Mall of America Q's

With the absence of any rather exciting vacation planned for spring break, we decided it might be fun to go check out Mall of America for a couple days. I have a few questions, and would greatly appreciate anybody's help:

1) Considering MapQuest/Yahoo estimates can be very inaccurate/inconsistant, does anyone know roughly how long it takes to get to MOA from Chicago (we live in Park Ridge, a northern suburb)?

2) I know I may get yelled at for this, but based on your past knowlege of ride construction, do you think TT will be open by the week of March 20-26 considering the recent rapid progress?

3) How much time do you think should be devoted to MOM, assuming we tour both the mall and park....is 3 days including driving too much?

In response to #3, you really only need one day at MoA.

Streets & Trips shows it at 399 miles from Park Ridge to MoA. That's about 6 hours at 70 mph. It is usually quite accurate.

Yeah...I was beginning to think that one day would be enough...I don't know if that would constitute a 6 hour drive though.

And mapquest shows it at 400.6 miles taking 6 hours and 4 minutes.

(You knew I'd defend maquest :) )

It takes between 5 1/2 and 6 hours from Kenosha. (Taking 94 through Milwaukee and Madison). I don't know if taking the North-West Tollway through Rockford would be any faster for you.

d8

I myself always use the map quest for my theme park...quests...and its always been very accurate and helpful to me every time.

To address the question of MOA being worth the trip - keep this in mind - it is a mall. Yes, it is freakin' huge, but it is still just a mall. I spent about 4 hours there on a recent business trip and enjoyed myself. I rode a few of the rides in Camp Snoopy, walked all the way around all the levels, and ate lunch at one of the nice sit down restraunts. With no shopping to do, however, it was only so-so. It seemed like there were often many locations of the same store, i.e. Bath & Body Works, Victoria's Secret, and Gap having 3 stores on different levels.

Since I was in town, and had a few hours to kill, I enjoyed it, but I would not advocate a 6 hour drive just for that, unless malls really get you going.

There is other stuff to do in the Twin Cities too, I highly suggest the zoo (mostly inside), the science museum, and both downtowns (Minniapolis has skywalks so you dont have to step outside).

MOA takes a day to just walk every floor with minimum shoping, CS takes about 3 hours before you are sick of it. If you plan on actually doing some shoping plan for 1.5 days otherwise a day (opening till close) is enough.

If you want to make a longer vacation out of it (and have some more money) spend a night in the dells at either Kalahari or Black Wolf Lodge hotel/indoor waterparks either is quite fun.

MOA tip....

Minnesota charges no sales tax on clothing, so if that's your thing, even the "common" mall-type stores can be worth checking out.

Later,
EV

I did the Chicago to MOA drive a few years ago on a pseudo-business trip (Rainforest Cafe annual meeting -- MOA is home to the original). Stopped by the Wisconsin Dells on the way up (in case you need a coaster fix -- if it's open). Valleyfair is also within range.

We spent two days at MOA and Camp Snoopy. You have quite a few hotels that surround the place so you can just cross the street and you're there. We chose the Country Inn and Suites by Carlson right behind the mall and it was perfect.

You can probably knock off Camp Snoopy in a couple of hours. If you enjoy shopping you've got hundreds of stores in four stories of mall action. Many of the stores are your standard suburban mall fare but you also have plenty of restaurants and a multiplex.

It's a cool place. You'll recognize it from a few films (I'm drawing a blank here, but I think Jingle All the Way was filmed there for one). I don't know if it's worth the drive in of itself, though it is if you tack on other diversions.

The film was Mighty Ducks Paris that you were refering to. All the above is true, if you like to shop this is your place to go as there is no sales tax. Make sure you check out LegoLand, that is cool to see. They also have an underground water aquarium with sharks (1st floor) and other fish that is real cool as well as a General Mills tour(3rd floor) where you can see how they make cereal and you can even get your picture on a box of cereal for a fee (Wheaties, Lucky Charms, etc). There are lots of things to do at the mall so give plenty of time to explore all the things to do.

Both "Jingle All the Way" and two "Mighty Ducks" films (D2 and D3) featured the Mall of America.

-Nate