Super Nintendo World Theme Park Opening Delay Is Good News For Gamers
Assuming you're the sort of person that might one day bring your children to a Nintendo-themed amusement park, today's news is good news. Nintendo announced that they'd be delaying the opening of Super Nintendo World (the Japan-based theme park) until further notice. This delay was due to COVID-19 – not because there was an early outbreak or anything, but because they'd like to be cautious now rather than sorry later.
The theme park was previously announced by Universal Studios as a Mario-heavy theme park that'd first appear in Japan. This theme park would you smart NFC bands, not unlike those used by Disney in Disneyland and Disney World theme parks. They also showed how the theme park would have its own mobile apps for iOS and Android, as well as mobile ticket ordering, and points for visiting the park, buying merchandise, and visiting restaurants.
The park was meant to open in July of 2020. The park's planning started well before the global pandemic that was and remains due to COVID-19. What's odd, here, is that the rest of Universal Studios Japan opened back up on June 8, 2020. The re-opening of the park was limited to half it's standard capacity, and limited to guests from the local Kansai region.
Per NHK World – Japan, the schedule for opening the new area of the park (Super Nintendo World) "will have to be changed as the new attraction is likely to boost the number of visitors."
"Such an increase is in conflict with the top priority in the epidemic of avoiding crowded places and close-contact settings." According to NHK World "The company says at this moment, it is still unsure when it can open the new area."
It's good news that Universal Studios Japan decided to delay the opening of the Mario-themed Super Nintendo World part of the park because they've not yet completed construction of a USA-based Nintendo park.
The plan remains that a Nintendo park of some sort will be added to the upcoming Epic Universe park that'll be run by Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. Cross your fingers for an eventual successful launch in Japan so this Orlando iteration can go full-blast, Harry Potter theme park style!