Mall of America, a large retailtainment complex in Bloomington, Minnesota, is working on plans to expand its footprint with a new indoor water park, named Mystery Cove. Mall of America, which is the biggest shopping mall in the US, is already home to a range of attractions, including Nickelodeon Universe, the Crayola Experience, SEA LIFE Aquarium, FlyOver America and more, as well as a variety of food and beverage options.
Triple Five Group, the owner of Mall of America, first became interested in building a Mall of America water park in the 1980s. It commissioned an economic impact study in 2018. This found that the project has the potential to bring in over 900,000 visitors each year. The proposed development would cover 320,000 square feet. Plans for the highly-themed park feature a wide range of different waterslides and attractions. This includes a 1,400-foot lazy river and a wave pool with an indoor beachfront.
Blooloop speaks to the Mall of America team, including Chris Grap, VP of experiential; Nathan Klutz, VP of construction; and Brian Spielman, VP of attractions, to find out more about the process of designing a world-class water park.
Creating Mystery Cove
Chris Grap, Nathan Klutz and Brian Spielman have been working on the Mystery Cove water park expansion since 2018.
Talking about their different roles and how they work together, Klutz says:
“I’ve been working with the developers, with the folks that are doing the design for all the integration within the park and within Mall of America, and then also with the teams that are working on the operations. I’ve been making sure this thing comes together holistically, not just one portion of the project. My role is to ensure that we’re ticking all those boxes as we’ve gone through this project. So, I’m making sure we have everything picked up, from operating the park to making sure the guest has a great experience all around.”
Grap adds:
“Brian comes at it through that operating lens. He operates Nickelodeon Universe, our two mini golf courses, and our Crayola Experience. And then I come at it from the storytelling and thematic design standpoint.”
To IP or not to IP?
Mall of America works with a number of different partners and brands. But for the water park design team, the first question was: IP or not IP?
“We wanted the freedom to set the stage for people to play and engage however they wanted,” says Grap. “So, we looked at developing our own IP. As we set forth on that task, then we had the challenge of finding what that IP would be and what the entry point for that story is. For us, we began by looking at the past.”
“Everybody remembers Amelia Earhart and her team. But a lot of people don’t know about a woman named Evelyn Siddy, who was an aviator and a mechanic. She had a brother, Arthur Siddy, who was a naturalist and a botanist. The two of them set out in 1936 to break Howard Hughes’ record of travelling coast to coast.
“What they didn’t count on was this crazy heat wave. It hit from the Midwest all the way through to New York. It’s literally still talked about to this day. This was a dreadful, hot, humid summer.
Communication was lost during their flight, and they were presumed to have perished. However, according to the story of Mystery Cove, the pair survived. In fact, they went on to thrive as they explored the enigmatic island. Over time, more lost souls arrived and came to call Mystery Cove their home. Each brought their own unique talents and culture to the growing community.
Mystery Cove sets out a story for everyone
The team’s goal was to create a story world that anybody could see themselves in.
“We also wanted to make sure we were designing the park for 20 visits, not just one visit,” says Grap. “So, we wanted to be aware of the casual observer, the curious explorer, and the super sleuth. We want to make sure that we have something for everybody. That’s what led us to Mystery Cove.
“We wanted to be intentional with using Evelyn and Arthur Siddy, our aviator mechanic and our naturalist, to set the stage for anybody’s entry point into the park. We wanted to make sure we weren’t telling people how to play. Instead, we are letting them find adventure and play in their own way.”
Whether the guest is on their first visit, or they are a regular at Mystery Cove, there is something for everyone:
“There’s plenty for the casual observer, somebody who’s really just interested in the attractions and escaping for a day, or the curious explorer. If you want to know a little bit more about the story, there are plenty of attractions, props, notes, different newspaper clippings, and things for people to find.
“And then we wanted to make sure that we had enough for the super sleuths as well. Those are people who need to know everything about why Mystery Cove is here. They want to explore how it exists, and why it exists. We want to make sure we’re hitting on all those touchpoints.”
A unique visual identity
For the visual identity, the team looked back to designs from the 1930s to the 1950s. They took inspiration from things like movie titles and pulp magazines from that era, in order to evoke a sense of adventure and discovery and a sense of play.
