Mall of America Opens Oddly Named Haunt + Nick Universe New Rides for 2024

© American Monsters

The Mall of America has opened a new stand-alone haunted attraction called American Monsters: Onionhead's Revenge.  Yes, the name Onionhead's Revenge is why I find this attraction to be "odd," but I guess if you understand the attraction's backstory it makes more sense:

© American Monsters

"According to local legend, “Onionhead” is the cruel nickname forced upon a young man from Slidell, Louisiana, who was brutally murdered by a vigilante mob after being wrongly accused for the murder of a young woman. Consumed by rage, the assailants hacked his body into 13 pieces and scattered them in a nearby cemetery.

Swearing vengeance, his mother put a hex on the townspeople who took her son. In the months following, those responsible for Onionhead’s murder were each victims of gruesome deaths.  Locals still report sightings of a monstrosity, hideously stitched together, stalking the cemetery… and out for revenge."

© American Monsters

© American Monsters

I guess that given that spooky story things check out, eh?  The attraction's theming looks pretty impressive and so far it seems the addition is doing well.  Operations will continue through Halloween, after which Onionhead will go back into hiding until another Halloween season rolls around.  Also of note, the attraction at the Mall of America is not associated with the property's theme park, which carries a decidedly family theme.

© Nickelodeon Universe

And speaking of that, Nickelodeon Universe is adding two new attractions in the coming months!  Boots' Banana Swing can be seen above, a small children's ride that features a swinging motion which will open this Winter.  The ride is already in operation at the Nickelodeon Universe in New Jersey, so you can get a real good idea of how the finished attraction will appear.

© Nickelodeon Universe

The park is also adding Fly With Appa, a family friendly circular flat ride.  Appa is a character that comes from Avatar: The Last Airbender, and is a "glorious sky bison."  I mean I've always wanted to ride on a sky bison, so this should be pretty neat!  The new attraction will open in the Spring of 2024.

As a part of these new projects Nickelodeon Universe will also be relocating the Bubble Guppies Guppy Bubbler ride, which is an existing family ride.

Mall of America Planning One of the Country's Largest Indoor Waterparks

© Mall of America

Mall of America, located in Bloomington, MN, has long been filled with attractions and other adventures that draw guests along with the seemingly endless array of retail stores.  Recent plans show that the Mall now wants to get wet by adding a nearly 250,000 square foot indoor waterpark, which would make it one of the largest in the country.

The mall's owner, Triple Five Group, is working with the City to create a plan where the waterpark would be owned and operated by a non-profit organization, allowing for cheaper construction and taxes on the development.  The project comes with a massive price tag of between $230 and $250 million, and also includes a new hotel adjacent to it.

The waterpark would be filled with cutting edge slides and attractions, and because of its size, is expected to have one of the largest offerings anywhere.  It is planned to be located on one of the complex's current surface parking lots, and will connect to the mall directly.

© Mall of America

The Mall of America has long had a theme park located in the center of it, currently named Nickelodeon Universe.  As this news story about the new waterpark points out, in the world of online shopping, malls are looking for more ways to draw visitors than just stores, something owner Triple 5 has long understood.  The company's Mall of Edmonton features both a theme and water park, and their latest project, The American Dream in New Jersey, will also feature both an theme and water park when it opens.

Meet The American Dream

New Jersey's mostly built, but also mostly stagnant mega-mall project - formerly called Xanadu - will be opened as The American Dream at Meadowlands in 2013, according to developers.  The mall is located just across from Manhattan on what has been described as the most valuable real estate in New Jersey, and adjacent to the Meadowlands Stadium.

But this isn't a retail blog, is it?  The reason we care about the American Dream (I'm still working on loving that name) is that Canadian developers Triple Five are behind the project now.  You might have hear of two of their projects, the Mall of America and West Edmonton Mall - both of which contain amusement parks, and West Edmonton has a water park, too.

Naturally, they've added a park to plans for American Dream:

Now that's just concept art, but it looks nice with the NYC skyline behind it, right?  It also looks a lot like Nick Universe at MoA, but that's concept art for you.  The mall will contain plenty of other entertainment like the already built indoor ski slope, an indoor water park, movie theatre, ice rink, huge Ferris wheel and more.

Here's the catch, though.  The mall is scheduled to open in 2013, but the indoor amusement park and water park would open in 2014.  One article I read said that the mall doesn't even own the land for the parks just yet.  So I have to wonder if they could get axed if things don't take off as planned.  Regardless, it's a project to keep an eye on.

Spongebob Rock Bottom Plunge Video

Thanks to one of our readers for pointing this movie out to me - after all the coverage I've done of Nickelodeon Universe and Spongebob Squarepants Rock Bottom Plunge, here's a video from YouTube of the ride from user ZFamilyHome:



Looks like fun!

Nick Universe (Mall of America) Update

© CoasterCravers.net 2007

CoasterCravers has some awesome photos up of the changes going on at Nickelodeon Universe - including the photo above which is of the former Kite Eating Tree, soon to be the Backyardigan's Swing Along.

For reference, here it was before:

CoasterCravers also has pictures of the track that has arrived for the Intamin Half Pipe - Avatar Airbender.

Go check them out!

Nickelodeon Universe Webcams

The Nickelodeon Universe web page on the Mall of America's site is slowly being changed to reflect the new park, and now they have added two webcams.

The above view is of Avatar Airbender, which is supposed to be the Intamin Half Pipe.

This view is of Spongebob Squarepants Rock Bottom Plunge - the Gerstlauer EuroFighter roller coaster. There's lots of footers in already!

You can check out the cams on this page.

More Nick Universe Photos

User cwsr has a gallery up on WebShots of the construction going on at Nick Universe at the Mall of America, too.

Their photos include some of new ads that have gone up around the park that features some concept art for new rides. Like this:

of Avatar Air Bender, which is said to be an Intamin Half Pipe ride.

And this:
Spongebob Squarepants Rock Bottom Plunge - a Gerstlauer EuroFighter roller coaster.

You can see all the pictures from cwsr on WebShots.

Nick Universe Construction Update

The transformation of the former Camp Snoopy theme park at the Mall of America into Nickelodeon Universe is moving right along.

Valleyfair Zone has some construction pictures up that are worth a peek. They've already started footers for several of the new attractions, such as the Gerstlauer Eurofighter roller coaster.

Camp Park at Mall of Nickelodeon

Mall of America and the Park at Mall of America along with Nickelodeon have formally announced their plan to remake the park into America's first all Nick themed amusement park.

In addition to the Gerstauler Euro Fighter coaster going in in '08, they have plans to add a freefall ride that looks to drop from around 70ft. The link to the press release will follow, but first something else.

Okay so Cedar Fair managed the park while it was Camp Snoopy with the Peanuts characters. Then they lost the contract and the park was unthemed. Then Cedar Fair bought Paramount and got the Nickelodeon characters. Now the park at MOA announced they have the Nick characters also? It's like Cedar Fair never really left!

Anyway, you can read the release here.