Villain-Con Minion Blast (General Discussion)

[belloq87]

I’d generally agree with this take, EXCEPT Supercharged took out two generally well received attractions and takes up a massive amount of space (way too much for a “joke” ride) that effectively turns an entire land into a complete passthrough if you already know you don’t like it.

It also knocked out two physical attractions for one simulator. If USF still had Beetlejuice and Disaster, I'd feel much better about the overall balance of the park.

 

[Jerroddragon]

So watched a video of the attraction

It doesn’t….video well

I’m sure it’s fun but man the lack of immersive sets makes this feel like version 1.0

I hope if other parks get this kinda attraction they theme it more.

But the game looks fun enough, good capacity and long for how small or footprint it has

 

[wutisgood]

So say you are a vlogger with high views and this dude just films a pov in technical rehearsal and universal does nothing about it. On top of that this dude has a fraction of your views so they aren't actually significantly important to universal compared to you just posting the POV that would be at the top of the YouTube search and views. If I am Tim Tracker level I may as well just go and post the first pov of a new ride for myself. Do you think they are going to punish Tim if the can't punish small time Kyle? Now do I love Tim tracker? meh but he is at least going to respect the park rules at that level.

No one needs this dude. Cut off his pass so he goes away. His views will just go to the thousand other vloggers some of which are more popular.

 

[Evan]

So say you are a vlogger with high views and this dude just films a pov in technical rehearsal and universal does nothing about it. On top of that this dude has a fraction of your views so they aren't actually significantly important to universal compared to you just posting the POV that would be at the top of the YouTube search and views. If I am Tim Tracker level I may as well just go and post the first pov of a new ride for myself. Do you think they are going to punish Tim if the can't punish small time Kyle? Now do I love Tim tracker? meh but he is at least going to respect the park rules at that level.

No one needs this dude. Cut off his pass so he goes away. His views will just go to the thousand other vloggers some of which are more popular.

I get some people don’t like the Trackers, but as you mentioned; they would certainly follow the rules. Unlike the two today. Horrid behaviour.

 

[tielo]

It’s a ride that literally everyone can do as long as they’re old enough to stand. Everyone whines and moans that USF and UOR doesn’t have enough of those. I’d reckon that fills a need

Do you imply I "whine and moan"? I can assure you I don't. If you would try to understand what I wrote you would see I complement the attraction. My only complaint is that the medium is screens as it is already very prominent in the park. I think screens are used very well in this attraction although I think it could have been plus-ed with more physical sets. I also fail to see that I "whine and moan" about a ride that is accessible to everyone, you shouldn't make up a remark and "whine and moan" about that.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

This is a major upgrade from the previous attraction that you can just watch on Netflix if you wanted.

So, it’s an upgrade for something that was basically a waste of space. I do think this looks fine, but the expectations for me are low overall. It’s weird the Minions themselves aren’t in this a whole lot it seems.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Great attraction, surprised by how awesome the ride system actually is.

Some negatives are the lack of a great queue outside of the small interior portion. It kind of makes you wish they had expanded the booth theming throughout the queue to provide some form of entertainment. Very little to no explanation of what's going on, the storyline, or what the objective is.

Also, they seem to be testing out whether to put people on each dot or give some additional space between parties - hopefully the latter.

 

[UNIrd]

Do you imply I "whine and moan"? I can assure you I don't. If you would try to understand what I wrote you would see I complement the attraction. My only complaint is that the medium is screens as it is already very prominent in the park. I think screens are used very well in this attraction although I think it could have been plus-ed with more physical sets. I also fail to see that I "whine and moan" about a ride that is accessible to everyone, you shouldn't make up a remark and "whine and moan" about that.

Especially when some guests can't even fit on Secret Life of Pets because Universal couldn't go for seating that won't embarrass people on even that.

Why were you expecting more than what was there? We’ve known what this was going to be since before it was announced

I never heard anyone say... especially Universal.. "You're going to be shooting at screenz & only screenz. Top to bottom. Nary a static figure in the bunch"?

But still.. this looks FUN and something I'll be looking to do on every visit. I don't think I got on Shrek 4D since in the last 10 years before it closed.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Is it open again today?

 

[Brian G.]

Is it open again today?

Appears so!

 

[OrlandoGuy]

Did I see the same thing everyone else did..? I mean I acknowledge this attraction is not designed for me but speaking objectively without regards to subject matter, this looks borderline unacceptable for a park that charges what USF does per day. What has this added to the crowded “interactive theme park dark ride” space? The gameplay looks like a bigger version of a hotel arcade game and the fixtures around it (including the ride system) look cheap and slapped together. The gameplay itself erases the gradual trend of decreasing guns per target/screen and has what look like 50 guns shooting at a time in some rooms (reverting back to the confusing and messy set-up Buzz gave us 25 years ago).

I get that this was not meant to be a game changing headliner but even as a designated C-ticket attraction nothing about this looks like it belongs in a place that charges $150 to get in. At least Shrek had some cleverness and thought put into the pre show video. Somehow, I actually overestimated this.

