Mario Kart Concept
I’ve been thinking about how a potential Mario Kart ride might work. I’m probably not alone in saying that I’m hoping the ride has some actual speed to it. Doesn’t have to be 60 mph, but something… maybe 15 mph?
Fast and Furious Supercharged is a perfect example of what not to do. The ride sits at 0 mph, while screens
simulate movement. There are several patents which also suggest that Universal is going to use certain elements to enhance the ride to simulate moving quickly, but the result could just feel like another screen-based ride simulator.
On the other hand, there are real issues regarding rides that do have fast speeds, including large footprint required for long tracks, or short ride duration due to short tracks.
To overcome this problem, I came up with the following concept:
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To summarize the concept (tl;dr):
- This ride concept has decent ride speed, but has a small footprint and long ride duration.
- This is managed by having the ride vehicles traveling in a circle.
- Using a mix of practical effects and screens, the rooms change so it doesn’t feel like you’ve been in the same room multiple times.
Full concept:
You step onto the ride at the ENTRY point, into a two person Kart.
Your Kart quickly moves toward the START point, with you and your passenger pulling up beside recognizable Mario characters in their own Karts, including Bowser, Donkey Kong, Luigi, Mario himself, and many more. All of them grinning, talking trash…. you know they’re after the first place trophy just as much as you are.
At this point you only see Mario characters and no other guest riders (except for your passenger).
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3 – 2 – 1 – GO!
Your Kart takes off, and starts you on “LAP 1” which is the Green lap on the concept below:
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The entire ride takes place in a large show building (the same size as Gringotts, FJ, etc.). The building is sectioned off into “rooms” within that show building. Each room uses mechanical effects and screens to complete the overall atmosphere of each environment, to make it appear you are in that location. I’ve labeled the rooms from 1 to 4 below:
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There would be numerous locations, which could include Bowser’s Castle, Rainbow Road, DK Jungle, desert, ice world, and more:
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Now here’s where things get tricky, so follow along…
As mentioned, you start on the Lap 1, the Green track, in Room 1. For this example, we are going to say you started Room 1 in the Desert. After you start (going, let’s say, 15 mph), you immediately get paired up with other guests on their own Kart / ride vehicle (also going your speed), on their own section of the track: Lime, Aqua, Turquoise (blue), Indigo, and Pink:
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(I'm only using these colors to code the tracks for this concept. You wouldn't actually see these colors on the ride.)
You travel along with the other racers, picking up items, tossing shells, dodging, boosting, drifting, all along moving at a good speed. Other guest riders race against you, in the Desert, moving into Room 2, 3, and then 4.
While you are in Room 4, the environment for Room 1 changes from Desert to DK Jungle. (Room 1 is empty when this happens.) This is done primarily with mechanical effects, rotating and swapping one prop for another. Entire walls could lower or raise, to be replaced by another completely different scene. Screens and AR can also assist in creating the illusion that the room has completely changed.
Once you reenter Room 1, you’re now in a whole new location. You’ve been dodging, spinning, and bouncing this whole time, you haven’t even noticed you’ve taken four left turns to make a circle, you are really convinced you have moved from the Desert into the DK Jungle. You’re also much more focused on Bowser, who keeps taunting you… he’s in first place!
Notice that the Green track now becomes Lime once it enters it’s second lap. You are now joined with a new racer on your right (Green, since you're now Lime), who is matching your speed. You are unaware that this racer is new, you just think that someone has caught up to you and is now racing on your right-hand side.
For the new racer, they start their Lap 1 in DK Jungle, which is your lap 2. They have no idea that you’re on Lap 2, they think you just started with them.
The racer who was on track Pink… where did they go? We have no idea… I think we’ve left them in the dust!
Around and around we go, exiting and entering new locations. We move from Lime (lap 2), to Aqua (lap 3), to Turquoise (lap 4), Indigo (lap 5), and finally to Pink (final lap, 6). Each of our laps was a different location. For us, we started in Desert (1), moved to DK Jungle (2), then to Ice (3), into Bowser’s Castle (4), moved into Rainbow Road (5), and finished underwater (6). Because the Rooms change props/scenery each time, we are convinced that we are in entirely new locations each lap around.
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When we get to the Pink track, we veer off from the other drivers (FINISH), taking a shortcut to the finish line. With a boost of speed, we finally pass Bowser and Mario, and finish in first place! Note the FINISH section… only you and your passenger would experience this section.
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The ride vehicle continues forward, through a tunnel (either under or above the other tracks, whatever makes more sense from an engineering perspective). You then enter the last room (FINALE/TROPHY) for you to be awarded your first-place trophy.
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Think of this section like the ending to Forbidden Journey, where everyone welcomes you back.
You then come to the EXIT point and enter the gift shop.
The above is just the basic concept with the following in place:
- Ride vehicles move at a moderate speed (think go-kart speeds)
- You ride alongside other ride vehicles, each on a guided track
- Each ride vehicle starts at a different time (e.g. you are on lap 1, person next to you is on lap 2). This is not communicated to the riders otherwise it would break the illusion.
- Riders move through environments/locations.
- The room environments change when no riders are in the room.
- Riders reenter the same room multiple times, but never the same environment.
- Each rider's experience will be different. (Your Lap 1 might have been Desert, someone else's Lap 1 is DK Jungle.)
- All riders take first place. (Having the track splitting off solves the problem of "how do you have riders race against each other, but everyone takes first place?" You could technically have winners and losers, like MIB, but I'm guessing having everyone win would make for a more enjoyable guest experience.)
With the above in place, you could change anything else about this design:
- Number of laps – It doesn’t have to be six, could be fewer or more.
- Actual shape/layout of the track – For example, you could have all sorts of twists/turns on lap 1 that you don’t experience on lap 2, since each vehicle would be on its own track.
- Number of rooms – I put down 4 rooms, but it could be more or fewer depending on design.
- How many players you actually see at a given time – the tracks could have dividers so only Lime and Green ever “race” against each other. Aqua and Turquoise have their own divider, they could be in the same room but only see each-other due to a divider between ride tracks
- Ride speed - I said 15 mph, to be honest I have no idea what ride speed would need to be achieved to feel good but also maintain a small footprint. (It should be fast enough to feel somewhat thrilling but slow enough to be able to enjoy the sets while moving from room to room.)
Anywho... Let me know your thoughts!
(Note that I’m not a ride designer / engineer, so hopefully Universal comes up with something better than this. Also note that I do not take credit for the pictures other than the track layout.)