Crayola creates new experience at Mall of America

A 60,000-sq.-ft. Crayola Experience has opened at Mall of America, giving the massive shopping center yet another experiential component to generate traffic.



The Crayola Experience is a family attraction that features 25 hands-on activities inspired by Crayola products and technologies and there is also The Crayola Store offering the world's largest selection of Crayola products and unique souvenirs.



"Crayola Experience is an immersive, larger-than-life, creative adventure that we can't wait to share with both locals and tourists,” Crayola CEO Smith Holland said at the grand opening. “This is America's heartland, and our brand has been at the heart of American creativity for 113 years. We hope to inspire countless kids and help create colorful family memories that will last a lifetime."



The Crayola Experience features 25 hands-on attractions and live entertainment. Guests will do everything from name and wrap their own Crayola crayon (Wrap It Up!), star in their own coloring page (Be A Star), paint with melted wax (Meltdown), bring their coloring page to 4-D life and animate it with their touch (Color Magic) and learn how crayons are made in the live Factory Show. Families typically spend four hours playing and creating and leave with a bag full of handmade keepsakes.



Crayola entered the attractions world in 2013, when the company re-imagined Crayola Experience's hometown facility in Easton, Pa. That attraction now welcomes hundreds of thousands of guests annually and opened its second location, in Orlando, Fla., last July.



To experience the Crayola Experience requires a general admission fee of $24.99, but to encourage repeat visits the brand offers an annual pass for only $10 more.