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Super Nintendo World (UOR) - General Discussion Thread

  • Thread starter Thread starter Magic-Man
  • Start date Start date Jan 23, 2020
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Mad Dog

Mad Dog

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  • Today at 3:23 PM
  • #761
DOOMBOT said:
The effects that were visibly not working in the video are the usual suspects. That was not an off-day for the land, that's the usual. In fact, the block effect on Mt. Beanpole was surprisingly moving on their visit.

I believe Nintendo is to blame for a number of the complaints brought up. The overly loud music, overstimulating visuals, lack of signage, proper communication, or traditional design language and a few notable blind turns lead to a land that is completely unreadable for an average guest.

People have no idea how to refill their Freestyle cups, what is a ride and what is a game, what a Power-Up Band is, how to get downstairs with a Scooter, and especially where is the bathroom. They hide the bathroom not only behind the same blind turn as they hid DK, but also behind a large merch cart, so even if you look around that area a good bit you might not find it. You're far more likely to find the exit to Yoshi's Adventure instead.

There is no seating for Yoshi's Snack Island, so people have to just crouch sit on the floors eating their calzones. The very small stroller parking area downstairs shares the space with the primary TM doors and the elevator doors, so very often a TM door will open and slam against the back of a scooter waiting for a busy elevator or a parked stroller, because there is no signage saying "Don't park something here!". The elevator signage is also gendered? The Male / Female sign above the space makes everyone think that the stroller parking area is actually the bathrooms, which could make sense given its' proximity to the restaurant Toad Cafe, (which itself doesn't have bathrooms or even washrooms with sinks. You have to walk out of Toadstool Cafe and all the way out to Donkey Kong Country to wash your hands before eating your food.), but once they walk inside they see nothing even like that, and are just completely at a loss to where a bathroom could possibly be.

I think one of his best critiques is the lack of clear communication of an exit path. The Bob-omb Hallway has a fire exit sign above it, and is the clearest exit sign in the whole land, but that will just lead you in a big confusing loop right back where you started. There is a path out through Peach's Castle, but the secondary door is very often completely blocked off from use, and it requires going upstream of the very busy main entrance. The actual downstairs exit has a decent sign that is blocked from almost all angles by the giant red Block in the middle of the plaza. I have to wonder if the land would be less busy if more people had an easier way to get out of there.

The red stanchions are the result of Park Operations attempting to make a workable situation out of the mess Nintendo and UDX built. The land is obviously crazy busy, confusing, and actively works to trap people inside, so lines are needed for M&G, Toadstool Cafe, and Power-Up Bands queues, but there is no infrastructure for that. From my knowledge, a lot of the red queue ropes are up as "Temporary additions" to the land, and are only there with partial approval from Nintendo, if any at all. That's why the red stanchions around the Power-Up Band games around November / December of last year are gone now. Nintendo doesn't really want anything like that. How would that work? I don't know, and I'm willing to wager they literally have not thought about it that hard.

I could go on. The land has many, many things that I really do enjoy about it. In certain ways, it actually achieves a number of the things that Galaxy's Edge advertised but never delivered on. I'd love to talk about that soon. But on the whole, the place is so hostile and is built without much regard to how people would actually use the space. It's a big trap that holds people in a state of limbo where they don't know where anything is, what they need to pay for, what's Mario Kart and what's Mine Cart, how to get up, down, over there, out of here, until they're just cranky and tired and more than ready to go. It's like the best worst theme park land ever.
Click to expand...
and...I thought it was just me being confused since I know nothing about Nintendo...... :D :lmao: Now I feel better.
 
Brian G.

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  • Today at 3:30 PM
  • #762
Now watching the videos, I’ve enjoyed the perspective he’s offered. Looking forward to the other 3!
 
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DarkMetroid567

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  • Today at 4:30 PM
  • #763
DOOMBOT said:
I could go on. The land has many, many things that I really do enjoy about it. In certain ways, it actually achieves a number of the things that Galaxy's Edge advertised but never delivered on. I'd love to talk about that soon. But on the whole, the place is so hostile and is built without much regard to how people would actually use the space. It's a big trap that holds people in a state of limbo where they don't know where anything is, what they need to pay for, what's Mario Kart and what's Mine Cart, how to get up, down, over there, out of here, until they're just cranky and tired and more than ready to go. It's like the best worst theme park land ever.
Click to expand...

SNW is such a funny place in that it gives me similar emotions to Disneyland’s Adventureland — it’s a land I enjoy but I throw my head up and groan at even the *thought* of having to go through. I also agreed with his video that I enjoy USH’s SNW more for this reason, it feels more approachable despite it’s smaller size.

The space in Galaxy’s Edge is something I really appreciate, it’s a remarkable easy land to just chill in. I don’t think Epic has any in-land equivalent except for the kinda bizarre area loop around Curse of the Werewolf.
 
