Since I'm not native to Minnesota, and even after 30+ years living here, there is still a lot of uncharted territory and places to visit right in my own backyard, and within an hour driving distance.
We don't paint and build every waking hour around here, we do take time to play, and when I find something away from DIY that I think my readers will enjoy I share it.
One of the places that is not uncharted territory is the Mall Of America. When it first opened its approximately 600 doors, we went there often to shop. My daughters went for the clothes, my sons everything else.
These days I go there for the everything else too, and on this visit the everything else included the attraction FlyOver America.
Before I go on, in case I don't convey the thought accurately, the most important thing you need to know is that.........you will love it!
Two of our favorite traveling companions have hit the just turned 9 and soon to turn 12 year mark. They are seriously the most fun humans to take anywhere.
When the ride was over and we were walking through the skyway that attached our hotel to the mall, I told them I was going to conduct a question and answer session with them regarding our ride on FlyOver America. Without missing a beat the 9 year old princess grasped hold of an imaginary microphone and evoked the voice of a newscaster interviewing herself.
Really, lots of information is gathered by others when people talk to themselves, so I got her review as she interviewed herself and I didn't have to come up with questions myself.
FlyOver America is located in the center court where Nickelodeon Universe is located and the Lego showcase. You have a choice of Flying over America, or flying over Canada, and we intend to go back and take a trip over Canada.
It's the kind of attraction you want to do more than once, in fact when the princess interviewed herself she would have done it again right then and there Friday night, but there was a heated pool waiting to be enjoyed before bed, and swimming is hard for any attraction to compete with.
So anyway..... I was chatting up the guy who was getting our tickets, and while we were able to walk right in the Friday after Halloween, that isn't the case during holidays and summer. During those times you can expect 1,000 - 2,000 other people to want to fly with you even at 7:30 at night. Don't let that deter you at all, it's worth it, and if you are local go at an off time.
If you've experienced Soaring at either Walt Disney in Florida or California, (which the four of us have) FlyOver America will feel familiar but different. One of the designers of FlyOver America is a former Disney Imagineer, so if you Google, you will understand just how excellent the one at the Mall Of America is.
The flight simulating ride is not to be missed in Florida, and it's not to be missed in Bloomington Minnesota either. Our pint sized newscaster proclaimed it to be better than Florida, so yes it's just as amazing and you can get your taste of Disney right in the Twin Cities.
We all turned into Smurfs waiting in line to board.
A highlight was when the 9 & 11 year old both excitedly said "HEY we were there!" as we flew over Crater Lake. They knew it from the sky even though they were firmly planted on the ground during their summer vacation to Oregon.
The best way to describe the ride is it's like taking an exhilarating helicopter, or fast paced hand-glider ride over the most beautiful landscape located in all the U.S.A.. Your feet dangle over the edge of your craft as you are suspended in the air 10 to 25 feet. The glider moves too and fro in unison with the aerial view, and you are totally immersed as you are flying over mountains and oceans.
By totally immersed I mean, there is fog to go through, the ocean throws it's mist at you, and you feel those things on your skin with the wind. The ride touches the senses, and you will even smell the special effects, did I mention, really you will love it?
I was trying to pay attention to how many times the short people with us said the word COOL, or that I said OHMYGOSH, as every once in a while I would forget I wasn't actually flying so I really couldn't crash into a mountain or a boat.
The virtual flight technology pulls your airborne self up in time for those things not to happen, but I did grab on to my side bars more than once just in case I was the first person to land in the pacific ocean while I was in the Midwest.
Coming soon,you can board FlyOver America on a Christmas flight to the North Pole. It looks like a really fun thing to do with the kids. You can watch the video on the FlyOver America website and currently get 10% off tickets.
If you get a chance to visit the Mall Of America, plan to do a FlyOver of the landscape. The princess newscaster summed it up in one 9 year old word when she said in her newscaster voice, "the ride was exclamatory!". When I questioned if that was actually a word, she proceeded to give me the definition of an exclamatory sentence; "An exclamatory sentence makes a statement that expresses strong emotion or excitement". Her 3rd grade teacher would be proud.
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Non watermark photos courtesy of FlyOver America
My daughter was just out your way and visited the Mall of America last month! It sounds like an amazing place! :)
ReplyDeleteGuess I'm headed to Minnesota.
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