It’s so fluffy!
With this one silly phrase, a little girl in an animated movie stole the hearts of millions of people around the world. Her adoration of a stuffed animal was so relatable, so communal that this quote has become a part of the pop culture zeitgeist. Amazingly, it’s not even the most memorable part of the movie it comes from.
No, the star of Despicable Me wasn’t Agnes, the youngest of three orphans. It wasn’t even Gru, the villain who adopted them. Instead, it was his Minions, those adorable victims of repeated, seemingly random and arbitrary cartoon violence.
Image: UniversalAll those poor lil yellow dudes want are bananas and some mayhem. In 2012, Universal Studios Florida gave them their wish when the park introduced its latest attraction. Despicable Me Minion Mayhem was an instant classic, one so beloved that the company has duplicated it in Hollywood and Japan. Let’s take this opportunity to go Behind the Ride to understand what makes Minion Mayhem so wildly entertaining.
The experience: Setting up the complex storyline of the ride
The trick: A pair of new Despicable Me mini-movies!
“We have finally worked out all of the kinks…as far as you know.”
The Minions are basically animated versions of the Three Stooges, only there are a lot more than three of them. Despite its name, Minion Mayhem isn’t just about Kevin and his mostly anonymous companions. Instead, it’s the latest big project from Gru, a (slightly) reformed supervillain and new parent to three daughters. The Minions help in carrying out the plan, but it does require a great deal of setup.
Without a mini-movie, you’d board the ride without any idea of what’s happening. To solve this problem, Universal ride designers asked the producers of the Despicable Me franchise to create a new four-minute clip and a shorter clip for the pre-show waiting area.
The first clip is basically a training video for the Minion Goggles. Gru and his girls (Margo, Edith, and Agnes) introduce themselves and play with the camera. Then, Gru offers instructions about how to use the Minion Goggles properly. You need them to see the world through the eyes of a Minion. Don’t think about the incongruity of Minion home base being safety-focused. Just enjoy the silliness!
After the first pre-show clip, you enter a place known as the Minionization Prep Room. It’s really the second pre-show portion of the line queue, but this is the place where Minion Mayhem truly begins. That’s because this Despicable Me clip feels like it would be right at home in one of the movies. It’s that authentic in tone (and hilarity). The gist is that Gru needs more Minions! Duh! The attrition rate on these things is horrible, so of course he’d be in the market for more!
The second mini-movie is long on exposition but also full of big laughs. I’m not overstating the situation to say that the clip is one of the true highlights of the entire attraction. What’s impressive about the movie is that it distracts as it informs. The people in the final room forget that they’re still in the line queue for the ride. Instead, they all feel as if the ride has already begun. A theme park attraction is all about entertainment. Gru’s secret project is huuuuuugely entertaining.
Minions play pranks on one another, Gru cracks wise about the personal hygiene of some guests, and the three girls offer their usual dose of wisdom and kindness. They’ve made Gru a better person, and the secret of this ride is that he wants to show them his gratitude. But first, you must go through Minions Training!
The experience: Getting turned into a Minion
The trick: The latest, greatest Universal motion simulator
To ride Minion Mayhem, you have to become a Minion. No, this doesn’t mean a trip to Party City. Instead, you sit down in what looks like a movie theater. In reality, it’s a series of ride carts similar to the ones used in Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Each Transformation Pod i.e. row of the movie theater is subdivided into several small sections, making each one an individual grouping with four distinct ride seats. They all share the same main movements, though.
The design of Minion Mayhem moves and tilts each section so that the action onscreen matches with the perspective of the rider. This is a difficult task to achieve since the large theater has many different viewpoints. The ride is also “4-D”, with 3-D visuals and the occasional smell released. You even get hit with the Fart Gun ($29.99 MSRP…yes, it’s a real product now) while waiting in the line queue.
The goal here is to make the rider transcend reality and willingly enter into a realm where becoming a Minion feels natural. This world is goofy, with slapstick jokes and extreme violence. Don’t worry! It also has Agnes to balance out the villainy.
