The Universal Orlando Resort theme park has added a new banana-loving attraction: Minion Land. The destination off the animation-studio-themed Illumination Avenue officially opened Friday.
The “Minions”-themed section will include the theme park’s newest attraction, Illumination’s Villain-Con Minion Blast. The shooter game lets guests of all ages take aim at some of the biggest villains from the “Despicable Me” franchise as they see if they have what it takes to become a supervillainous member of the Vicious 6 themselves.
The ride marks Universal Orlando’s first phone-connected gameplay attraction. Using the park’s app, guests can sync their blasters to their phones. That lets them track their scores, start special missions in the attraction, earn digital collectibles and unlock other perks, including special blasts for their blasters.
Minion Land also adds new dining options, including the Minion Cafe; the walk-up location Pop-a-Nana, which features banana-flavored popcorn; and the walk-up dessert shop Freeze Ray Pops. Exclusive Minion-inspired merchandise will be available for sale at the Bake My Day and Evil Stuff retail stores.
“This immersive and captivating new addition to our destination was brought to life in a partnership with our colleagues at Illumination and puts our guests into the heart, and villainous minds, of this diabolically fun franchise,” said Karen Irwin, president and COO of Universal Orlando Resort.
“After we visited Villain-Con in the first ‘Minions,’ we all felt that there were many more stories to tell,” said Chris Meledandri, founder and CEO of Illumination.
The new section of Universal Orlando was developed in a collaboration between Universal’s creative team and the filmmakers from Illumination. Minion Land also incorporates the existing Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, the computer-animated simulator ride that debuted in 2012 and replaced Jimmy Neutron’s Nicktoon Blast.
Last year, the resort announced it was closing five attractions to make room for an updated kid-friendly section of the park. That section was later revealed to be DreamWorks Animation Land. None of the attractions that were shuttered became Minion Land, which is located in a different section of the park.
