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Universal Studios Japan: General Discussion

Benjsh said:
Be nice to have a Universal studios resort a bit closer to home. We've got a Disney resort a relative stones throw from UK in Paris.....wouldn't it be nice to have a Universal Studios resort in Europe or even in the UK.....say on the proposed site for the paramount park that will never see the light of day.

A guy can dream......
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Good shout but somewhere near Barcelona would be a better. Nice and sunny how could it fail? :tonguewink:
 
Jb85 said:
I wonder if Brexit will make that less likely to happen?
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Or more so considering we are going to be America's b1tch even more than ever now.

When you think about it.....it isn't even that unrealistic. Most of their attractions are indoors anyway so climate wouldn't be an issue.

It will never happen but it would be amazing to have a Universal studios in the UK. Give Merlin the kick up the backside it needs too so it would be win win.
 
I doubt any park operator will look at opening in the UK anytime soon given the state of London Resort by Paramount.

Even a well run company would still question the hoops required to be jumped through.
 
Jb85 said:
I wonder if Brexit will make that less likely to happen?
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I would guess so, if you wanted to make somewhere on the scale of Disneyland Paris where they aim to get customers from all over Europe, then putting the park within the EU where there are no visa issues would make more sense.
 
It has been confirmed that Super Nintnedo World will open at Universal Studios Japan on February 4th 2021. And some official photos of the area and the headline attraction, Mario Kart: Koopa's Challenge, have been released:

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The Mario Kart ride will untilise AR headsets:

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Source

It all looking rather incredible!
 
It's insane how close it resembles the concept art! Looks unreal.
 
It does look really good and I like all the little details, but can’t help but feel there is very little there, other than a dark ride and a restaurant. Can’t imagine the kind of waits the ride will get, plus all the people waiting round those mini games to try earn coins, etc.
 
Just seen a POV of Mario Kart ride and my word does it look a disappointment. Plenty of amazing theming and screens in there which was expected obviously but the car goes around the track at a snail's pace like a traditional dark ride does.

Not sure that fits in with the 'racing' element of the game at all. It just looks like a trackless dark ride to me. Bit of a left down. I was expecting some actual racing elements
 
Did you watch the POV with the argument reality images or without? there are two videos the one with the filmed behind the googles shows all of the argumented reality, however there is a disclaimer to say when actually riding all the argumented reality actually lines up correctly and doesnt look like it does in the POV where it looks out of sync and racers floating in the air etc.

It basically uses the same basic ride system as Men in black. Although early reviews are positive, although they often are. i have initially had same thoughts as yourself. Good though to see alot of physical sets rather than all screens though and also the use of projection mapping used to good effect as well.

They have come up with a much quicker way of dealing with headsets over how many current VR attractions use head sets in that the headset frame is fitted in the preshow, once boarded the screen element which is attached to the ride car just clips onto the front of your already fitted headset.

Its going to be added to Orlando somehow and think likely they will add to replace the kid zone at Universal as per the original plan now epic Universe is delayed as dont think they will want to wait another 4-5 years before they get the attraction in Orlando, plus they announced this week the outdated Barney show in kids zone wont be reopening. They then have time with delay to come up with a replacement land for epic universe, possible some of the other Nintendo properties.
 
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Maelstrom said:
Did you watch the POV with the argument reality images or without? there are two videos the one with the filmed behind the googles shows all of the argumented reality, however there is a disclaimer to say when actually riding all the argumented reality actually lines up correctly and doesnt look like it does in the POV where it looks out of sync and racers floating in the air etc.

It basically uses the same basic ride system as Men in black. Although early reviews are positive, although they often are. i have initially had same thoughts as yourself. Good though to see alot of physical sets rather than all screens though and also the use of projection mapping used to good effect as well.

They have come up with a much quicker way of dealing with headsets over how many current VR attractions use head sets in that the headset frame is fitted in the preshow, once boarded the screen element which is attached to the ride car just clips onto the front of your already fitted headset.

Its going to be added to Orlando somehow and think likely they will add to replace the kid zone at Universal as per the original plan now epic Universe is delayed as dont think they will want to wait another 4-5 years before they get the attraction in Orlando, plus they announced this week the outdated Barney show in kids zone wont be reopening. They then have time with delay to come up with a replacement land for epic universe, possible some of the other Nintendo properties.
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Seen both videos now. Still feels a bit of a cop out to me though.

I was expecting something in that building to be like test track or the Cars ride where they actually race each other. Wouldn't have to be for the whole duration as that would require a huge amount of land but I expected at least one fast part.

It's just an updated Men in Black Ride as you say. But disappointing in my opinion.
 
As a dark ride the quality is fantastic. The physical sets are great and mixed well with the screens and augmented reality. It's also a very unique concept. Deffinetley on the same quality level as Harry Potter.

However the decision to make Mario Kart slow is very odd. Seeing the cars in the station I expected a junior Gringots ride system. Something that would speed up, slow down and make use if some trick track.

The real sin is the fake out start; with the standard Mario Kart countdown only to block the course and spin the cars around. It immediately highlights that this isn't the ride you expected.

But it does still look like a great ride if you are actually riding it. There's a lot going on that doesn't translate well to POV recordings.
 
It’s an interesting POV to watch...

The set pieces look stunning and high quality. It was always a bit of a risk with this that it turned into screens, screens and more screens, which was a concern for me. I’m glad to see that they’ve managed to work the screens into the scenes this time and have created a lot of really impressive effects.

However, as others have said, the ride system was totally unexpected. Perhaps we all had an expectation of something a bit more lively thanks to that patent we saw Universal file a few years ago. It certainly wouldn’t be the system I’d have gone to for a Mario Kart ride. It feels to me like someone did all the themeing and technology design first, and then went “Oh crap! We’ve used nearly all of the budget. What’s the cheapest transit system in the catalogue?” I do wonder how much of the ride system’s speed and pacing was limited or dictated by the AR technology...

The other criticism I would say at this point is on the POVs I watched you seem to see the vehicle in front of you at a few points, and as a result see scenes resetting ahead of you. It could do with a little tightening up.

But let’s not pretend this is a bad ride. It really does look beautifully themed. Just not perhaps what I was expecting.
 
Ian said:
The other criticism I would say at this point is on the POVs I watched you seem to see the vehicle in front of you at a few points, and as a result see scenes resetting ahead of you. It could do with a little tightening up.
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Laser Raiders has an interesting way of avoiding this problem. Each scene has 3 audio tracks that all hit the same narrative points but the delivery is slightly different. So the car in-front and behind always plays a different audio track to the one you are hearing.

I'm sure there are other rides that do this as well. Universal could take the idea and have 3 seperate videos that blend into each other and make the cars ahead seem like just anouther racer.
 
I've not seen the POVs yet (anyone got a link to them?) however I did read a few days ago that the ride is somewhat underwhelming. You would expect a Mario Kart ride to be quite fast, however the analogy I saw was that it is more like Midway Mania than Radiator Springs, which is a pity.

The reason for it? Apparently Nintendo asked for it not to be too thrilling as they wanted it to be a ride that pretty much anyone could go on and enjoy. I guess they've never seen just how long the queue gets for Radiator Springs Racers over at DCA!
 
I wonder how it feels when on board, as there's a LOT of action going on through the AR side of things that might "distract" from the slower paced nature of the ride.

I think having something like Radiator Springs Racers wouldn't necessarily work with the interactive elements of the ride.

Tbh it's not a true Mario Kart experience because you're not in first for the entire race and then a Blue Shell hits you inches from the finish line on the final lap.
 
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