Roller Coasters in Minnesota

The land of 10,000 lakes has a few roller coasters too. (Though not quite 10,000 of them.) Let’s take a look at all the Roller Coasters in Minnesota. Almost all of these are in the Minneapolis area. (And I’ve just recently been to most of these! Watch this space for upcoming posts about these parks.) AS ALWAYS, make sure to double-check hours and prices before you visit.

All the roller coaster names are links to videos. Ride all the roller coasters in Minnesota from your couch!

Valleyfair

Valleyfair (all one word – and sometimes with an exclamation mark) has the most roller coasters of any park in Minnesota. Here, we’ve got the exciting Wild Thing (which I think is the best ride in the park), the inverted Steel Venom shuttle coaster, the 1980 Corkscrew, the hard-to-find Excalibur, and a smooth Mad Mouse. Two wooden coasters consist of Renegade and High Roller. And the Cosmic Coaster is the Snoopy-themed kiddie coaster of the park.

Other thrill rides include the coaster-like Delirious looping ride and the skateboard-style Northern Lights. There is also a high swings, a two-sided drop tower with both drop and power shot, and a screamin’ swing. In family rides, we’ve got several standard spinning rides, bumper cars, antique autos, a train, the smallest Ferris wheel, and a couple of wet rides in a boat splashdown and a rapids ride way back in the park. Several kids-only rides occupy the Planet Snoopy section of the park. A water park takes up a good section of the middle of the park and is included in admission.

Tickets

Admission to Valleyfair is between $35-43 online right now for a daily ticket. At the gate, it will cost you $60. Conversely, a two-day admission will cost you $60 online. Parking is an additional $25. I ended up paying around $70 for an admission bundle that included parking and three tastes at the Carnivale festival that was going on at the time, and I was okay with that. For some reason, I was only seeing $45 daily admission and not the $35, but that was probably my fault for booking at the last minute.

Nickelodeon Universe

Appropriate for a state that gets around 50 inches of snow a year, our next park is actually indoors! Which I loved in the heat of the summer as well. Nickelodeon Universe can be found in the center of Bloomington’s huge Mall of America with five really decent roller coasters. The Pepsi Orange Streak zooms around the whole room, but you’ll find the biggest drop – straight down – at SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge. Avatar Airbender is like a spinning skateboard situation and Fairly Odd Coaster is a spinning coaster on a steel track (but not a mad mouse.) Back at the Barnyard Hayride is a small kid’s coaster.

The other rides are fun and unique – the best of which is a dark-ride-like log flume! Indoors! There’s another dark ghost-shooting ride, a drop tower, swings, an intense pendulum, and a weird flying Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ride. Even the Dora-the-Explorer-themed Ferris wheel is suspended over the walkway for a fun visual. Several areas just for small kids round out the offerings.

There are many more attractions in the Mall of America besides Nickelodeon Universe. There’s a fly-over ride like Soarin’ at Epcot (highly recommended), a simulated mine train and shark attack (NOT recommended), blacklight mini-golf, a full-sized aquarium, escape rooms, a “museum of illusions” and more, all just inside the mall like regular storefronts. Plus, there’s any kind of food you’d want to eat, and you can get any shopping you want done while you’re there.

Tickets

This is one place I don’t really recommend you buy your tickets in advance. You can, but you can avoid a $2.50 online processing fee if you don’t, and the process for picking up tickets and buying them is almost the same. At any of the four entrances to the middle of the mall, there are unmanned kiosks with screens. You choose to either purchase or pick up tickets, and then it prints out a wristband that you’ll have to scan at each ride.

Admission is $50 but there are $40 deal days. Right now, all the deal days are weekdays in September. You can also buy individual points just to ride what you want. It would cost over $30 just to ride the four adult roller coasters, and almost $40 to add the log chute. You can also bundle Nickelodeon Universe with almost all the other attractions in the mall, which can be a good savings over buying individually. Make sure to check out all the options online beforehand, just maybe buy when you get there. Parking at the mall is free in one of several parking decks.

Como Town

Como Town is a small amusement park in St. Paul that is adjacent to a free zoo and conservatory. There are several smaller rides there, including one galaxi-style Tiger Trax coaster. Keep in mind that during my visit, the coaster was closed, and it looks like it usually is. But if it’s open, it costs $7.50 (or 13 points) to ride. You can buy points in bulk for a discount, or an unlimited rides wristband for $29, or for $21 after 3 pm. Since most of the rides are for kids, they sell an adult pass for $14, but it does not include the seated zip line in the park. Besides the zip line, there are only about 4 rides in the park an adult might reasonably want to get on. (I personally enjoyed the zoo & conservatory much more!)

Parking is free – I think – you’ll want to aim for the Palm Lot for Como Town. I parked along the street for free, so I don’t remember if the lot is paid or not. Como Town and the zoo are in the larger Como city park, with a golf course, lake, swimming pool, and more, and there are several parking lots throughout the park.

