So people are giving it lower ratings because the line Yeah this one sucks it takes forever sometimes it feels like but it's a super popular ride and that's just how rides are at theme parks so I can't knock it for that The ride completely makes you feel like you are playing the game all while it's moving on the track and you wear special hat goggles so it's both real what you see and virtual and it's super fun and feels so short So much detail read more

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We were able to do a walk in on this ride during Fan Fest Night. Just know that it cuts off at 10 PM (though subject to change). Insane attention to detail and the queue itself is like you're traveling through different rooms and realms. Breathtaking and something that I have to give to Universal over Disney (at least in this instance and for the Harry Potter ride). So many neat details to look at and photo opportunities like the Yoshi room and the massive Bowser statue. I would love to one day get to examine this (without a massive crowd), but I'm glad we didn't have to wait hours for it. The ride takes place after you get an instructional video on how to play the game and how to put on your cap and AR glasses. A bit confusing but staff were helpful. I'm not the best at multi tasking so I can say that there's a lot to do, since you drive AND Koopa shells at enemies. Definitely pretty high tech since you aim simply by looking in the direction of enemies but the projections were a bit dizzying and not the best (though I'm not sure how much more they can increase the quality of the projection since it is an AR overlay). I was a bit confused (again, the inability to multitask), but still fun overall and you can compare scores with those in your kart. I've heard others have had issues with the AR and the glasses, since it can be finicky, but no issues on my end. I'd probably be malding if I had to wait for ages, but for a walk in, amazing stuff. read more

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As a huge Nintendo fan, visiting Super Nintendo World was a dream come true. I even wore my Mario-themed outfit to get into the spirit! The level of detail throughout the entire land is incredible--you truly feel like you've been transported inside the game. The highlights: : As soon as you step inside, the immersion is 10/10. The queue alone is a treat; you're greeted by a massive, life-size Bowser statue and tons of cool portraits of Princess Peach and Bowser throughout the halls. Mario Kart Bowser's Challenge is a brilliant augmented reality AR experience. You wear special visors that create a 3D digital world right in front of your eyes. You're on Team Mario facing off against Team Bowser! The goal is to throw as many shells as possible at the enemy team to rack up points. It's interactive, fast-paced, and honestly just super fun :) If you love Mario, this is a non-negotiable must-do. It's extremely detailed and a perfect tribute to the franchise. Highly recommended! Pro tip: get there early to beat the crowds! read more

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I did not enjoy this ride as much as I thought I would which sucks because I was so excited for it! It's an augmented reality experience where you have to fire shells at characters and collect coins. You are given a visor to wear and once you get on the ride you connect it to a pair of goggles. Honestly, they were bulky and uncomfortable. There was so much going on during the ride that I was confused on what the actual objective was. Overall, I enjoyed walking through the queue which mimicked Bowser's Castle. There were some cool things to see. However, the actual ride was okay. I personally wouldn't wait more than 30 minutes for it. read more

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Very long lines (200+min almost all day) at Epic Universe. Almost always longest lines although the Battle at the Ministry traded off with it. Fun decor in the castle (and good thing is the line is mostly indoors) so it stays cool. The single rider line was a bit of snaking line to the side (closed at one point and moves in large chunks at a time), and moves you into a center lane where they help fill in the carts as you go. There's a spot for the headwear to pick up in the line which they don't explain how to put on or use (no storyline stuff), and there's a set of goggles that attaches to it on the cart that you then can see the "3D" adventure game where you're throwing things at the virtual villains at your seat. Some people who didn't know rode the whole ride without the goggles that magnetically snap in... I have no idea how they enjoyed the ride and using the controls to shoot was moderately intuitive but not very sensitive. Score at the end for your cart doesn't show up for long... so keep an eye out. Back and forth turns and audio for the AR experience... you're better off getting a S24 and goggles from Apple or Samsung and it'll do a better job than this ride. read more

