Home » Official Grand Opening Date Set For Minions Land And Villain-Con Minion Blast At Universal Studios Florida

Official Grand Opening Date Set For Minions Land And Villain-Con Minion Blast At Universal Studios Florida

Natalie Sim021 mins

The confirmation is finally here, Universal has announced that the official grand opening of Minions Land and Villain-Con Minion Blast is Friday August 11, 2023.

Management Team Members, Executives and regular Team Members had the opportunity to test Villain-Con Minion Blast on July 12 and it then soft opened to guests on July 15, check out our full review, Villain-Con Minion Blast Isn’t a Ride, But it Is Fun!

Villian Con Minion Blast, Universal
Image: Bioreconstruct

On June 20, Minion Land soft opened at Universal Studios Florida and there were instantly reports of it looks amazing! Apart from the headlining new attraction, Villain-Con Minion Blast where construction walls were still up, it appeared that the whole rest of the area has been open including the Minion Cafe, Bake My Day, Freeze Ray Pops, Pop-A-Nana, Marquee Dining Location and the Illumination Theater. 

 PCDev has posted a full tour video on YouTube which is embedded below. 

This new Minions cafe is highly themed giving you the feel that you are inside the Minions break room. It offers a range of entrees, kids option, deserts and speciality drinks. The vivid yellow tables and chairs certainly immerse you in the Minion world and the attention to detail can be seen everywhere.

Banana popcorn is indeed being offered at Pop-A-Nana and the blueberry and banana Minion Pop from Freeze Ray Pops is definitely a must for any Minion fan. At the Illumination Theater guests get to see the stars of Sing and of course the Minions! Let us know your thoughts on this newly opened land at Universal Studios Florida by leaving us a comment below or on our Facebook page.

Minions Cafe, Universal
Image: Universal

If you want to check out the menu for Minions Cafe and prices, visit universalparksblog.com. There certainly looks to be a stellar line up of options available to guests. Let us know what you are most looking forward to in the comments below. We particularly like the sound of Mel’s Meatball Mountain, Uncle Dru’s Belly Fillin’ Pork Sandwich, Otto’s Noodle Bowl and Fluffy Unicorn Cupcake.

With progress being made at lightning speed we wonder if we will see the headlining attraction, Villain-Con Minion Blast, soft opening ready for the busy July 4th holiday. Still, nothing has been officially confirmed yet regarding Villain-Con Minion Blast but we hope to be able to bring you an update on this very soon.

Earlier this week, we brought you a photo update from Bioreconstruct of the finishing touches that have been put in place on the Minions Cafe. We absolutely love the attention to detail on the lettering which can be seen in the tweet below.

You can also see the exterior of Freeze Ray Pops in the tweet below from Alicia Stella which also looks completed and ready to open. The colors are so bright and vibrant and the whole area looks set to be a fantastic addition to Universal Studios Florida.

According to Screamscape, last week Villian-Con Minion Blast team members had the opportunity to test run this new attraction. This is certainly an exciting step forward in the journey towards opening.

The official gift shop for Villian-Con Minion Blast, ‘Evil Stuff’ also opened last week. It is decorated with a whole host of Minion statues and is stuffed full of Minions merchandise including clothes, bags, water bottles and cuddly Minion toys. For a full look, check out the walk-through video which has been posted to YouTube by Universal Parks News Today and is embedded below.

At the beginning of June we brought you the photo updates below from Bioreconstruct showing the work being done on the exteriors of the buildings including the Minions Cafe and Bake My Day bakery. Here is another photo showing work being done behind the construction walls.

Everything points to Universal gearing up for an opening very soon as the finishing touches are being put into place. We still await confirmation of an official opening date for the new Illuminations Minions Land which includes the headlining attraction Villian-Con Minion Blast and the Minions Cafe.

In a video posted from Rix Flix at the beginning of June, we can see how the new Illumination’s Minion Land currently looks (time stamp 45 seconds). All construction fences are still up surrounding the new headlining attraction, Villian-Con Minion Blast and the Minions Cafe. As the summer is indeed now officially upon us, it is speculated that employee testing will begin very soon if it hasn’t done so already.

