A Geeky Guy's Guide to Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge at Universal Orlando's Epic Universe
I think that may qualify for the longest title I've ever had... which is fitting since this ride had the longest line I've ever seen.
Last month my wife and I took our college aged kids to the new park at Universal Studios Orlando. This new park is called Epic Universe and for the most part, it really lived up to it's name. I'll write more about the entire park later but for now I want to focus on one particular ride: Mario Kart Bowser's Challenge.
Let me just say that this ride did not make me miss when my kids were young and I had to take them on some really stupid rides. Luckily for me, my kids are grown and they, I or anyone on earth over the age of eight will ever want to go on this ride again. It was absolutely horrendous. becuase I have been to Disney World about a half dozen times, I can absolutely see how this "idea" was generated. I bet it went a little like this... "So Disney has those Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear rides where you sit in a car and you firs lasers or balls at targets throughout the ride. It seems like a relatively cheap ride. We need to do that... but with Mario!" That is 100% what this ride is. It is a ripoff of the Toy Story ride where you shoot things at targets in the midway or aliens working for Zurg. To be honest, that really isn't a bad idea. Those rides are fun enough. Kids love Mario Kart so it would seem like this was a slum dunk for fun. But oh my god it is not.
This ride constantly has one of the longest lines in the entire park. It routinely gets to be almost four hours long. Yes FOUR FREAKING HOURS! And I get it. If you tell a little kid there is a Mario Kart ride, they are going to want to ride it. They are not going to understand, "We will be sitting in line for hours doing nothing." They will simply say "Give me my Mario!!!!". Luckily 99% of kids have cell phones so they can just play games for hours while they wait. Which is every parent's dream. "I paid 400 bucks for my kid to sit on the ground and play video games for hours. Awesome!"
Why doe sit have such a long line you may ask? Well first, every kid wants to ride it. Duh. But more importantly according to staff and the internet, the ride constantly breaks down. On the day we were there, it broke down at least three times. So the wait times listed when you walk into this trap mean absolutely nothing. It could be an hour... it could be four. Great.
Our group ran into a little problem. Because I am insane, I got the troops up at the crack of dawn to make sure we would be at the park before the gates opened (those in the know call this "rope drop"). after doing some research, I found out the best move is to bypass the Mario Kart ride and head for Donkey Kong. We did and we loved it! We even went right back on. After we got off, we had time to jump into a relatively short Mario Kart ride. But my entire group said they did not want to go. Awesome!!!!! Later in the day I discovered that my son did not realize it was a Mario Kart ride. He thought it was some other type of Mario ride. Being a chip off the old block and a sucker for nostalgia, my son really wanted to go on this ride. But "luckily" we had paid double the admission price so we had a fast pass for this ride only one of us cared about. We walked up to the line and saw that the regular wait was a little over two hours. I asked how long that meant a fast pass was and was told "About an hour". Holy shit! I paid a ton of money for that fast pass and I'd still be waiting an hour? Because we had done everything else already and we didn't have any little kids who might meltdown, we decided to give it a try.
The line to the ride does look cool. It is very Mario themed so there was plenty to look at. We waited about an hour and half and finally got on. It honestly wasn't that bad and we had fun chatting in line. As soon as the ride started, I immediately thought, "This ride is so dumb". It really is just a ripoff of Buzz Lightyear but instead of shooting physical things, you shoot virtual things that are displayed on an uncomfortable screen you wear on your head and face. Perhaps an eight year old would dig this but we all thought it was pretty dumb.
You're NEVER leaving!
OK. So we waited a while for a dumb ride. No big deal. We do that all the time. But wait! Remember when I said the ride breaks down all the time? Well sure enough it broke down while we were on it. Because I couldn't wait for the ride to end from the second it started, this delay especially sucked. The worst part was that even though the ride is indoors and not on a track, they made us just sit there for 30 minutes while they tried to fix it. Just let us out! To make matters worse, I have a thimble sized bladder. After waiting 90 minutes and then sitting there for another 25 minutes, I really had to take a piss. I swear if I had to sit for a minute longer, they would have needed a mop.
If you go to Epic Universe and you know you can't escape without your 8 year old riding this ride, do it immediately before it breaks. Or just bribe them. It will be well worth it.
