Nickelodeon Universe is the latest park to open in the United States, alongside the debut of the American Dream Mall on October 25, 2019. Construction of the mall began back on September 24, 2004, little over 15 years ago. Constant delays pushed the opening back further and further with failed deadlines prominent throughout. As someone who has seen this place under construction for a majority of my life, seeing it finally opened to the public is surreal. Nickelodeon Universe was actually one of the first of the attractions to open, alongside The Rink an indoor ice skating location. Since then Big Snow, the nations first indoor ski slope, and a handful of shops have opened up, but we’re not here to talk about those!

Initial Impressions

Before entering a wristband has to be purchased, with three different options available. The first is an All Access Ticket for $59.99 (Came to around $63 after tax). This option grants unlimited access to all of the park’s attractions that day including Shellriaser, Shredder, Skyline Scream, and the other thrill rides. The park also offers a General Access Ticket at $44.99, which functions similarly to the All Access Pass except it does not include the thrill rides, but still grants access to Slime Streak, Legends of the Hidden Temple Challenge and other smaller rides. Finally, there is the Twilight Ticket, which is simply an All Access Ticket for the final three hours of park operation at a discounted price of $34.99. Despite these ticket options, it feels like a temporary system until the rest of the mall opens. The lack of turnstiles and the way they scan wristbands at every ride make it appear the park is designed to be pay per ride. For the time being, the ticket options above are what you will most likely encounter if you visit the park, but it would not be surprised if this changes.

Being an indoor park, Nickelodeon Universe massive. Tons of attractions are present and some of them interact with the rest of the park, creating a unique atmosphere. Statues of various Nickelodeon characters are scattered throughout, allowing for photo opportunities for many children and people who grew up watching Nickelodeon. Unfortunately, both Invader Zim’s Flip & Spin and Sandy’s Blasting Bronco were closed for the day, but besides those two rides, everything was open. The park is easy to get around, roughly a 3 minute or so walk from one side to another with restrooms located at both ends. As a result of its indoor nature, the Nick Universe is kept at a comfortable temperature for T-Shirts, but it did get a bit warm with a light jacket. The heat did not help as the park was slammed, with a few hour long waits scattered throughout. It quickly became apparent that this park was not designed for heavy crowds as many rides were facing difficulties with throughput. Notable attractions with the longest waits were Slime Streak, Legends of the Hidden Temple Challenge and Dora’s Sky Railway. That being said, I have to say I loved this park at night. Due to the lack of lights it gets quite dark, allowing for awesome night rides. The use of strobe lights and the light package on Shellraiser and Sandy’s Blasting Bronco make the park visually stunning too. I did notice that Legends of the Hidden Temple Challenge did close for the last few hours, so it is possible that attraction closes when it gets too dark.

Nickelodeon Universe from Slime Streak’s queue.

Perhaps the biggest problem I had with the park was the food selection. There were two choices, a small food stand selling cold sandwiches and hot dogs or It’Sugar, a candy shop, located in the mall. These were the only two food locations and as a result they attracted large crowds. I ate at the snack stand twice and shared a candy bar from It’Sugar with some friends, but it was a dire situation. In addition, the sandwiches were expensive, with a turkey wrap costing $10. With that being said the food situation is sure to improve in the future as more stores open up, but until this happens I’d recommend packing food in a cooler and eating in the car when you or your group get hungry.

Attractions

What makes Nickelodeon Universe such an interesting property is it provides unique rides that operate year round. With the Nickelodeon brand, every ride was detailed to match the show it is based on. In my opinion the two best themed rides were Aang’s Air Gliders and Kraang Prime Pandemonium. In addition, this park is open on Sundays, not being affected by the counties laws that close malls on that day. With all of this in mind, I will only speak in detail about the major attractions and coasters in the park, but I can say that I enjoyed most of the rides I did experience.

Shellraiser

Let’s begin by discussing the big reason to visit this park for every coaster enthusiast. Shellraiser is a clone of Takabisha at Fuji-Q Highland with one difference - a slightly steeper drop to give it the title of the world’s steepest roller coaster. As the name suggests, the ride is themed to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and features a statue of them on a vehicle located at the entrance. I managed to get eight cycles on Shellraiser and I found it to be a solid coaster. The launch is punchy, the layout is well done and the drop is cool. At night this ride looks incredible due to the light package from KCL Engineering. The liftr even features a dynamic light setting that changes in accordance to the trains position.

All being said, this ride does have some issues I noticed. For whatever reason the ride isn’t quite smooth in the front row. It’s fine for most of the ride, but the top of the dive loop after the drop gave me a headache at the front. Interestingly, the back row was much smoother, providing excellent rides without fail. The ride also has some aggressive braking, especially when entering the holding brake at the top of the lift. I found the best way to brace for the brakes is to prop your feet up against the front of the floor. On the topic of the holding brake, I was disappointed to find that the view of New York City’s skyline was not quite visible due to Skyline Scream blocking a decent part of it. My advice for Shellraiser is to sit in the back row and be prepared for sudden stops. Even with these flaws, the ride is still great and worth visiting the park for.

