Abandoned - American Dream Mall

New video is out on ANOTHER failed New Jersey mega project - https://youtu.be/uu2QudztScc

Listening to the plans for this thing sounds like listening to a 6 year old describe their dream house.

A project like this was built by a world, for a world that no longer exists. Really weird to think about.

Update 2022-07-31 The mall has been oddly thriving. Every few months I visit and there's new stores and restaurants. The place is worth visiting at least once for the spectacle alone.

As a New Jersey resident after the pandemic the mall has began to get more popular

Wasted billions to build a mall but can’t fix the damn pot holes in nj😂

I laughed when he said "everything should be open by March 2020."

I was at the mall recently and it was a...weird experience. The mall has a strange, anti-human aesthetic. It's like being in a giant i-phone. The color and lighting choices were odd: it's too bright and the spaces are too vast. The acoustics are also terrible especially at the food court; the design of the space causes this weird din that causes you to have to raise your voice to hear one another. The layout of not just the mall but the individual walkways is baffling, with a greater than average number of points of conflict between people walking in different directions, areas that are oddly inaccessible to one-another, and just nonsensical curves and angles. The entire mall is sensory overload; it is anti-human and unpleasant. It's not the worst mall I've been to--there are definitely dead or dying malls that are much sadder--but it was one of the most unpleasant. I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon.

I recently went here to buy clothes and it's so excessive and needlessly massive. There are people but a lot of the stores seemed to just be an associate standing waiting for people to come in. As a local it still makes me mad that they destroyed the Meadowlands when so many malls were already around.

"By March of 2020 everything should be open" … oh no...

With a name like "Xanadu", you'd think they started planning this in the 80s not '00s.

I live in NJ and I work at MetLife stadium. I used to work at the Primark store as security in American dream. I’ve also been to the water park. It’s really not that bad. It’s actually a great place to hang out and chill. They used to have the employees walk through the “forbidden zone” as we called it but rumours say the mall is set to be fully open by September.

Arguably, this mall metaphorically represents the lost "American Dream." All these great ambitions, mired in struggles and financial burdens, only to never truly be achieved. Damn, now I'm really freaking depressed.

For further reference it would cost about the same amount to get into a Walt Disney World or Disneyland theme park as it would to get into the indoor Dreamworks Water Park. About the cost of 2 tickets to Cedar Point as well. Ridiculous.

You know you've screwed up when you're on a show called "Abandoned" just after you opened

I live ten minutes away from here. The first time I visited was back in October 2019, which is when it definitely looked eerily empty, like an abandoned hospital. However, I do visit pretty regularly now, and the mall is PACKED. The best thing about this mall, in my opinion, is the SEATING. There are chairs, sofas, coffee tables, etc scattered throughout the mall, so it is easy for people to spend time there, or rest before making the long trek to other areas of the mall. This is a huge bonus, since most other malls in the area don't seem to have that. For example, I often visit Jersey Gardens mall in Elizabeth on the weekend, and people are sitting on the floor near the railings, because they are tired and there are no benches or sofas to be found. I think the best step forward to make the mall even more versatile would be adding cheaper entertainment options, such as a pay-as-you-play arcade, a mini haunted house, etc, something kids can afford to do without needing to shell out $25-99 apiece. Overall, I think as of now, the mall seems to be doing well, and I hope it continues to do so.

my dad was in charge of all the concrete footing work on the ski slope back before the market crashed, sent him this video and it really took him back

As a child whenever we drove by it, I would legit say “there’s the LEGO building”...

Proposition - Project named ‘American Dream’ Results: High Debt & nothing to show for it...Nailed It!!

Speaking as someone from the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro and has been to Mall Of America hundreds of times, my eyes bugged out of my head when the parking ramp and theme park prices were mentioned. Parking has always been free at MoA and at least when I was younger, the price for an unlimited ride wristband was under $30. So what this place is/was charging is highway robbery.