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I've been trying to ride Mario Kart since it opened in January 2023 but the line has always been 90 minutes at minimum! Usually 2 hours and I just cannot wait in lines like that for a 5 minute ride. I don't know how we came across a 30 minute wait but that's my personal maximum for theme park rides and we jumped at the shorter queue. As mentioned, this fun ride opened in Super Nintendo World after opening overseas in Universal Studios Ja pan two years prior. And this summer, the same ride opened in Epic Universe down in Orlando's Universal Studios. So now we're all suited up with this ride bringing back the 90s fun of Mario and his homies. The theming and queue while waiting is so cool! I mean, all of Super Nintendo World is so it shouldn't come as a surprise. Bowser's Castle is sooo~ cool and they've put it together so well. I'm a fan! The premise of the ride is the good guys Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Toad, and Yoshi racing in Mario Karts against Bowser and the Koopalings. You are given some augmented reality's visors which are I guess cute...? But awkward and heavy to wear. It's uncomfortable and an odd choice for a brand new ride to have something so heavy and clunky. Then, you have a virtual shooting aspect to the game, as well. It didn't seem to register hits as well as similar simulation rides I've done elsewhere. Honestly, the ride was a bit of a disappointment! While the theming, sets, and special effects were all cool to me...the actual ride was not that exciting. It was not even as fun as playing the video game which is kinda sad. I would absolutely ride it again though but it's gotta be at that 15 minutes or less wait timeframe to get me on! read more

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Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge was INCREDIBLY underwhelming and EASILY my least favorite of my visit to Universal Studios. Which was ironic because this was what I was looking forward to the most! So, we basically did just about everything at the park, as there was little to no wait time for most, EXCEPT this one. I believe we waited about an hour and some change? This was an interactive ride, which they give you special goggles to wear & you basically collect coins throughout the duration of the ride. Meh, I was pretty unimpressed by this ride & having the goggles on just ended up giving me a headache lol. read more

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It took us about 45 mins in line; keep in mind it's a Sunday in early February. I overheard someone saying it took them over 2 hours last time they came. Honestly, this experience wasn't for me. The whole ride felt like one long high pitched YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!Overstimulated with a headache from the Mario visor + magnetic shades. Tight and heavy. Aggressive bells and whistles. You use the shades to look around. You must look to shoot things, keeping your head in motion the whole time. You'll learn this in the room with which the lines cease, and you're now arm to arm...no lines...just like in the haunted mansion at Disneyland. After all that waiting, you're corralled like cattle. For those of us with line anxiety, this part will kill you softly. After the nonverbal, visual instructions, you're funneled into a small area which again separated you into two lines. You pick up your Mario visors, go down the stairs, then you're pretty much there! The shades, which attach to the visor, are connected to the karts. You attach them magnetically once you sit. I just needed it all to be easier, less involved. Pay good money for the park, need what little rides included to provide a pleasant experience. But hey, maybe the kids will like it. My 12 year old enjoyed the Mummy ride most of all. He thought his ride was...fine. "Mid" I suppose. Just do it. Once. But make sure it's not a crazy long wait. read more

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Fun ride! It's allllllll about the nostalgia. Who wouldn't love a ride that makes you feel like you are actually in the Mario Kart game? Speeding around, shooting shells and trying to avoid slipping on banana peels. It's awesome! Aside from the nostalgia, it is a pretty basic ride. There's screens and you wear 3D goggles for the effect. There are special effects where you feel Bowser's fire and you feel warmth on your face/ body. At another point in the ride, you are being blown away by the clouds and you feel the cool wind come through. Those little touches did enhance the ride. The goggles are not very comfortable. They hurt my head. I wish they could find a way to make those more comfortable for adults. We got to go through twice! The first run I wore my goggles, the second I did not. I recorded the ride on the second go around. It was still a fun experience! read more

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Disclosure: I have never played this video game but I do love the details in design and the clear instructions and the sci-fi helmet and glasses! The entire LAND is very colorful and immersive, as soon as you enter, it's a bit confusing as to what to look at or where to go! The Mario Kart ride is to the left and at the back of the "land." I've done both the single rider line (bypasses a lot of the cool Bowser's Castle) and the regular line (about 75 minutes). I loved the outside of the Castle with game elements moving around and a huge, menacing Bowser head at the entrance. Once inside, there's a lot of colorful design elements and super COOL air conditioning! At the end of the line, you get your helmet, which is usually a bit wet (they must wash and sterilize them) and it is adjustable with a white twisty knob at the back of your head. Once loaded into your cart, it's nice that the back row is slightly elevated, which makes for a better ride experience. Once you're seated, you add the visor piece to your headset (magnetic I think) and off you go! I have no idea of what I was shooting at - but I had a great time! For non-gamers like me, it would be nice to have more directions as to what I should be shooting at! read more

