Construction continues on the entrance to Villain-Con Minion Blast and the adjacent Minion Café, which will transform most of Production Central into Illumination Avenue at Universal Studios Florida.
Villain-Con Minion Blast
The new attraction replaces Shrek 4-D, which closed in January 2022. Villain-Con Minion Blast is inspired by the first “Minions” film, in which the famous yellow characters visited Villain-Con.
The entrance marquee has been coming together over the last few weeks, with a giant V, eye mask, and white globe. The first “Villain-Con” lettering was installed this weekend above a “Minion Blast” sign.
This morning, a black tarp partially blocked “LAIN-” from view. The lettering of “Minion” is yellow with a half-open eye on the “o.”
The “Villain-Con” letters are being installed from the middle out to ensure they’re centered.
A level was atop the letters, making sure they were perfectly aligned with each other.
Soon after, we saw a crew member installing the giant orange C of “CON.”
They carefully aligned the C with the other letters and the level.
Minion Café
Next door, several crew members were working atop Minion Café, which replaces Monsters Café.
Minion Café will presumably have similar theming to the Minion Café at Universal Studios Hollywood. Read our first review of Hollywood’s Minion Café.
Minion Café construction is surrounded by blue construction walls and blue scrim. But the steel frame of the building rises above the scrim.
This section of the building used to be the Monsters Café entrance and will presumably be the Minions Café entrance, too. Significantly more steel supports have been added to the entrance structure.
The last remnants of Monsters Café were removed late last year when Monsters Café Bon Chillin’ came down. Some elements of the highly themed Monsters Café may be used in the rumored Universal Monsters land at Epic Universe.
Large light blue stripes have been painted on the Transformers: The Ride building behind Minion Café. This could be to keep the wall themed with Illumination Avenue, but that kind of sightline has never been a big consideration for Universal and the blue paint looks odd right now.
With the pre-existing Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, Villain-Con Minion Blast, and Minion Café, this entire section of Universal Studios Florida will become the Minion-inspired land Illumination Avenue. The new theming may even extend to the Betty Boop store near the park’s entrance.
It’s not clear how the creation of Illumination Avenue will affect the rest of the current land, Production Central, which includes Transformers: The Ride and Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit.
The exact opening timeframe for Villain-Con Minion Blast and Minion Café has not been announced.
Happiness Cafe at Universal Studios Japan serves Minion-themed food as part of the Minion Park area at the park. Minion Park is currently being cloned for Universal Studios Singapore with a 2024 projected opening.
Are you excited about Illumination Avenue? Let us know in the comments.
For more Universal Studios news from around the world, follow Universal Parks News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. For Disney Parks news, visit WDWNT.
