Just wanted to give my thoughts after visiting for the first time this week. The weather forecast got worse and worse as we got closer to the day but we were able to get everything done before the downpours started.
This land is a dream come true for anybody who grew up with the Mario games, and as with any theme park land or attraction, no matter how many times you see it online, nothing compares to actually seeing it in person. The details, the music, the sound effects, all faithfully recreated.
We liked Toadstool Café. No issues at all with the service and reserving a time was quick and painless. Some food was better than others just like any other theme park restaurant, (fries were good, burgers weren't all that great) but nothing to complain about overall. We really wanted the ribs but they were out which was a *huge* disappointment LOL
Mario Kart is a pretty good attraction overall, but I was a bit underwhelmed by the AR. I really liked the queue and the physical sets, but me being a big fan of VR and AR, I was very much looking forward to how it translated when you're actually on the ride and how different it was from watching POVs online, and it turns out it wasn't that much different. The AR seemed a bit off and wasn't lining up correctly (and every time the vehicle vibrated it made it worse) so it was a little distracting. Plus with nothing covering your peripheral vision it's way too easy to break immersion. But part if it may be because I only rode once, and I keep hearing it gets better with re-rides (which sucks because i have no idea when i'll get to ride again). The idea itself was fantastic, I just think the technology itself isn't quite there yet as far as being able to do accurate augmented reality in a ride like this. Another issue I had were the pre-shows. Unlike most other ride pre-shows where there is a story or some event that leads to the ride, it felt like there was no point with these. They could've just played random clips from the old Mario Kart games on the screens and it would've been more enjoyable LOL
So I really have to talk about the Early Access tickets. It was the best $80 I've ever spent at a theme park and I can't think of any another upcharge that was more 'worth it' to me than this. We have 2 small kids and the amount of stress and frustration saved by doing this was unreal, especially considering how bad the weather ended up getting. The park opened at 9. We got to the gate at 720, to the escalators by 735, and were in the land right at 8. None of the games had any wait along with Mario/Luigi photo ops, and we were able to reserve a good time at Toadstool. The place was basically wide open. MK was a 30 minute wait due to everyone running there first. We were able to do everything in the land including Toadstool, and were done by 11. By then it started pouring rain and didn't stop. When we walked out, MK wait was at 200 minutes and the line to get into the land was all the way back to the escalators. Without early access, Its very likely we don't get to ride MK at all due to the extended downtime (see below), or eat at Toadstool..
Funny story: Mario Kart completely broke down *right* as we got back to the station and the entire ride was evac'd. Problem was we were in the last vehicle and it stopped about a foot from the loading station, and they refused to let us out for safety reasons. Because of this, they evac'd every RV in front of us so it was just me and my daughter sitting there for like 30 minutes before a technician had the bright idea to manually push us forward to let us out LOL I have no idea how long the ride stayed down, but somebody was looking out for us that day and made sure we were able to finish the ride LOL
Bottom line, Universal did an incredible job overall. Anybody who was ever a fan of Nintendo at *any* point in their lives needs to plan a visit. I'm pretty sure my wife and I had more fun than the kids LOL When the full version of this land opens in Orlando it's going to be absolutely insane.