Amazing experience and the best rides at Universal Studios Hollywood! Love their animation artwork throughout the waiting area before you get onto the ride. They will provide a visor, which you will fit on your head. Once in the ride-cart, you will attach the eye wear to the visor. This will allow you to see the virtual characters and immerse yourself into the game. At the end of the ride, you will be ranked amongst your ride-cart and there is an all time leaderboard. read more

Mario Kart Bowsers Challenge - View from the wait in line. - Amusement Parks Near Me - Universal City, California

What a ride. I don't really play the game since I have a PlayStation but I enjoyed the ride. The wait can take sometime since it's very popular. Plus you need some extra props to interact with the game/ride. You pick up a headset harness prior to sitting down and then you place these glasses over the harness so you can interact with the game. And boy to you interact. The ride takes some time and you realize why the queue is so long. But is it worth the time? DAMN RIGHT IT IS!!!!!!!!!! If there is only one ride you can take this may be it. Of course the Transformers ride is awesome too. And the Mummy. This is why you have to buy a multipass like Leeloo. (Comment below if you get the reference) Overall five stars. Sit back, enjoy the action, and be amazed. Man my arms arms are tired :) M read more

Mario Kart Bowsers Challenge - Amusement Parks Near Me - Universal City, California

Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge is an augmented reality dark ride that is based on the Mario Kart franchise, primarily on the Mario Kart 8 video game. In the Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge queue, you'll tour Bowser's iconic castle where you pass through the hall of medallions and trophies to the prized Golden Cup, and get an eye on his plan to defeat Team Mario as you prepare to face off on the track!   The ride's exterior and queue are modeled after Bowser's Castle. The queue gradually reveals that the ride's plot involves "Team Bowser" (Bowser and the Koopalings) challenging "Team Mario" (Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Toad, and Yoshi) to the "Universal Cup".   Guests are given the augmented reality's visors and enter the first pre-show room, which features Lakitu and Mii characters showing how to put on and adjust the visor. Guests then enter the second pre-show room, filled with replicas of Mii outfits from Mario Kart 8. Here, Lakitu explains the ride vehicles and the shooting gallery-esque gameplay. The four-person vehicles (modeled after "karts" from Mario Kart 8) follow a set path on a rail track. Guests attach the AR visors to the AR lenses in the vehicles, to view the Mario characters racing alongside them. Guests rotate their AR-wearing heads around to aim their Koopa Shell ammo, and press a button on their steering wheel to fire the shells at characters within the augmented reality. Guests accumulate points during the ride by successfully hitting the "Team Bowser" characters with their shells. If all four riders turn their wheels in unison at certain turns, they'll "drift" into the turn, earning more points.   After leaving the boarding station, the ride vehicles turn into a corner where guests can practice aiming and firing in the augmented reality before heading to the starting line. The ride then takes guests through a variety of locations from Mario Kart 8 based on previous Mario Kart installments, including: N64 Royal Raceway, GBA Mario Circuit, 3DS Piranha Plant Slide, Dolphin Shoals, Twisted Mansion, Cloud top Cruise, Wii Grumble Volcano, and Rainbow Road. If the riders collectively earn 100 points, the ride ends with "Team Mario" winning the race.   Currently, this ride has become the main attraction among all the rides at Universal Studios Hollywood. This groundbreaking ride has already drawn everyone's attention for its cutting-edge technology, intricate theming, detailed sets, and special effects. However, the wait time for this ride is extremely long, especially on weekends. This ride has also faced criticism for its slow pace, which feels out of place given its high-speed racing theme, as well as for the AR lenses that provide a limited view of the characters. read more

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I love this ride, trust me bro. It's a really great ride bro, you gotta trust me on this. I currently am the owner of the highest score ever on this ride, bro. The staff started applauding and smiling and ya know - recognizing me. All I did to get the high score is trust my gamer instinks. Staff was friendly. Get here as early as possible to avoid the big line. The living legend. Thank you read more

Mario Kart Bowsers Challenge - Preparing for the assault - Amusement Parks Near Me - Universal City, California

