Thanks! I think it’s more of the latter. Or I could just be saying that because I’m in the know. I haven’t seen very much marketing for Mario at all. I think that’s a good idea to keep expectations low. If people walk away viewing Mario Kart as just a part of the Super Nintendo World experience it will have better reviews.
I just happened upon a story about Universal Studio's Mario expansion a couple days ago. With all that's been going on, it had slipped under my radar. It looked very fun and cute! I don't quite get the cultural significance, but if someone says "It's a video game the kids like" then that's good enough for me.
Mario is the Italian video game fellow in the overalls. That's about where my knowledge ends.
(He chases stuff, or stuff chases him? But not like that gorilla who chased barrels in Donkey Kong.) And then they made a land and a ride based off of him. Bravo, Mario!
I’m hoping they tweaked our MMRR a little bit but it sounds like it was just some minor staging stuff due to the different shaped show building. Most reviews I’ve heard have MMRR at more of a D ticket caliber experience even if it’s an E by most metrics.
It's such a weird thing now to label things with Ticket designations, but somehow it still makes sense. Getting to that E Ticket designation is difficult, because right about the same time they got rid of the tickets is when all the big new rides had to be thrill rides with height requirements. So to have a lavish new ride without a height requirement almost seems as though it's impossible to label it an E Ticket.
But honestly, if they opened the Haunted Mansion today would we consider it an E Ticket? Or Jungle Cruise? Or Small World? There's no physical thrills and babies can be carried along for the ride. The only reason they were E's were because they cost a lot of money to operate and to maintain and Richard Nunis
really knew what he was doing with ticket books and park operations and guest demand circa 1962-1992.
Sidetrack: I could only imagine if the Parks had a senior leader like Richard Nunis come along again. That man knew his business inside and out, from stroller parking areas in Tomorrowland to designing high capacity loading areas effectively to proper dress codes for entry level managers
(If you're going to wear Dockers, they better be pressed! I wanna see that crease in your leg from the Hub!), and he led the Disney theme parks to operational greatness that helped burnish their image with the paying public for decades. The last few decades of Parks leaders have either been faded copies of Nunis or clueless empty suits a million miles from Nunis abilities. More often they were clueless empty suits. Josh D'Amaro seemed to show promise, but where's he been lately? And if he's allegedly so good, why haven't the Parks had a renaissance under him? Did he get too much credit because he was merely slim and attractive and
not instantly unlikeable Bob Chapek?
Back OT: I do love that they spent the resources and space and energy that they did for this Mickey's Runaway Railway thing though. It's one of those rare things that makes you think maybe Disney's US theme parks will survive this current age and live to tell about it. Maybe.
. To be fair I am one of the few here that does have RoTR on my top 5. So I feel like I try to to balance “newness” with nostalgia, but we’ll see. 
