Maplewood Mall — a Destination for the Whole Family

Maplewood Mall is a fun mall to visit and explore! There’s lots to see and do with the entire family while supporting local, small businesses.

I don’t know about you, but I love a good mall comeback! With lots of malls vacant and slowly closing, it’s exciting to see Maplewood Mall turning into a fun destination for the whole family. Of course there’s lot of shopping options, but the real fun at Maplewood Mall is found in the experiences!

I’m going to highlight some of the small business experiences at Maplewood Mall. There’s so much to do from holding kangaroos, making your own slime, playing at the arcade, checking out film costumes and more!

Sustainable Safari 

How can I describe Sustainable Safari? It’s like a small zoo, but with lots of animals you can feed and different interactions you can choose to add on. There are tons of animals here– around 200 at any given time so there’s a good chance everyone in your family will get to see an animal on their wish list! My son and I got to visit their location at Burnsville Mall and we had a wonderful time feeding the animals and interacting with a kangaroo, alligator, guinea pigs, capybaras and more.

As a mom, here’s what I loved about Sustainable Safari– they are super clean with lots of hand washing stations, lots of staff available to answer questions but also to provide the best animal safety, the animals have large cages and don’t have to come up to you for food, although many do!

Plus the animals get a chance to live on their owners farm in addition to both Sustainable Safari locations! You can tell these animals are extremely loved and well treated by the owners and all the staff.

You can check out our review on the Sustainable Safari Burnsville location for more info.

Slime City

Do you want to make your own slime? Or customize slime that’s already made? Don’t miss your chance to DIY at Slime City. We had the opportunity to visit when they first opened and we were blown away! The experience was amazing and you’re supporting a local, small business. They also have discount offers through Groupon from time to time! Be sure to check out our full review on Slime City.

Enchanted Fantasy: Film Museum

Interested in seeing costumes used in actual film and TV productions? Check out Enchanted Fantasy: Film Museum! My son and I had a great time visiting this place, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for your youngest kiddos as this museum has lots of fragile, non-touchable items. They are constantly changing out costumes and exhibits, which makes it really fun. Coming up in October, new costumes are coming in from Doctor Who, Avatar: The Way Of Water, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Spartacus: War of The Damned, Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy, The Handmaids Tale, Downton Abbey and more!

Hand Mod

Hand Mod is a DIY dream! There’s a paint area filled with items you can paint and make into your own creations– I just love the custom Minnesota designs like the state shape and the loon. There’s no need to RSVP for this, but take note they aren’t open on Mondays or Tuesdays. We haven’t visited here yet– but it is definitely on our list to check out!

Grabbit Arcade

Are your kids into claw machine games? Grabbit Arcade is the place for you! This is a claw arcade featuring licensed Japanese Anime figures, plushies and toys but all the machines only cost 1 token ($1) to play! Claw arcades can add up quickly, but I love that this one doesn’t charge multiple tokens per play!

There’s also lots of other fun places to stop– the double decker carousel is always favorite of my kiddos! It’s $4/person to ride, but we have to do it once every time we visit! The Maplewood Mall Arcade is a very exciting stop but it can be pricey. They do offer one free game per week if you’re looking to check out some free play!

Maplewood Mall has a brand new FREE play area featuring an astronaut theme. My youngest loved playing in the space ship and making creations out of the big blue blocks. Plus the play area is right by the food court so it’s the perfect place to visit before or after grabbing some yummy treats.

Now open is Big Top Putt Putt! Entering the Maplewood Mall chat is mini golf! A 10 hole course and  Minnesota’s first carnival-themed mini golf experience is now open in the mall. Ages 2 and under are FREE, ages 10 and under are $6 for one round or $12 for 3 and 11 and up is $12 for one round and $20 for 3 rounds.

Of course there’s lot of awesome shopping too! Local businesses seem to really thrive at Maplewood Mall and we’ve had a ton of fun shopping at Fragmented Nostaglia for all things Pokemon, Pan Asia Center, which took over Macy’s and is an epic Asian-focused shopping center, and Daa Bin Store, where you can dig for treasures with prices lowering through the week.

We absolutely love visiting Maplewood Mall! Have you been there lately? What’s your favorite place to check out or shop? Let us know in the comments so we can add it to our post!