As a child of the 80’s who grew up with the Super Mario Brothers, it’s pretty cool to see those popular pixelated plumbers making a comeback with today’s kids — including my own! My son loves Mario and all his powered-up pals. So when a brand new land based on this franchise recently opened at Universal Studios in Hollywood, we knew we had to plan a visit.
In the Pipeline
The highly-anticipated grand opening of America’s first Super Nintendo World took place this February, after its successful counterpart opened in Universal Japan in 2021. While Universal Orlando is working toward the opening of its own Super Nintendo World in 2025, Mario fans from across the globe clamored to experience California’s immersive new land within the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park. The land is based on the Super Mario Brothers IP, but the name undoubtedly allows for the future inclusion of other Nintendo characters, at least in the form of merchandise.
Let’s-a-Go!
Universal describes Super Mario World as “A New Way to Play,” suggesting visitors will become fully immersed in the area and feel as though they’re playing a Super Mario video game in real life. Be sure to check if (free) reservations are required on the day of your park ticket. Although we visited on a busy summer day a few months after the grand opening, Universal did not require reservations the day we were there.
Super Nintendo World is located on the Lower Lot of Universal Studios right past Jurassic World and next to Transformers Metrobase. The land’s location is far from the Universal park entrance — and far from convenient. You’ll need quite a bit of time to travel from the entrance of the theme park to Mario’s new land. Get ready to ride several sets of escalators or walk over 300 stairs (we counted!) to get down there. If you or someone you’re traveling with requires an elevator, they are available, but they do delay the trip to the bottom of the park a bit more since guests must take a shuttle bus from the lower elevator to the actual Nintendo entrance. While getting to the land isn’t much fun, getting inside is one of the most exciting moments of your visit. You’ll enter Super Nintendo World by stepping through a giant, illuminated pipe — much like one Mario and his pals travel through in the video game — as you listen to the iconic Mario Brothers’ theme song all around you. Before you know it, you’re emerging on the other side of the pipe into the one and only Mushroom Kingdom!
A New Way to Play
Super Nintendo World at Universal Hollywood is basically shaped like a giant circle. Upon exiting the pipe that brought you inside, Peach’s Castle will be directly in front of you and you’ll be surrounded by the rolling green hills of Mushroom Kingdom, speckled with colorful piranha plants, Goombas, and Koopa Troopas. After taking lots of pictures and smiling at all the immersive Instragrammable details, you can start playing throughout the land!
Like any video game, Super Nintendo World has a tale of its own. As the land’s story goes, Bowser Junior has stolen the Golden Mushroom from Princess Peach, and it’s up to guests to collect three keys from various games or scan stamps along the walls of Mushroom Kingdom in order to retrieve the Golden Mushroom by fighting the young villain in Bowser Junior’s Showdown. In addition to doing this, guests have the opportunity to help Mario race Bowser in pursuit of the Golden Cup by riding the land’s only ride, Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge.
Super Nintendo World’s priciest gimmick is its Power-Up Band. These interactive snap bracelets are sold at the land’s gift shop and electronic vending machines. They come in six varieties: Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, a Super Mushroom, Yoshi, and Princess Daisy, and sell for a hefty $40 each. It’s an overpriced investment for a family with multiple kids, so in my opinion you can enjoy the land without one. (But, not according to my son, so we bought them.) Since about half of the entertainment is interactive, a Power-Up Band does enable you to enjoy the full experience of Super Nintendo World. Connect your Power-Up Band to your Universal app and you can keep score as you punch life-size question blocks, scan stamps, and win challenges throughout your day.
In Need of a Level-Up
In all honesty, I felt the interactive elements of the land were cool but could have been better. Both the crowds and the heat were brutal on the day of our visit, which made it a little difficult to enjoy everything. Perhaps Universal didn’t realize that reservations on the day of our visit should have been in order, but it really felt like not enough thought was put into planning time for all guests to enjoy all the attractions. While Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge is the celebrated highlight of the land, we didn’t get to ride it during this visit since the wait time was almost 2 hours! It was entirely too hot and crowded and we simply weren’t up to, well, the challenge.
Speaking of heat and fatigue, Super Nintendo World is desperately in need of better rest areas. There is little to no seating throughout the land and hardly any shade for hot Southern California days. During our summer visit, I saw a thermostat in a covered, shady area was reading 97 degrees, and there was only one bench in this area for people who were having trouble with the heat. This land is built in the shape of a giant circle with the entire center uncovered, and most of the lines are directly in the sun. There is very little indoor space besides the ride, one restaurant, and a gift shop. The land has a few small cave-like areas that are shady, but they are crowded with all the guests who need a break from the noise and the weather. Universal really missed the mark on designing shady seating areas for guests, and this is a complaint I heard from so many other visitors. Theme parks have an obligation to plan for seating and shade for tired guests and overstimulated children, and Universal absolutely needs to level-up their options in this regard.
