Nintendo Coming to Universal Parks

[Imperius]

Y'all if you look at that patent even at all you'd see it's nothing like Toy Story Mania. That ride isn't even in the same universe

Seriously. I'm wondering if these people have any idea what TSM is. Saying it's the same because it has back seating is like saying TSM is the same as Spiderman because you move between screens.

 

[E.Gadd]

The jump from interactive to Toy Story Mania is the kind of leap even a Super Mario Brother would be impressed by.

Though, I think it's fair for people to be skeptical of Universal actually pulling off the grand Mario Kart pipe-dream attraction. It does sound like a mighty tall order.

 

[epcyclopedia]

Ok, I'll bite - what's in the patent that we are missing?

You can't just throw out contrary statements without anything to back them up.

 

[KevyB]

I'm sorry but I just cannot buy much of that old concept art. Looking at the video for Japan's World, the land is U-Shaped. The tallest portion - the one with the coins that Mario climbs - doesn't appear to have anything of interest in it, so it seems to be nothing more than camouflage to hide the blockiness of the ride building, as well as all the rooftop equipment that sits on these ride buildings. So that ride building apparently runs the length of the land from Bowser's castle to the coin tower. The only other area that seems to be camouflaging roof equipment is the area to the left of Peach's castle, so I'm calling this a ride building also. Whether it stretches all the way to the corner or not is harder to figure out, but the plethora of doors in the corner between the two castles suggests food and restrooms, so the ride building probably ends before the corner (that one second-floor entrance looks suspiciously like a slot machine, which suggests an arcade). This is only THREE buildings: one long ride building, one shorter ride building and a building for food between them. And, yes, the buildings WILL be separate, regardless of how they connect them on that second floor. Food buildings require way more infrastructure than ride buildings, so the two types won't be combined.

I can't see fitting more than one ride into either of these buildings. Mario Kart will need tons of space and the other is only about as big as ET, I guess. And I don't see them altering too much of this as it moves to the other parks, and we know Universal likes to change as little as possible when cloning. This plan plops down almost perfectly into USH's Lower Lot between Transformers and The Mummy. The pipe entrance would just have to be moved and Mario Kart would go into the Mummy building, so they'd really only have to move the entrance to the ride and shift the coin tower and Bowser's castle, all of which would be simple enough to do.

As for USF, even less would have to happen. It could built exactly the same, without even needing to remove the Animal Actors or ET. Even better, there looks to be room to build out the front, so they could probably repurpose the coaster and Fievel's Playland, which could both remain running until after the land opens, which Universal desperately needs to do. Adding in a flat ride or water play area would be a piece of cake.

I also don't see either of the 2nd-level castles being the entrance for rides. Peach's castle is super-skinny, little more than a facade. Maybe it'll be a meet-n-greet or a small princess shop. Bowser's castle definitely looks more like a proper entrance, but I can't see how you'd put a queue on top of a ride building. That jacks up the cost right there. Plus, the mushroom on the bottom floor just seems like a better themed entrance. This is a Mario ride after all, not a Bowser ride. It also just makes more sense for people to have easy access to rides. Everything here is stairs, stairs, stairs, and I don't see Universal expecting people to climb them or go up elevators/escalators, to get to rides. I don't know what else Bowser's castle would be for, but maybe a gift shop exit? My problem with a two-story land is that many people might just look up at the second story, see all the stairs, and just say to heck with that. Letting them enter on the ground floor but having them exit right in the middle of these shops makes a ton of sense. People didn't have to climb stairs to get up there and they only have to go down them on the way out!

As for the missing stuff? I think it's very telling that they named the land "Super NINTENDO World" when it looks like it's 100% Mario. (And the Super Nintendo console was how many years ago?) That tells me that expansions are definitely on the way. Japan has space to expand near the entrance, Hollywood appears to be making room in two separate areas for expansions, and Orlando can retheme Toon Lagoon or Lost Continent AND build a whole new land in the new park. It would then be easy to rename the original land "Nintendo's Super Mario World" (which makes more sense) and have future lands be "Nintendo's Donkey Kong Country" or "Nintendo's Dream Land" (though if they repurpose the coaster and play area in USF, Kirby seems like the best theme) or "Nintendo's Land of Hyrule" (I don't care how universally popular the Zelda characters are, that franchise will allow for some spectacular theming and ride ideas). So, by calling this Super NINTENDO World for now allows the other Nintendo characters to roam about until they get their own lands!

