Are you prepared to become the newest member of the Vicious 6? Good, now find out if you make the cut at Illumination’s Villain-Con Minion Blast, where the famous group of villains from the “Minions” film franchise is holding try-outs for the elusive sixth spot on the team.
The interactive, fully immersive gaming experience starring the ever-loving, overall-wearing, goggle-donning Minions is located in Minion Land on Illumination Avenue at Universal Studios Florida. The attraction gives you the chance to test out your villainous chops along with the members of the Vicious 6 during the Villain-Con convention.
So, gear up for the most wickedly fun convention you could possibly attend — all while showing off how evil you can truly be along the Illumination’s Villain-Con Minion Blast moving walkway.
The Story
The Vicious 6 is a notorious team of supervillains from the 1970s that has traveled in time to present-day Orlando to attend Villain-Con, where they’re holding try-outs to fill the vacant spot on their team. “Villain-Con is an annual gathering of supervillains and evildoers alike, this year being held at a place where nothing seems unusual: Universal Studios Florida,” says Carson Luter, associate project manager with Universal Creative working on the Illumination’s Villain-Con Minion Blast project.
And guess what, you’re attending it! Even better: you might leave as the newest member of the Vicious 6. So, allow the bad in you to bring out the best in you as you put your villainy to the test!
The Queue
The attraction’s queue starts outside, and you’re immediately brought up to speed with everything you need to know about Villain-Con and the Vicious 6 through signs and pre-show videos.
Once inside, spend some time reading the maps, displays, and signs throughout the main convention hall — they are chock-full of puns and gags.
While on the convention floor, make sure to acquire everything you might need for your future villainous escapades, like evil weaponry and couture. You can book the best villainous vacation packages, upgrade your ordinary car into a piece of dastardly transportation and even get your very own evil pet — after all, every good (or do I mean bad?) villain needs their own sidekick.
As you near the end of the queue, you’ll pick up an interactive E-Liminator X blaster from a rotating charging wall. Once you enter the loading station, your blaster will light up. Be sure to check out what your assigned villain name is, so you can look for your score at the end of the attraction to see how you did!
Then, you’ll make your way to the entrance, while a safety spiel plays, before hopping onto the moving walkway and beginning your try out.
Pro Tip: Download the Official Universal Orlando Resort App before getting on the moving walkway! With the app, you’ll be able to sync your phone to your blaster (more on that below!), allowing you to keep track of your score.
The Attraction
Now, it’s chaos time.
As Carson puts it, “this is a part attraction, part video game experience where you can light some Minions on fire.” Say no more, we’re in.
Unlike your typical theme park ride, Illumination’s Villain-Con Minion Blast does not have you seated in a ride vehicle. Rather, you are standing on a moving walkway, with an E-Liminator X blaster in your hands, which you’ll use to blast at targets along the way. That’s right — no lap bar, no ride track turning you away from that perfect, point-earning target, and no constraints on how to angle your shots. “Not seating guests in a ride vehicle allowed for us to place interactable objects much closer to guests throughout our interactive rooms,” Carson says. “The ‘Despicable Me’ and ‘Minions’ universe is filled with innumerable gadgets and weaponry, and we wanted to give guests a comparable experience with the E-Liminator X blaster, their very own supervillain gadget,” Carson says. Overall, the attraction is based on, and includes, additional technology and innovation that goes beyond the cool blaster, offering a unique type of theme park attraction.
Convention guests will have the opportunity to prove just how bad they really are, causing as much mayhem and mischief in the process by blasting at targets, Minions (yes, Minions), power-ups, and more. The Vicious 6 is only looking to fill one spot, and only the person with the highest score can earn it.
The moving walkway will take you through several rooms throughout the attraction, each representing one of the five Vicious 6 members, including the likes of Belle Bottom, Jean Clawed, and Svengeance. The theming is both visual and auditory, and behind the stunning scenery is a catchy soundtrack, too.
