If the words 'theme park holiday' make you think of Florida queues and two-hour waits for a three-minute ride, consider a detour to Bloomington, Minnesota. Nickelodeon Universe is a full-sized amusement park sitting in the middle of the Mall of America — and because it's entirely indoors, weather never gets a vote.

Getting there is refreshingly easy. The mall sits about 15 minutes from downtown Minneapolis, and it's practically next door to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, with a direct light rail line running from the terminal to the mall. You can technically step off a plane and be on a roller coaster within the hour.

The park is pitched squarely at families, and it handles the full age spectrum well. Toddlers under 36 inches get their own gentle rides, including Wonder Pets' Flyboat, Blue's Skidoo and Paw Patrol Adventure Bay. Slightly bigger kids graduate to the Log Chute, Big Rigs and Shredder's Mutant Masher. Crucially, this isn't a park where parents stand around holding the bags: Avatar Airbender swings riders in a giant pendulum, Brain Surge lets riders control their own ride experience, and the SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge delivers loops, corkscrews and stomach-lurching 90-degree drops.

The real bonus is that the park is only one attraction in a very large building. The Mall of America holds at least 500 stores, plus a stack of things to do when the ride budget runs dry. The Crayola Experience packs in more than 20 hands-on activities — kids can name and wrap their own crayon or put themselves on a coloring book page. Sea Life Minnesota has a 300-foot underwater tunnel where you walk past sharks, sawfish, stingrays and turtles. For older kids and grown-ups, The Fair on 4 brings carnival energy indoors with multi-level go-kart racing, axe throwing and the requisite corn dogs and cotton candy. There are also two adventure golf courses, from the glow-in-the-dark Rock of Ages Blacklight Minigolf to Moose Mountain's 18 tricky holes.

Why does this matter for travellers? It solves a classic family-trip problem: a destination that entertains a five-year-old and a teenager at once, without depending on the forecast. It also works as a stopover — you could genuinely fill a long layover at MSP without leaving the airport's orbit. Compared with the big-name parks, you'll find shorter lines, lower stakes and a fraction of the planning stress, which counts for a lot when travelling with small children.