Super Nintendo World is the Super Mario-themed area inside Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles. This land opened in February 2023 and is a duplicate of Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. The marque attraction is the Augmented Reality (AR) dark ride, Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge.
This ride and Super Nintendo World have had some long lines and waits so I opted to pay an extra $35 surcharge for Early Access to the park, which allowed us entry at 8 am instead of 9 am. This is egregious because back in 2000, $35 was the general entry fee to get into all of Universal Studios.
I’ll leave the debate on the value of this extra fee for later. It allowed us to walk straight up to the entrance of the Mario Kart ride, which displayed only a 15-minute wait. We breezed through rooms that contained the switchbacks for the line cue. The rooms were worth seeing as they were as meticulously designed as the rest of Super Nintendo World.
The cue takes you through the entrance of Bowser’s Castle, decorated with trophies from the Mario Kart races and fanciful workshops showing the construction of the obstacles and baddies from various Super Mario games. If you are a single rider, you can request to go into a shorter bypass line. Whilst shorter, this misses out on the decor and experience of the cue rooms.
Near the end of the cue, guests pick up a plastic Mario Visor Cap, which has a ratcheting headband similar to a modern bicycle helmet. This is the head mounting system for the AR goggles that are hard-wired into the ride karts. There are 4 seats per kart, and each seat has its own steering wheel and a wired set of AR goggles which attach to the brim of the Mario cap via strong magnets.
Hanging in front of you, the AR goggles project images of Mario Kart targets, baddies, and power-ups. Pressing the button on the steering wheel fires a power-up (ie. turtle shell) and turning the wheel aims the shot. You are presented with virtual baddies and allied players through the ride that you can shoot or protect to earn points. Even without the AR visuals and game, the ride itself is fancifully designed like a real-life version of the Mario Kart game.
Your team member’s power-up shots are visible in your goggles as well as your own. During my ride, I found it impossible to play the game while simultaneously filming it because of the position of the AR goggles near my face. For most of the ride, I was forced to take off my goggles and hold them in front of my camera, in hopes of capturing the experience.
The ride simulates the various tracks of the Mario Kart game and ends on the Rainbow Road, and finally, a boss battle with Bowser. You’re presented with your individual and team score at the end of the ride. The ride ends at the same platform as the start, exiting the opposite side of the kart. Pioneered at Disneyland, the ride exists through a large Nintendo gift shop, which is the only gift shop in Super Nintendo World. You can buy souvenirs or a Power-Up wristband for additional fun and expense.
The Oculus is the architecturally stunning transit hub next to the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan in New York City. It houses the NJ PATH station with connections to 12 NYC subway lines. It also houses dining and stores managed by Westfield. It connects to the NYC Fulton Street subway station, One World Trade Center Tower and Observatory, Brookfield Place, and the Ferry Terminal in Battery Park City.
Designed by famed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. In utility, function, and aesthetics, it is one of the finest transportation structures in the world and certainly the best transit building built in the United States this century.
The 9-11 Ground Zero Memorial is a pair of square fountain cascades that trace the footprint of the World Trade Center towers that once stood in this hallowed ground. Cascading waterfalls drain into the below-ground museum dedicated to the 2,996 who died on September 11, 2001 during the terrorist attack. At ground level, visitors can explore the park that formed the base of the Twin Tower plaza.
I got rare access to the Sky Lobby at One World Trade Center (aka Freedom Tower) in lower Manhattan, New York City. This commercial lobby is not accessible to the general public, used by tenants and clients of the building. I was invited by a friend at NY Life Insurance to tour the Sky Lobby.
My last drive on the Great Highway before they permanently closed it in March 2025. In 2024, a slim majority of San Francisco voters, approved Proposition K, closing the Great Highway to convert it into a public walkway and park. The majority of local neighbors voted against the closure.
Just south of San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is a bona fide New England lobster pound. A place with open saltwater tanks holding live lobsters. They are flown in from Maine to SFO and offloaded and stored at the New England Lobster Market and Eatery in Burlingame, California.
This establishment is modeled after traditional lobster pounds and shacks in New England. This store is the source of “fresh Maine lobsters”, served in San Francisco’s fine restaurants and hotels. The general public is also welcome to shop in the market for live lobsters, shellfish, frozen lobster tails, and local crab. The market also has an eatery and restaurant that serve delicious lobster rolls, lobster tacos, and whole lobsters to the public.
While its far from the prices found in Maine, its still the cheapest place to eat fresh New England lobster in California.
Twin Peaks is a hill above downtown San Francisco that offers a panoramic view of San Francisco Bay, Downtown San Francisco, and the Golden Gate Bridge. This is a popular spot with locals and tourists. But if you are a visitor, be warned that car thieves are known to frequent the area, so don’t leave anything valuable in your car.
5.11 Tactical released a stylish men’s sports coat blazer loaded with tactical-ready pockets and straps. This jacket was teased at least year’s SHOT Show, but was called at the time, the “Bravo” jacket. This travel blazer is available on 5.11’s website and is the closest thing to wearing John Wick’s jacket without being bulletproof.
Win a Multixel 240w travel charger. Entries must be received no later than 12pm EST on 3/31/2025.
CONTEST INSTRUCTIONS
1. Subscribe to my travel channel on YouTube: Moondog Go to show you have the skill to navigate YouTube and prove you’re not a bot.
2. Take a screenshot of the SUBSCRIBED button for Moondog Go .
BONUS ENTRY: Make a donation (any amount) to the SHC High School National Youth Choir Festival fundraiser and upload a screenshot of your donation confirmation email.
