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Experience the thrill and cunning new technology that brings to life one of the most beloved video game franchises in history - Super Mario in Mario Kart.
In the attraction, Mario Kart: Grad Prix - you will be enveloped in the world of Nintendo, surrounding in a virtual augmented reality with the sights and sounds you've grown to love from the Mario Kart series. Being able to take part in three distinct courses, the Mushroom Cup, the Star Cup , and the Flower Cup - the possibilities and unique experiences you will get on this ride are like none other in theme park history.
Perusing through Mushroom Kingdom, past the Peach Castle gift shop and meet and greet, you arrive at the entrance to Mario Kart: Grand Prix, and pass into a large animated mountain range through a golden yellow arch. After walking through the arch, you realize that you have entered the Mario Cup Hall of Fame, passing by past winners of the events and seeing your favorite Nintendo characters along the interior mountain hallways. Using interactive software, as you wait in the queue, you can test your skills by playing Mario Kart on the Nintendo Wii on large flat panel TVs lined up around the first 1/3rd of the queue line - further building up your anticipation and allowing guests to have a bit of an activity to do while waiting in line.
Approaching the pre-show area after going through a series of switchbacks through the Cup Hall of Fame, you arrive at the pre-show activity zone where you can design your own Mario Kart vehicle, just like in the game. As you customize the vehicle, a kind voice overhead instructs you on how to move the touch screen panels in front of you and manipulate your custom ride vehicle.
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In the second part of the pre-show, a demonstration takes place of how the attraction will work. You will wear glasses that are augmented reality glasses. Augmented reality glasses are a patent by Universal Creative which allows the wearer to be immersed in a virtual environment. Combined with the motion of your ride vehicles, the AR glasses will put you right in the moment of either the Mushroom Cup, the Flower Cup, or the Star Cup tracks...placing you in the middle of the action and into your own video game essentially. The motion around you will feel completely authentic, and with the AR capability, you will be able to steer your Mario Kart vehicle around the track similar to a Go Kart track. The ride vehicles themselves will be laced with an LPS tracking system, however the tires and motion of the vehicle move around as the user manipulated them. This motion, combined with the virtual reality, allows the users to feel completely involved in the action and allows for each ride experience to be different.
Each Mario Kart vehicle will have 2 guests in it, one to steer and the other guest to hurl the rewards from the question marks out onto the track, possibly impacting the other ride vehicles. This setup is similar to the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, and will be a fun way for parents to ride along with their kids who are having a blast -- or for the kids to ride along with the parent who is equaling having a blast living out his or her childhood.
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The ride vehicles approach the starting line which is 6 lanes of karts, 2 lanes for each Cup track to allow users to 'race' around the speedway. At each starting point there are 12 karts lined up at a time, for a total capacity of 24 guests per segment. The segments launch from 0-45 in 2.9 seconds, and send the karts into the 3 respective cup tracks. At any given time, there are 12 karts on the track, 12 karts in the unload area, and 12 karts in the load/starting line area - for a total of 36 karts. The time in the load area is roughly 30 seconds, the unload area is 30 seconds, and the attraction is 1 minute - for a total of 72 guests on the track at a time every 2 minutes.
Attraction Statistics
Ride Type - Augmented Reality Dark Ride
Ride Ticket - E-Ticket
Height Restriction - 40 inches to ride, 54 inches to drive
Ride Duration - 1 minute
Theoretical Hourly Capacity - 2,160 guests
Example Attraction Ride Throughs
Mario Circuit - Flower Cup
Example Attraction Ride Throughs
Electrodrome - Star Cup
Example Attraction Ride Throughs
Mario Stadium - Mushroom Cup
By Brer Oswald, DisneyFan18, spacemt354
Logos by MonorailRed
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Jump into the world of Nintendo and the revered Super Mario Bros. video games as you embark on an epic animated journey through the colorful universe. Approaching the land from either prior land you are coming from (whether it be Illumination Station or Jurassic World) you can see the peak of a large, cubical shaped mountain range in the distance, with green grass and brown mountain facades towering over the rainbow infused lands with the eclectic locations 180 degrees around this mountain range. As soon as you step through the gates to Mushroom Kingdom - you are immediately immersed in the magic of Nintendo, and all of the joy it brings to people of many ages.
Peach Castle
Princess Peach's Castle the entrance gate to Mushroom Kingdom and one of its most prominent landmarks. As you walk through the castle, you can either continue on straight into the main courtyard area, or you can walk through the castle for character Meet and Greet opportunities with Princess Peach and many Toads including Toad and Toadsworth who reside inside. It's also home to the largest Mario gift shop on property, selling any and all Super Mario Bros. merchandise as well as assorted other Nintedo gear. Near Peach's Castle is a Yoshi Meet and Greet area in an expansion area - serving as a reference to the possible Yoshi expansion in the coming years.
Walking through Kongo Jungle and into the Monkey Mines is a first-of-ts kind family coaster experience inspired by the adventures on Donkey Kong Island. As you enter the queue for the attraction, you walk up and around Donkey Kong's Treehouse as well as his precious Banana Hoard. Deep within Kongo Jungle now, you enter the Monkey Mines and trek down out of the jungle and into the mines themselves.
The ride vehicles themselves are new technology - using a ride track 'jumping' patent that Universal Creative has received, the mine carts will be able to 'jump' between the tracks similar to the video game, through the use of duel tracks, one on top and one on the bottom. To the guest perspective though, the vehicles seem to jump off the track below them and onto the next one, especially from a first person perspective. The track above is camouflaged and picks up the vehicles in the front and back of the guest seats, before the vehicles goes back down towards the original track below.
The goal of the attraction is to 'collect' the bananas and not fall into the mine shaft or get hit with any incoming projections on the track. The ride will reach a max speed of around 30 mph.
Attraction Statistics
Attraction Type - Family Coaster
Height Restriction - 38 inches
Attraction Ticket - D-Ticket
Length - 2 minutes
Mine Train Capacity - 20 guests
Trains per Track - 4
Hourly Capacity - 2,400 guests per hour
Wheelchair Transfer - Yes
Express Pass - Yes
A dueling spinner attraction akin to Dumbo The Flying Elephant that takes guests up into the skies of Mushroom Kingdom on a whimsical twirl around on a cloud.
Attraction Statistics
Attraction Type - Flat Ride
Attraction Ticket - B-Ticket
Length - 1.5 minutes
Hourly Capacity - 800 guests per hour
A flat kiddie ride themed after koopa shells. Similar to the Mad Tea Party, guests will spin around in their koopa shells as classic Nintendo music plays in the courtyards around you.
Attraction Statistics
Attraction Type - Flat Ride
Attraction Ticket - B-Ticket
Length - 2 minutes
Hourly Capacity - 900 guests per hour
Inside Bowser's Castle you can sit down in a smokehouse BBQ quick service restaurant serving a variety of individual meals such as pulled pork sandwiches, smoked turkey sandwiches, among a variety of other grilled favorites.
It's a'me - a'Mario! Welcome to this quick service pizzeria where you can get individual slices or pies consisting of cheese, pepperoni, avocado, mozzarella, basil, sausage, mushrooms, onions, chicken, meatballs, and more.
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