“We also worked extensively with freelance designer Rob Yeo. He has been fantastic in helping us discover these things and set the visual identity for the park. He’s somebody who really gets what we were trying to do with this project and understood our brains and was just very easy to work with from the beginning. Rob really understood the assignment.
“The logo itself also gives a sense of motion. The tone and feel can change simply by changing the colour or by changing the way the logo was presented. It was really important to us to have that flexibility. For instance, showing it in purple against a black background with a little smoke feels a little bit Scooby-Doo spooky. Whereas if it’s a little bit worn on some reclaimed wood, it has a much warmer and different feel to it.”
Tying the design to the story
Often, water park finishes may look new and pristine on opening day, but can soon look worn and dated. To counter this, Grap, Klutz and Spielman leaned into a design concept around repurposing and reclaimed materials. This also ties nicely with the story of a community living on a remote island.
“We had this idea that things that have washed up on the shores of Mystery Cove have been repurposed to help create the environment. That way, you can find familiar objects and repurpose them Gilligan’s Island-style or Swiss Family Robinson-style, and give them new life and a new meaning.”
Another thing that was important to the team is that they didn’t want Mystery Cove to just be a concrete box:
“We wanted to make sure we had those moments to reward exploration,” says Grap. “Nature doesn’t design in straight lines, and we did our best not to design in straight lines as well.
“Obviously, we are limited by the box that we’re building and have some spatial constraints. But we wanted to make sure that the environment itself had the opportunity to feel small in certain areas and large in others. So, you can close people in and then open it up again and give that sense of wonder. There is not just one wow moment, but several wow moments.”
Creating ‘wow moments’
“The layout and the landscape are all really important to us,” continues Grap. “That carries through the design ethos, with the reclaimed pieces and then into the lighting as well. We talked about creating those ceilings, creating that diversity so the fixtures don’t just all look the same as you’re walking through and really allowing ourselves to be okay with lowering that ceiling and opening up when we need to.
“As we get into the features of the park, we’ve divided Mystery Cove into different outposts. Within this, the cabanas will be evocative of the outposts that they live in. You might be staying in Evelyn’s old home or Arthur’s old home. That gives us a chance to tell the story a bit more for people who are participating in our Cabana program.
“And for us, it’s fun to use that to help us create that visual differentiation as you walk into the park from foreground, middle and background, using those cabanas to break up space and to hide certain things where we need to create more of a feel of a certain land. We really wanted to be intentional with that as well.
“We’ve also made sure to add fun focal points for families. For instance, we had the idea of a central point on the beach, a weather station to signify when the waves are coming or when the trees feel a sense of motion from the breeze.”
Choosing the right attractions for Mystery Cove
When it comes to the attraction mix, the trio were keen to put the guest experience first and leave no stone unturned in the research process:
“The attraction mix was really important. So, the three of us, Nate, Brian and I, rode everything that existed at the time. We went on as a group together, because we really wanted to make sure that we all had our unique perspectives and that they were being represented.”
Chris GrapThe attraction mix was really important. So, the three of us, Nate, Brian and I, rode everything that existed at the time…That showed us the good, the bad and the ugly in terms of what’s out there.
Klutz adds:
That showed us the good, the bad and the ugly in terms of what’s out there.“That showed us the good, the bad and the ugly in terms of what’s out there. It gave us the ability to ride rides and to sit with strangers and families that we wouldn’t traditionally get on rides and attractions with. That opened our eyes to the guest experience. It helped us to think about how we can try to minimise some of those awkward interactions.”
“The big eye-opener for the three of us is when we were waiting for a water coaster at a park and our group of three got broken up,” says Grap. “Nate and I were lucky; we got to ride together on the inline tube. Then Brian got put with a mom and her child, a person he had never met before. We thought that was probably not the best guest experience for everybody
“We have to get the ride mix right from the outset. You’re not going to change out hardware in an indoor water park with any frequency. We are 15 years in at Nickelodeon Universe, and we know how challenging it can be to switch out hardware.”
