Universal’s new Orlando Florida theme park has great rides for kids, and the Mario land’s side attraction is worth checking out, bumps and all.
Visitors to the sprawling theme-park ecosystem of Orlando, Florida will soon be able to ride what’s become one of the most talked about roller coasters on the planet, without booking an overseas trip to Japan. Epic Universe, Universal’s brand new theme park, opens on May 22, 2025 with Donkey Kong Country, a near-replica of the park that opened last year at Universal Studios Japan.
Donkey Kong Country is the only “portal-within-a-portal” at Epic Universe, meaning that you access the area by first going through a Super Nintendo World warp pipe entrance, then through another large “portal” toward the back of the Mushroom Kingdom.
Once through, visitors are transported into a lush, tropical landscape littered with barrels, palm trees, and piles of bananas. Guests can stop at the Bubbly Barrel, the area’s quick service eatery, for refreshments, like a Pineapple Banana Dole Whip. Music enhances the area’s ambience as various songs from the Donkey Kong games provide a banging bongo beat that reverberates throughout.
At the center is the imposing Golden Temple that houses the area’s only ride: the Donkey Kong themed roller coaster, Mine-Cart Madness.
On this ride, you board a 4-seater vehicle resembling a mine cart that appears to “jump” across mangled tracks, replicating Donkey Kong Country’s infamous rail-jumping level.