Super Meet-and-Greets
One of my favorite aspects of the land was its meet-and-greets with classic Mario Brothers characters. Although the crowds were intense on the day of our visit, Universal wisely scheduled regular meet-and-greet sessions that limit the lines, with staff members cutting the line off after a certain amount of guests and inviting them to return for the next meet-and-greet. In Super Nintendo World you can meet Peach, Toad, and Mario and Luigi, who appear together and talk in pre-recorded conversation but do not come out as often as Peach and Toad. The characters are very cute and make for a nice interaction that is Power-Up Band-free! Word to the wise: you are not allowed to line up too far in advance, but if you linger around a meet-and-greet sign and get on line as soon as the staff member allows, you’ll get to meet the character on its next appearance.
Toadstool Cafe
Super Nintendo World has one and only one eatery — Toadstool Cafe. It’s adorable and highly-themed, and thanks to Universal promos and all the YouTube theme park vloggers, my son was so excited to eat there that he picked out his entire food order months before our visit!
Toadstool Cafe is a sit-down restaurant but with a quick-service ordering style. I can’t say enough about how immersive and adorably themed it is, but it was also absolute chaos the day we were there, and based on conversations we had with Universal staff it’s had some consistent growing pains since opening. We approached the hostess at the stand outside the resturant at lunchtime asking for a table. We were told that because they overbooked reservations (which Universal doesn’t even advertise) they couldn’t accommodate any walk-ins through park closing at 8pm. We would’ve been happy to wait as long as necessary for a table, but it was only 12:30pm and the restaurant was saying they could not seat anyone for the rest of the day! While the tables at Toadstool Cafe are highly coveted, this is still just a casual quick-service eatery with a counter, not some exclusive reservations-only restaurant. Theme parks like Disney know how to stagger reservations with walk-ins to ensure that everyone has a fair chance to possibly eat there, even if it means waiting for a table; Universal should know how to do the same. After talking to the manager of the Toadstool Cafe, it was clear that the system was frustrating to her as well and she kindly accommodated our request for a table.
Before our visit we had heard a lot of positive reviews of the food at Toadstool Cafe, and after eating there I can say that I agree with some of them. The food is very cute, superbly themed, and much of it resembles food art, which leads me to to give this place a 10/10 for food presentation. But after ordering several items to sample a lot of the menu, I’d say the dishes were a bit hit or miss.
I love a good Caprese salad, so for my appetizer I ordered the Piranha Plant Caprese ($12.99) with tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, asparagus, and basil. It was plain old boring, had little flavor, and wasn’t much of a Caprese salad, so I’d only give it a 5/10. I also ordered the Luigi Burger ($16.99) which is pesto grilled chicken, basil pesto, Swiss cheese, green pepper, and spinach served on a brioche bun with a side of truffle French fries. It was a decent chicken sandwich and I’d give it a 7/10. For my dessert I ordered the ? Block Tiramisu ($9.99) which I thought was picture-perfect but tasted terrible, straight down to the truly un-Italian Cool Whip it was made with. I give it a 2/10 for taste, but order it if you want an adorable food photo. My son ordered a “kids’ meal” called the Mario Mini Burger Adventure Set ($14.99). It came with a cheeseburger, truffle French fries, corn on the cob, broccoli, and a coin cookie. He really enjoyed it and gave it a 9/10. For dessert he ordered the Princess Peach Cupcake ($9.99) which is a raspberry-filled Funfetti cupcake with buttercream frosting and a Princess Peach chocolate crown. We both enjoyed this but agreed it didn’t need the raspberry filling, so we gave it a 9/10.
Toadstool Cafe isn’t cheap, but it’s an excellent immersive experience complete with sound ambiance and Mario-theming from the walls to your plate. I’d definitely recommend going because it’s absolutely adorable and some of the food is pretty solid. Just beware of the reservation issues if they haven’t fixed them yet!
Review in Review
Overall, Super Mario World at Universal Hollywood is a well-themed experience that any Nintendo fan is sure to enjoy. I’d recommend trying it during off-peak times, and we’ll definitely return to experience it in cooler weather with less crowds. I met some very nice Universal survey workers after we exited the land, and they told me that all my thoughts about the issues with the restaurant and the lack of seating were problems they were aware needed repair. Universal definitely has some kinks to iron out and I hope they do because it’s a pricey experience for families. But if you’re a Nintendo lover and you’re able to get to Hollywood, keep my tips in mind and power-up your way to Super Nintendo World!
What Lara Wrote 