A flexible design
The design also allows for flexibility in the space, says Grap:
“We built that in from the outset. And we also made sure that food and beverage was accounted for from the beginning. We want to challenge expectations of what a food and beverage program can be like in an indoor water park. It’s important that the design is allowing for entertainment, fun and relaxation for the guests in all aspects.
“We wanted to be intentional in making sure that the park looked great in the daytime, and it also looked great at night. Here in Minnesota, we are obscured in darkness for much of the year once winter hits. So, we want to make sure that the park transitions from day to night. We have visualized a sundown ceremony. Every night, two guests will be able to trigger a sundown ceremony by grabbing the torches and triggering this event for park guests to see.”
“Additionally, the Halloween holiday has crept earlier and earlier every year, and then we have a finite time to make sure we’re getting the holiday or Christmas celebrations in as well, so we’ve designed those opportunities from the very beginning.
“We also wanted to have the flexibility to grow as needed. We have things like the League of Castaways, which represents travellers that have come and gone from Mystery Cove over the years. People who come and visit can leave their mark and move off into the world for their own adventures.”
Themed outposts at Mystery Cove
Mystery Cove will feature five themed outposts: Fortune Falls, the Bizarboretum, the Cove, Eureka Reef, and Peril Peak.
“As you go through Mystery Cove, it transitions as it would in a theme park,” says Grap. “We really designed this as a theme park with water-based attractions. We didn’t want to be constrained to the idea of ‘This is just a water park, here’s the wet area, this is what you do’.
“FortuneFalls is our serene and intriguing welcome to Mystery Cove. The idea here is that it sets the stage for guests as they enter the park. The main attraction in this area is the lazy river, which takes you through different parts of the park. It doesn’t just live in this outpost, which is something we’ve done with other attractions too, like Captain Vesuvio’s ship. That divides our giant wave pool into two.”
“It’s a ship that has run aground in Mystery Cove. Every once in a while, the captain tries to rev it up and get it out of there. That’s what generates the waves. But you, as a guest in the river, pass through the ship two times. On one pass-through, you go through the boiler room, and you see the ship trying to rev up and move.
“Then on another pass through, you go through the captain’s treasure room. Here, you see evidence of all of his adventures and exploits over the years before he got to Mystery Cove.”
Different moments to explore
Next is the Bizarboretum, which is Arthur’s playground:
“This features oversized vegetation and it’s really meant to incentivize the little kids to splash and play,” says Grap. “It is their splashing and play that feeds the plant life of Mystery Cove.
“The Cove is where you get to observe the wave pool and the ship that is bisecting the wave pool. This is a spot for relaxation as well as entertainment. Within the bowels of Captain Vesuvio’s ship, there is Captain Vesuvio’s dive bar. We want to make sure that, programmatically, we’re delivering for the 21-plus crowd as well.”
“Eureka Reef is the technological hub of Mystery Cove. The design was inspired a lot by the atomic age or a lot of what you saw at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. With the main family attraction here, the idea here is that Eureka Reef uses the water and harnesses it to change it into power. So, you as a participant in the attraction, are helping generate the power for Mystery Cove.
“Then we go over to Peril Peak, the dormant volcano on which certain attractions were built. We see this as an adventurous area. This is based on the idea that there were travelling familial circuses known as carpas that would go from town to town doing stunts. The Carpa Fuentes found their way into Mystery Cove, and they set up their familial circus there, on the dormant volcano.”
Water ride design expertise
The team has collaborated with WhiteWater, a leading waterpark manufacturer, to develop some innovative new experiences.
“We worked with WhiteWater as our slide manufacturer and the design and development team to come up with a plan that would be best suited for the space that we have allocated. We wanted to keep as much of the fibreglass inside the building as possible to give that guest interaction. So, people can see bits and pieces of folks flying through the slides, going through the attraction and getting that excitement built up within the space.
“We worked with WhiteWater to come up with two family raft ride attractions and then numerous other slide designs and layouts to fit within the box to make sure that we could get a little bit of everything for each demographic of the guest that comes to visit Mystery Cove.”
The team have also worked with FORREC, a leading entertainment design specialist.
