Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge - General Discussion

[RyanTTD]

I went yesterday. Quick trip report:

Went back to the first time in about three or four weeks. This time has probably been the most unpleasant experience I've had with the crowds in general. I got a reservation to go inside at 3:30-4:00. Went to ride Mario Kart around 3:35 in hopes to be able to use thew single rider line. Lo and behold, they have it roped off because it filled up. Another reason why theme park influencers are the worst. They let everyone and their aunts know about it so they all use it, defeating the purpose of it. Also in the extended queue where you go outside and up the stairs, so many people were cutting the line so they could meet up with their folks after getting ice cream and whatnot. Completely ridiculous.

The line got stuck a few times because apparently the room where they hand you the Mario caps got ridiculously backed up. We got into the final preshow room where they tell you how to play and we got stuck in there for almost a half hour. We were closer to the front. When everyone entered, so many people pushed and shoved their way to the front, we were at the very back. We were dumb-founded as to why the line was hardly moving an inch. We come to the stairs and there is absolutely no one taking the second lane/staircase. Not a soul. Me and my sister decide to risk it, go down there and of course, it was open THIS WHOLE TIME. When someone saw that we went down there, one person followed, then another, and then pretty soon the whole room stopped getting backed up now that people discovered there's a whole other staircase they could've used. In not even thirty seconds after we quickly walked all the way to the front, the entire lane behind us was full.

Apparently this happened for a while because the TMs assigning us the rows acted very frantic. I guess they weren't meeting their ride capacity quotas. Might have explained why the backups/line freezing was happening. It was 6:30 by the time we left the ride. Absolute madness.

I really hope from here on out they have a TM supervising the area telling people they can use both lanes. If they had just done something as simple as that, they could've saved us thirty minutes in line easily. I really hope they're able to learn from this.

I noticed the problem with people not using the far left lane after cap distribution during soft opening and my last visit a week ago. I think a simple elevated sign saying "use both lanes" would fix the issue.

 

[Jerroddragon]

It's when I see families with young kids or huge groups using single rider

It must just be a USH thing because pretty sure Space Mountain single rider isn't like this or Smuglers run

 

[Rideguy70]

Oh, I've seen it on Space Mountain and Smuggler's Run.

And I don't see any issue with huge groups using Single Rider provided they know and understand their groups will be split up. It's not called Single Rider because it has to be filled with people who are in the park by themselves. It's called Single Rider because it's anyone who's willing to ride alone.

And as others have said before (but sometimes I feel the theme park community as a whole has a tough time grasping this), SR does not equal fast boarding time. Yes, often it does, but it's by no means a guarantee. You take your chances when using it. There's plenty of times I turned away from an SR line because I determined it wasn't going to be any faster than the regular line.

SR works really great on some attractions (FJ and RSR at DCA being notable), but can be very, very spotty on others (MK and when it was offered, Soarin).

 

[BriefCasey]

So far today, thankfully single rider has been alright. Though it did seem longer than the last each time I've gone on so far. 3rd time in SR today and this time SR ends just outside the indoor bit.

Also, I've seen all stairs used in the queue, which is good.

 

[LADougQ8]

I went yesterday. Quick trip report:

Went back to the first time in about three or four weeks. This time has probably been the most unpleasant experience I've had with the crowds in general. I got a reservation to go inside at 3:30-4:00. Went to ride Mario Kart around 3:35 in hopes to be able to use thew single rider line. Lo and behold, they have it roped off because it filled up. Another reason why theme park influencers are the worst. They let everyone and their aunts know about it so they all use it, defeating the purpose of it. Also in the extended queue where you go outside and up the stairs, so many people were cutting the line so they could meet up with their folks after getting ice cream and whatnot. Completely ridiculous.

The line got stuck a few times because apparently the room where they hand you the Mario caps got ridiculously backed up. We got into the final preshow room where they tell you how to play and we got stuck in there for almost a half hour. We were closer to the front. When everyone entered, so many people pushed and shoved their way to the front, we were at the very back. We were dumb-founded as to why the line was hardly moving an inch. We come to the stairs and there is absolutely no one taking the second lane/staircase. Not a soul. Me and my sister decide to risk it, go down there and of course, it was open THIS WHOLE TIME. When someone saw that we went down there, one person followed, then another, and then pretty soon the whole room stopped getting backed up now that people discovered there's a whole other staircase they could've used. In not even thirty seconds after we quickly walked all the way to the front, the entire lane behind us was full.

Apparently this happened for a while because the TMs assigning us the rows acted very frantic. I guess they weren't meeting their ride capacity quotas. Might have explained why the backups/line freezing was happening. It was 6:30 by the time we left the ride. Absolute madness.

I really hope from here on out they have a TM supervising the area telling people they can use both lanes. If they had just done something as simple as that, they could've saved us thirty minutes in line easily. I really hope they're able to learn from this.

The cap distribution room is always a mess on busy days. To me its the worst part of the queue! They really need to have someone in there directing traffic or even just set up a chain queue that herds people into the two lines. The only issue with that is, sometimes theres nobody on one side of the room distributing caps so then you have two large groups of people trying to grab caps from only one side.

 

[ReelJustice]

I find the ride and land to be a bit of a mess. I hope the kinks are worked out for Epic Universe

 

[chris.g]

I find the ride and land to be a bit of a mess. I hope the kinks are worked out for Epic Universe

While I don’t disagree the situation is very much contained to USH. EU will have both DKC and the Mushroom Kingdom, not to mention the two floors that Japan has.

