What would you call it? World of Nintendo
What would be the theme of the park? The worlds and characters of classic Nintendo games. The park would be split up into "lands" based on each game. Mushroom Kingdom=Mario Land, Hyrule=Legend of Zelda Land, Planet Zebes=Metroid Land, etc.
Characters? The Mario Bros., Princess Peach, Bowser, Toad, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Wario, Samus, Zelda, Link, Pit Ash and Pikachu, Ganondorf, Ridley (if a costume of him is even possible), Mr. Game and Watch, Kirby... pretty much the whole Nintendo crew, obscure to mega-popular, old-school to cutting edge.
Restaurants? If nothing else, the Mario Bros. would own an Italian restaurant in the Mushroom Kingdom.
Other than this, I'm not so sure, though I'd love to see a restaurant themed to Metroid, with all weird futuristic food-stuff.
Shops? Heh... Hyrule's gift shop can be based on the shops from the Zelda games, while the Mushroom Kingdom shop would look like the item houses from Super Mario Bros. 3.
Rides? Save the Princess would be the main ride for the Mushroom Kingdom. I'm thinking a dark ride that sort of follows the Mario Bros. as they trek across the Mushroom Kingdom to confront Bowser in his castle.
Another cool attraction for the Mushroom Kingdom would be the Mario Kart Grand Prix, an indoor ride where you "race" against your friends through classic Mario Kart tracks, ending of course on the spectacular Rainbow Road in outer space. I think it'd be cool if the ride vehicle was modeled after a Go-kart, allowing only two per vehicle, but they would be arranged side-by-side, as if they're actually racing. Other non-rider karts featuring animatronics of Mario and co. can pull up alongside the rider-karts, trash-talk and try and sabotage the "real" racers. And of course, each ride would be a little different, as one kart would be randomly assigned the "winner" each time. Hell, even give the "winner" a free fast-pass to another ride.
Escape from Zebes would be simulator ride for the Planet Zebes area(sort of like Star Tours/Mission:Space)... The ride would be from the point of view of Samus herself, as she explores the catcombs of Zebes, and finds the monstrous Mother Brain, kills it, and then of course, has to escape the planet before it self-destructs. That, and then maybe do a Buzz-Lightyear style shoot-em up ride, where you help Samus pick off Metroids and Space Pirates.
Pit's Flight would go into either the Kid Icarus world (Pit's the star of Kid Icarus) or the sort of Nintendo "leftovers" world (for attractions based on games that aren't quite big enough to need a whole land). Pit's Flight would be a heavily themed roller-coaster, ala Expedition Everest. "As" Pit, you fly out of the Underworld (would be cool if this part was all straight up, sort of like an extreme version of Space Mountain's launch sequence), through the dangerous Labyrinth, over "Greece" and finally, up to Mount Olympus, to confront Medusa. Of course the whole time you're dodging monsters and all sorts of deadly traps.
The Pokemon land could have a cool Pokemon Safari, ala Jungle Cruise/Killamanjaro Safari. I'd love to see herds of squirtles in their natural environment. And of course, the ride would end with a run-in with one of the gigantic pokemon.
Wow, these rides seriously write themselves...
I think Kirby's land (Dreamland) would probably be the land specifically designed for younger kids, which makes sense, as the Kirby games are too (though they're still perfectly enjoyable to us big kids
). The biggest issue with World of Nintendo is coming up with the "wienie." Princess Peach's castle makes the most sense, but then what about Hyrule Castle? Also, two castles in one park? Can you really have Hyrule without Hyrule Castle? Probably. But would it be too big of a rip-off of the Magic Kingdom to have a castle for the park's wienie? Maybe. Then what else would make for a good wienie? Hmm...
