How To Visit “Super Nintendo World” Without Early Access Pass

Author Shawn Tempesta

June 21st, 2023 12:13 PM

What Universal Studios Hollywood (and Japan and soon Orlando) have done with Super Nintendo World is amazing. Enter a warp pipe and you are transported into another galaxy. One filled with Goombas, plumbers, and a really angry turtle-ish guy and his son.

It’s also filled with a lot of people. A lot of people.

To say that “Super Nintendo World” is slightly busy is the world’s biggest lie. When the floodgates open, a sea of families enter the small section of the park and the lines go crazy. Want to get a reservation to Toadstool Cafe? Good luck. Want to even get into the land at all? You better be up early and a speed walker, or have that phone handy.

You can save yourself a lot of time by spending a little money. The $20-30 “Early Access” pass will get you into the land a full hour earlier than the unwashed general admission folk. But let’s just say you decided on a whim to visit later in the week like I did. You’ll find those “Early Access” passes are sold out several weeks in advance. Are you out of luck? Did a blue shell come by and cream you? No. UPDATE: Thankfully the “sell outs” are, since publication, only a few days out. So you should be able to get passes only a few days out.

The reality is if you walk into Super Nintendo World ready, you will be able to do practically everything in the park. All you need is preparation, patience, and a plan.

During my Father’s Day Weekend trip to Mario’s joint, I figured out how to knock it all out with relative ease. Here are my tips to tackling Super Nintendo World… without the Early Access pass.

Here’s how to do everything at “Super Nintendo World” WITHOUT an Early Access pass

Before You Enter…

• Download The Universal Studios Hollywood App

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  This is going to be a must. Get the app. Get your tickets connected. You're going to need it later for the interactivity in the land, and potentially to get in the "Virtual Line" if you get shut out.

• Show Up Early

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  You didn't get "Early Access" passes... but show up early anyways. An hour should be good. Get in line and pack your patience as all the other, better prepared families pass you. You will be rewarded.

As You Enter…

• Snap The QR Code For Restaurant Reservations

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  You are lucky enough to slowly get to make your way to the warp pipe to enter "Super Nintendo World". Don't pose for photos. You'll have time later. No. To the left of the pipe is a QR code to make a reservation for "Toadstool Cafe", the only restaurant in the land. Snap it, reserve RIGHT THEN. If you do not act fast, you're doomed. Reservations fill up within minutes of general admission.

• Speaking Of Food…

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  Your options to eat in the land are severely limited. There's Toadstool Cafe... and there's a snack cart with a very limited selection. That is it. Bring your reusable water bottle and pack as many items as they'll allow you to munch on for the land. You might get a reservation for Toadstool Cafe, but it could be a while. Plus, once you leave the land you can't re-enter. So the other options in the park are not available to you.

• Get Your Power-Up Band And Choose Your Path NOW

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  A sea of humanity has flooded the park. Early access people are petrified. First step: get your power-up bands at the 1UP Factory (to the right when you walk in). What are these? They are the whole land. You don't get one, you're missing out. $40 each (ouch), they allow you to interact with the land. Punch blocks, get coins, earn achievements and more. Like a video game. They need to be setup within the Universal Studios app, which you already downloaded because you paid attention, right? Right. You'll set up the band while you're in line for your next decision. Are you going on the ride line or do the challenges first? If you choose the ride line, while Early Access had waits as little as 30-40 minutes. your wait will increase exponentially with each second. If you work fast, you could get in the line for a 60-90 minute wait. If it's at 120 minutes (or more... I saw it go to 3 hours) then wait for later. The wait will settle back to 2 hours in a few hours. If you miss out on a good wait time on the ride, do everything else while you wait for the time to decrease.

What To Do…

• Meet The Characters

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  Meet Princess Peach near the entrance. Meet Mario & Luigi near the middle of the land. You'll find a gold heart with their next appearance time. Get in line, as they will cut off the line after a certain amount of time. There's no need to buy a photo. A helpful staff member will take the picture for you.

• Play The Mini-Games

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  You bought the power-up bands to collect 3 keys to play the final level. How do you collect keys? Play the mini games. There are four in total, and they are all varying degrees of easy to start. Here's the best advice for each (so you don't lose and have to re-enter a 30-45 minute line): Goomba Crazy Crank - To the left of the 1UP Factory, it's simple. Crank that sucker as hard as you can and hope the Goomba falls off. Smaller kids will have trouble, but don't feel bad stepping in to help your 4 year old save the day. Pirahna Plant Nap Mishap - The Pirahna is asleep. The alarms are going off. When you see a red light and hear an alarm going off, smack the top buzzer to stop it. They WILL reactivate. Keep checking. Perfect for 4+ players. Under 4? Get ready to HUSTLE. Thwomp Panel Panic - This is kind of hidden away towards the back of the land. A screen lights up with yellow and blue tiles. Have a plan with your party. What color are you switching them to? Make sure EVERYONE knows. Then, when the time starts, turn all the tiles to one color. If you're all paying attention and do a good job, you get the key. Koopa Troopa POWer Punch - This is the trickiest one. You have a pow block, and you are trying to perfectly time a chain reaction to get the shell to hit the Koopa Troopa. Want help? Spoiler: After the shell hits the wall, in between the wall and the pipe, smack the Pow block then. That's the trick.