Paul Bunyan Land

About two hours north of Minneapolis is Paul Bunyan Land with several kid’s attractions, a pioneer town, and a huge animatronic lumberjack! This north woods wonderland is open from Memorial weekend through Labor Day, 10-6. Though even in the height of summer, they’re closed Wednesdays and Thursdays. On Fridays and Saturdays in October, they offer a 3-story haunted house and a corn maze.

One of those kiddie rides in the summer is the plainly-named Roller Coaster, a barely undulating oval track. (Though it does seem to go through a small barn.) The rest of the 16 rides are all aimed at small kids and the huge lumberjack will even say your kid’s name! Admission costs $25.95 for ages 3-64, $19.95 for seniors 65+, and free for toddlers 2 and under. I assume parking is free.

Spirit Mountain

Again, two hours north of Minnesota, but this time veering east towards Lake Superior and the Wisconsin border, you’ll find Spirit Mountain Adventure Park and the Timber Twister mountain coaster in Duluth. They’ve also got the Timber Flyer seated zip line, a scenic chairlift, a jumping pillow, disc golf, putt-putt, and mountain biking and hiking trails as summertime attractions. In the winter, the mountain turns to skiing and snow tubing.

The Timber Twister alone is $17, or it would cost $57 to do all the attractions besides disc golf and mountain biking. A pack of 10 tickets, good for any attraction is available for $99 and can be split among a group.

Water Parks in Minnesota

Water parks in Minnesota are mostly an indoor affair, thanks to the resort area of Brainerd Lakes. But there are, as always, a few more dotted here that you might not expect.

• Soak City in Valleyfair is the largest water park in Minnesota with 8 slides, 2 kids’ areas, a lazy river, and a wave pool. Admission is included in your ticket to the park, $35+, depending on the day.
• Cascade Bay Water Park in Eagan, a little south of St. Paul, has 5 proper slides, 2 kids’ slides, a lazy river, lap pool, and sandy beach with a picnic hill and mini-golf nearby. The day is split up into a morning session and an evening session and it costs $10-13 for one session, or pay $19 for both sessions and mini-golf.

• Great Wolf Lodge in Minneapolis/Bloomington – the ubiquitous Great Wolf Lodge has a location near the Mall of American in Bloomington. This location has 3 slides, 2 kids’ areas, plus an activity pool, and a small wave pool and lazy river. This location also has a flow rider surfing simulator. Day passes are between $40-80 depending on the day, or $32-64 for an after-4 pm pass.
• Big Splash at Arrowwood Resort in Alexandria is another indoor water park with 3 slides, a lazy river, a splash tower and activity pool, plus a whirlpool spa. Day passes are $21 on the weekend, or $16 after 4 pm (or $12 on Sunday.) Weekday rates are $16 during the day and $12 after 4 pm.
• Rapid River Lodge in Brainerd has in indoor park with 2 slides, a lazy river, a lovely indoor heated pool, and a kids’ splash area. Tickets for non-guests are $25 each from 4-9 pm, though on weekends they include a morning slot from 9-2. Tickets are only good for one time slot.

• A Holiday Inn near Brainerd has the Three Bears Waterpark, an indoor park with 2 slides, a splash tower, lazy river, two big hot tubs, and more kids’ activity areas. Non-guests pay $20.
• At another Arrowwood Resort at Brainerd Lakes, there is a Paul Bunyan-themed indoor water park with at least 1 slide and an activity pool. The cost for outside guests is $20.
• Great River Water Park in St. Paul is an indoor park, but not one attached to a hotel! This one is one of those small regional water parks, only indoors. There’s a lap pool, diving board, kids’ activity area, pool floats and “large water slides.” It’s plural, so I assume there are at least two. Daily admission is only $7 per person, or $5 each if you have at least 5 or more people in your group.

• Hastings Aquatic Center on the very far outskirts of St. Paul is another one of these regional parks, but outside! They have 2 slides, a splash tower, and a big pool with zero-depth entry. The fee is $5-9, depending on the day – Tuesdays & Thursdays are cheaper, as well as after 5 pm.
• Close to Valleyfair is SandVenture Aquatic Park with 3 slides and a diving board. It seems to be more like a man-made lake with a sandy beach. Admission is $3-7 with discounts for kids, seniors, military, and after 5 pm.
• At Kamp Dels about an hour south of Minneapolis, there’s a small water park attached to a campground, but visitors can come Monday-Wednesdays for $18. There are 2 colorful slides, a climbing wall, diving boards, splash features, and sports nets like basketball and volleyball.
• North Commons Water Park in Minneapolis is a small regional park with “loop slides” and some splash features. You know when they list a drinking fountain as one of the amenities, it’s not exactly big. $5 admission, or $3 to chaperone.

Did I miss anything? Have you been to any of these parks? What are you looking forward to doing this year? Let me know in the comments below!