere else, like Bare Bones and the Nature Store, but most of those are gone now.
I’ll second Wear Good Shoes, and if the weather is good, check out Minnehaha Falls, Nicollet Mall, and the museums.
As long as you’re in Bloomington, you might want to go few more miles south into Apple Valley and check out the Minnesota Zoo. The zoo itself is very good but (depending on what’s showing), it can also be worth the drive just to see a movie at the Imax theater (300 is showing there right now).
Definitely get out of the mall and look around the rest of Minneapolis…it’s really a nice city, IMO. I would highly recommend going to see the falls, and also the Walker Art Center , if you like modern art at all…it’s an outstanding museum, and it has a really cool outdoor sculpture garden, as well.
In the mall, there is a restaurant called the Twin City Grill which is pretty good.
I reiterate the suggestion of the aquarium. Pretty cool.
The theme park thing in the middle is neat, and there is one ride (some weird orange spinny roller coaster thing) that I try to hit every time I am there.
I also always end up going to NASCAR Silicon Valley Motor Speedway, but I am a car guy.
I haven’t done the ACES flight sim yet, but I mean to.
Part of the problem with the MoA is that, while it is huge, you often find that there are a few of each stores, so its not like there are a billion and one different store to go to. Lots of repeats of popular chain stores.
When I go to MoA I end up riding rides, playing video games, and buying socks.
Oh, and if you are geeky-type person, I definitel recommend the Science Museum of Minnesota: Museum
I’s not the christmas season, so really parking is quite easy. Sears is the least popular of the anchor stores, and there is always a spot in the upper levels. The top level has an entrance that goes up yet one more level, and nobody seems to know about it, so there are always spots. I like the flume, but you will get wet, so that would kinda suck to start out with.
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