We are in something of a golden age of theme park characters. Once upon a time, they did little more than stand in place so you could take pictures with them. Today, you’re likely to get much more interaction out of your favorite movie heroes. Although when it comes to meeting Shrek at Universal Studios, that may not be a great thing.
A new TikTok video is going viral, which shows Shrek getting more than a little gross at Universal Studios Hollywood. To be fair, that’s entirely in character for the Ogre, but things get so out of hand that even Donkey has to admit Shrek is going too far when he goes full “smell my finger.” Check it out.
I’ve never been a big Shrek fan, and honestly, this isn’t doing a lot to change my mind. From rubbing his rear on the stanchion of the queue to smelling it and then asking guests to smell his finger, the whole thing is just wrong. The assembled crowd can’t believe it, and you can even hear the voice of Donkey telling Shrek that before the ogre wanders off and things return to normal.
Even the Universal Studios Hollywood Team Member in the video is pretty disgusted with Shrek. To be fair, he’s probably the guy whose job it is to clean up after the ogre. There's probably some serious disinfectant needed on that queue.
While this isn’t exactly my type of entertainment, a lot of people were certainly laughing throughout Shrek’s little performance. And to be fair, Shrek needs to do something in order to compete with his friend Donkey. Donkey is an animatronic character that is voiced by a live performer, so he can react to what's happening around him and to what people say to him.
Donkey is routinely one of the more entertaining characters at Universal Studios Hollywood and Florida. Donkey frequently pokes fun at guests as the character seems to be aware he’s in a theme park. When people wear Disney gear to Universal, Donkey will often give them a hard time, and the people tend to love the modern humor, which has always been a staple of the Shrek movies as well.
Even though we haven’t seen a new Shrek movie since 2010, the characters have remained popular at Universal’s theme parks. Shrek and Donkey are front and center when you enter the recently updated Dreamworks Land at Universal Studios Florida. With a new Shrek movie set to be released next year, the popularity of these characters will likely only increase.
Needless to say, on my next visit to Universal Studios Hollywood, I won’t be touching the queues anywhere near Donkey’s location. I can’t be sure how clean they are.
