Nintendo Coming to Universal Parks

[Imperius]

So warp tubes to different play areas.

 

[Mike S]

Looks like there's a lot more track outside for the DK mine car coaster than I originally thought. Which explains why the building in the permit looks small. Maybe like half of the ride takes place outside, around the DK Country area, (and also above the entrance arch.)

You can actually see the outdoor track sections in the permit if you adjust the contrast:
View attachment 5851

Here it is outlined for you... Green is show building and yellow is outdoor track sections:
View attachment 5853

If that’s what the track looks like and that’s half the ride I’m getting serious SDMT vibes on length...

 

[Teebin]

Here it is outlined for you... Green is show building and yellow is outdoor track sections:

Funny, I guess I assumed those ghosted foundations were from the old Kidzone and had nothing to do with the new project. Looking at the original I now see that the foundations follow the new building outlines. Silly me.

 

[Teebin]

This looks eerily familiar huh...

 

[MagicMagicMagic]

This looks eerily familiar huh...

The spike coaster from Maurer? That's a self-propelled ride. Plus Universal is not likely to ever work with Maurer again after the Rockit fiasco. Pretty sure the Boom Coaster will be manufactured by Setpoint.

 

[Viator]

This looks eerily familiar huh...

I was thinking more to look at S&S's Steeplechase track, as that seems quite a bit similar to what the Boom Patent showcases.

 

[Alicia]

I'm amazed by how accurate the promo images and video for the new land is. Now, I know these are for Japan, but I believe everything in these two images will also be in our version. I'm guessing Japan will not be getting Donkey Kong since they purposely cropped it out or put the Mario Bros in front of it (if you look behind their butts in the first pic you can actually see palm trees and sand texture for where it goes in the art.)

I labeled real items for the land as best I could from researching the past year. I still get a kick out of seeing Yoshis walking across that bridge on the right, since that's where the Yoshi ride path will be above the land. So accurate. (As far as I've heard.) You may need to click and zoom in on the second one to see everything.

 

[Andysol]

Also, I don't think a play area is in the cards for Donkey Kong Country - at least not to start. I believe that space will be used for staging during construction (near ET's exterior queue.) Hopefully as they finish up they can get a play area added into that space quickly. I assume that one would be a more traditional outdoor play area with net climbing, etc... Literally a big "jungle" gym.

Has this ever happened though? Once construction is finished, outside of small thematic elements, nothing is really added of that substance that I can remember.

For the Nintendo experts- what could the ice area be just by MK?

 

[DragonSlayer]

A very practical-not-artistic but nonetheless interesting question arising from this (thanks for the annotations @AliciaStella) is how accessibility will work. There are a lot of major staircases here which are unavoidable parts of navigating through the land -- to and from entrances, around the courtyards and plazas -- which has never been the case in a land before. The only exception I can think of, maybe, is the big staircase in the Arabian Coast at Disneysea. I'll be interested to see how they work sufficient elevator capacity into the land in a convenient and logical way.

This may also be something, perhaps, which differs from the concept art -- as this is the Japanese version (for a Resort in which e.g. the FJ queue contains staircases which don't exist in the US versions), I wonder if some of these will become ramps in Orlando.

This also raises some more fundamental questions, for me, about people's cognitive biases in how they navigate. Theme park design relies pretty heavily on our subconscious tendencies to look in certain directions, follow visual cues etc, and I wonder if people will struggle to deal with a land where you are required to explore vertically rather than linearly. I wouldn't mind betting there will be a lot of "I went to Nintendo World and I couldn't find the ____ ride."

 

[Alicia]

Has this ever happened though? Once construction is finished, outside of small thematic elements, nothing is really added of that substance that I can remember.

As I mentioned a few months ago, it's being set aside for "Expansion" but may only be accessible through the DK area. That coupled with the fact that the early pitch artwork showed a DK play area that is not being built with phase 1 has led me to the conclusion that that will be the expansion. You know, since it's a skinny and oddly shaped area only accessible through DK courtyard.

And it's not unusual for Universal to add more stuff for kids after opening the main area.. Not sure if it's comparable but it wasn't until IOA was open for a little while that they added Flying Unicorn and Storm Force. The Simpsons Ride opened well before Twirl & Hurl, etc etc.

Again, just my guess based on the info I've heard.

Oh, and that little building outside of the permitted work area on the right is for Security and break rooms I believe, and should be staying. The expansion pad would be around it. It's the white area in this image below (and may not include the little bit bumped up against ET as that would need to remain an access path for Team Members.)

A very practical-not-artistic but nonetheless interesting question arising from this (thanks for the annotations @AliciaStella) is how accessibility will work. There are a lot of major staircases here which are unavoidable parts of navigating through the land -- to and from entrances, around the courtyards and plazas -- which has never been the case in a land before. The only exception I can think of, maybe, is the big staircase in the Arabian Coast at Disneysea. I'll be interested to see how they work sufficient elevator capacity into the land in a convenient and logical way.

This may also be something, perhaps, which differs from the concept art -- as this is the Japanese version (for a Resort in which e.g. the FJ queue contains staircases which don't exist in the US versions), I wonder if some of these will become ramps in Orlando.

There will be A LOT of elevators. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if some of these staircases become escalators for our lazy American butts.

This also raises some more fundamental questions, for me, about people's cognitive biases in how they navigate. Theme park design relies pretty heavily on our subconscious tendencies to look in certain directions, follow visual cues etc, and I wonder if people will struggle to deal with a land where you are required to explore vertically rather than linearly. I wouldn't mind betting there will be a lot of "I went to Nintendo World and I couldn't find the ____ ride."

