Universal Studios Hollywood

Super Nintendo World

A built environment of pipes, blocks and moving Koopas, with one ride, one interactive game layer and a restaurant worth eating at.

Opened2023
Attractions3
Places to eat1
HeadlinerMario Kart: Bowser's Challenge

Super Nintendo World opened at Universal Studios Hollywood in February 2023, the first version in the United States. You enter through a warp pipe into a courtyard beneath Bowser's castle, and the build quality is the best in the park: the ground level moves, Piranha Plants snap, Koopa shells rotate, and the whole thing is engineered to be looked at from several heights at once.

There is one ride. Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge is an augmented-reality dark ride where you wear a visor over a cap and steer a car through a Mario Kart course, throwing shells at targets. It is technically remarkable and, for a lot of people, not much fun to play — the AR overlay is dim, aiming is fiddly, and it is difficult to tell whether you are doing well. It is worth riding once and is not worth a ninety-minute wait.

The other half of the land is the Power-Up Band game layer. A band on your wrist plus the Universal app turns the land into a scavenger hunt: hit blocks, collect digital coins, solve three Key Challenges hidden around the courtyard, then face Bowser Jr. Children get considerably more out of this land than adults do, and families who buy bands and commit to the hunt get an hour out of an area that otherwise takes twenty minutes.

Capacity is the structural problem. This is a small footprint with one ride and it fills fast. On peak days Universal has managed entry with a timed virtual line rather than letting the courtyard jam, so check the app on arrival rather than assuming you can wander in at 2pm.

Do not miss

Walking in through the warp pipe for the first time
Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge, worth one ride
Power-Up Band Key Challenges and the Bowser Jr. finale
Toadstool Cafe, the best food inside this park
Meeting Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach in the courtyard

Super Nintendo World tips

Go at opening or in the last two hours. This is the smallest high-demand footprint in the park and the middle of the day here is unpleasant.
Check the app for a timed entry requirement before you walk over. On busy days Universal meters access rather than letting the courtyard fill.
Buy Power-Up Bands only if you will actually do the Key Challenges. One band per child is enough to play; the parents do not need one.
Book Toadstool Cafe or order it early. It is the only place in the park where the food is worth planning around, and it fills by noon.
Mario Kart uses a visor that clips to a cap. If you wear glasses it still works, but expect to spend the first thirty seconds adjusting it rather than playing.

Attractions in Super Nintendo World

Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge

40"102cm

Dark ride · 5 min · Express

An augmented-reality dark ride through a Mario Kart course, technically remarkable and genuinely frustrating to play.

Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge opened with Super Nintendo World in February 2023 and is the only ride in the land. You wear a visor clipped to a cap, sit in a four-seat kart on a trackless-feeling guided path, steer with a wheel and press a trigger to throw shells at targets projected into your view. The physical sets are built around you and the augmented reality layer adds karts, characters, shells and coins on top of them.

Tips for Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge

Ride it once, early. It is worth doing and it is not worth a long wait, and the queue here builds faster than anywhere else in the park.
The single rider line works and cuts the wait substantially. You lose nothing by riding apart, because the gameplay is individual anyway.
Aim by turning your head, not by steering. The trigger throws at whatever is in the center of your view, and people who try to aim with the wheel score almost nothing.
The visor works over glasses but takes a moment to seat properly. Sort it out in the station rather than after the kart has left.
If a child in your group dislikes things on their face, do not queue for this. There is no version of the ride without the visor and no way to bail once you are moving.

Full guide to Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge →

Power-Up Band Key Challenges

Any height

Interactive game

A wearable-band scavenger hunt across Super Nintendo World, with three hidden keys, a Bowser Jr. finale, and an hour of a child's attention.

The Power-Up Band is a wristband sold in Super Nintendo World that pairs with the Universal app and turns the whole land into a game. Punching question blocks collects digital coins. Three Key Challenges hidden around the courtyard — puzzle mechanisms built into the scenery rather than screens — each yield a key. Collect all three and you unlock a final confrontation with Bowser Jr.

