We paid $50 to enter Universal Studios an hour early. It's the only way to have a good time at Super Nintendo World.

19.08.2024 - 23:05 / insider.com

My 6-year-old son played Mario Kart once with an older friend, and he's been talking about all things Mario ever since.

I thought it'd be a good idea to take him to Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood, but I was overwhelmed by the many reviews that said the section of the park was always packed and impossible to navigate.

While on the Universal Studios app, I saw an option to buy an early-entry pass just for that section of the park, and I decided to try it out.

It was the best decision I made.

Before traveling to Los Angeles, I purchased a GoCity pass, which allowed us to visit several sightseeing attractions in the city for a bundled price, including Universal Studios Hollywood.

Since I already had our tickets, I just needed to buy early-access passes to Super Nintendo World, an add-on that lets guests enter the park an hour before it opens — 8 a.m.

Prices can change depending on demand, and on the day we went, they were $25 per person. I paid $50 for both of us on the Universal app.

The app recommended arriving before 8 a.m. since the park's doors open 30 minutes earlier, and it can take a while to walk to Super Nintendo World.

We got to Universal at about 7:20 a.m. to go through security, waited a little bit before our tickets were scanned, and then proceeded to walk with about 80 to 100 more people toward the Super Nintendo World.

The rest of the park opens between 9 and 10 a.m., so we got to walk through it while it was empty, which was kind of neat.

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The park employees made sure no one was running to be the first into the section, which I appreciated since there were not a lot of little kids like mine doing early access.

When we arrived at the Super Nintendo World, it was awesome to see it free of crowds. We were able to take plenty of photos before walking into Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge — the only ride in that section of the park.

I had seen photos online of wait times over two hours for the ride, but going in so early meant that we were on it minutes after walking in through the entrance.

After the ride, we were able to meet characters and take photos with them, which blew my son's mind. The lines were incredibly short, so the characters were able to take plenty of time with each person for the photos.

Another highlight of the Super Nintendo World is Toadstool Cafe, which was also highly reviewed online. However, most of the reviews I'd seen ahead of time said it was so popular that it was nearly impossible to get a lunch reservation, which was our goal.

But because we were in the park so early, I was able to use the QR code at the entrance to book a reservation for lunch. Since reservations can only be made the day of, you can save the link ahead of time