Villain-Con Minion Blast (General Discussion)

[Casper Gutman]

There will always be like a 100 to 120 people on the ride at any given moment, but without knowing the ride time or step on interval in seconds I’m not sure the capacity hourly. But someone will be stepping off to exit and another stepping on to start like every couple seconds I imagine.

Presumably the belt will have to stop and start frequently like a typical omnimover to allow guests with mobility issues to exit.

 

[Alicia]

Presumably the belt will have to stop and start frequently like a typical omnimover to allow guests with mobility issues to exit.

i believe guests in wheelchairs have a separate side for loading which allows them more time. The belt does not have to stop.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

I really do think people are sleeping on how many problems the moving walkway is going to give guests. An outside force that moves people's legs, particularly one that changes the legs' position in relation to each other, will be very destabilizing, especially if the guests aren't used to it and are distracted. If I had to wager, I'd put some money on the claim that trying to figure out how to handle that issue is a big part of the prolonged adjustment process that pushed back the opening.

And it's not a ride.

This is why they’re re-theming the parking garage walkways to Villain Con training simulators a la Men in Black

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Any idea on capacity?

Should be a capacity swap with Shrek when both theaters are working, so around 1800-2000 guests an hour.

 

[Mad Dog]

Should be a capacity swap with Shrek when both theaters are working, so around 1800-2000 guests an hour.

That's a pretty decent number.

 

[Alicia]

That's a pretty decent number.

1800 is a new person every 2 seconds, so seems about right.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

1800 is a new person every 2 seconds, so seems about right.

One theater for Shrek was 1100 an hour, right? So anything above that would be a net gain from July through November.

 

[TheUniC6]

The difference here is no one is supposed to walk. Standing still should help fix most problems. And I’m pretty sure this moves slower than the moving walkway at Mansion.

I’m wondering if most people will be surprised by how slow this thing moves.

I mean the ride itself is tiny as it takes up only one of the former Shrek theaters and some backstage space. Gotta pad it out somehow.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

The difference here is no one is supposed to walk. Standing still should help fix most problems. And I’m pretty sure this moves slower than the moving walkway at Mansion.

I’m wondering if most people will be surprised by how slow this thing moves.

I expect it to be slow which is why I’m hoping there are decent sets to keep our eyes busy as we ride. Also I am expecting a close to 4 minute ride experience, maybe even 5 if it’s truly that slow.

 

[krazyhorrorkid]

Noticed this from the blog post...



So replica toys, doesn't work with the ride.

Honestly imagine if it did?

It would be awesome if you could buy the different appearing weapons from the Despicable Me franchise and use THOSE in the ride. Maybe the ride could acknowledge you have that variation of weapon and it changes your blast color or something similar.

Merch that interacts with ride experiences seems awesome in general.

 

[kingcooger]

Honestly imagine if it did?

It would be awesome if you could buy the different appearing weapons from the Despicable Me franchise and use THOSE in the ride. Maybe the ride could acknowledge you have that variation of weapon and it changes your blast color or something similar.

Merch that interacts with ride experiences seems awesome in general.

It could have been the new wands…

 

[mccgavin]

Honestly imagine if it did?

It would be awesome if you could buy the different appearing weapons from the Despicable Me franchise and use THOSE in the ride. Maybe the ride could acknowledge you have that variation of weapon and it changes your blast color or something similar.

Merch that interacts with ride experiences seems awesome in general.

Eh, that's kinda opening a Pandora's Box I'd rather they'd not. Interactive stuff is fine in lands, but I disagree that it should be used to effect rides in any way.

There shouldn't be an upcharge to get the most out of a ride. Web-Slingers definitely bothers me for that reason.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I expect it to be slow which is why I’m hoping there are decent sets to keep our eyes busy as we ride. Also I am expecting a close to 4 minute ride experience, maybe even 5 if it’s truly that slow.

Like TSMM, I can see multi-event triggers for points.

Honestly imagine if it did?

It would be awesome if you could buy the different appearing weapons from the Despicable Me franchise and use THOSE in the ride. Maybe the ride could acknowledge you have that variation of weapon and it changes your blast color or something similar.

Merch that interacts with ride experiences seems awesome in general.

$$$$$

Each device is in the hundreds if not thousands of dollars range.

