A Review of Villains Unleashed – Or How I Actually Managed To Do Some Cool Stuff on Hollywood Studio’s Busiest Night of the Year

Current CP Caroline Liddick is back, this time with a review of the (currently) one time only hard-ticketed event Villians Unleashed, which took place at Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios last weekend. Read on for her review!

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This past weekend, Hollywood Studios celebrated classic and new Disney villains alike with their new hard-ticketed event, Villains Unleashed. Being a longtime fan of many Disney Villains and a newer fan of alcohol, I of course bought my ticket and joined in on the fun.

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After Hades officially opened the event and welcomed all fifty (FIFTY!) villains into Studios, I began my atypical night at Villains Unleashed. My first stop was in Animation Courtyard where Disney Junior Live is typically staged. That night, there was a Guardians of the Galaxy themed dance party. The DJ gave out copies of “Awesome Mix, Vol. 1”, some danced, but most waited for the reveal of Walt Disney World’s first ever Marvel characters – Star-Lord and Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy. When they finally came out to take pictures, everyone rushed to the velvet rope.

First of all, their costumes were A+. They were movie accurate down to the last detail. Star-Lord had his “purse,” his headphones, and his holster, and Gamora’s face makeup was on point. Not to mention, my bae Peter Quill’s dance moves were actually, literally (okay, metaphorically) off the charts.

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After this dance party, the rest of my night was spent wandering Studios, save one return to see my new favorite face characters again. By the time I got out of the dance party (at around 8:45), lines were ridiculous. So I walked around and saw all of the villains I could. I walked through Pixar Place – Toy’s wait time was only 30 minutes! In August! – to get over to Streets of America, where the lights were dimmed and the speakers were blasting creepy atmosphere music. I followed Frollo around for a bit as he flirted with female Guests and ignored everyone else, basically. It was terrifying and amazing.

Walking through Muppets Courtyard, I got a glimpse and earful of Constantine – one of the E-ticket meet and greets of the night. According to some Guests, his line was three hours long, but it seemed worth it. Constantine met from behind the bars of the Gulag within the Muppets gift shop, and I even heard a glimpse of his Kermit impression as the exit doors swung open.

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After swinging through the Star Tours area and getting a picture with a Stormtrooper, I went over to Brown Derby to get an event exclusive drink – One Bad Apple, with a signature glowing poison apple inside. It was fifteen dollars, and pretty weak, but totally tasty. A+, would buy again.

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The rest of my night was spent wandering Studios, visiting my friends at Fantasmic!, and buying one of the last 20 event pins. I actually left before the fireworks to avoid traffic, but from what I’ve heard (and seen on YouTube), they were pretty awesome.

Now, before I get to the end of my Villains recap, I feel like I have to say that I know a lot of Guests I spoke with that night were not happy with their Villains experience. Yes, lines were long – some lines lasted for half of the event time! I want to acknowledge that because I totally understand where they were coming from. I do wish that the event lasted for multiple days, or maybe for longer hours, to allow more time for all of the Guests to get to meet as many Villains as possible.

However, to me, Villains Unleashed isn’t about cramming as many meet and greets into one day as possible. It’s about seeing other Disney fans getting into the spirit, taking pictures with great cosplays, and seeing your favorite park decked out to the max in purple lights and EDM-blasting speakers.

It is like a special brand of Comic Con – you pay a lot of money to wait around, but most of that money is spent for the opportunity to share something you love with other people. I paid $70 with tax to go to Villains Unleashed, and I thought every penny was worth it. I look forward to seeing what Studios does next year – and you can bet that I’ll be going!

 

Did you go to Villians Unleashed? Have a drastically different take on the event then Caroline did? Let us know in the comments!