Just watching some impressions from gaming Youtubers and yeah...This one guy assumed the direct would show at least three to four rides (I think he may have been under the impression it was a full park) and was holding out hope that Zelda and Kriby stuff might still be in the land. Another called the Mario Kart ride, "an AR ride, like Transformers or Harry Potter,"
Obviously, these aren't theme park people. But for some, the Nintendo in the name is overselling expectations. For others, long-held assumptions about Universal's lack of commitment is underselling the land.
What may have helped would have been briefly exploring each element of the land rather than focusing mostly on food, merch, and interactive elements. Two months out from the land's opening, people shouldn't be confused as to whether this is a screen ride or a rollercoaster.
On another note, this confusion has made me wonder if people who casually visit parks just don't have much experience with classic dark rides these days? Maybe when you're going to a Universal or Disney during the summer, the three to five rides you're trying to hit are often not classic dark rides?
I certainly believe these "mega lands" need to be more fleshed out at first with more than 1 or 2 rides. The reason why it was fine with Diagon Alley is because the retail experience was part of bringing the content to life, and to the international guest and general GP (lol) the rebrand of the other attractions in hogsmeade was a sell, and the attractions themselves did under go enough change to be presented as new, refreshed and thematically in line attractions. Diagon alley is nothing but a wizard's shopping mall, so emulating that worked thematically. In other words, The stores themselves are taken as an attraction by the guest, even if a purchase isn't made. That, plus the unmatched experience of being able to take the train to hogwarts makes DA feel like a much bigger expansion than it actually is. It's why potter worked so well.
What worries me about SNW is power up bands cost money to take part of a major portion of what is going to make the land work, and even has some effect on your on ride experience on the main attraction...
Basically, if you don't buy one, the only "full" experience you seem to get is Yoshi... And it'll be a lot less subtle than the wands in Potter, and even has the potential to reach levels of bad beyond SW:GE at launch. It's one thing to have a show with well put together merch behind a paywall, but you're talking about things that are going to be REALLY in your face in the land.
For everyone who doesn't buy one, you basically get to look at a bunch of cool things but you end up missing out on participation, and there are only two rides, one of which you will perhaps have a hampered experience on. Guest reception to the upsell is going to be a major factor here in satisfaction of the land, and perhaps they should have built DK along side MK and Yoshi to offer a more complete experience to guest who might not opt in to purchase the bands. The "we'll do that next time" would be buying the bands, rather than the additional attraction. For those uninterested for whatever reason in purchasing the bands, I don't know if MK and Yoshi will do it alone, and I'm considering MK to essentially be RotR tier, But I'm also expecting Yoshi to be much less of a ride experience than MFSR. Considering it is rumored additional properties will be represented later in SNW, The first impression of the land and a major representation of Universal's brand moving forward is now hinging on what might become a major PR issue in "I didn't know we had to buy something to do all the activities, there's only one major ride and a kiddie ride, I already paid to enter the park", "They said it was a world , not just 2 rides and a game I had to pay to play on top of my ticket to the park".
And trust and believe, I get exactly why they would "spread it out", regarding the rumored expansion, But you can also argue that they might be leaving money on the table and hindering growth of the land and the park and the brand by playing it too safe (or greedy, if you see it that way).
I have full faith in the ability of Nintendo and UC and trust they know what they are doing.
But, For all of these reasons, I don't believe SNW will emulate the retail surge of Diagon or Hogsmeade. It'll still do well, for sure. But the biggest of ships require multiple anchors. Is Mario Kart alone going to tide over guest who aren't playing the games? It will be a financial success regardless, I'm sure... but how satisfied will the customers who visit be? If I had to sit in the chair, I wouldn't have left guest satisfaction and my relationship with the only brand with enough recognition to help me take care of my mouse problem, and the reputation of a whole land with this much hype hinge on scenic, retail and concession experiences and 1 major ride.