Mad Dog

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  • Today at 5:19 PM
  • #764
Brian G. said:
Now watching the videos, I’ve enjoyed the perspective he’s offered. Looking forward to the other 3!
Click to expand...
I enjoyed his perspective also, and it's really similar to the way I saw Nintendo, though I didn't dislike the Mario area like he did. Nice video, though he didn't really do his homework, so his perspective is probably similar to an older adult general population guest. The quote that made me laugh, "This roller coaster (DK) seems to be absolutely ripping guests through the park. It must have a high hourly ride count" :D :lmao: So, this video actually has pretty high value since it's probably similar to the way a non Nintendo guest would look at the land.

His design perspective on Berk was interesting also.
 
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Alicia

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  • Today at 5:23 PM
  • #765
On multiple visits to Epic I didn’t even enter SNW. And I actually like the land.

But sometimes, it’s just not worth it.
 
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Brian G.

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  • Today at 5:26 PM
  • #766
Alicia said:
On multiple visits to Epic I didn’t even enter SNW. And I actually like the land.

But sometimes, it’s just not worth it.
Click to expand...

It is not the land to visit with 2 ECVs and a stroller at peak crowds. :lol:
 
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DOOMBOT

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  • 48 minutes ago
  • #767
DOOMBOT said:
I think one of his best critiques is the lack of clear communication of an exit path. The Bob-omb Hallway has a fire exit sign above it, and is the clearest exit sign in the whole land, but that will just lead you in a big confusing loop right back where you started. There is a path out through Peach's Castle, but the secondary door is very often completely blocked off from use, and it requires going upstream of the very busy main entrance. The actual downstairs exit has a decent sign that is blocked from almost all angles by the giant red Block in the middle of the plaza. I have to wonder if the land would be less busy if more people had an easier way to get out of there.
Click to expand...
Had more to say on this actually - Brickey (the vlogger above) had this exact thing happen to them in the video! He went through the Bob-omb hallway because he got reasonably confused by the prominent Exit Sign, got lost when it brought them back to the front of the Bowser Jr. Game, and when he asked a TM where the actual exit was, instead of showing him the downstairs exit, they pointed him towards Peach's Castle.

Which I totally understand! Because putting myself in the shoes of a TM, how would you explain where that downstairs exit is? How to get there? There are no obvious landmarks surrounding the downstairs exit, and every corner in the land downstairs has a hidden unmarked tunnel area. There's like 4 seperate steps to make it there in the first place, and it would be frustrating for guests who just came from downstairs and now have to backtrack there. It's simply easier to point people to the closer Peach's Castle secondary entrance, even if that's not what it's supposed to be used for. "Inside the castle, turn right then down." Just immeasurably simpler that way.

Alicia said:
On multiple visits to Epic I didn’t even enter SNW. And I actually like the land.

But sometimes, it’s just not worth it.
Click to expand...
At its' best, there is so much to love about it. It's remarkable in its' thematic identity. It looks and feels just like the games. It's verticality is such a novel idea, both in terms of efficiency of space and in the way it incorporates placemaking elements from a series of Platformer games. It's so easy to imagine Mario running and jumping around this space. It could easily be a Hub World or level in a 3D game.

I want to save some of these thoughts for a larger post, but the way the land incorporates gamification and immersion through the Power-Up Bands was ingenious. The Binoculars, that work just like they do in the games, that give an already hyper-kinetic world even more life and some extra little secrets or easter eggs. "Living character" meet & greets with Mario, Luigi, and Peach where they can talk to you about your day, your visits to different rides, if you've fought the Bowser. Jr Boss Battle or not, etc. The act of going around and beating different challenges with your group to unlock a cool exclusive attraction. It's deeply impressive and fun - in certain contexts.

But as you say, most times it's simply more trouble than it's worth. You really do have to plan around many of SNW's glaring issues. Slick floors during rain, lack of shade during high heat, the nearly constant crowd rush until 5pm every day, the consistent breakdowns over at Mine Cart Madness. And because of the sheer number of technical issues park-wide, even the thematics are inconsistent. Upcharge Power-Up Bands games go down on a regular basis, numerous land effects have been broken for weeks to months (The Fire Flower figure has been straight-up missing since November), Toad's M&G costume still hasn't been fixed so they haven't been seen in months. It's all just so unfortunate.
 
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AvoidTIMtation

AvoidTIMtation

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  • 28 minutes ago
  • #768
Alicia said:
On multiple visits to Epic I didn’t even enter SNW. And I actually like the land.

But sometimes, it’s just not worth it.
Click to expand...
The main thing that immediately stuck out to me in the new Universal ads is SNW being presented as half empty and a joy to walk around in LOL
 
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DarkMetroid567

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  • 22 minutes ago
  • #769
On my very first visit to Epic during previews, I got off the SNW escalators for the first time and within seconds was asked by another guest where the exit was.

Luckily, because of how long I had spent on these forums, I knew!
 
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