A Magical Animal Crossing Launch for Families at SEA LIFE Mall of America

In collaboration with HopeKids, we were over the moon to welcome local McCoy and Hathaway families to SEA LIFE Mall of America to be among the very first guests to visit the new Animal Crossing: New Horizons experience at the aquarium!

Starting June 11^th through August 23 2026, themed activities offer Aquarium guests the opportunity to explore the wonders of aquatic life while enjoying the world of Animal Crossing.

Winnie Hathaway has been in treatment for T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia since she was 6 years old at Minneapolis Children’s. She is currently in her maintenance phase and is excited to get to be around people and be able to be social again. She likes dance, soccer, being outside and is a big fan of Animal Crossing.

Adelynn was born at 33 weeks and suffered a grade 4 intraventricular hemorrhage. She had brain surgery at 2 weeks old to place a shunt as a result of Hydrocephalus. At 2, Adelynn was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. With thousands of hours of therapies and interventions under her belt to address gross motor, fine motor, sensory, and feeding issues, Adelynn is currently thriving and was excited for the chance to explore SEA LIFE at Mall of America.

Adelynn's mom shared.

"I hadn’t told Adelynn what we were going to be doing at Mall of America prior to arriving so it was fun to see the surprise and excitement on her face when she saw we were going to SEA LIFE and that there was a new Animal Crossing collaboration.

It has been a rough first week of summer break for Adelynn as she fell and broke her arm on Monday. We’ve had to pivot in a lot of our plans for summer break which has been disappointing, but getting the chance to go to SEA LIFE was perfect for her."