Are we feeling ok in here guys haha

Villain Con is so bad we’ve moved the goalposts on Supercharged

(^this is a joke btw, pls keep that in mind before you bring me the heat)

 

[Freak]

I find it kind of amusing that a lot of people here has been extremely vocal about the screens but when they put in something that’s all screens the same people are “meh”

 

[Brian G.]

I never heard anyone say... especially Universal.. "You're going to be shooting at screenz & only screenz. Top to bottom. Nary a static figure in the bunch"?

It's a trivial argument but their first initial press releases for Villain-Con were pretty focused on the "interactive" and "screen" verbiage and didn't use anything close to mentioning "figures" or "animatronic".

 

[LikeMike]

I’m excited to see this thing for myself but we have to be raising the bar higher than ‘it’s better than what was there before’.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Villain-Con is suffering from the "Fallon Problem"... on its own, it's a great attraction... but put it in a park where mostly every other attraction is screen-reliant, it feels more of the same. Hypothetically, if they had put this in IOA, it would be doing just fine.

I still think the Minions/Despicable Me franchise deserves a higher-caliber attraction though.

 

[Imperius]

I’m excited to see this thing for myself but we have to be raising the bar higher than ‘it’s better than what was there before’.

Why? IMO it’s far more fun than Shrek ever was. It’s better than something similar in Toy Story mania. Do you want it to be better than Hagrids? It’s a fun new attraction that will likely improve over time with holiday overlays and addition of the app.

 

[LikeMike]

Why? IMO it’s far more fun than Shrek ever was. It’s better than something similar in Toy Story mania. Do you want it to be better than Hagrids? It’s a fun new attraction that will likely improve over time with holiday overlays and addition of the app.

If it’s better than Toy Story Mania that’s great, that’s the kind of barometer I think we should be looking for.

Because if we have the token response ‘it’s better than what’s there before’ it doesn’t lend itself to actually discussing what it could be if it realised its potential.

Being better than other shooters in nearby parks is a good measurement. Like I say, I’m really looking forward to riding it - that new ride buzz always gets you!

 

[OrlandoGuy]

Villain-Con is suffering from the "Fallon Problem"... on its own, it's a great attraction... but put it in a park where mostly every other attraction is screen-reliant, it feels more of the same. Hypothetically, if they had put this in IOA, it would be doing just fine.

I still think the Minions/Despicable Me franchise deserves a higher-caliber attraction though.

Why? IMO it’s far more fun than Shrek ever was. It’s better than something similar in Toy Story mania. Do you want it to be better than Hagrids? It’s a fun new attraction that will likely improve over time with holiday overlays and addition of the app.

Genuinely curious…how is this better than Toy Story Mania or a “great” attraction?

Compared to other shooters, it’s more visually cluttered and doesn’t even give you a seat. As a ride by itself, I have yet to see what one would consider its value proposition. If this was located as a standalone somewhere, would you pony up $10-$20 to experience it or would you wait to pay $.50 to stand and shoot video targets in the arcade back at the hotel? It doesn’t even really do the franchise justice…do kids care to line up for a chance at seeing second- and third-tier DM characters up on a big screen?

ETA because I’m coming off overly negative: I do think the integration of scoring to the app is cool and would love to see that rolled out to MIB. I also liked the last room being a shootout in CityWalk…thought that was clever and I always get a kick out of little meta stuff like that in the parks.

 

[Imperius]

Genuinely curious…how is this better than Toy Story Mania or a “great” attraction?

Compared to other shooters, it’s more visually cluttered and doesn’t even give you a seat. As a ride by itself, I have yet to see what one would consider its value proposition. If this was located as a standalone somewhere, would you pony up $10-$20 to experience it or would you wait to pay $.50 to stand and shoot video targets in the arcade back at the hotel? It doesn’t even really do the franchise justice…do kids care to line up for a chance at seeing second- and third-tier DM characters up on a big screen?

I don’t care about having a seat so that point is irrelevant. Toy Story mania’s shooting mechanism is bad, the game play is fine, but enjoyed Villains more. I like having an actual gun to shoot with different ammo options. I loved the final scene with the tie ins.

Would you pay $10-20 to experience Monsters Inc laugh floor, Philarmagic, Shrek 4D? You can just watch a movie at home. No to both questions. Doesn’t mean either are bad attractions. Villains does it job. It’s a fun interaction shooting game. I enjoyed it and will go back every time I’m there.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

I don’t care about having a seat so that point is irrelevant. Toy Story mania’s shooting mechanism is bad, the game play is fine, but enjoyed Villains more. I like having an actual gun to shoot with different ammo options. I loved the final scene with the tie ins.

Would you pay $10-20 to experience Monsters Inc laugh floor, Philarmagic, Shrek 4D? You can just watch a movie at home. No to both questions. Doesn’t mean either are bad attractions. Villains does it job. It’s a fun interaction shooting game. I enjoyed it and will go back every time I’m there.

That’s fair and I appreciate that perspective. To answer your question about those other rides though…no, I wouldn’t pay separately for them but 15-20 years ago when those rides were new (and 3-D was actually a novelty) then there’s an actual conversation to be had. In 2023, a new Universal Orlando ride shouldn’t be going head to head with rides from the late 90’s to mid-aughts