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Not a good ride. not worth waiting hours. confusing. visor did not work. ride seemed pointless. Best part of ride was very end with racing stripes. You don't know your score until the end. Family of 5 and we all did not like it-- and we rarely agree on anything. They could make it better with some adjustments but currently feels pointless. Set design and inside wait is best part about it read more

We head to this ride everytime we are at universal studio. The wait time estimate was accurate. My girls love this ride. read more

Mario Kart Bowsers Challenge - Wait time estimate on the app was 45 mins. It was accurate! - Amusement Parks Near Me - Universal City, California

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The worst park attraction ever in an otherwise incredible setting for a Super Nintendo World. Don't take my word for it, even my son who turned 12 on this day we visited the park couldn't help but keep saying it sucked and how it wasn't worth lining up for it. This ride is a waste of your express pass. This is basically the tea cups at Disneyland and they slapped on cheap virtual HUD visors on you and gave you a controller to play a video game. You'd be more entertained playing the actual game itself. read more

My husband and I were visiting Universal Studios Hollywood on a Thursday in early February. We had booked early access to Super Nintendo World for a 9:00 A.M arrival time! I've been a fan of the Super Mario Brothers series since the original was released on the NES and I was so looking forward to visiting Super Nintendo World! Mario Kart Bowser's Challenge is the only ride inside the area. The wait time was approximately 45 minutes, but it went by so fast! The walk through queue was absolutely stunning! You saw different themes from a variety of the games. There was the underwater area, with the music from the N64 game. There was Yoshi's story from N64 themed areas as well! Some of the rooms, especially Bowser's castle, had so many intricate pieces. You'll see a ton of characters throughout the queue line such as Boo and even Bowser Junior! There is a throne with Princess Peach Portrait next to it. After you go through the walkthrough, there are a few pre-video areas that provide you instructions for the ride. You'll also get to wear your very own "Mario" hat! We had purchased 2 powerbands before the ride. It will keep track of your scores and add extra goodies to your Universal Studios Mobile application for the Super Nintendo World! I wasn't prepared for the ride at all! Once you sit on the kart, you'll need to attach the goggles to your Mario Hat/Visor. The idea for the ride is for you to aim at Bowser's team or Mario's team. It's going to be a team race, between Mario and Bowser. There was so much going on! You'll need to point your head in the direction of where you want your shell to go. It was difficult to aim, but it's a lot of fun! I'm sure if I rode it a few times, I would get the hang of it! My favorite part of the ride was Rainbow Road. All of the background turned into stars and the VR had the rainbow road! It was so cool! I would ride this again if the wait time was less than an hour! The walk through queue line is totally worth it to experience it once if you're a fan of the Nintendo series! read more

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This is the only ride at Super Nintendo World. While the whole set-up and atmosphere was amazing, the ride itself wasn't that great. It's a slow moving Mario Kart ride where you shoot shells at the enemies. We bought the 1-hour early entry into Super Nintendo World so when we got to the Mario Kart: Bowsers Challenge ride, we had no wait. When you get to the ride, they hand you a Mario visor. When you get onto the ride, you attach the lens to your visor. Maybe I didn't put on the visor on correctly, but I didn't see anything when the ride started until I randomly pointed my head down and that's when I saw everything on the lens. You also have a controller to shoot shells at your enemies. It's hard to see what I'm shooting at. Later in the day, I saw the wait for this ride to be over 50 minutes. I wouldn't wait more that 30 minutes for this. The set-up for this whole place and ride was so cute and brought back so much nostalgia because I grew up playing Mario Kart, but they should have made this ride faster and more exciting. read more

Mario Kart Bowsers Challenge - Amusement Parks Near Me - Universal City, California

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No no no. I think they were trying something new with this ride by making it VR with glasses, but it's a no for me. I waited for 75 minutes to get on this ride but it's definitely not worth waiting for anything more than 40 minutes. This is the main ride/attraction inside Super Nintendo World but it's not the best ride at all. read more

