Wow! Amazing to see another groundbreaking land and attraction debut!
I have a few thoughts based on the *checks notes* 60 pages I've recently caught up on and the videos I've seen of Mario Kart in action.
Firstly everyone I've shown anything to regarding the land has been blown away. I've had a fair few say it looks like a CG background with people photoshopped in. The look and feel of everything is just spot on. And the game aspects of the land feel like the best iteration of interactive areas in a themed land to date, they are the best possible next step from the wand locations. They feel more naturally integrated too - wand effects were great but passive. These feel like they give much more payoff, which is so great!
I feel like there's so much more for me to explore than what I've seen already and that excites me immensely! This land has so much energy going on throughout that I imagine it will give some sensory overload, in the best possible way!
The only knock I might give it is space but honestly that also impresses me. They fit so much into such a small space. I do think they might want to widen some areas up for the Orlando version but I'm sure they recognize spacial needs and crowd projections better than I do.
I'm really excited to see what kind of merch gets added in the future. I've read about the cultural differences in Japan when it comes to souvenirs and merch in the parks, so I recognize that we probably aren't seeing the full assortment of things we may get available in US iterations. But man do I wanna get the Universal Cup when I complete my first run on MK! What a feeling that would be!
I'm going to put more detailed thoughts on Mario Kart in a spoiler tag, and some more general comments on the ride below that.
So I had chills watching it initially because the sheer amount of things happening at the start just blew my mind. I knew that AR was going to play a role - I did not realize that ultimately that would provide the UMPH the ride needs to manage the frantic pacing of a Mario Kart race while maintaining a speed thag allows for everything happening around us to be digested. In my mind, they created the best possible middle ground you could have for a fast paced ride experience while allowing us to really feel and experience the characters and environments Mario Kart has to offer. I am beyond excited to ride it and play it! With all those things said, and with respect for the technical marvel that it is - I am positive Universal and Nintendo anticipated backlash from their respective fan bases. I really feel like the vocal portion of fans in these demographics leans toward those who expected FAST. I also think Mario Kart as an IP is super well defined and this ride definitely modifies certain aspects of that definition, which further threw some people off. One of those being the l competition aspect. I have to admit that even I was thrown off initially by the final product, and I loved seeing what it was. Realistically I recognize the difficulty of implementing full on competitions between cars but it appears that there really isn't incentive to even attempt to aim at the opposite ride vehicle. A huge aspect of Mario Kart is the competition between friends and family members. Ultimately I know that one of my expectations upon initially hearing it was coming was the idea that I'd be able to "blue shell" my friends IRL. Clearly for the purposes of simplicity, the ride concept became about getting the baddies rather than each other - and ultimately it makes total sense. But I gotta say, the idea of causing my sisters kart opposite mine to spin out from a well timed shell throw is still a very fun one! As for the expectation of speed, I truly think they were aiming to create a family attraction that focused on gameplay rather than thrill, and utilized the frantic pace of events around you to create the sensation of a race, rather than actual speed. I think they knocked it out of the park by doing so.
Ultimately I believe Mario Kart looks like it will be an incredibly fun, highly engaging ride experience! I feel that I will have to ride it many times just to get the hang of the gameplay aspect, not to mention getting a good look at every aspect working in tandem to create the experience, particularly those gorgeous physical sets and show pieces. I know it's been discussed ad nauseum but I will say that the speed element I'm seeing lambasted everywhere online makes no sense to me. Watching the videos, based on what's happening around you, I could barely keep up. I will say I get the disappointment over the lack of a Mario animatronic in a kart or even just a Bowser figure for the boss battle, in part because their cartoony appearance makes them better candidates for it than the last IP. I do understand why it didn't happen but I recognize why it was something people had hoped for.
I'm super pumped to see this come to the states! I cannot wait to jump on board, once the world returns to a more normal state of course!