It could have been the new wands…

Who says we aren't getting new wands?

 

[krazyhorrorkid]

$$$$$

Each device is in the hundreds if not thousands of dollars range.

Here’s a fair question.
How much money is put aside into making interactive ride pieces like these durable?

Universal knows that such equipment needs to hold up as hundreds maybe a thousand could use and hold the same blaster everyday. So the biggest thing to them is to make it last for as long as it can (there maybe some exceptions to this rule)

But if they were to sell blasters that wouldn’t need to obviously hold up as much as a piece of equipment that is used everyday, wouldn’t that theoretically drive the price down of a “take home interactive blaster”?

Just a thought, no idea on what the metrics could look like for something like this price wise.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Here’s a fair question.
How much money is put aside into making interactive ride pieces like these durable?

Universal knows that such equipment needs to hold up as hundreds maybe a thousand could use and hold the same blaster everyday. So the biggest thing to them is to make it last for as long as it can (there maybe some exceptions to this rule)

Fair, but even then the cost of the equipment used to use the device with the game system is the majority of the cost. At least with WebSlingers the actual tracking mechanism is in the ride vehicle.

 

[krazyhorrorkid]

Fair, but even then the cost of the equipment used to use the device with the game system is the majority of the cost. At least with WebSlingers the actual tracking mechanism is in the ride vehicle.

I think every case would be different and something like this is independent on each ride/experience that holds some sort of interactive tool.

I think it also depends on each set of technology the ride has. I wish I could make a suitable comparison to this but we know so little on how how this blaster could work. It seems that it’s obviously wireless from the concept art. Not that they are too comparable to any wireless blaster toy from in your local toy section. But I think it’s something interesting to consider, it could be in the range of 300-350$ (random out of pocket number) and people would still consider it an investment as it acts as a new way to experience the ride.

Make the blasters limited stock and it would be even more intriguing for people.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I think every case would be different and something like this is independent on each ride/experience that holds some sort of interactive tool.

I think it also depends on each set of technology the ride has. I wish I could make a suitable comparison to this but we know so little on how how this blaster could work. It seems that it’s obviously wireless from the concept art. Not that they are too comparable to any wireless blaster toy from in your local toy section. But I think it’s something interesting to consider, it could be in the range of 300-350$ (random out of pocket number) and people would still consider it an investment as it acts as a new way to experience the ride.

Make the blasters limited stock and it would be even more intriguing for people.

I think there's a world where they design the ride with most of the tech off the devices, but i don't think it'll do what they want. The potter wands are $65 because all the actual tech is hosted off the wand itself. Maybe there is a budget blaster they could release but maybe we'll find out more once it's open.

 

[Alicia]

I think there's a world where they design the ride with most of the tech off the devices, but i don't think it'll do what they want. The potter wands are $65 because all the actual tech is hosted off the wand itself. Maybe there is a budget blaster they could release but maybe we'll find out more once it's open.

Can I interest you in a fart gun or freeze ray in the Evil Stuff gift shop?

I think of the upgrading your blaster tech as something akin to the sim track concept at Test Track. You get to design your (virtual) blaster’s capabilities in the app, but everyone uses the same physical blaster on the ride. What you adjust in the app could change the type of beam visible interacting with digital media on the ride, the type of damage and how much damage you make, etc.

 

[krazyhorrorkid]

Can I interest you in a fart gun or freeze ray in the Evil Stuff gift shop?

I think of the upgrading your blaster tech as something akin to the sim track concept at Test Track. You get to design your (virtual) blaster’s capabilities in the app, but everyone uses the same physical blaster on the ride. What you adjust in the app could change the type of beam visible interacting with digital media on the ride, the type of damage and how much damage you make, etc.

I like this happy medium.

Maybe you have to unlock the dif blasters as you score high enough point wise. I’m thinking of a rating similar to Alien Attack. As you move up the ranks you unlock different guns and abilities.

 

[Alicia]

I like this happy medium.

Maybe you have to unlock the dif blasters as you score high enough point wise. I’m thinking of a rating similar to Alien Attack. As you move up the ranks you unlock different guns and abilities.

Your allocation of points to optimize your blaster is absolutely related to how much and how well you play, yes.

There will also be badges or trophies or stamps to earn, whatever they end up calling them.