Stars walk the yellow carpet at the grand opening of USF’s “Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem” attraction

Jim Hill

12 years ago

If you noticed some yellow & silver confetti drifting by yesterday …

Photo by Jim Hill

… Well, there was a good reason for that. “Despicable Me:
Minion Mayhem” had its grand opening at Universal Studios Florida yesterday morning.

Photo by Jim Hill

And the Universal Orlando Resort put on quite a show to
celebrate the official debut of its newest 3-D ride. Sending scads of minions
strolling down a bright yellow carpet …

Photo by Jim Hill

… not to mention flying in some of the voice talent from
the original “Despicable Me” film. To be specific, Elsie Fisher (who voiced
Agnes in this 2010 Illumination Entertainment production) …

Elsie Fisher with her very own
“It’s so fluffy” unicorn.
Photo by Jim Hill

… and Dana Gaier (who voiced Edit in this Universal
Pictures release) . Ms. Gaier seemed particularly impressed with the opening
ceremony which the Universal Orlando Resort ad put together. “I always
thought that it would be something good. But I never thought that it would be
this big, this crazy.”

Dana Gaier, the voice of Edith
in “Despicable Me.”
Photo by Jim Hill

Dana & Elsie were joined at yesterday’s grand opening by the
actress who voiced their older sister Margo, “iCarly” star Miranda
Cosgrove. Who knew — right from the moment that she first read the “Despicable
Me” script that …

… this was a sweet, very cool idea for a movie. I mean,
where you’re alone in a booth, recording, you always hope that what you’re
working on turns out to be good. But to see the way that audiences have
embraced Gru and the girls has really been very gratifying for me. I’m just so
proud to part of this project. Which isn’t just a movie anymore. It’s a theme
park ride and a sequel and toys …

“iCarly” star Miranda
Cosgrove works the yellow carpet at
yesterday’s grand opening of Universal Studios
Florida’s
new “Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem” 3-D ride.
Photo by Jim
Hill

Speaking of toys, when I asked Miranda if she owned any
“Despicable Me” merchandise, Ms. Cosgrove said …

I was just in the store and bought some of the cookies. I
like the CocoNutties the best.

The Super Silly Shop in
“Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem” post-show area
features all sorts of
merchandise inspired by this animated feature.
Including full-sized versions of
Agnes’ “It’s so fluffy!” unicorn.
Copyright NBC Universal. All rights
reserved

Universal Orlando’s PR team also brought out some
behind-the-scenes folks associated with the “Despicable Me: Minion
Mayhem” project for yesterday’s press event. Among them was animation veteran
Chris Bailey, who rode herd on the ride film for this new Universal Studios
Florida attraction.

When I asked Bailey about what the toughest part was of
working on this 3-D film, Chris said that …

… what made this movie kind of difficult to work on is,
when you get right down to it, it’s basically one big long shot. So we had to
find ways to break this 3-D ride film into manageable pieces that the animators
could then work on without making the seams between the individual sequences all
that obvious. But there are scenes where we’ve got hundreds of minions running around. Which is
why it really was a monster to produce.

Chris Bailey appeals to the
members of the press. Photo by Jim Hill

But in the end, the biggest challenge was making sure that
we always kept the audience’s attention focused on this ride’s story. Sure it’s
great when you can come up with a funny bit of business for one of the minions.
Have him wiggling off in one of the corners. But if you’re in the audience for
“Minion Mayhem” and you’re not actively keeping track of Agnes &
her present for Gru, then — as animators — we’ve not done our jobs. The
emotion of this ride film’s storyline is just as important, maybe more so, than
its action and its scope.

Mike West, the executive producer of Universal Creative
Studio, echoed Chris Bailey’s sentiments. Saying that …

… my favorite part of standing in the “Despicable Me:
Minion Mayhem” theater and watching the audiences experience this new
Universal Studios Florida attraction is listening to all of the little girls as
they say “Save the present!”

Mike West was far from a blue
man at yesterday’s grand opening for
USF’s new “Despicable Me: Minion
Mayhem” attraction.
Photo by Jim Hill

The other thing that West loved about working on the
“Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem” project was that …

… I think that we really succeeded when it comes to
translating the world that you saw in the “Despicable Me” movie into
a three dimensional space. As you move through the queue and then get into the
living room, you’ll see stuff that’s straight out of the movie. Gru’s family
tree …

Photo by Jim Hill

… along with that drawing which Margo, Edith and Agnes drew in crayon of
themselves on the wall directly below Gru’s family tree.

Photo by Jim Hill

Everywhere you look, there are things which tell you that
you are in Gru’s world now. Like that picture of Gru as a little boy in his
homemade spacesuit …

Photo by Jim Hill

… But there are also signs that Gru’s world has really
changed since the girls came into his life. Like how he had to childproof his
iron maiden.

Photo by Jim Hill

But overall you get the sense that Gru’s life is so much
better now that he’s Margo, Edith and Agnes’ Dad.

Photo by Jim Hill

Which is why it’s so great that Guests get to be on hand for
this very special day. The one year anniversary of the day that Gru officially
adopted the girls.

Mike could have gone on & on about what has already made
“Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem” a favorite with USF visitors. But the
parade that kicked off the official opening ceremony for this new UOR
attraction was about to get underway …

Photo by Jim Hill

… and there were dance numbers to be performed …

Photo by Jim Hill

… and photo ops to stage …

Photo by Jim Hill

… before the Guests who’d actually made special trips to
that theme park yesterday just to experience “Despicable Me: Minion
Mayhem” on its official opening day could then see what this USF
attraction was all about.

I’ll let Mark Woodbury, the president of Universal
Creative get the final word here:

So far, 2012 has been a really great year for us. Which is
why we’ve been calling this “The Year to Be Here.” We’ve had so many
great things come online over the past six months. The new hi-def version of “Spider-Man,” the refresh of our Resort’s
long-running Blue Man Group show, our two new miniature golf courses plus the
Superstar Parade and our nighttime Cinematic Spectacular. And now Despicable
Me: Minion Mayhem.

Mark Woodbury, the president of
Universal Creative, chats with the
press at yesterday’s event. Photo by Jim Hill

When I asked Woodbury if all of these recent additions to the
Universal Orlando Resort were deliberately intended to get visitors to Central
Florida to extend the amount of time that they were spending at Universal
CityWalk or the two theme parks, Mark admitted that …

… a lot of what we’ve been doing lately has been
strategic. But our ultimate goal here is build a fun family experience. And by
adding new interactive attractions like “Despicable Me” to our
already strong line-up …

… I think that we’ve been meeting that goal.

And judging by all of the work that’s currently being done
behind construction fences around USF, it looks like 2013 & 2014 might be
“Years to Be Here” as well.

So how many of you JHM readers got to experience
“Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem” during its soft opening phase? If you
did, what did you think of this new USF attraction?