Paisley Park — Attraction in Minnetonka

Been a fan of Prince's music since I was a kid in the early 80's. I came here from Atlanta to celebrate my 50th birthday and it was so worth it.

The VIP experience is the best choice. It was two hours long, but it felt like 20 minutes. We got to play on Prince's ping pong table, see his live doves in their cages, see some of his costumes. This was the first time my mind was blown. You cannot imagine how TINY he was. I mean his waist was the size of a pre-teen. Kim Kardashian could NEVER. I stood in front of one of his outfits with my mouth on the floor for 5 whole minutes. I'll never get over it.

The tour was well put together. There were 3 or 4 times when we got the option to sit down in a room, which is a thoughtful and helpful touch. We got to explore rooms on our own a lot. Even though some of the decor and furniture was naturally outdated, they added in a lot of state-of-the-art elements like screens playing interviews, concert footage, etc, that everything felt modern at the same time. The tour guide, Domino, has been working at PP since 2016 and it was clear how much he loves his job. He was a wonderful guide. There were tissue boxes everywhere (and a few of us found them very handy), bathrooms, even a little snack & coffee bar in the NPG Jazz Club. The souvenir shop is stocked full of great items at reasonable prices. Nice touch selling umbrellas!

It felt like the building was super small, but we kept being taken into bigger and bigger rooms. I have no idea how they fit so many rooms into what seemed to be a pretty compact building.

We got to go into both recording studios, both of which contained an incredible amount of energy in them. You could feel...something larger...in those rooms. It was palpable and hard to describe. I could have sat in Studio B for hours.

I was surprisingly super engaged with the tour, not being a big history museum person. But when they opened a door into the Purple Rain Room and I saw the motorcycle, in the center, lit from above, I lost it. I got incredibly choked up. My heart grew 5 sizes. The room had memorabilia from the movie, awards, costumes, and a giant screen playing all the music concert clips from the movie. I tried to take as much of it in as I could, but all I wanted was to touch the motorcycle. You guys, you can't imagine how thrilling it was to see that thing. I didn't see it coming.

They make you turn off your phones and Apple Watches on the tour, which I appreciated honestly. There was a constant urge to take photos, but really, I liked just communing with everything without trying to document any of it. Near the end of the tour, when they let you into the soundstage, you get to turn your phone back on and take pictures there, and in the NPG Club.

I loved walking up to the giant concert stage (on the soundstage where they filmed Graffiti Bridge, other music videos, and even movies like Drop Dead Fred) and standing right up front, watching concert clips, and feeling my heart get bigger and bigger. Again, there was a concentrated amount of Big Energy there, too.

All the staff at Paisley Park were incredibly nice and professional. I am very glad I went. If you have even the slightest interest in going, I highly recommend a visit. Do the VIP two hour tour. It's so worth it.

My only regret was not remembering to walk down to the fan-made memorial fence (and possibly the Graffiti Bridge...bridge) just below the property. Saw it as we were driving away.

It was super easy to get an Uber both from our Airbnb in Bloomington to PP and from PP to our next location. Never had much of a wait for either rides. Location had a nice amount of parking. We went on a Friday...

Soooo, I hate to be this person but there are some things that need to be addressed. First let me start with the positives. Paisley Park is amazing! The grounds are well-kept and the building (façade and interior) are beautiful!! It was truly a surreal experience to grace the halls of Prince Rogers Nelson's home! You can feel his talent, passion, and presence. You are transcended into his space and the many years that he reigned. I know that may sound hyperbolic but it's true.

So why the three stars? It started at arrival. The gate attendant was curt at best. He took his job a little overboard. We walked in about 5 minutes before our time (the ticket states to arrive 20 minutes early due to limited parking). We had no issue with parking BUT there is about a 5 minute security presentation before you enter the building. This would have been fine but 3 minutes before the tour start time, we see the tour guide begin to talk to the other guests. Why was he allowed to start early?! The tour guide was young but seemed to be a fan. Turns out, he wasn't a big enough fan to be great at his job. There were several issues I had with the way he presented information. For example, not knowing what the ASL letters stood for on one of the outfits or the significance of certain statues I called out. However, the two major issues I had with him were culturally insensitive. In one of the videos, Prince had on a purple silk scarf. The guide remarked that he looked like Scrooge in it. Black people protect our hair with silk/satin scarfs. So to have it described that way was a significant misstep. It simply could have been just a fashion look but to equate that with Scrooge? The second issue was dismissively describing Prince's fight with the record label as "a little incident." Again, one only has to watch videos (if they're too young to have watched as it happened) to understand how significant that was for Prince and other artists. Prince often spoke of it as slavery and ownership.

My favorite part of the tour was definitely the shoe room but it felt a bit rushed considering I am that person who likes to look, read, and experience everything. Overall, the experience was great. However, I can't help but feel like the legacy has been commodified and taken over by those concerned more with profit than providing an experience that truly honors Prince. It was also very remarkable that there were ZERO people of color working except two security guards. *inserts the gif of disapproving Prince

I will note that you should visit the memorial just outside the gates. You can leave your car in the parking lot. Unfortunately, we were grilled by that initial gate guard as we went to walk to the memorial. The memorial is very touching and a great place for pictures. It's a true testament to how much Prince was loved. On the way back we noticed the guard did not treat two other women the same way. Noticing the huge difference, we inquired if they were employees and they stated they were guests. Hmmmm....

Another huge highlight was running into a security guard who actually served as Prince's personal security for, I believe he said, 20 years! Wow, the stories he shared in just a few minutes were fantastic!! Why is this man not one of the guides, even if only for the ultimate experience?! He had the passion and love for Prince that I expected from my tour guide. He also had an insight into Prince that is invaluable and fans would love to hear. Instead we got the guy who just thinks it's cool...

A must do if you are in the area. I was in Minneapolis for work and had some time to kill so after a simple search of things to do I landed on a tour of Paisley Park. I was able to buy my tickets easily online and select my tour time. There are multiple packages or experiences that range from $65 up to $200. I opted for the $65 tour.

Finding Paisley Park was easy but I wasn't expecting what I saw when I pulled up. Its a very commercial looking building. There is a guard at the entrance that verifies you have an appointment before letting you in. Then once you park you can walk around the parking lot but cannot go inside until your appointed time. I was expecting a quieter more secluded property for Prince but Paisley Park is the opposite of that.

At your appointed time you are escorted into the lobby where you check in with your tour group. Before that you are given a small bag and required to shut your phone off and place it in the bag. The bag is locked and you have no way to unlock it until the end of the tour. You are able to keep the bag but have no access to your phone. I was also told to power off my apple watch. After a few minutes to check everyone in we were introduced to our tour guide and the tour started. Our group size was 12 but this was during the week in the middle of the day. I heard weekends can get pretty busy.

Our tour guide was amazing and obviously a huge Prince fan. There was not a question he didn't know the answer. During the entire tour he was very attentive and was not in a rush to move us through.

I cannot say enough about the experience of the tour. To stand in the same places as not only one great but many greats created, wrote, collaborated and recorded music is unsurmountable. It was such an awesome experience to see the place where Prince lived and to hear the stories of what music was created there. Additionally, to be able to see some of Prince's cars, his shoe room, stages where he would put on mini concerts. I could go on and on and get chills reflecting back on the experience.

I was satisfied with the $65 tour. I read a few mixed reviews about this higher packages which is why I chose what I did. I would say if you are a huge Prince fan and are making the trip specifically for this then go for the big package however, if you are like me and like Prince but not a huge fanatic then the $65 package...