Friends, I gotta tell you, I hugged some Minions yesterday and it was delightful.
Minions at Universal Studios Florida are nothing new. Despicable Me Minion Mayhem has been open at the park since 2012 (and in Universal Studios Hollywood since 2014) and Minions have been appearing in the parks since about the same time. But not like this. Not in a land completely devoted to them, where the universe of Despicable Me comes to life in new sights, sounds, flavors — and one of the most innovative rides the park has ever created.
Minion Land soft-opened in June, but officially opens on August 11. The land has a new ride, Villain-Con Minion Blast, which replaced Shrek 4-D, and has a merch shop, Evil Gear, attached. Illumination Theater, the meet-and-greet area for Minions, has characters from Sing that now make appearances — Gunter, Rosita and Johnny — as well as Gru, Edith, Margo and Agnes from the Despicable Me movies. For food, there’s Minion Cafe, but also a bakery, a popcorn stand and an ice pop shop. It’s all lining what Universal calls Illumination Avenue, a formerly under-loved stretch of Universal Studios that now has some of the park’s best offerings.
Villain-Con Minion Blast
There’s no two ways about it: Villain-Con Minion Blast is one of the best rides at Universal Orlando. So many things are groundbreaking about the attraction that it’s hard to know where to start. Think of the aesthetic and the basic format as similar to The Secret Life of Pets ride at Universal Studios Hollywood, but with the gameplay of Men in Black: Alien Attack in Orlando. It’s a shooting game, but one that has seamless integration of animation, delivered on immersive screens.
The premise is that you are a wannabe member of the Vicious 6, the evil supergang from Minions: Rise of Gru, and you’ve come to the Villain-Con first shown in Minions to try to prove yourself to the big bads. To test your skills and your villainous ways, they send you through a trial, where you face off against villains like Vector to prove your worth.
To do this, you take a blaster, and, well, blast everything in sight — on the screens at least. The game is full of things to blow up, but there are also Easter eggs hidden throughout. If you hit the secret items, you get more points, and if you hit the blocks, you unlock more weapons. Like Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge in Super Nintendo World, the more you play, the better your overall score and the more secrets you uncover. Just like Super Nintendo World, the game syncs to the Universal app to keep track of your score and your achievements. What’s especially cool is that in the Villain-Con section of the app, you can customize your blaster, and you can unlock upgrades when you earn enough points.
The other extremely cool thing about the ride is the ride system itself. You stand on a moving walkway, which transports you through the ride. There’s no seat, no complicated locking system or visor to put on, no time wasted loading in and loading out. Syncing your app to your blaster is tricky, though, and I can see delays happening when people need it explained to them.
You exit the ride through the gift shop, Evil Gear, which is a villain-themed store. It’s also where the leaderboard is, so you can see how your score stacks up even if you don’t use the Universal Orlando app in the game.
Bake My Day
The bakery from Despicable Me 2 is a pink dream, which is part bake shop and part gift shop, filled with fluffy unicorns and Minion merch. In the bakery case, you’ll find intricate macarons with Minions on them, but also a lot of banana-flavored, Minion-themed treats. There’s a banana Swiss roll, Minion and unicorn s’mores, caramel apples and cake pops in flavors like banana cream and chocolate banana. I tried the Swiss roll, which tasted like banana candy, but the standout for me was the Evil Minion cake pop, which was a peanut butter and grape jelly cake pop that was pure nostalgia and absolutely delicious.
Other snacks in the land are at Pop-a-nana, which sells regular popcorn and banana-flavored caramel corn, and Freeze Ray Pops, which has gourmet popsicles. I tried the Vector-themed orange creamsicle, and it was excellent.
Minion Cafe
You might be able to join the Minions in the Minion Mayhem ride or be among them on Villain-Con Minion Blast, but the part of the land where you truly feel like a Minion is at the new restaurant, Minion Cafe. It’s quick service food, but it’s elevated, inventive fare. I loved Agnes’s Honeymoon Soup, a spicy green tomato soup with crispy pork belly and a tomato “gummy bear,” accompanied by a waffle pimento cheese grilled cheese.
Uncle Dru’s Belly Fillin’ Pork Sandwich, with slow roasted porchetta, chimichurri sauce, mustard aioli, apple butter, bacon jam, arugula, a Hawaiian pretzel bun and green plantain chips was also great, easily something I’d order again. The Minion Tots, shaped like those little yellow weirdos, were so much fun to look at that I almost didn’t want to eat them — but I got over it, and I’m glad I did because they tasted as good as they looked.
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Let’s Hear From You
New attraction, eats, treats, and minions to hug… how does the new Minion land at Universal Orlando sound to you? Let us know in the comments below!
And for more about the shops, merchandise, and food in Minion Land, please click the article below:
Universal Orlando Update – Minion Land Soft Opens, Monsters Move In, and More Dinosaurs!