Tips for Power-Up Band Key Challenges

Buy one band per child and none for the adults. Children will share happily and grown-ups get very little out of holding their own.
Do not buy bands unless you are staying in the land for at least an hour. The value is entirely in completing the Key Challenges, and a rushed visit wastes the money.
Charge your phone. The whole game layer runs through the Universal app and a dead battery ends it.
Ask a team member where a Key Challenge is if you cannot find it. Two of the three are genuinely hidden and there is no shame in it.
Do this at opening or in the last two hours. Working the challenges in a packed midday courtyard is much less fun than it sounds.

Full guide to Power-Up Band Key Challenges →

Meet Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach

Any height

Character meet

Character meetings in the Super Nintendo World courtyard, with queues that run longer than the ride's on some mornings.

Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach appear in the Super Nintendo World courtyard on a rotating schedule, meeting guests against the backdrop of the land rather than in a dedicated building. The costumes are among the better full-head character suits in operation and the performers are well drilled at working with small children.

Tips for Meet Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach

Check the app for the posted appearance times. The sets are short and there are long gaps between them.
Do this at opening if it matters to your children. By late morning the line is frequently longer than the Mario Kart queue.
The courtyard has almost no shade and the queue is in the open. On a hot day, weigh that against how much the photograph is worth.
Approach small children slowly. The full-head costumes are excellent and precisely for that reason some toddlers find them alarming at close range.

Eating in Super Nintendo World

Quick service · Super Nintendo World

Toadstool Cafe

Toad's restaurant in Super Nintendo World, where every plate is themed and the food is genuinely the best inside this park.

$$Mobile order

CuisineThemed American and Italian-influenced dishes
ReservationsReservations recommended

Snacks worth stopping for

Mario Bacon Cheeseburger

Toadstool Cafe

$19.99

A bacon cheeseburger served under a bun shaped and colored as Mario's cap, plated with fries and presented on a themed tray.

Our take: The signature plate and, surprisingly, a properly cooked burger rather than a prop with meat in it. The kitchen here is doing real work behind the gimmick.

Near the top of the list Savory

Super Mushroom Soup Bread Bowl

Toadstool Cafe

$16.99

A cream of mushroom soup served inside a bread bowl baked and decorated to look like a Super Mushroom, red cap and white spots included.

Our take: The best-looking savory dish in the park and a genuinely decent soup underneath the presentation. The best vegetarian order inside these gates.

Near the top of the list Savory Vegetarian

Question Block Tiramisu

Toadstool Cafe

$12.99

A cube of tiramisu built and finished as a Mario question block, complete with the question mark on the face, served with a mushroom-shaped garnish.

Our take: The single best dessert inside this park and the rare themed item that people photograph and then finish. If you order one thing at Toadstool Cafe, order this.

Do not leave without it Sweet Vegetarian

Piranha Plant Caprese

Toadstool Cafe

$14.99

A tomato and mozzarella salad arranged as a Piranha Plant emerging from a pipe, with basil and a green pesto base.

Our take: A properly conceived vegetarian dish rather than a substitution off a meat menu, which is rarer at this park than it should be. Light, which matters at lunchtime here.

Savory VegetarianGluten-friendly

Fire Flower Spaghetti and Meatballs

Toadstool Cafe

$19.99

Spaghetti and meatballs in a spiced tomato sauce, plated with a fire-flower motif and served in a bowl rather than on a tray.

Our take: The least interesting plate on a strong menu, and still better than most of what this park serves. Order the burger or the soup ahead of it.

Savory

Super Star Lemon Squash

Toadstool Cafe

$9.99

A sparkling lemon drink served with a star-shaped garnish, non-alcoholic and the most refreshing thing on the Toadstool Cafe menu.

Our take: Ten dollars for lemonade is a Universal Studios Hollywood price. It is genuinely good lemonade, and the cheapest way to sit in the best air-conditioned room in the park.

Drink VeganGluten-friendly Walkable

Nearby

Universal Studios Hollywood map See where this land sits All attractions Every ride in Universal Studios Hollywood Upper Lot The park's original level: the entrance, the Studio Tour boarding area, every show, and most of the walking. Springfield A built-out corner of the Simpsons town, with one ride and a genuinely funny run of themed food windows.