Donkey Kong Country is now open officially at Universal Studios Japan.
The expansion to the park's Super Nintendo World includes the new Mine-Cart Madness family roller coaster. That ride uses Universal's patented "boom coaster" design to create the illusion of the mine carts jumping the track, as they do in the Donkey Kong video games upon which the land is based.
Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto joined Universal Studios Japan President J.L. Bonnier to open the land this morning, accompanied by Donkey Kong and Mario.
"The jungle beyond this tunnel is full of our passion which we worked hard together with Universal Studios Japan and the Universal Creative teams," Mr. Miyamoto said, in Japanese. "There are many elements throughout the land where you can find gameplay and design from the world of Donkey Kong; such as a mine cart-themed coaster that is thrilling but enjoyable to children and an activity where you can meet Rambi the rhinoceros. I believe it is a land that can be enjoyed by the whole family."
With today's official opening, a much better POV of Mine-Cart Madness has dropped.
Theme park fans in the United States will get their opportunity to experience Donkey Kong Country and Super Nintendo World when they open as part of Universal Epic Universe at the Universal Orlando Resort on May 22, 2025.
To buy discounted, advance tickets to the Osaka, Japan park, please visit our international partner's Universal Studios Japan tickets page. For Epic Universe tickets, please visit our U.S. partner's Universal Orlando tickets page.
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With that perspective you would have to assume the designers never did a mock up or a virtual reality simulation of the ride. A nightime ride will be fun, regardless. I think it will be fine, ride wise. Capacity wise it seems atrocious. When i go to Epic Universe I am absolutely going to avoid Nintendoland. There rides all seem like Carousel tier levels of fun. Wish Mario Kart was actual electro carts like Disney autotopia with maybe a drifting feature.
Looks fun if a little short, but I think the concept remains good and I can’t wait to see what can be done with a 3rd or 4th gen boom coaster.
In any case with this jumping gimmick it will surely still get attention long after a tallest/fastest/most loopiest would have been out sized/paced/looped.
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Bits and pieces of this have been posted all day across the web, and this land looks, in a word, UNREAL. From the DK meet and greet space to all the little details, Universal really stepped up their game here. The only issues I see here are with the coaster itself.
1. The capacity is just 4 people per cart with cycle times that appear to be somewhere around 20 seconds, which optimally gives them an hourly capacity of 720. That's about what you'd expect from a high capacity flat ride, not a coaster intended for the entire family that everyone is going to want to ride. The conveyor belt loading platform should help the crew maintain optimal throughput, but it does look like lines could be long and arduous to get a chance to ride this one-of-a-kind experience.
2. The more I see of this coaster, the more I see a prisoner's dilemma with the track jumping and near miss elements more geared towards guests watching the coaster than the ones actually riding. The ride itself doesn't look to be terribly dynamic in terms of its motion, so these illusions have to generate the thrill. However, it also looks like the illusions are better viewed from the ground and not on the coaster, so it makes you wonder if people might be more entertained watching the carts going around the track than sitting in 2+ hour lines to actually ride.