The last room of gameplay is my personal favorite. I don’t want to give away the surprises it includes, but just know it’s meta Minion magic, full of Easter eggs (and maybe even some Purple Minions)!
“[It’s] cool to see all the hidden collectibles that serve as references to famous objects and characters from all five franchise films,” Carson says about the attraction as a whole. “Also, there’s a sunken ship and castle in Jean Clawed’s challenge that will look familiar to many guests.”
At the very end of the attraction, check out the chyron with sliding text on the bottom of the last screen. There, next to the villain name given to you on your blaster’s screen, you can find a celebration of your final score, and see how you stack up against your friends, family, and fellow Minions fans.
How to Play
As you ride across the moving walkway, you’ll use your E-Liminator X blaster, which is equipped with blasts and launchers, to take aim at almost anything you can see on the screen (and off the screen, too!). Targets with bullseyes are good ways to guarantee points, but scoring from Minions and other furniture and scenery works just as well. There are certainly ways to boost your score, some of which we’ll discuss a little later, but ultimately, if you blast things, you get points.
While doing that, and particularly by hitting special on-screen boxes, you will also build up elemental ammo. With enough, you can blast with Freeze Rays, Banana Bombs, or Explosive Nunchucks — all of which help you hit more targets faster and more effectively, thus boosting your score. To utilize this extra feature, just hit the front “barrel button” on your E-Liminator X, as opposed to the back one, which is for standard blasting.
Attraction Details
- There is no height requirement, though you must be able to physically stand on your own on the walkway;
- Children under 48” (122 cm) require a supervising companion
- Family Waiting Area available (same as Child Swap)
- Universal Express Pass is not available at this time
- Accessibility — check ride accommodations here
Pro Tips
If you’re one of those guests who like to get competitive (like me), here are a few of my tips:
- Don’t just aim at the main screens. Not only will you see several small screens with major point-earners, but there are also some physical set pieces you can blast at, like boxes (aim at those symbols!) on the other side of the walkway from the screens.
- Look for the smaller, hidden targets, which you can aim for without sacrificing larger, more obvious ones. Since smaller targets are often hidden behind those bigger ones, you can frequently gain access to the less-obvious point-earners by clearing out the more-obvious ones in their paths.
- Aim for the hidden collectibles throughout the game. You will often spot them by noticing their golden borders, helping them stand out among the mayhem of each room. The collectibles, which are often those smaller targets hidden behind bigger ones, will definitely boost your score.
- Blast where others aren’t. What a lot of people don’t realize is just how much of the screen scenes can earn you points. While everyone is going for the targets and objects, try to hit the scenery instead, for a less crowded aim, and therefore a more likely point boost.
Gift Shop
After the attraction, be sure to check out the Evil Stuff gift shop for all your future evil-doing needs.
Before visiting Evil Stuff, I wondered if it would be themed to “Minions,” “Despicable Me,” the Vicious 6, or even Villain-Con. Well, the answer is simply, “Yes.”
Between shelves of merch featuring the Vicious 6, and Purple Minion paraphernalia stating the likes of “Have a bad day” sits my favorite section: the Villain-Con merch displays. From lanyards to T-shirts, the merch looks incredibly realistic to what you might see at any convention.
While you’re shopping, take a moment to look up. The villainy doesn’t stop at eye level. There are some cool Minions in cosplay that you won’t want to miss.
Meet and Greet
After Villain-Con, if you’re not quite done with the Minions yet, you can always try to catch a couple hanging out across from the attraction at the Illumination’s Meet and Greet. You’ll also get to see other great characters like Gru, Agnes, Edith, Margo and, brand new to the park, the characters from Illumination’s “Sing,” Johnny, Rosita and Gunter.
Additionally, you can always go over to Super Silly Stuff for a Minions dance party!
Have you had the chance to experience Illumination’s Villain-Con: Minion Blast? If so, what’s your high score? If not, what are you most excited to see? Let us know on social media or in the comments below!
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