Shredder

Shredder is a Gerstlauer Spinning Coaster that is interwoven with Shellraiser and is the tallest, longest, and fastest spinning coaster from the company. It keeps up the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles design by being themed to Shredder, the main villain of the franchise. The coaster shines with its interaction with Shellraiser, allowing for moments of dueling between the two. The layout is long and features some funky elements to get the car spinning while being relatively smooth. I got four rides on it and found some to be better than others, as ultimately the experience is weight dependent. I did notice that the ride was constantly trimming the train on a majority of the block brakes, creating a rather slow ride experience. The lift hill is also a bit wonky as it has some abrupt braking when engaging and exiting the lift, leading to some heads hitting the back of the seat. Overall, it is a solid family coaster and I recommend it to those whose children are looking for a “big” ride without any high speeds, big drops, or inversions.

Timmy’s Half-Pipe Havoc

Timmy’s Half-Pipe Havoc was a pleasant surprise for me. It’s an Intamin Surfrider, which consists of a U shaped layout with multiple LSM launches propelling the train back and forth. It’s also themed to the Fairly Odd Parents, with the skateboard featuring the colors and faces of Cosmo and Wanda. Interestingly, the ride is the first of its kind to feature a lap bar restraint, allowing for complete upper body freedom. These restraints enhance the feeling of weightlessness on the top of the spikes and make the spinning sensation more exciting. I did notice that the spinning appeared to be weight dependent with one of my best rides being weighted with three adults and three children on opposite sides. The ride is a blast if you have a large group and I’d say it is family friendly. Definitely worth a ride or two, especially if you enjoy spinning.

Slime Streak

The token family coaster of Nickelodeon Universe is Slime Streak, being themed to the brand itself. It’s a Chance Rides Family Coaster that goes throughout the park, interacting with other rides and attractions. The layout allows for it to be relatively fast and with several moments of lateral force. There is little airtime, but for a family ride it excels. Unfortunately, Slime Streak suffers from only having one train, which made the line extremely long. I found the trains to be problematic as well, as they are very tight and required me to tuck my legs under the seat. I saw plenty of people removed from the ride simply because they were too tall for the restraints. The lap bar has no padding either and it can become very tight and uncomfortable, dampening the ride experience. Despite these issues the ride is smooth and fun, but only worth doing if there is a short queue. I strongly recommend going to Slime Streak early in the day if you want to ride it a few times.

Skyline Scream

The tallest attraction in the park is Skyline Scream, a S&S Sansei Rotating Combo Drop Tower. Currently, it holds the record for the tallest indoor rotating drop tower in the world and offers an incredible view of New York City. The ride starts with a launch upward to the top of the tower before parking at the top. Once there, the gondola rotates 360º giving a full view of the New York City Skyline as well as characters from Spongebob, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Fairly Odd Parents, among others. Skyline Scream then drops down the tower back to the ground. Sounds thrilling right? Well, unfortunately it is among the weakest drop towers I have done. Sure it feels tall and the launch is has some kick, but there is no airtime anywhere on the ride. However, the lack of intensity allows for it to be enjoyed by a larger audience, which is beneficial. The way I see it, Skyline Scream isn’t designed to focus on intensity, but the view. Without much intensity, it becomes accessible to a larger audience thus making the view available to more people. I also want to stress how loud this ride is. Never before has a drop tower given me a headache through it’s sounds, but my goodness this one is deafening.

The rest of the attractions I did were good - except for Dora’s Sky Railway, which I found to be a waste of time due to it’s boring nature. The flat rides all run decent cycles and each have a lighting package to enhance the ride experience. One of the most interesting attractions is Legends of the Hidden Temple Challenge, a massive rope course that is included with admission. Unfortunately the top two levels were closed off when I went up due to staffing issues, but I did see it open throughout the day. Absolutely recommend checking it out!

Final Thoughts

I spent about 11 hours in Nickelodeon Universe and I cannot say I recommend doing that unless you want a ton of rerides. Ultimately, this park was not meant to be a full day commitment, rather it can be done in a few hours. If I had to recommend a time, I’d say go for the twilight ticket as you can easily knock out all of the large rides in that time. Yet I also recommend going in the morning to beat out any crowds, as the rides do have low capacity. The best order my group came up with was to hit Sandy’s Blasting Bronco, Slime Streak, and Legends of the Hidden Temple Challenge first in that order. Besides those rides, other lines are able to move at a decent pace. Currently I don’t recommend travelling far to visit this park, as American Dream is not quite finished. Once other attractions, such as the Dreamworks Water Park, and shops open up, I feel that would be the best time to visit. The park does have potential and I look forward to seeing how it improves in the upcoming year!

Thank you for reading and I will see you all next time!

- Andrew

Nickelodeon Universe Analysis