Some SNW updates, and then some opinion.
- Ride Piranha (the one on your left side after leaving the Yoshi station) is back to fluid A-mode movement after 7 months! They used to only slowly chomp towards the unload section, but now they fully turn around chomp down towards the start of the ride track too! It looks like they got a nice cleaning too! They are a nice primary red again.
- The other Piranha plant next to them did not get the same love. It's ... stark seeing the difference, and is probably the only reason I noticed Ride's improvements. Very sluggish and small movements, and a visibly browned exterior.
- Game Thwomp has been pretty consistent! Still no mist though.
- Game Piranha is looking wonderful again! Huge amount of motion as their head bobs up and down by a number of feet; their mouth opens and shuts way faster and smoother than looks like something that big should be able to. It's very cool! They also look visibly clean and primary-red, just like Ride!
- Game Koopa was back to A-mode ... for a moment. They walked side to side, with moving arms and feet; and would even fall backwards when someone won the Key game! He's back to being a statue as of a recent visit.
- Fire Flower is still completely missing from his platform. I have to imagine they're completely reworking that thing, cause its' been over a month since it left.
- Since the kid climbed up, none of the downstairs effects have been powered back on.
- The entire Goomba Key Game has been down for almost two months. Some days that I've been, you can visibly see into the Crank mechanism. There have to be some major alterations happening to this experience.
- I've seen some major technical issues with the Bob-Omb Key game. The touch screen has weird glitches that result in you not being able to move the puzzle piece by directly tapping the part. You have to instead swipe on some completely different part of the screen to get it to move. This is such a consistent issue that I've seen TM's go up to the screen and build the key for a group, games in a row, because groups can't figure out why this specific piece isn't moving.
There's also an issue I've gotten myself, where if Puzzle parts show up on a specific side wall screen, the game is basically soft-locked. That touchscreen doesn't work, so you can't do anything to pick it up and have to restart the game completely. The TM told me the issue is rare, but consistent. I don't understand why this known issue can't be fixed?
- I've learned recently that the Piranha Plant Key game used to have an exit door, that broke and doesn't exist anymore. You can still see the screw lines where it used to be. The same thing happened within the last two weeks to the Thwomp and Bob-omb Key games, and those look even worse. Highly visible black duct-tape covering up the components where a saloon-type door used to be.
- Apparently Showdown Koopa was powered on for a day? And I missed it!
Most days I've been, most of the effects are stationary. The biggest offender is Mt. Beanpole, whose many effects almost never work.
I've not seen the following effects move in over a month, it not longer.
1. Elevator Goomba
2. Upstairs Block Piranha
3. Bullet Bill
4,5,6. All 3 Cloud platforms
7. Mt. Beanpole moving ? Blocks and Coins
8. Yoshi
9. Shy Guy
10. Downstairs Plaza Goomba
11. Plaza Piranha
12. Plaza coins
13. Showdown Koopa
These effects work inconsistently.
14. Mt. Beanpole Koopa
15. Mt. Beanpole Thwomp
16,17. 2 Moving metal grate platforms
18. Upstairs 1-Up Mushroom
19+. All SNW Wall Piranha Plants
I'm sure I missed some, and granted my opportunity to visit is limited without APs, so maybe I've missed some better operational days.
The worst operating day I saw was when Yoshi's Adventure went down for refurbishment.
17 land effects were non-operational, the Koopa and Goomba games were both non-operational, and at one point at noon,
all three major rides were closed or delayed for over 30 minutes. Major embarrasment for the land.
Defunctland's Kevin Perjurer made a great point about the Potter and SNW land effects in their recent Living Characters video; and that's that the fortunate thing about the effects is that they are connected to direct income streams for UDX: the upcharge Wand and Band wearables. Because of those, we will likely see these effects remain in better form, for much longer than lands who don't have that direct tie into a profit model.
They say something to the extent of "These moving elements make the land feel more alive for all guests, but they are subsidized by the guests who chose to participate in the upcharge activity.", and I agree with that notion. I think the Bands are a smart way to help pay for what will inevitably be one of the toughest lands to maintain longterm.
Unfortunately, I have yet to see that in action. The land is in very rough shape, and outside of some really notable improvements on specific figures, most of the land is falling apart in visible ways.
Is it too difficult to find mechanics proficient enough to work on these effects? Are there not enough of them park-wide? Is there not enough budget to put into fixing everything that isn't working?
And the most unfortunate part is that when there is visible Nintendo HQ presence in the park, the land very quickly shapes back up. So ... there is a way to get things working? What's the hold-up? It's frustrating, especially when the park is advertised as if nothing is wrong at all, and the Bands are still being sold for $50. As a very big Nintendo fan, I'd say for an average day guest in 2025, a Power-Up Band is a bad value.