Good Friday morning, everyone!
It’s Landon, and I’m coming to you from Universal Orlando this morning where an all-new land has opened. Drumroll please … introducing MINION LAND! After months of waiting, the new area at Universal Studios Florida has officially opened to guests. 🤩🤩🤩🤩
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This entire week has been leading up to this moment. Don’t tell our news director, but the Minions took over the News 6 control room and caused chaos on the set. Thankfully, they were not there long, and nobody was hurt. 😌
So, for those of you who have been living under a banana tree for the past few months, let me recap what Minions Land has to offer the next time you visit.
For starters, the land has a new attraction, Illumination’s Villain-Con Minion Blast. Get ready to grab an “E-Liminator X” blaster, jump on a moving walkway and blast your way to a high score. For those of you who are good, you might just be able to join the evil group, the Vicious 6.
After a banana-blasting good time, you may have an appetite for some good food. 🍌
Head over to the Minion Café!
This week, I got to try some of the more than 20 items on the menu. Most of the things I had to eat were Minion-related, of course. Something I was surprised to try after talking to the executive chef was the pet rock dessert – it tastes legit like PB&J. It was delicious! I would recommend it! 😄
Don’t forget to grab some banana-flavored popcorn at Pop-A-Nana or a Minion cake pop at Bake My Day. Heck, you may even need something cool from the Freeze-Ray Pops stand. The weather this week has been brutal!
You can wrap up your trip to Minion Land with a quick photo at the Illumination Theater. The new meet-and-greet spot was so much fun. You may even see some new characters from the Illumination film “Sing.” 📸
How many of you have had the chance to experience this area? If not, no time to waste – it’s open NOW! 😍
🔪 Taste of Terror
While I was out at Universal Orlando this week, I had the chance to experience the all-new “Taste of Terror” event. 💀
For the foodies out there, this event is for YOU. The event, which is only happening in August, is a special preview of some of the food and drinks that we will see at Halloween Horror Nights. Some of the foods on the menu include a Hellfire Mini Cake, Bloody Campground Poutine, Fried Til’ The End Chicken bites and a Bloody Snowball. OK, not all the names have some nasty twist to them, but they’re all so good. 🕷️
One item sure to be a hit this year is the “Left Behind Ravioli” that is inspired from NaughtyDog and Playstation’s “The Last of Us,” one of the haunted houses featured this year. The dish is served in a can that looks like it’s from the game.
The chef told me that they have done this event in the past for Universal leaders and now they’re thrilled to bring it to guests. He said the event allows guests to enjoy all the food without running from a chainsaw. There is some good news about this event too … the price went down a bit. It’s now $135.99 plus tax.
Passholder appreciation 🤩
Something else worth mentioning at Universal Orlando this week is Passholder Appreciation Days. 👏
This all begins Aug. 15. During this limited time, passholders will get tons of perks and discounts on hotels, food and drinks over the next month. Some new merchandise is also rolling out. Universal showed some of the foods that will be exclusive to passholders. The “Maloney Stack” at Finnegan’s Bar & Grill looks huge! 😋
Oink-tastic savings 🐷
As students head back to the classroom this week, Peppa Pig theme park is rolling out a special pre-schooler sale for families to take advantage of! 🐷
For a limited-time, families can get since-day tickets for as low as $29 on the weekdays! In addition to that, the theme park is rolling out an all-new vacation deal that includes a hotel stay at one of Legoland Florida Resort’s three hotels. The tickets for this sale must be purchased online. Peppa Pig theme park has a whole bunch for small kids to experience including rides, playscapes and a muddy puddle splash pad! 🐽
Medals and signups 🏃♂️
RunDisney was busy this week. 🗞️ Leaders announced the remaining themes for the 2024 Springtime Surprise Weekend along with registration dates. Anyone down to run with me in the Hakuna Matata 10-miler? Something else that got me pretty excited was seeing the medals for the 2024 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend in January. 🥇 I must start training for that … 26.2 miles is going to be one tough journey again. 🤔
Smaller thrills 🎡
🎨 Artist’s Pallet at Disney’s Saratoga Springs rolls out new foods
🗺️ ICON Park hosting “Destination Days”
😥 Final week for this attraction at Legoland Florida
That will pretty much wrap things up for this week. There was a lot of news out of Universal Orlando this week. At Walt Disney World this weekend, they’re kicking off Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party tonight. 🎃 Yes, I know it’s early for Halloween. I’ll have much more about the event next week.
In the meantime, this week, the theme park world is celebrating National Roller Coaster Day on Aug. 16. 🎢 Busch Gardens Tampa Bay has a special deal thrill seekers may be interested in. If you need me on that day … I’ll be cruising around on the Jurassic World: Velocicoaster. That ride is my all-time favorite. 😁
Talk to you all again next week!
- Landon✌️