On our final day in Taiwan for this trip, we decided to go for a themed exhibition at Taipei Expo Park; a multi-functional park which had been a venue for other character-themed exhibitions, such as Doraemon and Tsum Tsum.
Titled ‘Despicable Me – The Evil Studio’ (神偷奶爸-邪恶制片厂), it has a special appeal for DL, CL and their aunt who are all Minion-fans.
The venue is converted into a big minion playground which suited them to a tee. For rest of us, we took it as a chance to find out more about Taipei’s themed exhibitions.
The admission tickets are priced at NT$280 for adults and NT$230 for children/students (re-entry allowed). Each ticket comes with a complimentary foldable shopping bag and so…we ended up with 6 identical ones.
The characters are adorable and with 10 movie scenes re-created, there are so many photo opportunities that will make minion fans go ga-ga.
Being a weekday morning, the crowd was sparse when we visited, so taking nice photos was a breeze.
There is no free play area, except for 2 slides. The bouncy castle and 6 game stations are on pay-per-play basis.
Each game costs NT$50 while a ticket for 3 games costs NT$130 that can be bought at these machines (instructions in Chinese). There are 3 tiers of prizes for the games: lowest tier is a piece of minion-themed stickers, middle tier is a small minion plushie, highest tier is a cuddle-sized plushie.
The kids tried all the games available; some more than once. But we did not do any better than getting the tier 1 prizes – identical pieces of stickers.
If you are as unlucky as we were to be unable to get any plushie, there’s always the sales area near the exit. Minion fans can purchase a good range of ‘despicable-me’ themed merchandise or bring home something from the photo stickers and labels booths.
Advice: Go if you are a big fan of the movies and the characters and want to have some photos taken. Otherwise, you may want to find alternative activities.
In our opinion, the scope of the exhibition is somewhat limited, literally for photo-taking only. If only, they can have some free play area. That may make us feel we’re getting better value for the admission charges.
*****************************************
Read more about our trip itinerary and the other places we visited during the trip in Taiwan 2016 – Family Trip Itinerary.
*****************************************
Useful information:
This theme exhibition only runs from 15 December 2016 to 26 February 2017.
Nearest MRT station: Yuanshan (圆山). Turn left upon exiting the station and you will see the Expo Park.
Opening hours: 10:00 to 18:00
Facebook page (in Chinese only): 神偷奶爸邪恶制片厂展销会
Note: Do check out their Facebook page for the schedule if you are keen on their Minions meet-and-greet sessions.