If there's an area of the entertainment industry that has a harder time than the movie business during the global pandemic its the theme park industry. Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood are still closed, with no estimation when that could change. Florida theme parks like Walt Disney World are open, but functioning at a fraction of normal capacity. At times it has seemed like the rest of the world has gotten things under control, but that's not entirely the case. The Osaka Prefecture in Japan recently decaled a state of emergency regarding the pandemic, and as a result Universal Studios Japan has decided to not open the new Super Nintendo World area as planned.
The first of several Nintendo themed areas planned for Universal Studios theme parks around the world, the Japanese park had previously announced the new land would open February 4. However, with the new state of emergency in place, that grand opening has been put on hold. A new opening date will not be announced until after the state of emergency is lifted.
While certainly those of us in the U.S. were already going to have a tough time making it to Japan as it was, with so many other new theme park lands and attractions being postponed due to the pandemic, fans were excited to see Super Nintendo World opening, even if many weren't actually going to be able to experience it at first. Disneyland's Avengers Campus was supposed to open last summer, but the theme park closure struck only a couple days after the grand opening date was announced. The word is Disneyland is hoping to open the land sometime this year, but getting the park open at all is certainly the top priority.
The lack of a Super Nintendo World in Japan is that much more frustrating because at this point it looks like the one planned for Japan will be the only Super Nintendo World for the foreseeable future. An identical land was planned for Universal Orlando Resort's third gate, Epic Universe, but that entire theme park is on hold, and not simply until immediate conditions improve, but rather until the economic conditions brought about by the pandemic improve, and that could be years. The fate of that Nintendo themed area is unclear.
Hopefully this delay is just a minor set back and Sup[er Nintendo World will be able to open for guests, albeit, a limited number of socially distanced guests, before too long. In this case, one hopes the new land won't open any sooner than it is safe to do so, but hopefully the fact that a major new theme park land opened will be a signifier that things are getting better for all of us and we can all go back to our favorite theme parks soon.
