As vice president of experiential entertainment at Mall of America, Chris Grap has consistently pushed the boundaries of themed entertainment in a retail space. Working together with the location’s IP partner, Nickelodeon Universe, he is continuing to grow and develop the on-site theme park, but his passion for themed entertainment also extends beyond the walls of Nickelodeon Universe and into the wider 5.6 million square foot Mall of America site.
He has been with Mall of America for over a decade and moved into his current role in August 2021. During his time he has led a number of successful projects, including the Webby Award-winning #Twizzard for in the Rotunda at Mall of America on Black Friday.
Speaking to blooloop about #Twizzard, one of his favourite projects, he said: “We wanted to do something strange and engaging. So we created a Twitter-activated blizzard. We created digital thermometers that began at 72 degrees, and we asked people to tweet using the hashtag #Twizzard. As people would tweet, the temperature on the thermometers would drop, reaching 32 degrees with every thousand tweets, triggering a light show and snow machines and creating an indoor blizzard.
“It was something that I was super happy with because it wasn’t about pushing a brand, but about pushing a feeling. The way that people jumped on it just to create moments for other people was unique. It gave me and the team a lot of confidence in how we could take little tropes and tell bigger stories with them.”
Chris Grap has also breathed new life into the fan-favourite log chute attraction in Nickelodeon Universe by developing holiday overlays such as the “Fog Chute” during Halloween and the “Yule Log Chute” during the holidays as well as working with IP partners such as Netflix to transform the Log Chute into the city of Hawkins for the release of Stranger Things Season 3.
He worked with Nickelodeon and Spinmaster to bring to life the popular Paw Patrol IP, concepting and developing the Adventure Bay open-play attraction in Nickelodeon Universe and is the lead designer for Mall of America’s forth-coming water park expansion, Mystery Cove.