I think there’s a way to be even-handed with this dark ride without having ridden - starting off with the plain fact, of course, that this attraction really can’t be judged in any wholistic way without riding. If so, then I think I’d have a hard time discerning between rides like FoP and Simpsons, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Nano Battle and MiB, etc. I think that all of these rides needed to exist for this one to bloom, and I think that this attraction is truly stunning.
I wonder if the attraction has any sort of motion base as some have said. I think that, without a doubt, it would be to the ride’s great gain if it did have one. To me, it would be like doing Spider-Man without a motion base (like Remy’s, which is one of the few I haven’t been on but doesn’t do anything for me in POV).
I love the flavor moments for each character, how Toad keeps getting dunked on and such. I wish some of the other characters had featured moments - and maybe that’s just not where the camera is looking - but seeing Luigi flip out in the mansion and the like would have been really sweet - though as it’s about the targets, this might just be something I crave due to the filmed and passive nature of my experience with this ride.
The physical-AR interaction happens just a FEW less time than I’d like, but gosh, the fire flower and the finale are stunning.
I think the first scene would have done well to have the projection-mapped floor as in Rainbow Road, because without that you get the unfortunate “I can see the screen bottom” problem that plagues a lot of really great attractions, but that’s a peeve of mine. I agree with others that said it’s sort of a troll on the part of the attraction to introduce this conceit early in the ride, setting it up as an FatF type experience.
I am a little surprised that the attraction doesn’t make any grand use of physical fast-motion illusions, like speed tunnels or “Indy Walls”, but I think that the AR covers a lot of these effects.
I’m deeply torn about the attraction. I wonder if it moves any faster than Dinosaur/Indy at top speed? I think that’d be the ideal speed for my taste. I know it’s been said that it’s MiB speed, but I can’t quite place it in terms of Dinosaur or Spider-Man, and which is faster.
The pre-show buildup is absolutely insane, especially if you view your experience as starting with the warp pipe outside and see the entire land as a build towards the experience. The musical choices are perfect in my opinion in each room until you find the entry. While I’d love to have seen a physical effect in the queue as Disney has done as of late, maybe a screen pivot like some of the Shamu show shows, I think the wordlessness is genius, even if it leads to some “Press A!” instincts.
I think that the main thing with the ride is the expectation of speed because of the be and, until the ending, not getting the delivery of that illusion. Perhaps it’s different in person? I think JungleSkip describes it perfectly in their post about why they think the ride is the speed that it is. I agree with everything in the post. But I also think there is something to be said that as a guest who has grown up with the Mario Kart franchise, has a baseline knowledge of the fact that race cars go fast, walks through an imposing evil castle, and go through two pre-shows, I don’t think it’s entirely fair to say that expectations aren’t being raised. I mean, this is akin to having a franchise like FatF or Cars without speed portions - which, we know how that went. I mean, this doesn’t make it a bad ride. It clearly is not. But I’m unsure if it was the right Mario Kart ride. This feels like the perfect Ghostbusters ride. Then again, I’m unsure what would be better, but I also don’t work at Universal Creative.
I think the ride itself is grand, especially as the first AR attraction, but I think there’s a disassociation with the implicit promise of speed and the reality that there is no world where a Mario headliner isn’t for all ages, nor is there a world where the Mario ride isn’t a game. I’m also sure that the AR can only really work at a slower speed or else the computers or our brains wouldn’t do a great job catching up. I know it’s not a popular topic on this site, and I know many of us knew this for a good long time, I think this is a really fair critique of the attraction -not to say that it should be a coaster, but as Universal is the inventor of the Extreme Dark Ride (Spider-Man, I’d even venture to say Cat in the Hat) I think it will be interesting to see reactions on the way they decided to realize this. For a company that decided to make (the v1) Cat in the Hat, the most child-friendly of properties, a truly thrilling attraction at first, it seems strange that they would pull the punch from this attraction. I wonder if there is an argument FOR Cat being so thrilling that somehow ALSO advocates for Mario Kart. Perhaps it’s a lesson learned in a strange way.
If I may lean into a hypothetical if we didn’t come into this attraction with the inevitable expectations of speed and interactivity - say if it were designed for another property - I wonder what it would look like. Will this ride be seen as the first of a certain sort of ride, like Spider-Man was? If so, what WOULD Ant-Man and the Wasp: Nano Battle attraction look like in AR? Would it be the critical pan that, I think, is well-deserved? What about a non-interactive dark ride - could Beauty and the Beast have met expectations of the silverware was flipping off the table along with animatronics? Could Poseidon’s Fury get an AR makeover? How about E.T? Can you make an AR thrill ride? Could this come to Harry Potter? Or do you think this is a one-and-done, in which the ride system is a one-in-a-park thing (Only one flying theatre per park, only one drop tower attraction, only one rapids attraction, etc.)
I can’t wait to ride in person.