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Rode for the first time this past week. The ride is fun but the headsets don't fit well for every person. With the glasses on, I could only see a partial of the action during the game and had to hold the headset up with one hand to fully see the immersion as the ride went on. I wasn't clear if you're supposed to fire shells at other objects other than the players too (I did anyway). The goal is to make 100 coins, which is easy to do though. The physical queue for this is very long though, likely to allow for sculptures and design of the castle to shine in various rooms--but seems unnecessarily long in my opinion. Go to the restroom before getting in line for this. The room for retrieving the visors is poorly designed with not enough space and no order, and everyone just clusters together, inching forward slowly. I recommend doing this ride first thing when you walk into the park, and it's ideal that you come near opening time or at least before noon. Weekday visits help with a lower wait time too (we waited like 40 mins on a Tuesday 10:40ish). read more

This is the only ride in the Super Nintendo World section of Universal Studios. We came at early access at 8am, so there was no line when we first came and rode. They give you 3D glasses to wear, and it was super fun to ride and play. Each kart seats 4 people. The second time we went on, the 9am general access crowd came through. We waited longer in line, though I have to say, I love all the details throughout the queue, like the Bowser statue, portraits, library, etc, really made me feel as though I was exploring and walking through Bowser's Castle. read more

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I cannot stress this enough, but if you want to avoid a long wait, buy the early entry! The queue for the line is entertaining and visually a lot to take in, but if you're pressed for time, early entry is the way to go. The game has a lot of components that are simultaneously happening, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty fun! I suggest trying it at least once and being the judge from there. Don't want to spoil anything, but it's very interactive! Be prepared to be busy the entire time. read more

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Yelp Review 2023 #193: Did I pay the extra $30 for early access to Super Nintendo World? No, because the person I came here with cannot wake up early. Would it have been helpful to get early access? Yes! I cannot stress enough how convenient having access to the park an hour early to avoid the crowd and the super looong wait to Bowser's Challenge especially on a Saturday - a few days before school starts when everybody wants to be here. By 9am, the wait was already 2 hours! By 10am, the wait is 3 hours and so on and so forth. So, the earlier you go, the shorter the wait. The virtual line on the app doesn't always work - it's supposed to be available when there's a big crowd. I guess a 4-hour wait isn't big enough crowd?! We went to Toadstool Cafe first at 8:30am (a mistake). Do Bowser's Challenge first before doing anything else. Schedule your Toadstool Cafe reservation around 11am. By the time we get done eating, there was a 2-hour wait for Bowser's Challenge under the hot sun. It was a miserable wait and then, the ride broke down so there was an additional 15-25minute wait. You grab a headgear to which you attach glasses. By the time we got on the ride, we were already tired and not alert at all to get decent scores! Each cart holds 4 people. You aim by using your head and press the 2 top buttons on the steering wheel. So, placing the headgear correctly is of importance. The ride/ game is under 3 minutes long. Bring drinks and snacks. Have lots of patience. The castle itself is nice and detailed. The ride/ game was fun and highly interactive. Your cart spins and turns. So, if you look past the ridiculously long wait then, you'll love it. read more

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I didn't care for the ride unfortunately.... I really wanted to. Unless I need to ride it more than once.... lol. My son absolutely liked it. The land is lovely.... FYI: don't wear the Mario hat helmet until your ready to ride. This caused me to have a headache. read more

Mario Kart Bowsers Challenge - Very crowded - Amusement Parks Near Me - Universal City, California

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I highly encourage the following prior to getting into line for this ride: Water, snacks, visit to restroom, cell phone. There are visible exist doors throughout line, also be aware, there are 3 stories of stair climbing, There where absolutely no staff present throughout entire path line when me and my kiddos were here. Some guest were just giving up on the 2 hour line and crossing over to fast pass line. Wowza :/ Again, I highly recommend bottled water and restroom prior to jumping into line especially if you have little ones. I wasn't wild about the instructional portion of this "ride". Once you reach this point, your basically wrangled into a large room with a large crowd- similar to Kung Fu Panda. The difference here is you get instructions on "how to" drive, put on visor, get into cart, etc...If your wearing a pony tail or baseball cap, you're going to have to adjust your hairstyle a bit, remove cap or flip it backwards after putting on visor. From that point, there is still about 30 more minutes of line travel, mainly stairs..up and down. The cart ride itself was pretty cool. It holds 4 people. Good 3D graphics; there's an additional piece you'll need to attach to visor when you sit in cart that allows you to see graphics. I saw several people struggle with this piece. If you have small kiddos, you might want to help them before attaching your own. My little guys were happy to finally experience this ride. Their both fans of Super Mario so yeah, they both thought it was awesome, they loved everything about it. Ride itself is approximately 5 minutes long. For me, sure it was fun but the wait time is ridiculous. read more