3. Prove you have the skills to fill out a form and upload screenshots. 1 entry per social platform or donation (2 max).
PRIZES ARE AWARDED BY THE SPONSOR AT THEIR SOLE DISCRETION. NO PURCHASE OR DONATION IS NECESSARY TO ENTER. YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING DO NOT INCREASE WITH A PURCHASE. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.
1. Eligibility
Void where prohibited by law. Must be a legal resident in the USA. Moondog Industries employees, subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers, advertising and promotion agencies, and employees’ immediate family members, are ineligible to participate in the contest/giveaway.
Entrants must be willing and able to appear on YouTube to discuss the contest and post images of the prize on their social feed should they win the contest.
2. Sponsors and Platforms
Multixel (known as the SPONSOR) is a US-based company that sells on Amazon. Moondog Industries (known as the CO-SPONSOR) is a video Edutainment producer and game promotor based in San Francisco, CA. YouTube, TikTok, Rumble, X and online video platforms (known as PLATFORMS) are not SPONSORS or in any way affiliated with the contest or content.
3. Agreement to Rules
By entering your contest, participants agree to abide by the SPONSOR’s Official Rules and decisions. The SPONSOR retains the right to refuse, withdraw, or disqualify entries at their sole discretion. By submitting an entry, the participant agrees to accept the decision of the SPONSOR as final and binding.
4. Entry Period
Contest email entries must be received between: 12:00pm EST 31 January 2025 and 12:00pm EST 31 March 2025
5. How to Enter
This contest requires your skill in navigating your phone or computer controls to screen capture an image of the following YouTube channels/Social Media accounts. Subscribe or Follow and make a screen capture of those pages showing a greyed-out Subscribe button or indicator that your account is Following that page. Send a screen capture image file of any of those sites to contest@moondogindustries.com . One entry per person or per Social Media account. Fraudulent methods of entry, photo retouched, or other methods of circumvention of the rules may result in the SPONSOR invalidating a participant’s entries.
6. Prizes
Winner must be able to receive the prize by e-mail or by physical mail. Prize may be substituted at the sole discretion of the SPONSOR. Acceptance of the prize grants SPONSOR permission to use the Winners entry, name, and likeness for advertising, promotion, and trade without further compensation or remuneration unless prohibited by law.
7. Odds
The odds of winning is dependent upon the number of eligible entries received.
8. Selection and Notification of the Winner
The winner will be chosen at random by the SPONSOR from among the entrants that demonstrated the skill to navigate the electronic entry and have met the minimum requirements. Winners will be contacted via the email used to enter the contest no later than February 25, 2025. Winner must have a legal address within the US to ship the prize.
SPONSOR is not liable for the winner’s failure to receive notification of winning if he or she provided the wrong email address or if their email security settings caused your prize notification to go into the spam or junk folder. If a winner does not respond within 24hrs of sending a notification, the SPONSOR will select an alternate winner. Receipt of the prize is upon the condition of compliance with federal, state, and local laws.
9. Rights Granted by the Entrant
The SPONSOR, upon submission of an entry into the giveaway or contest, has the right to use the participant’s submission, voice, likeness, image, statements about the contest, etc., for publicity, news, advertising, promotional purposes, trade, and so forth, without any further notice, review, consent, compensation or remuneration.
Participants shall defend or settle against such claims at their sole expense, and shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless the SPONSOR from any suit due to damage of or by the prize.
10. Terms & Conditions
The SPONSOR reserves the right to modify, suspend, cancel or terminate in the event that non-authorized human intervention, a bug or virus, fraud, or other causes beyond your control impact or corrupt the security, fairness, proper conduct, or administration of the contest/giveaway.
11. Limitation of Liability
Entry into this contest constitutes the participant’s agreement to release and hold harmless the SPONSOR and PLATFORMS, subsidiaries, affiliates, employees, etc., against all claims liability, illness, injury, death, loss, etc., that occurs directly or indirectly from participation in the contest or use/misuse of the awarded prize.
12. Disputes
As a condition of participating in the promotion, the participant agrees to resolve all disputes with an arbitrator designated by the SPONSOR in the state of California, without resorting to any form of class action. Entrants waive all rights to punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, and waive all rights to have damages multiplied or increased.
13. Privacy Policy
Participants agree to abide by all privacy and NDA laws in the State of California and any federal laws of the United State of America.
14. Winners List
Participants may request a list of winners by submitting a request in writing to Moondog Industries for up to 30 days after the contest ends.
15. Social Media Platform Rules
Winners will agree to post a photo of the prize on their social media channels in such a way as does not violate any rules of that platform. The winners also agree to appear for an interview where they will discuss the prize and its performance. If there are functional problems with the prize, the winner agrees to make a good-faith effort to resolve all issues with the SPONSOR prior to posting reviews or opinions about the prize.
16. Affirmation of Acceptance of and Agreement to All of the Official Rules
By entering the contest, the entrant has affirmatively reviewed, accepted, and agreed to all of them.
The Multixel 240w charger is a portable plug power adapter with an impressive 8 USB charging ports: eight USB-C and one USB-A port. I plugged in the charger to my Macbook Pro’s USB 3.0 hub connected to a portable HD drive and an Amazon tablet to draw the maximum power from the charger.
In my testing, it could output over 100w of power from 100w port. I recorded a similar result from its 35w, 45w, and 20w USB-C ports. Having eight charging ports may seem a bit excessive to some. But if you travel with kids or family and their devices, eight may not be enough but it will be appreciated.
The Multixel comes in a standard variant and a version with a padded carrying case for $9 more. It’s a useful padded case with pockets for cables and other accessories but I don’t know if it’s worth the premium? I can confirm that the Maltixel lived up to its claims. Multixel is giving away a free charger in my March contest that you can enter for free. https://moondogindustries.com/multixel-travel-charger-contest/