Obrigado por promover a Língua Portuguesa em suas postagens.
Vamos seguir fortalecendo a comunidade lusófona dentro da Hive.
It must have been an incredible experience, especially for those who have some personal connection to that world.
Perhaps because I'm not a video game fanatic, I don't know much about Bowser, but I do know Mario. Besides, even though it's an attraction that breaks easily and has a slow queue, it can be interesting for a few minutes of excellent fun
I saw a post the other day that it is now cheaper to fly to Japan and go to Disney there than it is to go to the one in Florida. I haven't been in 15 years or so, but even then it was expensive. I've never been big on rides anyway. Plus, I know this isn't Disney that you are talking about.
Sounds suspect to me. I mean disney is expensive but a plane ticket to Japan alone is probably going to cost you $1000 (each). Disney isn't THAT expensive. Maybe if you also stay in one of the more expensive resorts.
If you happen to live in Florida, you can get some pretty good discounts on multi-day and season passes too.
I just read an article that breaks it down. The fact that it is even close is insane! And the article I read did not factor in all of the genie purchases you need to make in order to cut wait times. So it might be even closer. https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/budget-travel/fact-check-is-it-really-cheaper-to-go-to-tokyo-disneyland-than-disney-world-in-florida/ar-AA1SCf8o
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I remember the last time we went to Disney we stayed in one of those treehouse things on one of the properties. We also got the meal plan, so it was expensive, but very convenient.
I think the biggest problem is how people are being made to stand in lines for 3-4 hours with the name theme and nostalgia, but if the ride experience is not good, then that is the biggest problem. Combined with the technical breakdowns and excessive waiting and the weaknesses of the gameplay, it can be understood that Mario Kart Bowser's Challenge has basically won in marketing, but has lost terribly in experience.
I just refuse to wait more than an hour for a ride. That's bad enough.
Without a doubt, I would stand in line for that Mario Kart attraction since it was one of my favorite games on the Nintendo 64. I had so much fun playing it, so it would be like reliving my childhood. The only downside is the $400 entrance fee, but I'm completely sure I'll enjoy it to the fullest because it's one of my favorites, and if they bring other characters (Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, for example), it would be even more exciting.
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Thank you for sharing your honest and vivid take! You've perfectly captured the feeling of a concept that sounds great on paper but fails in execution. Your theory about the ride's "inspiration" is spot-on and gave me a laugh—it does sound exactly like that pitch meeting.
While the shooting mechanic can indeed be fun for kids, your review makes it clear the magic just didn't translate here. It's a great reminder that a strong IP like Mario isn't a guaranteed "slam dunk," and execution is everything. I appreciate you saving the rest of us from a potentially horrendous time
Thank You
Dang. When I read the title I was expecting to hear how amazing of an experience it was and it got me excited for my FL trip to WDW and Universal in February. Needless to say I was disappointed once I read the 2nd paragraph. I appreciate the honest feedback though.
I will definitely check it out and might beeline straight for it on a rope-drop day to skip the line and (hopefully) get to it before it breaks. Being a sucker for nostalgia myself I've got to at least give it the good ol' fashioned American "try". Thanks for sharing.
An honest and hilarious experience! High enthusiasm, but long lines, technical glitches, and underwhelming execution make Bowser's Challenge fall short of the Mario Kart hype, despite its cool theme.
An honest and hilarious experience! High enthusiasm, but long lines, technical glitches, and underwhelming execution make Bowser's Challenge fall short of the Mario Kart hype, despite its cool theme.
When we went to Chanone, we would definitely take this 3D picture with our friends and have a lot of fun. Our experience with it has always been quite good and it has always seemed different and scary to some friends
Whenever there is a park or such a place is famous, there is definitely a rush there. Until all the people try that place, there is a rush like that. Now, some time ago, Kashmir Park was built in our city. It is not a 3D park, but there are many things there that we find particularly interesting and people come there with their families to enjoy. So, I have not had such a 3D experience yet, so I do not know much about it. But my effort is also to go to such a park where I can get these things and I can also enjoy this movie in 3D.
This perfectly sums up the experience. So much hype, such a long wait… and in the end it really does feel like a watered-down Disney ride. Still, surviving it with family is an adventure of its own.