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Such a cute ride! I was so immersed in the experience and really channelled my inner nerd. Growing up with Super Nintendo and specifically Mario Kart, it was so easy to be amazed with this ride. Yes, the ride is slow where it should be fast (how is Rainbow road slow?), but it does make it more kid-friendly and enjoyable for the whole family which I think is the purpose of this ride. You're given these goggles to help immerse you into the ride and game more . It's a pretty interactive ride where you have points to score and compare with your friends and family in the end. So happy that this is in our backyard now! read more

Mario Kart Bowsers Challenge - Right before getting on the ride - Amusement Parks Near Me - Universal City, California

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Such a fun ride! We were able to ride Mario Kart Bowsers challenge with only a 10 minute wait because we purchased the 2pm entry for Halloween Horror Nights with access to Super Nintendo World from 7pm-10pm. This ticket made it worth it because Super Nintendo World was not crowded and wait times for this ride were under 10 minutes making it easy to ride this ride multiple times throughout this window. Universal did an amazing job with this ride. My favorite game growing up was Mario Kart and to have this ride bring that experience to life really made me feel out! Highly recommend this ride! You will have a great time! My only complaint is the head VR not being as comfortable so if you suffer from migraines or head trauma this could aggravate it. Other than that, enjoy! read more

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For over a year, I've wanted to visit this attraction after seeing many videos and reviews. Sadly, it is very overhyped and we all left thankful we went on during a VIP Experience Tour avoiding the long standby line. This is likely a one and done attraction for me personally. read more

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This ride is fun, but I'm not sure it's worth it if the wait is very long. There is a single riders line and that's definitely to be taken advantage of! It can be a bit confusing to know where to shoot, but it's so much fun! read more

Two of my friends entered Super Nintendo World as soon as the park opened (8am). They were able to ride Mario Kart not once but TWICE before the rest of our group got into the park. They said the line was already long (30-60min wait) but they used the single rider line which allowed them to go through really fast. By the time the rest of our group joined those two friends (10am), the Mario Kart ride was about 100-120 min wait. My group of 6 went in the single-rider line. We didn't get to ride together but we only waited roughly 20-30 minutes in our line. The ride itself is super cool! I'm glad we purchased our power-up bands beforehand so that we could collect virtual coins during the ride. The augmented reality aspect added a cool layer to this ride which really helped me feel like I was actually in the video game. The graphics and music added to that atmosphere. I wish I could've ridden this a 2nd time. We did attempt the single-rider line again in the evening (7:45pm) but the single-rider line was longer. This is the only ride in Super Nintendo World and if given another opportunity, I would absolutely ride it again. read more

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This ride gets 5 stars from me. It's not too scary, but it's not too wimpy, either (it's not quite as tame as Secret Life of Pets). 3D works just fine, even with my glasses. Yes, there will be a line, especially if you go midday. I've waited as long as an hour and as little as 10 minutes. If you don't want a crowd, early morning or late at night is your best bet. Single rider can be hit or miss. This queue is really cool, so the wait isn't so bad. If this is your first time, unless you are by yourself, do NOT ride Single Rider if you can help it. You will miss all the cool theming and the instructions. If you're a Boo fan like me, he gets representation in the queue AND the ride. Don't forget to read the book titles when you are in the queue, lots of fun Nintendo easter eggs. The first time you ride, be prepared to be overwhelmed. I definitely was, and didn't realize what was going on. Luckily, I rode it a few more times and started to get the hang of it. You don't NEED a powerband to ride it, but you're probably gonna want one. It will keep track of your scores and achievements. After riding the ride a couple times, I found new things to discover, so I didn't even care about my score as much. When the line splits at the very end, right before you get on the vehicles, stay to the right if you can. The left side when they get off has to walk up and down a set of stairs that the right side doesn't. So, if you want to save your tired feet, veer to the right. My only gripe is that there's a room where they give instructions near the end of the queue, and it's not exactly clear what to do, because it's just pictures. Sometimes the announcer will talk through the pictures, which helps, but it would be really nice if they had some sort of voiceover. I still think this is a fun ride even if you have no idea what's going on. You can avoid the scores/achievements/extra stuff and just go along for the ride (literally). They did a good job of making this for all audiences. read more