 

[baconwhiskers]

I can see people not really liking this ride for their first time when there's a lot of hold ups at loading. Getting interrupted by delays kills the whole thing (and your score since things you or others shoot don't reload or count towards your score when it goes into delay mode).

 

[Amity6]

Found the ride very underwhelming. Wasn’t a fan of the vr goggles or game play. Rainbow road was the highlight. Wouldn’t have an issue skipping this and going right to DK when it comes to Epic.

 

[Jones14]

Finally got to ride this, and we loved it after our second ride. First impressions were that it’s overwhelming even with the laborious setup of the pre-shows, but the ride improves greatly on a second ride and everything clicks.

However, operations either needs to drastically improve at load/unload or they need to take some karts off the track. We rode three times in total and did not get a single ride-through without stopping at least once during the race. It kills the pacing, especially transitions between scenes.

 

[Clive]

Finally got to ride this, and we loved it after our second ride. First impressions were that it’s overwhelming even with the laborious setup of the pre-shows, but the ride improves greatly on a second ride and everything clicks.

However, operations either needs to drastically improve at load/unload or they need to take some karts off the track. We rode three times in total and did not get a single ride-through without stopping at least once during the race. It kills the pacing, especially transitions between scenes.

100% agree on all counts.

 

[BriefCasey]

Is sharing the survery QR code links outside of DMs still not allowed? I think it'd help to let them know through there as a surefire means to tell them, since I also agree regarding the delays and load speed/karts on the ride. Helps that they had the surveyors at the land exit when I went yesterday, so it looks like they are actively seeking feedback, especially in light of their recent Toadstool changes.

 

[highdefrex]

Went out to dinner last night with some friends who had recently experienced this ride. The general consensus was "It was okay" -- again, like many of us have seen, they were expecting an actual racing ride -- but one in particular was mad at Universal for building something that sets expectations and only leads to disappointment (that is, a racing IP that ends up being a slow-moving AR ride).

Regardless of the ride's merits, which we've all covered to death, I think it just needs to be said that if Nintendo wasn't 100% okay with the ride being what it is, it wouldn't be what it is. Even on social media, especially with summer now here and more people finally experiencing the land, I'm seeing more and more people pissed off that "Universal could do this to Nintendo," and... I don't think that's fair, because, again, Nintendo was involved.

If Nintendo had wanted a fast-moving/racing ride, they certainly could've put their foot down and made it happen at some point along the way before ground ever started breaking. But they didn't. They liked what Universal brought to the table. They allowed it to be built. They were happy with the ride as it is. I just find it funny that the people who love it credit both Universal and Nintendo, while the people who hate it pretty much exclusively blame Universal alone, and I just wanted to get this rant about the bizarre deification of Nintendo off my chest.

 

[chris.g]

I still need to post my review, but I expected this to be boring as hell and had the time of my life. The AR was perfect and perfectly precise, the spinning was great, and the set pieces blew me away.

 

[Jerroddragon]

I wish they called it a Mario Ride so people could just be fine with it being a dark ride, everyone lovedddd SLOP but this ride because its Mario Kart HAD to be a coaster for many to love it

With the exception of the Pipe's area in the ride, its a great Dark ride. But I think if you go in thinking its a dark ride, most people will enjoy it

Those are my thoughts

Now onto the Money/back end. Universal and Nintendo wanted to sell bands which ment this ride had to work with it (i know its funny because some karts dont connect now, lol) Because neither Yoshi or the DK ride would work well with the band tech.

Also like the Mario Movie which is 7/10 good film, thats also what the public wants. We can backseat armchair ideas but clearly don't need the best when making a mario product to make money which sadly is what USH and Nintendo end goal are.

I'm not saying you can't dislike this ride, you can but facts are the ride is drawing in more people then anything else they have ever built so they will never see it as the failure many online do.

 

[BriefCasey]

Is "many" laying it on a little thick though? Granted I usually avoid discourse, I can't say I've seen more negative words than the other about the ride.

EDIT: Coming back to this, I just wanted to clarify by "failure" and "many" in the same sentence about a Universal ride, that would sound like this ride is supposedly getting Supercharged level hate, which...I don't think is true at all, which is why I think saying many people dislike the ride might be an overstatement. And I wasn't referring to just this board.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Is "many" laying it on a little thick though? Granted I usually avoid discourse, I can't say I've seen more negative words than the other about the ride.

Not just this board but online in General, heck leading up to this opening you can see people already wanting to dislike the ride because its not a fast ride

Also as someone with Family many like USH but many of the rides makes you sick and they were glad they could ride this without it being like Potter or a coaster.

But Nintendo/Universal wanted a game ride and I think it does just as well of being a dark ride as it does a game...sometimes I play sometime I just enjoy the theming

Also I'm sure to some its an unpopular Opinion but I think DK fits the coaster theme better and glad they went with that as a coaster because it can also have it's own Gimmick of "jumping" carts which anyone who grew up with an SNES has wanted to do for almost 30 years

 

[Nick]

I knew what to expect from the ride and was still let down.

 

[Eckert]

I like the ride, but that's because I'm a theme park guy and I was also able to ride it multiple times on my visit.

Most guests are only going to ride this once (after waiting 2-3 hours) and not like it because admittedly, the ride is very hard to understand and enjoy with only one ride. It's extremely video-gamey, which is admirable, but doesn't translate well for the casual park goer.

 

[ParksandSights]

I knew what to expect from multiple POVS and descriptions and I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed the gamification; each ride has been a bit different, noticing different characters and effects, admiring the practical sets, and competing against myself. I say this as someone who is not a big gamer, and has never tried AR or VR before