Nickelodeon Universe – American Dream Mall, NJ April 7th, 2022

Spring Break 2022

The kids love to watch YouTube videos on Amusement parks and thrill rides and convinced us for spring break to take the to Nickelodeon Universe (They didn’t have to do a lot of convincing). Nickelodeon Universe is located inside the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, NJ.

The parked opened at 11 and we began our adventure. To get to the park you take either an escalator or an elevator down to the bottom floor and immediately met with the slime play area.

We decided to do all of the kiddie rides first to get them out of the way. Plus we thought it would only take us about 2 hours to ride everything. The park wasn’t busy at all and the longest we had to wait for any ride was if the ride was already going and we had to wait until they got off.

The very first ride we went on was Rugrats Reptar Go-Round. A 2 story carousel type ride with Reptars as the traditional horses. Such a fun first ride.

Right outside the ride, there were Rugrats characters to take pictures with. The kids clearly have never seen the Rugrats because they asked me if I knew who the characters were. Haha silly kids!

Up next, Blaze’s Monster Truck Rally. Cute ride for kids with a great display.

Taylor’s best friend loves Blue’s Clues and we found the big red chair in front of the Blue’s Skidoo ride and we had to take her picture to show her friend.

While in front of Blue’s Skidoo we went ahead and got on the ride. The kids really enjoyed going on it and making Blue and Magenta go up and down.

It was funny to see how many characters the kids didn’t know and how many Blake and I didn’t know that they knew. That being said, the next ride was Ren & Stimpy’s Space Madness. I got excited about the characters and the kids looked at me like I was weird. This ride was tons of fun. It make your stomach drop and was much more of a thrill than expected.

Next we went to the back of the park near the Shellraiser. Unfortunately for us, the Shellraiser was closed for maintenance. Very disappointed about this because it is one of their best rides but it was okay, so many other rides to ride. The kids still wanted to have their picture taken in front of it.

We did get on the ride next to the Shellraiser, Shimmer & Shine Jumping Genies. This is a ride very similar to Dollywood’s Frog and Fireflies. Isabella loved Shimmer and Shine and she loved being able to ride the ride.

Pup Pup & Away our first Paw Patrol ride of the day! Needless to say, Austin was ecstatic to ride. Austin is obsessed with Paw Patrol. For his last 3 birthdays, the theme was Paw Patrol and we have what I feel is every Paw Patrol toy ever created (not really, but it sure seems that way).

Pup Pup & Away is a Ferris Wheel ride where each basket is a hot air balloon.

We tried to get a group picture and as you can tell, it did not work out. Taylor wanted to pet and hug all of the pups instead of turning around and looking at the camera. These types of photos are the best.

Paw Patrol Ride #2…..Zuma’s Zoomers. This ride was much more fun than what we initially though. Nonstop laughing and even Taylor wanted to ride again.

Next up…Our first character meet of the Day, Donatello from TMNT.

https://youtube.com/shorts/rLDJK2Y27bw?feature=share

Butterbean’s Sweet Spin is next up on our kiddie ride adventure. Blake, Ethan, Taylor and I rode together and Blake really got the cupcake spinning. Taylor had the best expressions on her face the entire time.

https://youtube.com/shorts/gpBkADEDZEE?feature=share

As soon as we got off the ride, Austin noticed Chase was at the meet and greet stage and we went right over. Austin was very excited to meet one of his favorite characters.

We got in line for Dora’s Sky Railroad. The hot air balloon part of the ride was not in operation during our visit. We went to get on the railroad and were told that Taylor was too small to ride. This was very odd as it is a slow moving railroad with really high doors and seatbelts. The ride did give great views of the park.

Next to the train is the Fairly OddAirways, another kiddie ride that Taylor was not tall enough for. It however was another fun kiddie ride.

Thankfully the next kiddie ride Bikini Bottom Crosstown Express did not have a height requirement preventing Taylor from riding.

Squidward is there to meet you as you exit the ride, he is just waiting at the bus stop.

Apparently Taylor too got tired of waiting for the Bus.

Aang’s Air Gliders is the first thrill ride of the day. I have never seen a ride like this before and it was probably one of my favorite rides in the park, if not my favorite. This is also the first ride for Arianna and Austin that goes upside down. Arianna rode it with Isabella and I and Austin rode it with the boys. Checkout the YouTube video to see what it is all about.

Next up on the list of thrill rides is Kraang Prime Pandemonium! This ride spins while going back and forth and upside down.

We all got on Timmy’s Half Pipe Havoc. A giant skateboard ride goes back and forth, while spinning on a half pipe.

We got on The Shredder, 1 of the 4 coasters but only 1 of the 2 that were currently open. The Shredder is the world’s tallest and longest free-spinning coaster. We eventually learned that if you sit on one side only, you spin almost the entire ride.

Nickelodeon Slime Streak is a twisting coaster that gives you the impression you are riding on slime.

We wanted to ride Sandy’s Blasting Bronco but it was closed for annual maintenance. According to Facebook groups for Nickelodeon Universe, it has been closed for quite sometime.

Next to Sandy’s Blasting Bronco is the Legend’s of the Hidden Temple ropes course. Unfortunately the ropes course was also shut down. Apparently it has been closed since COVID and never reopened. However Olmec and the steps of knowledge are there for pictures and this made me very happy. My inner 10 year old self came out.

Also on the ropes course is the Shrine of the Silver Monkey.

We went on one more ride before we left the park for a little bit to grab a snack. The ride, Jimmy Neutron’s Atom Smasher. This is a rider controlled ride that allows you to flip forward or backwards.

The food at the mall was certainly not cheap but the food in the park was very overpriced. We grabbed pretzels and donuts instead of eating in the park. After about an hour, we went back to the park.

Blake and I took the elevator back down to the park and the kids took the escalator and got to the park before us and immediately played in the slime play area until we got there (1 minute later).

It’s a Great Day for Adventure Bay

PAW Patrol Adventure Bay play area that is. The kids had so much fun playing on all of the cars, lookout tower and slides. The play area is huge. Austin took pictures with everything. He was so happy to play in Adventure Bay.

Taylor had a great time and but also enjoyed running around on the bench.

After Adventure Bay we went on SpongeBob’s Jellyfish Jam. This is a swing ride that in my opinion is the best swing ride I have been on.

While everyone else went on the swings, I saw Blue was on stage for the meet and greet and I took Taylor over to get her picture with him. She really enjoyed meeting him.

Once we were done with the meet and greet we all took turns riding any of the rides we wanted to go on again.

Of course I had to get a picture of my Helga, I mean my Arianna with Helga.

As Blake and I were getting off The Shredder and the boys were getting on, we were told the ride was shut down. We all thought it was strange because it was a little over an hour before the park closed. Even the ride attendant didn’t know why he was being told to shut the ride down. What happened next became the 3 longest, chaotic and stressful hours we have ever felt.

After really long and late night due to being in a 3+ hour lockdown because of a shooting inside the mall, we finally left for the night.