When I was asked to write about a getaway at Mall of America, I jumped at the chance to show you guys why I love this place and why it is not just your ordinary mall. My husband Matt and I share a birthday (well, they are one day apart) so we decided to have a couple’s birthday weekend getaway. A mall might seem like a strange place to go for a couple’s weekend, but we got to stay in a fabulous hotel, see a movie in a VIP theater, have craft cocktails, eat in a beautiful restaurant and do one of our favorite activities–shop. We got to stay one night at the new Radisson Blu which is attached right to MOA™. We checked in on Friday afternoon and let me tell you, this place is gorgeous.
Its amazing contemporary design makes it feel very high-end. Check out our room!
My sister had called ahead to let them know it was my birthday and a complimentary bottle of prosecco was waiting for us in the room too. Now that is Minnesota nice!
It was opening day of Iron Man 3, so I had reserved tickets in the VIP Theater. The Theatres at Mall of America™ have been really highly rated, but the VIP Theater is a huge treat. You get big seats with tons of legroom, tables, table service for food and drinks including alcohol and no one under 21 is allowed in the theater. At only $2 more per ticket, Matt said he never wants to go to a regular theater again. After the movie, it was time for birthday cocktails. Typically, we like to head to Crave restaurant for cocktails, but we wanted to try out the bar at Firelake in the Radisson. What a beautiful place with all the natural wood and lovely lighting. We really liked that the bar menu featured lots of local beers and spirits.
Since we were at Firelake, we ate dinner there as well. It was wonderful and once again we appreciated their use of local ingredients. One of the things I’ve always liked about MOA is that there are so many great food options. We would have also been happy eating at Crave, Twin City Grill or Masu (recently voted best sushi in the Twin Cities). 
After a good night’s sleep, Saturday was all about shopping for us. Both Matt and I have recently lost a good amount of weight and our clothes were hanging on us, so…birthday shopping spree! One nice thing about MOA is that there are SO many stores. We can get our shopping done in one place without driving around. Other than clothes we also always have to stop at the Lego store and the Apple store for “toys” for Matt.
I, of course, needed to get my craft fix. MOA has a bead shop, a wonderful large scrapbooking store where I go for pretty papers, and Ragstock which is great for used and cheap clothing to redo. Typo has lots of fun ideas and craft supplies like wasabi tape, stamps and more.
It was really hard for me to peg down one experience at Mall of America to tell you guys about. It is my local mall and I am there all of the time for lots of different reasons. I walk there twice a week before the stores open with Jenny (believe me this is so nice during a Minnesota winter), plus we get lots of DIY ideas while window shopping. We are there so much the lovely folks at Caribou Coffee now know us by name! I’ve taught knitting there as a part of Knit Out. The yearly scrapbooking convention is huge. I’ve met Anthony Bourdain and Anton Brown there when they came to speak. We got to help build the murals for the Lego store when they redecorated.
My girlfriends and I have gone for girls’ nights where we get makeovers at Bare Minerals before heading to Crave for cocktails. It is the most popular place to take visiting nephews and other kids–they love Nickelodeon Universe® and the SEA LIFE Minnesota Aquarium®.
Susi and I always take her daughter when she comes to visit–at only 4 she still talks about going to MOA and meeting Dora.
All and all, this couple’s getaway weekend was just another great time at MOA. I have a $100 Mall of America gift certificate to giveaway so one of you can experience my mall too! To enter to win leave a comment on this post either telling me what your favorite thing to do at Mall of America is or what thing you would like to do there if you haven’t been. Good luck!
Rules:
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This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 6/10 – 7/7.
Be sure to visit the Mall of America page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!
© 2005 – 2013 Kathy Lewinski & Susan Cornish
Kat,
You had me at scrapbook paper! That is the first place I would visit at MOA. I have never been to Minnesota so this would be a great reason to go.
I’m a huge fan of the SeaLife aquarium (which will always be Underwater World to me, but whatevs). I really need to get back to see Octopus’ Garden.
I have never been to the mall of America, but I would love toi go! I have also recently lost some weight and need new clothes! Plus I have two little boys who would have a blast!
With 7 Great Nieces and Nephews…. would love to share LegoLand with them… what a Mall…..! We’ve never been to Minnesota…Originally from NY… now living in Fla….. the thought of Hot Chocolate Shared with 7 little bright eyed faces on a Cold Snowy day outside sounds delish….
I went when I was a kid– I loved the Snoopy-themed amusement park! Not sure if that still is even there!
Well, I just moved away from Minnesota to Wisconsin, but we enjoyed taking a day trip up to MOA every now and then. My favorite was honestly Gloria Jean’s coffee for a Mint Chocolate Bomb (like a peppermint mocha frappaccino on crack), but one of the last times we went there the Gloria Jean’s had closed. I’ve gotten some good stuff at both the bead store and the scrapbook store as well. And I like the games store too – we bought the Redneck Game of Life, which is quite fun to play.
I have heard wonderful things about Mall of America, but living in SW MO, have never gotten the chance to visit. Winning my spur my husband to start vacation planning with me, haha! 🙂 I’d love to see the aquarium. My toddler son loves animals, and I think he would get a big kick out a really high quality aquarium. I, however, would do some serious shopping! Thanks for sharing!