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big ass line and underwhelming ride... it goes a lot slower than you'd expect. think buzz lightyears shoot em up ride

We've been to Universal Studios a couple of times now and have been on Mario Cart 4x time. The first time was the month they opened this ride and omg, just as expected, we waited for 2 hours! Call us stubborn but we wait it out just to get the Mario Cart experience. Growing up playing Mario Cart in the 80s definitely brings back nostalgia. Despite the super long wait, we enjoyed the ride. You truly felt like you were in Super Mario world. The next few times we went on the ride we had a brand new strategy. Arrive at Universal Studios before it opens. Once you get in, go on this ride first to avoid super long wait. This definitely worked for our recent visit over the new year's week! We only waited for about 40-45 minutes. read more

Been wanting to try this ride the last few times we visited but the line was always 180+ minutes that we did not want to wait for. Finally we went the other day with a friend and after we had lunch at Toadstool Cafe, we hopped in line because the wait wasn't that bad! This ride is by far one of the best decorated queues. You go from Yoshi's Island through Bowser's Castle and it is SO cool. The cutest little decor and hidden gems if you're a Mario fan. A bit disappointed in the ride itself. It was super cute at first but much slower than I expected for a Mario Kart type ride. The controls were also very confusing. You had to physically move your head to aim at the other drivers and use the triggers on your steering wheel to shoot out shells but also use the wheel to turn when it tells you to. However, you have a limited amount of shells so you're kind of just sitting there most of the time, enjoying the scenery, waiting for an item box to come your way to get more shells lol. I only ended up with 75 coins because of these little issues. Hopefully I'll do better next time but it was just an okay ride. Still very cute and I wish you could just walk through the castle for photos because that was probably the best part! IG: @ammysalamii read more

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Arrived an hour early before the park opened with the early access fee plus general admission ticket price. Stood in line for about an hour with the staff gradually leading the crowd down to Mario World. The first place we went was to the Bowser Ride where we navigated through the line which took about 2-5 minutes to get through. Waited in the instruction area for another 5 minutes and finally got on the ride where you wear a headset that gives a virtual view of the ride. The cart fits 4 people and the headsets are adjustable. Super enjoyed the ride. Fun for everyone of all ages. Not too scary or nor does it do crazy flips. Just a few spins. Loved all the Mario characters and felt just like the game. After the ride, it leads you out to the store where you're able to purchase Mario goodies. Fun for the family. Again recommend getting the early passes!!! read more

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Oh this was such a fun ride. Got a little nauseous at the end. I never er get nauseous from ride. Went on again and again. Colorful, eye catching. You get goggles you slip onto your visor which allows you to see your score, Mario worls team members and nemesis. Vrooom. read more

Mario Kart Bowsers Challenge - Amusement Parks Near Me - Universal City, California

Universal Studios has done it again! This theme park keeps reinventing itself one attraction after the next! Super Mario World is a Must experience at least once. I recommend buying the pass that gets you early access 1 hour before the park opens to indulge in Super Mario World before the crowds show up. We did this and it was worth it! No lines. In addition to buying this pass check out Disneys traffic calendar and come on a lower traffic day. Combining these 2 will ensure a more pleasurable day at the park! read more

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Got lucky twice in the last month to ride this with my son with a short wait time of thirty minutes. People say they wait over three hours at times but I can't imagine ever waiting that long for a short ride. Don't get me wrong it's a fun and cool ride but definitely not worth to wait for four hours unless you are traveling from another country or state and won't be visiting universal studios ever again. Since we live in LA and we have a season pass it's easier for me to skip the ro and save it for the next visit if it's super busy day. The whole experience is fun. From the moment you enter the ride queue you will see pictures and lights and lots of cute visuals. It's very interesting and interactive. read more

Mario Kart Bowsers Challenge - Amusement Parks Near Me - Universal City, California

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It's kind ok, not that fun was I expect, but we still have a great time during here. Nice place still.