My two cents.

 

[Imperius]

Most of that's been covered in the thread.

 

[Magic-Man]

According to my source, there will only be 3 rides, maybe a fourth in a small flat ride. The rides are Mario kart, Donkey Kong, and a Yoshi dark ride of some sort. It also sounds like Pokémon, kirby, and Zelda are for other lands. That's all he knows

 

[AlexanderMBush]

According to my source, there will only be 3 rides, maybe a fourth in a small flat ride. The rides are Mario kart, Donkey Kong, and a Yoshi dark ride of some sort. It also sounds like Pokémon, kirby, and Zelda are for other lands. That's all he knows

I'll comment on this,

I find it fascinating; is that the stuff that you say were in the original pitch given to Nintendo. A part of me wonders, what they may have plans for in the future.

Either way, if Kirby (that poor, poor, adorable monster) is the only thing that doesn't get added into any form of a land and is more placed for Pokemon and Zelda, I'd be not sad about it.

I'm curious to see what will come of those three IP's in particular.

 

[Mike S]

I'm sorry but I just cannot buy much of that old concept art. Looking at the video for Japan's World, the land is U-Shaped. The tallest portion - the one with the coins that Mario climbs - doesn't appear to have anything of interest in it, so it seems to be nothing more than camouflage to hide the blockiness of the ride building, as well as all the rooftop equipment that sits on these ride buildings. So that ride building apparently runs the length of the land from Bowser's castle to the coin tower. The only other area that seems to be camouflaging roof equipment is the area to the left of Peach's castle, so I'm calling this a ride building also. Whether it stretches all the way to the corner or not is harder to figure out, but the plethora of doors in the corner between the two castles suggests food and restrooms, so the ride building probably ends before the corner (that one second-floor entrance looks suspiciously like a slot machine, which suggests an arcade). This is only THREE buildings: one long ride building, one shorter ride building and a building for food between them. And, yes, the buildings WILL be separate, regardless of how they connect them on that second floor. Food buildings require way more infrastructure than ride buildings, so the two types won't be combined.

I can't see fitting more than one ride into either of these buildings. Mario Kart will need tons of space and the other is only about as big as ET, I guess. And I don't see them altering too much of this as it moves to the other parks, and we know Universal likes to change as little as possible when cloning. This plan plops down almost perfectly into USH's Lower Lot between Transformers and The Mummy. The pipe entrance would just have to be moved and Mario Kart would go into the Mummy building, so they'd really only have to move the entrance to the ride and shift the coin tower and Bowser's castle, all of which would be simple enough to do.

As for USF, even less would have to happen. It could built exactly the same, without even needing to remove the Animal Actors or ET. Even better, there looks to be room to build out the front, so they could probably repurpose the coaster and Fievel's Playland, which could both remain running until after the land opens, which Universal desperately needs to do. Adding in a flat ride or water play area would be a piece of cake.

I also don't see either of the 2nd-level castles being the entrance for rides. Peach's castle is super-skinny, little more than a facade. Maybe it'll be a meet-n-greet or a small princess shop. Bowser's castle definitely looks more like a proper entrance, but I can't see how you'd put a queue on top of a ride building. That jacks up the cost right there. Plus, the mushroom on the bottom floor just seems like a better themed entrance. This is a Mario ride after all, not a Bowser ride. It also just makes more sense for people to have easy access to rides. Everything here is stairs, stairs, stairs, and I don't see Universal expecting people to climb them or go up elevators/escalators, to get to rides. I don't know what else Bowser's castle would be for, but maybe a gift shop exit? My problem with a two-story land is that many people might just look up at the second story, see all the stairs, and just say to heck with that. Letting them enter on the ground floor but having them exit right in the middle of these shops makes a ton of sense. People didn't have to climb stairs to get up there and they only have to go down them on the way out!

As for the missing stuff? I think it's very telling that they named the land "Super NINTENDO World" when it looks like it's 100% Mario. (And the Super Nintendo console was how many years ago?) That tells me that expansions are definitely on the way. Japan has space to expand near the entrance, Hollywood appears to be making room in two separate areas for expansions, and Orlando can retheme Toon Lagoon or Lost Continent AND build a whole new land in the new park. It would then be easy to rename the original land "Nintendo's Super Mario World" (which makes more sense) and have future lands be "Nintendo's Donkey Kong Country" or "Nintendo's Dream Land" (though if they repurpose the coaster and play area in USF, Kirby seems like the best theme) or "Nintendo's Land of Hyrule" (I don't care how universally popular the Zelda characters are, that franchise will allow for some spectacular theming and ride ideas). So, by calling this Super NINTENDO World for now allows the other Nintendo characters to roam about until they get their own lands!

