Residents of the Garden State might soon get a chance to party with Doug, splash around with SpongeBob, and flee in terror from whatever in God’s name CatDog was supposed to be: Nickelodeon has announced that it’s constructing a theme park in New Jersey, as part of a massive, 450-store mega mall that’s being constructed in the state. The proposed attraction will actually be the network’s second mall-based Nickelodeon Universe indoor park; Minnesota’s Mall Of America also plays host to one, in the spot where the old Camp Snoopy used to be.
The new park will be part of American Dream Meadowlands, an ominously named new shopping megalith being built in East Rutherford by Triple 5 Group, the same company that owns and operate the MoA. The project recently hit some financing snags, apparently, but is currently set to break ground in mid-2018.
In a disappointing turn for the rabid, roving nostalgics known as ’90s kids (battle cry: “Hey, us!”), the current Nickelodeon Universe doesn’t actually feature any of the company’s older Nicktoons characters, instead focusing on younger-skewing properties like Fairly OddParents, Blue’s Clues, and Dora The Explorer. It remains to be seen whether the new Nickelodeon Universe will follow a similar trend, or if it’ll acknowledge (and profit off of) millennials’ desperate need to finally hang out with The Rugrats on their own tiny terms.