Toad Harbor

Toad Harbor (written as Toad Harbour in the PAL version) is the second race track in the Flower Cup of Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, as well as the longest track in the game. This course takes place in a seaside town with some similarities to the city of San Francisco. It also features a statue on an island off the harbour modeled after the Statue of Liberty with Princess Peach as Lady Liberty, holding a Fire Flower in her lowered left hand, and a Super Star in her raised right. Mario, Luigi and Wario each have cable cars patterned after them in this course, each with some Toads as passengers and a Koopa Troopa as the driver. Toadette is used here in Time Trials. There are forty-seven Coins located on this track. In Mario Kart 8, it is a selectable battle course.

Description
This island track showcases an entire marina with sail boats and a train station (that acts as a short-cut to some power-ups), a market and a shopping area, as well as a vertical wall section with anti-gravity. The track features several areas that seem to be inspired by American cities, such as a steep cable car hill (à la San Francisco) and a Statue of Liberty in the harbor (like in New York).

Course layout
The course starts near the docks with a few boats. After turning right, there are two paths; the right one goes over a bridge while the left path allows players to drive onto a boat with a ramp. Racers will be starting to enter the town after this point. They can continue driving right, though they can either go straight through, take a Boost Pad, or drive on top of the market tents in the area. After that, a shortcut can be taken upon driving over a narrow path and jumping off a ramp.

After a few turns, drivers reach the top of the hill and perform a U-turn past the Toad Toy Store, which provides this course's only anti-gravity section. If players stick to the normal path, they'll have to avoid oncoming cable cars. If the player attempts to follow the cable car rails after the station, Lakitu will come and hoist the player back to the road. Whichever path was taken, both lead to a steep downhill part of the track leading back to the coastal area, with more cable cars to dodge. If players somehow land on the cable cars going down the steep hill, they will gain a short boost, and can actually perform a trick off of the roof. A pathway with a Boost Pad can be taken, but otherwise, after two turns, the track leads back to the finish line.

Among the multiple sponsors present in Mario Kart 8, Shy Guy Metals, Super Marine World, Tropical Grocery, Mario Work Gear, Burning DK and Toad Toy Store are featured across the track. The Toad Toy Store logo appears on game boxes in GBA Ribbon Road.

Trivia

 * This is one of the three courses (along with Mario Circuit and Twisted Mansion) that were playable at E3 2013. Coincidentally, all three take place in the Flower Cup, in the same order as the original demo.
 * The Peach Statue of Liberty and Toad Harbor itself can be seen beneath the Mario Kart 8 version of N64 Rainbow Road.
 * Toad Harbor is also featured on a map found in Super Bell Subway.
 * During the split portion of the track, a sign on the lower side advertises "Shy Guy Metals since 1987", which is a reference to both Shy Guy Falls and 1987, the origin of Shy Guys in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic.