The number one attraction my daughters looked forward to seeing, in Edmonton, was definitely the West Edmonton Mall. Created by visionaries, West Edmonton Mall is the most comprehensive retail and entertainment complex in the world.
West Edmonton Mall has an astounding 800+ stores and attractions including some of our favourite stores: The Disney Store, Anthropologie, Triple Flip, Vans, Build-A-Bear, Target, and boutiques like DKNY, Kate Spade and Ann Taylor LOFT. You could shop for days, but don’t worry, there are also 100 places to eat, so you be well fueled! There are three themed streets: BRBN St., Chinatown and Europa; but, the most amazing thing about the West Edmonton Mall, is the additional attractions.
INSIDE the mall there is a theme park: Galaxyland, a water park: World Waterpark, a lake with a replica of the Santa Maria ship, Sea Life Caverns, a Sea Lion encounter and show, two indoor mini golf courses (one black light), a bowling alley, and did I mention a skating rink!?!? Unbelievable huh! We thought so.
On our first day at the mall, we went straight to Galaxyland. We love theme parks and each of us had a ride in mind we wanted to go on first! For my husband it was the triple loop roller coaster: Mindbender, for my oldest daughter it was the three-story rope climbing course: Ropes Quest, my younger daughter wanted to do every ride except Mindbender and I really wanted to go on the smaller roller coaster: Cosmic Revolution. The park was huge and had an large variety of rides and activities for all age levels and ride styles. There is a whole section for smaller children, games, laser tag and the food court is right next door!
We were pretty tired after having fun at Galaxyland for a couple of hours, but we still had enough energy to walk the whole mall and go shopping for back to school clothes. We were running on adrenaline I’m sure! (That or the yummy bubble tea from the Chinese Market!) My daughter’s were very excited to finally get to go to Triple Flip for the first time. We don’t have one close to home, and have been ordering from them online. It was a lot of fun watching them check out all the clothes they love and trying different outfits on. We had a fun shopping experience and it was pretty cool when we saw a live model in one store window. My husband was even happy tagging along to see the Vans store and skatepark!
Needless to say, we were exhausted by the end of the day!!
The next day we took on World Waterpark first thing in the morning. We had a blast. My husband loved the Cyclone ride. At the beginning the floor drops out from underneath you, and then you go through a vertical free fall, with a gravity defying twist! It’s the pink one in my photo. Personally I’m not brave enough to try those free fall waterslides, so I stuck with the wave pool and easy-going traditional waterslides! One of the really cool easy rides is a bubble ride called the Hurricane, where you are put in a ball with some water and spun around in circles, mimicking a real hurricane! There are a lot of options for everyone in the family, including a large kids area with smaller waterslides, tube slides, food options right in the waterpark, lockers, zip lines and hot tubs. You can even book a surf lesson in the wave pool before everyone arrives! We rented towels so we didn’t have to bring them from home.
There is so much more to do at West Edmonton Mall and we were sad we didn’t have time to fit it all in on this trip. We would have loved to skate in the skating rink, play backlight mini golf and even go back to World Waterpark and Galaxyland once more. I would recommend you plan on spending more than two days to really experience the mall if you go.
Great story! I have wanted to visit West Edmonton Mall since I was a tween – but have never had the chance. Glad to hear it lived up to its reputation! 🙂