The 3-D Minion Goggles help greatly in the suspension of belief. The girls ride some sort of flying transportation vehicle right in front of the screen. They interact with the ride as if the person were standing right in front of them. The 3-D elements make the girls seem like they’re floating above a track, but the new Minion (that’s you!) isn’t so lucky. You’re on a rail, and you have little control of where you’re going. All you know is that you bounce around a lot. As the girls point out, you are zooming through a supervillain’s secret lair. Hazards abound.
Structurally, Despicable Me Minion Mayhem has a lot in common with The Simpsons Ride. The latter attraction puts a small group of people in a tight theater full of few cars. The action on the movie screen seems life-sized, and the cart motions dutifully follow the onscreen character actions. Minion Mayhem is a lot like that, only its theater is huge. Universal knows this and doesn’t want you noticing other people. That’s why the action is so intense. You won’t have anything resembling a break during this simulation. It’s a kinetic ride through the inimitable lair of Gru.
The experience: a thrilling recreation of the world of Despicable Me
The trick: Brilliant ride design involving a series of “Minion tests”
Image: UniversalApparently, the survival rate of Minions isn’t great. Given the beatings that these little dudes absorb, it makes sense. It also raises the question of why Gru is so beloved if he can’t keep his loyal subjects safe from harm. If anything, he seems to encourage their weaponized horror show. But I digress.
Minion Mayhem lives or dies by a single premise. Does the rider feel as if they’ve entered the world of Despicable Me? It’s impossible not to feel this way since the start of the ride launches theme park tourists into the Minion Training Grounds. Your eyes will wander all across the screen, your mind swimming as you appreciate all the gorgeous touches of Gru’s lair. The Minions are working hard at countless inventions and more than a few pranks. The story plausibly has the girls distract them with bananas so that they’ll make room for the new Minion…and that’s you!
What’s amazing about Minion Mayhem’s ride design is how meticulously Universal park planners approached the situation. They created several examples that demonstrate the dangers of being a Minion. Why is the survival rate so poor? When you’re that size and you live in such a destructive work environment, accidents happen! The sign probably doesn’t say “X Days since last accident.” Minions probably measure this number in minutes.
Image: UniversalYou’ll realize how much trouble you face almost instantly. First, you bounce off the head of a minion stuck to a cactus, and then you must navigate your way through a series of fly swatters. Explosions are everywhere, and you must move through a series of laser wires before you even reach the testing grounds! This place is chaos incarnate!
The joy of Minion Mayhem is that it’s five minutes of action that exemplifies all the elements that have caused kids (of all ages) to fall in love with the Minions. You’ll feel like you’ve narrowly survived by the end of the attraction, but you’ll still have one more surprise to experience. It’s an important day in the lives of Gru and his daughters. The big thing he’s been planning is a celebration of that day. Why Gru feels that this celebration needs bigger explosions is a debate for another day.
Like Despicable Me the movie, Despicable Me Minion Mayhem proves that its heart is in the right place…despite all the suffering Minions. And it even gets Agnes right. She has a present that she desperately wants to give her father. That package will become the bane of your existence while you’re a Minion. Its masterpiece of themed storytelling is on a par with the first movie in terms of quality. That’s a stunning achievement in ride design.
The experience: The Minion Dance!
The trick: A post-ride after-party that sends ‘em home with a smile
Image: UniversalHave you ever wanted to dance with a Minion? Do you like seeing yourself up on the big screen? Are you confident that disco balls will come back in style at any point? If you’ve answered yes to any or all of these questions, you’re going to love the exit queue for Minion Mayhem.
Universal cleverly adds a final touch to the proceedings. When you exit the theater, you walk into a new room that features employees dressed as Minions. It also has a giant television screen up on the wall. Using CGI technology, this huge display shows Minions interacting with guests as they leave the area.
Universal did such a great job in designing this portion that it sometimes works as a bottleneck. Guests have so much fun dancing along with the Minions under the disco ball that they don’t want to leave. It’s a clever kind of post-ride character meeting plus a bit of computer animation magic. The trick is simple to do since it involves looped footage of animated characters. Somehow, it elevates the entire ride, though. Everyone exits Minion Mayhem smiling. And that’s the entire point of the ride.
