So since I was a little kid I have always wanted to ride coasters for my birthday. This is hard since my b-day is at the end of January an I live in the Midwest. Well this year Carrie asked what I wanted and the only thing I could think about was coasters with Bond.

So on Friday Bond got out of school early and we headed North to Minnesota for a day at Nickelodeon Universe in the Mall of America. It's one long ass boring drive across Iowa but eventually we made it into Minnesota and to the Mall of America. It was 8pm and we had nothing planned but to sleep so we headed to the mall to give Nickelodeon Universe a once over in preparation for Saturday. Bond loved what he saw and was determined to start out our 2010 season on Sponge Bob Squarepants Rock Bottom Plunge. He wasn't so sure about Avatar but he liked the rest of the rides at NU.

So after a little while we were off to the hotel in order to rest up for a coaster filled next day.

We got up a little early and took a drive by of Valleyfair before heading back to the mall.

Once at NU a frenzy of riding happened since the park was empty so early. Following is what we thought of the rides.

Sponge Bob: Our first ride of the year! It was awesome. Looking straight up the lift and seeing the blue sky was cool as well as going above the structure for the roof. You almost scrape the windows there. The first drop is a blast followed by a nice loop. Both of our favorite moment of the ride though is the heartline spiral. It has a ton of hang time, especially if you let your body go limp. All around an under the ride is themed to look like the Sponge Bob cartoon and was neat. Bond totally loved it and we rode it a ton. I just wish they had more than 2 trains running as it's low capacity meant some long lines into the day.

Pepsi Orange Streak - It's a stupid-fun mine train that goes all over the park. We loved it.

Back to the Barnyard Coaster - Stupid cartoon...I loathe it but it was a quick credit for Bond...cha-ching!

Fairly Odd Coaster - This was the third Gerstlauer spinning coaster for both Bond and I. Like the other two it is fun.

Avatar - Bond was scared of this one. He was very nervous about it but as soon as we took off and started spinning he ranked it right up there with Sponge Bob. It is insane fun. I love heading up the spike to spin right by the windows on the roof. I kind of thought I'd get sick as I'm not much of a spinner but I never felt queasy in the least bit. This ride is just pure fun and is by far the best ride I've seen from Intamin in a long long while.

Log Flume - It was so weird riding a log flume in January. Honestly in it's current state this is the best themed log flume out there and probably my favorite overall. The logging camp/Paul Bunyan theming is perfect. I just hope the rumors of a re-theming to the stupid barnyard cartoon doesn't happen. I love cartoons but that is the one that Bond watches that I hate. It's just stupid! I mean I'm from the city and even I know that male cows (you know the ones with horns) do NOT have UDDERS! But Barnyard (or the idiots making it) had male cows with udders. Whu not give the human males in the cartoon huge breasts as well while they're at it?

Jimmy Neutron's Atomic Collider - I love it and Bond initially did but with such a long ride cycle he ended up getting sick. What did he need to settle his stomach...a ride on a coaster. Yep, he's my boy.

Danny Phantom - With Banshee at HW long gone this has to be one of the best Falling Star rides out there.

Backyardigans Swing-A-Long - Your standard swing ride with seats that face forwards and backwards. Bond sat in front of me and faced backwards. It was pretty cool.

Ferris Wheel - It's themed to Dora but I forget what it's called. Fun ride and you get a great view of the park.

The Splat-O-Sphere - It's a giant Frog Hopper!!! Stupid fun and we both love it. I'd like to see more of these at parks as it's a perfect family ride.

The Ghostly Gangplank - This was the most terrifying experience at a park. It's basically a four story rope course that you walk through with a climbing harness on that is attached to it so you can't fall (far). Now I at work I sometimes have to put a climbing harness on and go up fifty feet an walk around steel beams that are a couple of inches wide. This does not bother me because I trust my harness, my fall protection and I'm standing on a solid object. Now I did not ask Bond to go on this, surprisingly he wanted to do it all on his own so I went with him.

The harnesses...well they were nowhere near the industrial strength model I have at work but were still fine for what we were doing. Getting up to the 1st level (which is about 30 feet above the park floor) was ok, and both Bond and I did well until I came to the tightrope portion. When I was about a foot out the rope started vibrating violently. This kicked off a massive panic attack. You know the ones where you feel like you're going to die. Still being the good father I hid it and kept climbing around for Bond. Well then we went up to level 2 which was a further 15 feet off of the ground and with my panic attack and the fact that there were so many people up there that you had to squeeze around people on the 4X4 platforms up there between paths I had it. So we went down to level 1 where I left Bond to climb around a bit and I called it a day.

Maybe if there were way less people up there and I hadn't went on the tightrope I'd have had fun on this but anyway I'm super proud of Bond for tackling it. Also $4 for an upcharge attraction is the way they should be Six Flags!!!

We also spent some time with JerryD and met up with our old friends Keith & Fred who took us to the Twin Cities Grill for a truly fantastic dinner.

In the end we got:

11 rides on Spongebob
10 on Orange Streak
4 on Avatar
4 on Fairly Odd Coaster
1 on the Backyardagan's swing
1 on Back to the Barnyard Coaster
1 on Jimmy Neutron's Atomic Collider
4 on the Log Flume
1 on the Ferris Wheel
1 on Ghost Blasters
1 on the Splat-O-Sphere
1 on Danny Phantom

40 rides in a day isn't a half bad way to kick off the season.

I'll put a few photos later (I took almost 500 - playing around with my new camera) and of course do a full update in the coming weeks.

Have Fun

Paul

Sounds like a great time! I know how you feel about the panic Attacks I get them pretty often but I got really good at hiding them.

Here are a few photos from yesterday.

Have Fun

Paul

That looks like fun. I'm glad you got so many rides in on Pepsi Orange Streak. Considering what it does, I called it The Beast of Mall of America.

I think I like the Orange Streak better than the Beast...it's a better mine train.

Have Fun

Paul

I won't go that far...but at least there aren't trims every ten feet.

The Gemini video coaster only counts as a credit if you allow me to count the woodie at Krustyland that I rode as part of the Simpsons ride at Universal

Ah the Zoominator... the Simpsons episode which ripped on Coaster Enthusiasts!

So if Bond counts those Credits can I count all of the POV's I have watched? I can rock my chair just as much as that seat?

A news story with POV of the ropes coarse..

http://www.minnpost.com/minnclips/2010/ ... experience

Jerry