I imagine that heaven (for me) would be the Mall of America, a credit card with unlimited funds and stores open for 24 hours a day.  Really, I have no idea where I would put half the stuff I saw, but it was a blast shopping, dreaming and letting the girls ride roller coasters. Yep, that’s right , Nickelodeon Universe has over 27 rides in the middle of the mall and it is huge.  This mall is so big 32 Boeing 747s could fit inside the Mall, or 7 Yankee Stadiums.

I think we only covered a 1/4 of this huge mall but it was fun trying and zooming back and forth trying to figure out where we were and our next shopping destination would be.  Since we only had two days to explore (mainly because my wallet couldn’t take much more) we went shopping the first day and rode all the rides the second day.

The mall has an amusement park in the middle which cost $36 per person to ride all day.  We thought this was the best deal but you can fine less expensive options here.  Once the girls were done riding all the rides we gave our pass away to another lucky family.  On the very bottom floor there is an aquarium but we felt that it was way over priced, $80 for the four of us to visit the aquarium.  Another great thing to remember when shopping is that Minnesota does not have sales tax on clothing (bonus).

Here are some of our favorite fun facts about the Mall of America:

• 57 miles is the walking distance around one level of Mall of America
• 4 out of 10 visitors to Mall of America are tourists
• 65 semi-trucks were needed to transport trees to the theme park to create the outdoor feel of an indoor park
• 70 degrees inside Mall of America whether its spring, summer, winter or fall
• 86 hours is the length of time it would take to complete your visit to the Mall if you were to spend just 10 minutes in each store
• 100+ pounds of food are fed daily to animals at SEA LIFE Minnesota Aquarium – plus 90 extra pounds on the days the sharks are fed
• 520+ stores are located in Mall of America
• 7,000+ weddings have been performed at Mall of America
• 11,000 year-round employees at Mall of America (13,000 during peak periods)
• 30,000+ live plants and 400 live trees climbing as high as 35 feet tall in Nickelodeon Universe
• 32,000+ tons of trash recycled each year
• 170,000+ Legos have been lost in the LEGO play area
• 1.2 million-gallon aquarium at SEA LIFE™ Minnesota Aquarium
• 40 million visitors annually which is more than the combined populations of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa…and Canada
• 130+ million number of rides ridden in the park since opening