It’s 7 in the morning on a Tuesday and, like any other Tuesday, I just took a shower and I’m ready to go downstairs for breakfast before starting work. However, unlike any other Tuesday, today my work has nothing to do with the usual. Today I am going to visit Super Nintendo World.
Visit the theme park Nintendo It would be a dream for any follower of the adventures of Mario, but for an amusement park fanatic like me it is an even more exciting experience. I can’t wait to go through its well-cared settings, eat Mario’s hamburgers and Peach’s pies and, of course, go down the Rainbow Path aboard a go-kart.
On a trip to Super Nintendo World
Integrated within the park Universal Studios Hollywoodin Los Angeles, the area of super nintendo world It has barely been open for 3 months, so the fear of finding half the city there is considerable. Even more so considering that the area has limited capacity and that, once it is full, you cannot enter until someone leaves a space and the queue advances.
Against the possibility of entering super nintendo world there are two key factors. First of all Universal Studios He sells a kind of special pass that allows you to enter the Nintendo area an hour before the park opens to ensure that spot. 20 dollars which, added to the 114 dollars Since the general admission costs already, I feel like between little and nothing. The brotherhood of the clenched fist, I know, but it seemed like an abuse to me.
The second is that, despite being Tuesday and that means fewer people in the park, because it is any day in May and not the middle of August, that also means having to deal with the morning traffic in a city that, among many Other things, it’s famous for its insane caravans.
About having paid 100 bucks and not being clear if you are going to be able to enter or not super nintendo world It takes regular not only on the way to the park, but also when you arrive on time (thank you, Uber driver who has come from seeing the latest Fast & Furious), stand in line to enter the park and see that both in front and behind you there is an army of fans of Super Mario loaded down with backpacks, t-shirts, headbands and any other merchandising that makes it clear where they’re headed.
– Will they all go straight to the Harry Potter attractions?
– Yes, of course, the safest.
A tiny space to live
In the middle of the park, Universal Studios Hollywood has some large escalators that connect the two heights of it and, as you go down through that crowd of people, you can see in the distance, in the last corner of the land that separates the amusement park from the studios. Universal recording area, the area dedicated to super nintendo world.
The clock said 9 in the morning, the park had just officially opened for all the common people and, from those same stairs that people decided to run down in a stampede – bordering on disaster as in those videos of falls on escalators that have just ended. wrong-, a huge queue was already visible in the distance inside the park, presumably for the Mario Kart attraction.
Those who had paid $20 more hadn’t been able to avoid the queues either, it seemed, but now the question was to what extent people had fallen for the trap and if this had saturated the entrance to the area. super nintendo world.
One more staircase… An accelerated pace motivated by seeing how people continue to run as if their lives depended on it… And I arrived. A huge billboard, the gigantic pipe and the classic Super Mario tune welcome me to super nintendo world. I have a smile from ear to ear and, after the obligatory photo and glad to see that there is no one at the door preventing the entrance… Here we go.
A spectacular entrance
The characteristic sound of Mario’s pipe welcomes me while colored lights and a curve designed to preserve surprise lead me to Peach’s castle. A small room that recalls the room in Super Mario 64 but with much more restrained dimensions, especially if we compare them with those of the video game or the classic castles in the parks. Disney.
It is the space that the dining room of a big man would occupy and not much else, really, but the animated paintings on the walls are very catchy, the ditty has your emotions caught by the gonads, and the darkness resulting from the pipe and the small room do their job perfectly.
When you approach the door and the brightness outside generates the contrast that you would experience when coming out of a tunnel, when your eyes get used to what is out there and you begin to see all the scenery that is set up… I will not deny it to you. Although brief, it is quite a spectacular moment.
The montage, based on animatronics, giant mushrooms and boxes with question marks, is truly amazing. The typical papier-mâché spell of an amusement park doesn’t take long to break, but any kid who walks through that door and lives that moment is going to have it burned into their head for life.
And a little more…
In fact, it doesn’t take you long to discover that the area is specially designed for children to enjoy and the nostalgia of the parents to pay the bill. The area is very small, to match the castle, and the sum of queues prepared to do the minigames of the bracelet (at 40 dollars a piece), they practically eat up all the space dedicated to super nintendo world.
Anticipating that I am going to have problems to be able to eat in the toad’s restaurant, I go directly to the door to discover that the reservations, made via the web using the QR code at the entrance, are already completely sold out for the remainder of the day. In the end, the 20 dollars for the advance pass have affected the rest of the audience in some way.
Well, after that and the two hours that I have ahead of me in line for Mario Kartthe only attraction available at Universal Studios Hollywood, unlike the Osaka park, which also has another one dedicated to Yoshi’s Island. However, I will be able to taste a bit of the Japanese spirit because, despite not making any sense, the first part of the tail is taken from that attraction.
An hour later, the queue full of pastel colors and the elements of the Yoshi attraction give way to the Mario Kart attraction, completely changing third. Explanation? None. Sense? I can’t find it beyond the idea that at some point they thought of creating both attractions and along the way they decided that it wasn’t such a good idea either.
In fact, the tour of Bowser’s castle, belonging to the attraction of Mario Kartwe do it almost without stopping, which ends up being a nuisance because delighting in little details and papier-mâché figures to take photos of is much more entertaining than in the section dedicated to Yoshi.
Super Nintendo World is not what I expected
The final disappointment, or the umpteenth sample that super nintendo world It has not been created for me, but to get my money when I can go with my children in the future, it is the attraction of Mario Kart. A bland and slow ride that has little or nothing to do with what a proper tribute to the driving saga could have given of itself.
The augmented reality glasses, designed to allow you to shoot shells that you get when turning corners, do everything possible to obscure the vision of a route that ends up being much less careful than the one you just did during the queue. A disappointing witch train, reenacting classic racing scenes with a lack of enthusiasm that never ceases to amaze me throughout.
After finishing the journey, departure from the relevant cucamonadas store (with several requests that I brought from home already sold out) and… in the event that you have not bought the bracelet with NFC, I am very afraid that it is over. There’s nothing else you can do in super nintendo world.
More photos for networks, spend in stores, and get back on the only attraction available. The rest of the activities, in the form of mini-games that are not going to change your life or modify the perception of super nintendo world (in fact it will probably get worse because you will have to swallow another handful of colas), they are relegated to those who have bought the bracelet.
At this point, that brief thrill of getting through the castle gate has completely faded, and while I understand how special it might be to be back with my kids tomorrow, the overall feeling is so disappointing that I don’t even consider the possibility. .
Perhaps tomorrow, if the area expands and other attractions are added to super nintendo worldmake a little more sense, but right now, together with the fear of not being able to enter because of the limited capacity in a tiny space of land, if you travel to Universal Studios Hollywood You will end up enjoying other areas much more, such as those dedicated to The Simpsons or Harry Potter.
super nintendo worldat least for now, is to amusement parks what the Friend Code is to usability in the internet age.
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