Further photos were posted at the end of May on twitter by Bioreconstruct showing the progress that has been made and what the land currently looks like. These are embedded below. It is very exciting to see this new land coming to life at Universal Studios Florida and we shouldn’t have too much longer to wait for an official opening date.

As you can see from the posts above, there is lots of work being done including painting, work on the exterior of the Minions Cafe and the finishing touches being put on the walls of Illumination Ave in the form of custom paintings. We are expecting the new sign which is currently in place but covered for the Minions Cafe up will be uncovered very soon. We will continue to update you on developments and will bring you the official opening date for the new Illumination’s Minion Land when it is announced.

In an exciting tweet posted by Universal Orlando Resort a couple of weeks ago, we got to see new concept art of the exterior of the Minion’s Cafe and the street which includes Bake My Day which will serve sweet treats and Pop-A-Nana which will have Freeze Ray Pops and sweet and savoury popcorn on offer.

Illumination’s Villian-Con Minion Blast which will be the headlining attraction in this new land is also set to open this summer. It will see guests joining Belle Bottom, Jean Clawed and the rest of the Vicious 6 to “blast your way to supervillain stardom.” You can see how this attraction currently looks including the vivid purple and orange colors from the tweet below posted by Bioreconstruct.

The current, Despicable Me Minion Mayhem will complete the line up in this new land which should quickly become a favorite area for families as well as all you other Minion fans out there.

Minons Villian-Con Blast, Universal
Image: Universal

We have been tracking the construction progress over the last year which can be seen below and we are promised further details about this exciting new land in the coming weeks which we will keep you posted on. Let us know your thoughts on Universal’s new Illumination’s Minion Land at Universal Studios Florida by leaving us a comment below or on our Facebook page.

There had not been many updates on the new Minions Cafe until early May when Universal Orlando gave us a teaser of what we can expect from the exterior in a tweet which can be seen below.

The pink cupcake with the cute minion is sure to put a smile on guests faces but many are still upset about the loss of the Universal Classic Monsters Cafe which is going to take a long time for fans to forget about.

In mid-May we got to see what the facades currently look like on the Minions Cafe through a tweet from Bioreconstruct showing that painting is being done and the final theming is being added. We are expecting an opening for the Minions Cafe and the new Villian-Con Minion Blast this summer. We are promised further updates soon!

It was all the way back in May 2022 that the iconic Universal Classic Monsters Cafe was permanently closed at Universal Studios Florida. In November the classic monsters statues which once sat on top of the Bone Chillin’ snack bar, located outside this extremely popular cafe have were removed.

Construction fences have surrounded the area for months and the signage for the Universal Classic Monsters Cafe has also been removed, leaving no trace that they ever inhabited the park.

Thanks to a number of photos posted by Bioreconstruct we saw progress that was being made on the site to turn this into what will be the Minions cafe. It is clear that it is being expanded. We hope to get further details on this in the coming months.

Universal Classic Monsters fans will be pleased to know that Epic Universe which is slated to open for Summer 2025 is expected to have a whole land dedicated to the iconic classic monsters.

It was confirmed in December that the former Shrek 4-D site will be home to the new attraction, Villian-Con Minion Blast which is slated to open at Universal Studios Florida in Summer 2023. This will be a minions based walk-through attraction based on The Village-Con supervillian convention which features in the 2015 Minions film. To check out further details, head to our featured article, Everything We Know (So Far!) About Villain-Con Minion Blast.

Creating a new dining location with Minions at its heart would certainly seem to make sense. So far, Universal has not confirmed the date when we are likely to see this new dining location opening but as soon as they do we will share it with you on our news and Facebook page.

Minions, Universal
Image: Universal

For those readers who miss, the Classic Monsters Cafe, here are a couple of photos to remind you of this popular dining location.

Monsters Cafe, Universal
Image: Universal
Monsters Cafe, Universal
Image: Universal

It will be exciting to see what Universal brings to this new Minions Cafe and how it brings it to life and we will continue to update you on the construction progress over the coming months.

Are you looking forward to the new Illumination’s Minion Land including the Minions Cafe which will replace the Universal Monsters Cafe? Do you like the pink cupcake? Were you sad to see the Universal Monsters cafe close? Let us know your thoughts by leaving us a comment below or on our Facebook page.

Related News