Summer travel season has gotten off to a slow start in Central Florida, but Universal Studios parent Comcast (CMCSA 1.34%) is hoping that a new attraction could heat up the traffic trends. Universal Studios Florida has yet to officially announce an opening date for Illumination's Villain-Con Minion Blast, but the new attraction began taking on its first park guests over the weekend as part of extended rehearsals.
It's always refreshing to see a major theme park introduce a new experience, but it's not as if putting out something shiny and new has been enough to kick attendance trends out of their recent slump. County tourist tax collections in Central Florida -- a good measuring stick for tourism activity as it's a charge levied on guests at hotels and short-term lodging options -- declined year over year in April after a 14-month streak of year-over-year gains. Walt Disney (DIS 0.62%) introduced the Tron Lightcycle Run coaster at the world's most visited theme park in early April. SeaWorld Entertainment (SEAS +0.35%) opened Pipeline -- billed as the world's first "surf coaster" -- at SeaWorld Orlando in May. Now, the area's other major player is conducting a soft opening for its newest offering ahead of an official summertime debut.
Three new attractions in a span of four months should be ringing the dinner bell for theme park enthusiasts. But thus far, they haven't come running.
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Summer bluffing
I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to kick the tires of Villain-Con Minion Blast with my fellow park guests on Sunday afternoon. My impressions were mixed, but it's important to emphasize that what I saw was a technical rehearsal. Any kinks will (ideally) be worked out ahead of the actual opening, and there is still time to make some obvious potential enhancements.
The premise is promising. You are a guest at Villain-Con, a convention celebrating the most nefarious baddies from the 2022 animated movie Minions: The Rise of Gru. Do you have what it takes to join the Vicious 6 crew of supervillains? The queue eventually leads to the Villain-Con trade show floor, where there's enough visual stimulation and humorous tidbits to keep guests entertained until they pick out their charged two-trigger blasters. Chaos awaits as you turn the corner.
Image source: Getty Images.
Conference participants eventually approach a slow yet continuously loading moving pathway. You are instructed to stand on a designated colored dot and fire away at renderings of Villain-Con shenanigans taking place on huge screens on both sides of the attraction.
Unlike other area rides where guests score points when their aim is true -- Disney World's Toy Story Mania or Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Legoland's Ninjago, and Universal's own Men In Black Alien Attack -- Minion Blast does not feature a vehicle. This is a stand-through attraction. It's a long, flat conveyor belt system, similar to what Universal Orlando guests experience as they go from the resort's parking garage to the actual theme park hub. But this one doesn't just go straight. It bends along the way, making it a combination of a moving sidewalk and a luggage carousel.
I think it's great that @UniversalORL has put out test seats for Villain-Con Minion Blast in front of the park so folks know what they're getting themselves into before making the plunge. pic.twitter.com/MqU1d4VGei
-- Rick Munarriz (@Market) July 14, 2023
The scoring process on Minion Blast isn't as seamless as it is on other shooting gallery-style attractions where your points are tallied on a screen at the front of your ride vehicle. Here, your points are recorded on a small screen on your blaster itself. With so many screens to watch at the same time, that makes it harder to tell which targets earned you the most points. My score nearly tripled in the last two rooms, and I still have no idea what happened.
There is also currently no record of your final score before it disappears -- which happens even before you hand in your blaster. This, too, differs from similar attractions, where you are visibly ranked, and where, in one case, your score can change the outcome of the final scene. It's anticlimactic, but it's also one thing that should change. Comcast has said that the official Universal Orlando app will track Minion Blast scores and offer virtual goodies to riders. That could be a game-changer, as it will encourage repeat visits for guests to keep building on their initial experiences.
For now, it's a mixed bag. The screens are cluttered with too many other guests all firing away at the same targets, unlike during the media previews, when influencers and journalists were likely spaced out from one another. Some riders -- particularly younger ones -- report tired arms and trigger fingers from having to hold up the blaster during the entirety of the experience. There have also been complaints of lag time deficiencies, but I can't say I experienced that issue.
Minion Blast is still a welcome addition to Universal Orlando, even if it won't be a universally praised attraction. Comcast knows this. It overplayed its hand by raising annual pass prices by as much as 23% in April, and recently moved to soften the blow by giving new passholders three extra months at no additional cost.
It's not just Universal. Disney and SeaWorld have also been seeing lighter crowds despite introducing new thrill rides ahead of the telltale summer period, and have ramped up their promotional activity in response. Central Florida's travel and tourism stocks could be in for a long summer, and it's their trigger fingers that will likely be the sorest by the time the season is over.