Catering to key demographics
The park will be 320,000 square feet or just over seven acres of indoor water park environment.
“We’ll have two levels of locker room and changing facilities, and we will have a complete back-of-house operation as well as management offices,” says Klutz. “We’re looking to have roughly 52,000 square feet of wave pool, for our dual wave pool. With that, we can offer different wave patterns and frequencies as well as having the ability to do certain things within one wave pool, while in the other, we can still have your traditional wave pool atmosphere.”
“The F&B is very important to us. We’re going to have satellite locations and then one main commissary grill. This will have a large prep kitchen within it and we can utilise that space as a feeder to the other locations within the park as well.
“One thing that was important was that we wanted to make sure the children’s area was sufficient for a park this size. Families are our key demographic in this location. So we had to make sure that we had cabanas, restrooms and changing facilities for those folks close by to the toddler areas and smaller children’s areas.”
Adding guest experience technology
When it comes to new technologies to enhance the guest experience, Spielman says that this is an important consideration. However, the team is keen not to include technology for technology’s sake:
“Technology is ever-changing, so that’s something we’re always looking at. I feel like we’ve been blessed to be part of this attractions industry. The industry is very connected and so we’re always meeting with partners and vendors. Conferences like IAAPA are huge for us to go and network and find those things.
“We’re also very conscious that technology does change, and we want this to be evergreen. We also want the entire family to be able to enjoy the experience, we want Grandpa and Grandma to be in here with the grandkids as well. We’re always looking at those things, but in this fast-changing environment, sometimes it is difficult to plan for as you’re working through a development like this.”
Moments of discovery at Mystery Cove
The team has also brought in some escape room style elements into the design, working with The Wild Optimists.
“We approached them to help us understand where we can put these types of games that would feel part of the story,” says Grap. “Some of the ideas we had were easily integrated. For instance, if you’re in one cabana, there might be things that are hidden in there that are specific to your adventure in that cabana. But when you’re in the park, there are elements that can be affected by any guest if they know what they’re looking at.”
“It’s not just about technology or wearables that trigger something. That is great and awesome, and we’ll take advantage of that too. But we want to, as much as we can, help this live in that time frame of the 1930s to the 1950s. And what better place to do that than a water park where you maybe don’t want to have your cell phone out anyway?
“We want people to connect and play as groups and families. We want them to enjoy themselves and forget the outside world for a while. That’s something that we love, those little aha moments and little moments of discovery, just as much as we love the highs of riding on a slide or going down a tube together. Bringing those escape game principles in just felt like a natural fit for us.”
Challenges in making Mystery Cove a reality
When it comes to the challenges involved in getting a project of this scale off the ground, each of the trio has a different perspective. When it comes to construction, Klutz says:
“The biggest hurdle for us is going to be getting this park enclosed in a timely manner, to be able to start all the work that has to take place inside the box.
“Living in Minnesota, the winters that we deal with don’t do us any favours! So, we have these windows of opportunity to get the structure up and get the roof on the building. And if we have winters like we just had this last year, where it just is continually snowing and the snow is building up and wreaking havoc on construction sites, that’s going to really slow us down.
“We want to be on schedule and to hit the deadlines and the time frames that we have. The guests don’t come here because they care about the box and how you guys got to it. They care that it opens on time and that they have a great experience.”
A special project
From an operations point of view, Spielman adds:
“I’m blessed to be a part of this project from the get-go. I think we each bring a unique talent to this project. In terms of challenges, staffing is one I can think of in today’s climate and coming out of COVID. It’s been an interesting labour market, especially when we need lifeguards and specialised staffing. Being part of the design and development process, as an operator you don’t get that opportunity very often. And I think it’s going to save us a lot of headaches.
“We’ve gotten through the pandemic and we’re getting through the financial crisis. I have no doubt that we’ll make this happen.”
Finally, in terms of the storytelling and design, Grap says:
“I feel like we have a really solid template and we’ve had a long time to go through it together. We all believe in what we have. We all want to maintain the integrity of the project that so many people have worked so hard on. So, while that might be the challenge, I think we have the support that we need to make this the special project we all know it can be.”
All images kind courtesy of Mall of America
