After 23 years of planning, the American Dream Mall, the world’s 2nd largest shopping center, officially opened this October.

People from all over the world gathered on October 25 to see this monstrous mall’s debut in East Rutherford, NJ.

The Triple Five Group, who envisioned and built the mall, decided it would be best to open parts of it gradually. On October 25th the Nickelodeon theme park and an NHL-sized Ice Rink were opened to the public.

At 8.5 acres and with 35 indoor rides and attractions, the Nickelodeon theme park is planned to be the largest indoor amusement park in America.

Tickets for the park must be bought ahead of time and were completely sold out for the week of October 28th.

Although the theme park and skating rink were opened, visitors were warned that construction would still be taking place in other parts of the mall.

Workers could be seen walking around preparing things such as a moss exhibit and the massive indoor waterpark which is planned to be open to the public on November 27th. 

“There were ‘Please pardon our appearance’ signs everywhere. I didn’t mind it,” says Tariq Alagha, a senior at Wayne Hills High School who recently visited the mall with his friends. “They warned us ahead of time that construction would still be taking place so you expected to see it. I thought it was kind of cool seeing the work put in to build America’s largest mall.”

Despite having no retail stores or restaurants open, the mall had a large number of people visit this weekend.

The only source of food and beverages people were offered were vending machines throughout the park and one store where they offered chips, pretzels, and other snacks.