Since we'll start on the second level, we'll have a great view of the area. Mario Kart will be clearly visible on the same level as us and easily reached simply by walking left. Yoshi will be visible as the entrance will be straight ahead on the first level. We'll see the Yoshi ride moving around, but the land entrance will spit us out facing its entrance. And the restaurant is a giant Toadstool so it'll be easy to locate...

It's Donkey Kong I worry about, hidden under a bridge through a tunnel. Might have to have a Team Member telling people there's a ride under there Diagon Alley style. Of course people might notice it on their way to the land's exit. Same with the main gift shop, located smack dab in between both exits out of the land. It's all brilliantly designed and will be easy to understand when you exit out of Peach's Castle and enter the land.

 

[Andysol]

As I mentioned a few months ago, it's being set aside for "Expansion" but may only be accessible through the DK area. That coupled with the fact that the early pitch artwork showed a DK play area that is not being built with phase 1 has led me to the conclusion that that will be the expansion. You know, since it's a skinny and oddly shaped area only accessible through DK courtyard.

And it's not unusual for Universal to add more stuff for kids after opening the main area.. Not sure if it's comparable but it wasn't until IOA was open for a little while that they added Flying Unicorn and Storm Force. The Simpsons Ride opened well before Twirl & Hurl, etc etc.

Again, just my guess based on the info I've heard.

Oh, and that little building outside of the permitted work area on the right is for Security and break rooms I believe, and should be staying. The expansion pad would be around it. It's the white area in this image below (and may not include the little bit bumped up against ET as that would need to remain an access path for Team Members.)

You are getting me hyped for this land Alicia.

That's certainly a very odd layout. Thanks for the info for past attractions/additions- History is clearly not my strong-suit. That would be a good-sized play area, for certain- and the fact it's where Woody Woodpecker and other play areas are now- it's not like they have existing infrastructure that would be displaced.

 

[Alicia]

You know, I think one of the biggest changes from the early pitch concept art to the final product will be that it's going to be based on the current incarnations of the properties. Of course Nintendo would like to see the latest versions of their works represented.

In the Mario Kart and Donkey Kong leaked art we saw, imagine it all much shinier or modern, based on the latest games instead of MK64 and the old DKC. Clearly the ride patent technology that was represented in the leaked plans will be retained, but the rides' appearances should be much better than what we've seen so far.

 

[Magic-Man]

Say that Nintendo and/or Universal wants to expand the current Mario land in the future, like Universal is doing with Harry Potter. Where would the expansions go? (not counting the super small current expansion space) Would ET then get shut down?

 

[Yabbadabba Doh]

Say that Nintendo and/or Universal wants to expand the current Mario land in the future, like Universal is doing with Harry Potter. Where would the expansions go? (not counting the super small current expansion space) Would ET then get shut down?

Well, there is an expansion pad behind MIB as well as a potential redo of MIB itself for Pokémon.
ET is the other natural spot as well, so we will see how they handle its care and maintenance while all this other work is going on. That would be a good indication of their future intentions.

 

[JPRA513]

Say that Nintendo and/or Universal wants to expand the current Mario land in the future, like Universal is doing with Harry Potter. Where would the expansions go? (not counting the super small current expansion space) Would ET then get shut down?

Further into the backstage area available maybe, or take the expansion concepts proposed and build them in another park? Not sure. I'm sure ET is on the radar as well, but I hope not. Don't want to see more actual Universal IPs take the fall for expansion of non-Universal IP. It is still Universal Studios, after all.

 

[Alicia]

Islands of Adventure and the new 3rd (dry) theme park will be getting Nintendo lands of their own likely before anything else at USF (other than the little play area expansion.)

After that, yea, they could take over ET or the expansion pad between MiB and Simspons. However, the way the land is closed off from the outside, it would be difficult to connect them. Personally, I think it would be easier to connect to where ET is than to the MiB expansion plot, given that the Mario Kart show building will entirely block access to that side. Whereas there will already be exit paths leading straight into ET's entrance plaza.

 

[Cheezbat]

Islands of Adventure and the new 3rd (dry) theme park will be getting Nintendo lands of their own likely before anything else at USF (other than the little play area expansion.)

After that, yea, they could take over ET or the expansion pad between MiB and Simspons. However, the way the land is closed off from the outside, it would be difficult to connect them. Personally, I think it would be easier to connect to where ET is than to the MiB expansion plot, given that the Mario Kart show building will entirely block access to that side. Whereas there will already be exit paths leading straight into ET's entrance plaza.

I don't really like how Universal is doing things lately with the parks...why do we have to have the same property represented in each of the parks? It's just like how Disney is getting with things: blurring the lines between the theme parks...We already have Magic Kingdom. We don't need DHS or Epcot to become MK 2.0 and MK 3.0...same with Universal. We don't need Universal Studios/IOA/new park to all have the same content.

 

[Imperius]

But it isn’t the same content. Zelda doesn’t equal Mario, Pokémon is vastly different than Mario and Zelda. Just because they are game based doesn’t mean they are the same.

 

[Mike S]

But it isn’t the same content. Zelda doesn’t equal Mario, Pokémon is vastly different than Mario and Zelda. Just because they are game based doesn’t mean they are the same.

Or that they’re made by the same company.

 

[captainmoch]

But it isn’t the same content. Zelda doesn’t equal Mario, Pokémon is vastly different than Mario and Zelda. Just because they are game based doesn’t mean they are the same.

I agree here, but I also agree with Cheezbait's point that I'm not a fan of how the differences between parks are being blurred. I'll take it in small doses, like, Hogsmeade/Diagon Alley, but honestly the idea of the next park having ANOTHER Wizarding World area just seems plain excessive, even if it is based off FB. Yeah, FB is technically a different series, but it's very much another side of the same coin as Potter, unlike Mario/Zelda/Pokemon which are flat out completely different series that just so happen to share a creator.