My two cents.

The land will be renamed like how they did Harry Potter. At first it was only The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. They stuck Hogsmeade at the end of it when Diagon Alley opened. Same thing will likely happen here except Donkey Kong won't be getting his own land. He fits right in with Mario. The next lands will likely be Zelda and Pokémon.

 

[Jones14]

Okay, something concerning was mentioned over on Magic. In the original blueprint, the Donkey Kong coaster has an identical layout to Woody Woodpecker.

That's no longer the case, right? Woody Woodpecker is ridiculously short. I know it's not the headliner, but they wouldn't Hogsmeade Donkey Kong, would they?

 

[Mike S]

Okay, something concerning was mentioned over on Magic. In the original blueprint, the Donkey Kong coaster has an identical layout to Woody Woodpecker.

That's no longer the case, right? Woody Woodpecker is ridiculously short. I know it's not the headliner, but they wouldn't Hogsmeade Donkey Kong, would they?

They better not or else.

 

[Jones14]

They better not or else.

I mean, I don't think they would. It'd seem like a whole lot of trouble to incorporate a brand-new ride system just to rebuild the exact same kiddie coaster, but who knows.

 

[k_peek_2000]

Outdated layout is outdated

 

[Imperius]

Okay, something concerning was mentioned over on Magic. In the original blueprint, the Donkey Kong coaster has an identical layout to Woody Woodpecker.

That's no longer the case, right? Woody Woodpecker is ridiculously short. I know it's not the headliner, but they wouldn't Hogsmeade Donkey Kong, would they?

Seeing as the art specifically showed the jump portion of that patent. No way it is a retheme.

 

[Scott W.]

There's zero chance this is a retheme if they're using that patent unless they want heads to roll.

I'd also hope that DK is going to be an indoor coaster.

 

[randompixel]

Okay, something concerning was mentioned over on Magic. In the original blueprint, the Donkey Kong coaster has an identical layout to Woody Woodpecker.

That's no longer the case, right? Woody Woodpecker is ridiculously short. I know it's not the headliner, but they wouldn't Hogsmeade Donkey Kong, would they?

It is not unheard of in park development plans to use a previous layout as an example of the ride system, not necessarily as a concrete layout.

Thorpe Park do this in their Medium Term Development Plans they submit to the local authorities.

 

[Teebin]

For any of you unsure what Augmented Reality is, click to 4:29 (if it doesn't start there automatically) of this video:



scratch to the beginning to see other applications of AR.

 

[illumination]

I noticed the early map concept art doesn't have a queue for the MK ride (unless I missed it)?

What if the second level Luigi Mansion was actually something you walk through as a queue for MK? At the beginning of the line they hand you a gun or something that lets you activate interactive elements along the way through line? Would be fun.

I'm also hoping the MK ride has a long jump with airtime, as many of the courses in the Mario Kart game do.

 

[pat_naughty05]

Ok, I'll bite - what's in the patent that we are missing?

You can't just throw out contrary statements without anything to back them up.

I think there are two different conversations going on: you're making the point that the content of the patent doesn't show anything overly unique, while everyone else is trying to point out that we know that the ride system for MK will be vastly different than TSMM. I suppose both are correct, though you could make the argument that the patent goes into a lot of detail about the types of inputs riders will have such as steering wheels, joysticks, and others, which would distinguish it from the TSMM ride system. Also, I didn't see this being overtly mentioned in the patent, but we'll presumably be controlling the movement of these vehicles.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Okay, something concerning was mentioned over on Magic. In the original blueprint, the Donkey Kong coaster has an identical layout to Woody Woodpecker.

That's no longer the case, right? Woody Woodpecker is ridiculously short. I know it's not the headliner, but they wouldn't Hogsmeade Donkey Kong, would they?

Well it's Magic. Also go check out the original leak, there's a rendering of the DK coaster there.

 

[JungleSkip]

Yea, Donky Kong ain't no Vekhoma roller skater everyone