Illumination’s Villain-Con Minion Blast is now in technical rehearsals at Universal Studios Florida. Part of Minion Land, this is the newest experience to open at the Universal Orlando Resort. At this time, the attraction is essentially under a “testing” phase with the use of park guests. Anyone meeting the rider requirements can experience the new attraction, but as with any soft opening, some things may change and some elements may not be operational. We’ve noticed a few changes since Villain-Con opened, but now we’ve spotted an interesting new operational change. Team Members are handing out toy blasters to kids who cannot hold the actual blaster.
Villain-Con Minion Blast took over the location of Shrek 4D and is an interactive experience where guests will pick up a handheld blaster and compete to become the newest member of the Vicious 6. These blasters are used by guests to hit targets, battle villains, and collect points throughout the attraction. The blasters have a display screen, two triggers, and react with lights, sounds, and haptics as guests shoot at each screen. With all of these features, it’s no surprise that the E-liminator X blaster is a bit on the heavier side. Villain-Con Minion Blast is a family-friendly experience and does not have a height requirement. This allows many younger guests to experience the attraction, but the weight of the blaster has proven to be an issue.
As a solution, Team Members are now handing out fake blasters to small children that cannot hold the real blaster. These are the same E-liminator X toys you can purchase in the park, but Universal has put several markings on them to designate that they belong to the attraction. These toy blasters need to be returned after riding. The toy blaster will be collected from you at the end of the attraction, just like the real ones. Team Members have several of these toys set off to the side to hand out just before the walkway. If someone in your party wants the fake blaster instead, the Team Member will give you one here. The smallest member in our party was given a toy blaster and was completely happy to “play” along. We noticed that kids were still entertained with using a light-weight imitation blaster. The toy blaster lights up and makes sounds, so younger kids probably won’t even realize they aren’t actually playing. It basically looks like the same blaster as everyone else has, so smaller kids may never notice the difference.
These are just toys, though, so there is no actual gameplay happening. Inside Evil Stuff, you can purchase the exact same one. You can assist your child in holding the real, working blaster, if you prefer that over the toy option.
Villain-Con Minion Blast is still in technical rehearsals and will be holding Annual Passholder previews soon. We do anticipate seeing more changes around the attraction over the next few weeks, since the Universal Orlando app feature still has not been rolled out. In the future, you should be able to pair your blaster to your profile in the Universal Orlando app and be able to access other features. At this time, the app is not available, so stay tuned for more updates on that.
It’s interesting that Universal designed an attraction that would accommodate kids, but kids can’t fully experience everything it has to offer. Do you think giving out fake blasters to kids is a good solution to the problem? If you haven’t experienced the new attraction yet, be sure to check out our honest review for more details and leave us your honest reviews in the comments below.