General Chat / Camp Snoopy!

Last night I met my sister and her family at the Mall of America for an evening of rides and food. Since it's on my way home from work it was pretty convenient.

Our agreement was to meet at LegoLand on the south edge of Camp Snoopy. I've always liked this little area. There are dozens of amazing Lego sculptures and fun activities. I joined my nephew (age 5) in constructing a car for the gravity drag race ramp they have. There are several huge bins of bricks available for you to make your own vehicle and race it against others. The trick is finding wheels. Anyway, we schooled the rest of the kids (hint: wide wheel base, extra weight in the center).

Next I went right to the Timberland Twister (Gerstlauer Spinning Coaster), the second midsize coaster in Camp Snoopy. My sister's family all had wristbands, but I was paying a-la-carte and these rides aren't cheap. I ended up paying nearly $5 for each ride.

Anyway, the Timberland Twister was completed in early 2004 and this was my first time riding it, which is amazing considering I drive past it every day. I rode in the 4-person car with my sister and the oldest niece (age 11). I was quite surprised at the thrill. The lift was really quick, and right from the first turn there were some impressive Gs for a ride this scale. There are plenty of quick drops and high-banked turns, and the thrill is so surreal because it's IN A MALL! Plus it was at night, which just added to the effect. A great ride, and it didn't even make me dizzy at all, which is easy to do.

Next we went over to my old favorite, Ripsaw (Tivoli Custom). This is still a fun ride for me, even though it's a little slow compared to TT. Ripsaw covers every corner of Camp Snoopy including a slow, spooky tunnel section with animatronic miners, which leads to a second lift hill before the journey back to the other side of the park. Apparently they don't trim the trees too often because with my 6.5' wing span I was catching quite a bit of foliage on the last helix.

Next was dinner. The food options at the Mall of America are vast. We opted for Tony Roma's since it was close. I recommend the bacon swiss chicken grill sandwich.

After a brief stroll through that store on 3rd floor West with all the Packer merch and cheese, it was back to the park. BTW, it's taken me years to develop a sense of direction in the MOA and it now proves invaluable.

My nieces wanted desperately to go on the log ride, and since no one getting off the ride looked particularly wet I decided to join them (it is a mall after all, right? No one wants to walk around shopping while dripping wet). The log ride was impressive as well, considering the compact layout it has in the corner of the park. It starts out with the first of many tunnels before going up a long lift tunnel past some nice animatronic lumberjack guys. Then you cruise past the 3rd floor overlook (wave to the people!) and into another tunnel, which leads to the first drop while still in the tunnel, shooting out of it at the bottom. Big splash, but not much wetness. Perfect! Then we went into a large, cavernous tunnel with a huge animatronic bull and lumberjack (Paul Bunyan and his blue ox Babe, no doubt. Paul Bunyan was talking but I can't remember a word he said because the whole scene was so surreal and creepy). Anyway, another tunnel, another lift, and then the Big Drop. Now maybe it was because there were two adults over 6 feet tall in the boat, but this was no polite little splashdown. We skidded past most of the landing strip and then right at the end, WHOOSH!! a wave of water over the bow. My legs were completely soaked and my poor niece who was sitting IN FRONT OF ME was absolutely drenched. We had a good laugh, though, and the on-ride photo was hilarious.

After waddling to the bathroom to attempt to towel off a bit, my niece and I decided the spin cycle would work better and took one more ride on the Timberland Twister. Once again, fun stuff.

I then walked through the parking lot and drove home in low 30s(F) temps wearing wet corduroy and froze my ass off. The end.

A more entertaining TR than I would have provided with my Disneyland trip. I had a great time yesterday at the DLR, but there wasn't anything super eventful.

Great TR! MoA sounds like an interesting place to visit for half a day or something like that.

I went to Mundo Divertido today in Tijuana. It wasn't there. Apparantly the place has been demolished for a while. So we left Mexico.

Then I went to Belmont Park and rode the Giant Dipper twice.

Anyways, I'd like to visit Camp Snoopy someday. Sounds like it's an interesting little spin-off of Knott's Berry Farm. Good TR.

sounds like a lot of fun! exactly how big is moa?

exactly how big is moa?

The Mall of America has an area of 4.2 million square feet (390,000 square meters). It contains more than 520 stores, 50 restaurants, 14 movie screens, and 4.3 miles of store front. The mall employs over 11,000 people. If you spent 10 minutes browsing at every store it would take over 3 and a half days straight.

I found all that info and more on this page.

Beyond that, what surprised me about the MOA when I first went there was that it wasn't as sprawling as I thought it would be. It's rather compact, given everything that's there. The shopping area is basically a big donut that surrounds Camp Snoopy in the middle. A 4-story donut. Then there are four department stores at the corners and a multilevel parking ramp on each side.

top view

I've always wanted to make a Camp Snoopy recreation in RCT. Maybe in RCT3 I will.

Mall Tycoon 3!!!!!!!!!

ive never played any other "tycoon" game then roller coaster tycoon. theres tons of other tycoon games! mall, lemonade, zoo, skate park, golf course, geez the list goes on and on.

and cbass, sweet info! a camp snoopy recreation would be awesome.