• Battle Bowser Jr!

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  It all comes down to this. You collected all three keys, and see them on your Universal Studios app from the bands you linked with the app, right? Good. You can enter the boss level. In here, you'll become a "shadow" in this virtual world where you'll be able to jump up and get powerups, throw fireballs, score points and save the day. This is hidden away to the left of the Mario Kart entrance... but it's arguably one of the cooler things in the park. Remember though, you can't get in without the keys.

Time To Eat!

• Eat at Toadstool Cafe

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  You were super early and you scanned the QR code and made your reservation right? Good. You can eat. Is the food mindblowing? No. Does it LOOK great? Yes. Your kids will love it, the dining room is themed, and everything from the salad to the desserts looks the part. The soups even come in a take-home-with-you Toadstool bowl! Cute! Somehow, however, they were sold out of all the kids meals at 12:30 during my visit. The land was also entirely sold out of Mario plush toys. Woof.

Complete your mission…

• Battle Bowser Jr!

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  It all comes down to this. You collected all three keys, and see them on your Universal Studios app from the bands you linked with the app, right? Good. You can enter the boss level. In here, you'll become a "shadow" in this virtual world where you'll be able to jump up and get powerups, throw fireballs, score points and save the day. This is hidden away to the left of the Mario Kart entrance... but it's arguably one of the cooler things in the park. Remember though, you can't get in without the keys.

• Play Mario Kart!

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  Whether you get in line first, or wait til the line dies down, the ride is a fun one*. All riders 40 inches and above (my 4 year old just barely cleared it) will wear AR glasses. You can essentially see through the glasses, but the bad guys you are trying to shoot at are in your goggles. Point your head towards the enemies and shoot. It's fun! It's overwhelming! It's...kind of a slow ride. But they definitely went all out with the technology so it doesn't "feel" slow. Make sure you scan your Power-Up band on the steering wheel to get credit for the drive and to track your points.

• Smack Some Blocks

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  Now to the last thing you should do in Super Nintendo World. Smack the stupid blocks.Sure you'll see them in lines. Smack them all day. But if you just walk around smacking blocks to start, it's a massive waste of time. Sure, it's cute the first time. Maybe the 2nd. But after the 12th block, you start to realize we, as a society, have become the movie "Idiocracy". If there's nothing else left to do, smack the blocks, see the number go up on your app and giggle. It's worth noting wherever you see an M with a circle around it, you'll be able to put your power-up band on it and something will happen. There are several 8-bit characters that can glow through the wall the M is on. Keep your eyes peeled.
• Take A Picture At The Entrance

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  You've done it! You've accomplished everything inside the park! Take your pictures inside... then when you leave the land (remember, once you leave you can't go back in), head to the entrance and get your photo at the pipe. It's something I wish I did, but forgot to. Celebrate. You just accomplished the impossible. You visited Super Nintendo World without Early Access.

This Is Nevada's Favorite Mario Character And No It's Not Mario

The new The Super Mario Bros. Movie comes out this Wednesday, April 5, 2023, and we thought it would fun to know which Mario Bros. character is Nevada‘s favorite.

But first, here are the actors who will be playing the iconic characters in the new movie:

• Chris Pratt is playing Mario.
• Anya Taylor-Joy is playing Princess Peach.
• Charlie Day is playing Luigi.
• Jack Black is playing Bowser. 
• Seth Rogan is playing Donkey Kong.
• Keegan-Michael Key is playing Toad.

Mario’s journey into the Mushroom Kingdom will be an exciting one to watch. We hope that he can reconvene with his brother Luigi.

Let’s go over a bit of history on this monstrous franchise. According to Britannica.com, Super Mario Bros, the electronic game, was released in 1985 by Nintendo Company, ltd on the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game sold over 40 million copies becoming a household name and fan-favorite. The franchise has since created many spin-offs featuring the original Italian plumbers.

Here are a few to take you down memory lane:

• Mario Kart
• Mario Party
• Mario Paint
• Paper Mario
• Mario Pinball Land
• Super Mario Galaxy

Our friends at Chicco, has discovered each of the 50 U.S. states’ favorite character based on Google Trends Data. They also compared Mario vs. his brother, Luigi and Princess Peach vs. Princess Daisy. Who will rain supreme of the pairs? The data also shows us who is the most popular character amongst the states rated number wise. You will soon see and find out.

Here is the list of Mario Bros. characters used in this survey below:

• Mario
• Luigi
• Wario
• Waluigi 
• Princess Daisy 
• Yoshi
• Bowser 
• Donkey Kong

Despite what each state has picked as their favorite Super Mario Bros. character… We here at will be supporting all of the characters for the upcoming film. As Mario always says, “Here we go!”

Photo Credit: Chicco

Photo Credit: Chicco

Photo Credit: Chicco

Photo Credit: Chicco

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Author Shawn Tempesta

Category:

• 102.7 VGS
• Aimee+Shawn
• Human Interest
• Kids

Tags:

Super Nintendo World,Universal Studios Hollywood