Cloudtop Cruise

Cloudtop Cruise is the first course of the Special Cup of Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. This course mainly takes place on clouds, a giant beanstalk (similar to ), and on an airship (like Airship Fortress). Several of Bowser's airships are seen flying in the background. It shares its name with Sky Garden in some other languages.

Course layout
The race starts on a giant beanstalk. Shortly after, there is a slight right turn and a ramp with some Item Boxes on it leading onto a Bowser Balloon that characters can bounce on, similar to Mushroom Trampolines. The racers will then continue racing on a cloud, with a zigzagging set of turns and a small split route with another Bowser Balloon. After a U-turn, they jump onto an airship, where the player encounters two paths, both of which meet up right before a cannon, which launches the player to a anti-gravity metal track inside a storm cloud. On the track, there are many Dash Panels, but once in a while, lightning will strike them, which the racers have to avoid or else they will get knocked out. The lightning also deactivates the Dash Panels when active. This section then ends to start a gliding section, which touches down on a giant stone ? Block, a reference to how Beanstalks grow out of ? Blocks in Mario games. There is then one more right turn before the finish line. When Lakitu is holding the start signal, he is shown on the left side of the player. When crossing the finish line to begin the next lap, he’s also shown on the left side of the player, holding the lap count signs.

Shortcuts

 * Near the end of the lap, players can jump off two big leaves, cutting the final corner.

Staff ghost
The staff ghost for this course uses Baby Rosalina in the Biddybuggy. The times to beat are 2:26.347 in Mario Kart 8 and 2:19.568 in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. In Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 200cc, the staff ghost is Bowser Jr. with a time of 1:44.120.

Music
Like several other courses, the music for this course has two different variations: the first variation is orchestral and plays when the players drive on the cloud and beanstalk sections, while the second variation is a rock arrangement that plays when reaching the thundercloud section. The ending portion of both variations uses parts of Sky Station Galaxy and Gusty Garden Galaxy's music from the Super Mario Galaxy games. The course's music also reappears as a new arrangement, which combines the two variations, in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U on the Mario Circuit stage and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on any Mario Kart stage.

The first portion of the course's music plays on amiibo screens in select retail stores.

Mario Kart 8 Original Soundtrack liner notes
"On this title, we set ourselves on a challenge of creating melodies we'd never come up with before, and we put a huge amount of effort into this track. We thought that a full orchestra would be perfect for creating that sense of a vast world in the clouds. We've included the thundercloud version of the track, as well as a medley."

Names in other languages
Wolkenstraße Vascello Nuvolante