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Villain Con (Minions) ride to replace Shrek 4-D (rumor)
- Thread starter The Grand Inquisitor
- Start date
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
Even if it is stuck as a shooting arcade system, it will have fans.
My son LOVED it. Once he realized that it would track you in the app and that you could do upgrades to your blaster and complete challenges and such and that all this stayed with you (foreverish?), it was all he wanted to do.
In terms of re-doability, the fact that things you earned in previous run troughs can impact future rides, offers quite a bit for the younger folks.
Poseidon Quest makes no mention of that at all in his Youtube video that went up about three weeks ago which leads me to believe that either this wasn't working when he did it or he missed that aspect of it on his visit.
We also didn't notice any of the freezing or sync issues he mentions so maybe that got worked out since this was all just in technical preview?
As for my little guy, I cut him off after the second time because I wasn't interested in going through the 45 minute line a third time in record-breaking outdoor heat (really more like 35 but it was posted 45) but we'd have been there all day if he'd had his way.
An e-ticket, this absolutely isn't but all the kids doing it seemed to love it and watching a wheelchair just roll on and go without the person even having to get up was pretty cool, too. I expect this will have lines for a good while to come but it would be better as an attraction with little-to-no-wait to counter Minion Mayhem's absolutely-not-worth-it wait across the road.
As an adult, I can see why this would be completely skipable (just like the other Minion attraction).
As a parent, I expect to do this every trip until my son's probably old enough to drive.
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Complainining about this is kind of like complaining about Monsters Inc Laugh Floor or Walt Disney Presents.
It is a smaller scale attraction that everyone can do, and I certainly think it has more appeal than the Disney ones mentioned.
Haha. Awesome statement.
I still think it needs a smaller gun option for the littles and those who don't have the arm strength for accessibility. I heard rumors of that being possible, but I have not seen it reported with photos or talk anywhere since. See any evidence of that?
It is a smaller scale attraction that everyone can do, and I certainly think it has more appeal than the Disney ones mentioned.
Haha. Awesome statement.
I still think it needs a smaller gun option for the littles and those who don't have the arm strength for accessibility. I heard rumors of that being possible, but I have not seen it reported with photos or talk anywhere since. See any evidence of that?
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MrPromey
Well-Known Member
There are goals but they're tied to the app. If you didn't sync to the app and/or didn't look carefully at the app, you'd have missed that - or maybe it wasn't working when you went through.
That's a pro and a con because yes, it does mean you have to do something with your phone but unlike something like MIB or TSMM or Lightyear, your progress stays with you between rides.
Right now sitting here at home at 1:30 in the morning, I can tweak my blaster "loadout" based on what I've unlocked so far from the two ride-throughs we've already done, for instance.
Again, this is nothing mind-blowing for adults, I don't think but my son lit up when he realized it.
I think they could do a much better job of preparing people for that part of it the moment they get into the queue because it really does seem like that was intended to be a big part of the experience that could otherwise be overlooked - especially for re-ridability.
Our first time through, we got all the way up to where they give you the blasters and after trying a couple of times to sync, it was noticed my son had to update his app. The version he had did have the game stuff and the option to sync with the blaster but it didn't actually do anything.
Some kind of prompt to use our time in line to do that rather than being stuck waiting just before getting on would have been nice. The Tvs are already there and I think something to get people to dig into the app would be a much better use of those screens and the time than the trivia questions and clips from the movie they're currently showing.
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Poseidon Quest
Well-Known Member
I wasn't aware of this, but no, the app was definitely not working. I'm unsure if any of this was mentioned in the queue but I moved through it quickly enough that I didn't have much time to take in any of the information.
I was waiting a bit longer to see if they could work out some of the technical issues before trying it again to see if it improved the fundamental experience, but it's good to see that they've seemingly worked through it. I'll have to go back and see how it plays when I get the chance.
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
Without it, I can see how the whole thing would just feel like shooting at random stuff and somehow earning points that are instantly meaningless at the end.
For guests who only do it once, it might still feel like that.
The app still doesn't turn this into an e-ticket or anything but I'd liken it to when Disney redid Test Track. A friend only ever does single rider on that and there, you don't get to design your car - you just choose from some pre-made ones and doing it that way, the whole "testing" your own car seems really lame and he hated the update but when you go through the regular line and do the car building part and it's showing your design and "testing" based on the choices you made, it creates an incredibly different experience. I remember doing it with my nephew and watching him freak out when the time was almost up because he'd have stood there for at least another half hour messing with it if he could have. When my son was old enough to do it, he reacted pretty much the same way.
Anyway, it's all live in the Universal app, now. You can poke around with it a little even if you can't get very far without being there to sync the blaster. There's also a NFC scavenger hunt you can do in the area with little markers hidden in plain sight that unlock virtual collectables - in reality worthless but still fun for the kids.
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Frankenstein79
Well-Known Member
This ride is awful, it was like standing in line twice.
DisneyFanatic12
Well-Known Member
It would be interesting to see if it would be positively or negatively received if Disney created a “ride” like Minion Blast. The ride was generally slightly positive reviews from Universal guests, so it would have been interesting if Disney creating this ride would have slightly positive reviews, or if people would expect more and the ride would have slightly negative reviews…
Having just cone back I cam categorically state that MVC is hands down the worst ride I have ever experienced. Even beats F&F hands down in those stakes. What were they thinking designing something so far removed from the likes of MiB, Buzz Lightyear & TSMM. I get thst it us a shooting game and similar to the others but...
1. Sheer sensory overload. I had no clue what I was hitting, was I firing successfully, when I could hit at a start of a room.
2. The over reliance of screen coupled with the sensory overload just was too much to actually stick with.
3. The scoring system was not clear, from the app, to the gun to the final screen. Just zipped past that made you feel no competitive edge or any consolation of how well you have done.
Utter utter mess of an attraction. At least dull it is, you know what F&F is.
1. Sheer sensory overload. I had no clue what I was hitting, was I firing successfully, when I could hit at a start of a room.
2. The over reliance of screen coupled with the sensory overload just was too much to actually stick with.
3. The scoring system was not clear, from the app, to the gun to the final screen. Just zipped past that made you feel no competitive edge or any consolation of how well you have done.
Utter utter mess of an attraction. At least dull it is, you know what F&F is.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
I waited a bit and gave it a second shot.
Yeah... this attraction is absolutely terrible. If Disney built this you would never hear the end of it, but in typical theme park nerd fashion, Universal gets a pass for it for some reason.
Yeah... this attraction is absolutely terrible. If Disney built this you would never hear the end of it, but in typical theme park nerd fashion, Universal gets a pass for it for some reason.
DonniePeverley
Well-Known Member
This ranks up there with Figments Imagination as perhaps the worst attraction in all of Orlando. Scratch that - maybe the worst ever attraction ever made in the Universe.
Cmdr_Crimson
Well-Known Member
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
Fast & Furious is undeniably a better experience than VillainCon and that is saying a lot.
sonoma15
Well-Known Member
I very much disagree. I really enjoy this attraction for what it is.
999th Happy Haunt
Well-Known Member
I both agree and disagree. It's not great but it's saving grace is that it replaced probably the worst 4D show in Orlando, so it's a side-grade for me at the worst. It's something small with no height requirement for kids, and was built pretty fast with decent capacity. The modern Disney equivalent is probably Journey of Water, which is far prettier but took too long to build, doesn't really fit with the park, and seems to be having maintenance issues.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
I'd say that everything would be fine if the game itself was actually fun to play, but it isn't. It's a jittery mess, sensory overload, no clear objective, and no challenge. You're just "ammo spamming".
sonoma15
Well-Known Member
Disagreed. This is just a skill issue. It's not just "ammo spamming", I mean you can do that but you won't be getting the most points possible. There is a strategy to getting the most out of each room and all the rooms have a different strategy that I found works best. Also there is not really a "clear" objective for other shooting rides like Men in Black or Toy Story Mania besides to get the most points possible, just like this. This isn't even to mention that Villaincon does have the app which actually does give a lot of objectives for you to do to unlock all the achievements, blasters, and perks that other shooting rides don't have.
Andrew25
Well-Known Member
I think the idea is fine, just poorly executed. It needs a pre-show or something to clearly show what the intentions are of the experience. Unless you sit in front of the queue screens for the entire play loop, you have no idea what your being recruited for or need to do. Most guests are just confused as to what you are supposed to shoot at. Heck, I'm a huge Universal fan, experienced it multiple times now, and still have no idea what's going on.
The problem is that you need multiple ride-throughs to get acclimated to what the heck is going on (and how it all works)... most guests just have one, maybe 2, chances of experiencing the thing per visit. An attraction should be simple to understand from the beginning.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
Having to do research beforehand to understand the point of each room is bad design, not a skill issue
.The other rides can be understood instantly through visuals because they make it clear what the targets are. TSMM also has a lot of visuals to aide you in each game's objective.