Western Animation / Shrek 4D

Presented in ogre-vision

"Wow, this 3-D is pretty cool!"

—Donkey

Shrek 4-D, also known as Shrek's 4-D Adventure, is a 3-D Movie with in-theater special effects that can be found at the Universal Studios parks in Japan and Singapore. At one point, it was also at Universal Studios Hollywood, Florida, Warner Bros. Movie World and Movie Park Germany, but has since been closed at those four locations.

It is set directly after the first movie in the franchise, with Shrek and Fiona preparing to go off on their honeymoon. Their plans are interrupted when Thelonius, Lord Farquaad's henchman, kidnaps Fiona and takes her away into the woods. Shrek, with Donkey alongside, pursue the two into the woods, eventually discovering that the mastermind behind the kidnapping is none other than the ghost of Lord Farquaad himself, who vows to make Fiona his bride yet again so that he may become King of the Underworld. Shrek and Donkey are thus forced to combine their wits once more and set out onto another big adventure that involves graveyards, huge aerial dragon battles, and a massive waterfall in order to save Fiona and defeat Farquaad a second time.

The attraction first opened at the Florida, Hollywood, and Japan parks in 2003, and opened with the Singapore park in 2010. It also operated from 2005-2010 and 2008-2011 at Warner Bros. Movie World and Movie Park Germany, respectively.

Since its inception as a theme park attraction, the film was released onto DVD as Shrek 3-D, and has even been released in 2-D when it was shown on Nickelodeon in 2007 under the title Shrek's Never Before Seen Adventure, and has since been made available on Netflix, online, and Blu-ray, now titled The Ghost of Lord Farquaad.

After a 14-year run, the attraction was closed at Universal Studios Hollywood on August 13, 2017, and in 2018 was replaced with the DreamWorks Theatre, which highlights many DWA franchises, including Shrek, with the current main attraction being Kung Fu Panda Adventure. The Florida version of the attraction closed on January 10, 2022, with its replacement being a Despicable Me interactive attraction called Illumination's Villain-Con Minion Blast which as the name suggests is based on the location of the same name from the first Minions movie. The Japan and Singapore locations remain open, but time will tell whether or not they'll be replaced in the future.

---

Tropes shown in Shrek 4-D include:

• Aborted Arc: The pre-show of the attraction is all about Farquaad and Thelonius trying to figure out the whereabouts of Shrek and Fiona, yet in the main show Thelonius finds them despite never getting an answer from the prisoners.
• Adaptation Expansion: At Universal Studios Singapore, the attraction gets its own dedicated land surrounding it that recreates both Shrek's swamp and Far Far Away, featuring two roller coasters; one themed around Dragon and the other around Puss in Boots, an interactive show with Donkey, and a small ferris wheel ride.
• Aerial Canyon Chase: Shrek, Donkey, and Dragon lead the stone dragon chasing them right into a narrow canyon, in order to trick it into losing its wings.
• Affectionate Parody: Apart from the attraction continuing the film's mockery of fairy tales, the queue line in Florida's version contains many parody posters of Disneyland attractions, such as a "Dulocland" parody of Fantasyland, with the teacups being onions and Dumbo instead being Donkey. Additionally, there's posters for "The Enchanted Tick Room" and "Great Moments with Mr. Farquaad".
• Amusement Park of Doom: A torture dungeon is marketed as being one of the main attractions of "Dulocland".
• Anachronism Stew: Several. The "Dungeon Cam", the screen and speakers in the main auditorium, microphones, "documentaries" in the queue line; the list goes on...
• Anything but That!: When Farquaad threatens the Three Little Pigs with "Luau Time", he asks Thelonius to "fetch his moo-moo", which gets the most horrified reaction out of the pigs.
• Apologetic Attacker: Fiona apologizes to Thelonius right after beating him off the raft. Thelonius also counts as he apologizes to Fiona when he releases the raft in the first place.
• Ascended Extra: Shrek, along with Fiona and Lord Farquaad, first started off as walk-around characters at the park in 2001, only to receive their own attraction a mere two years later.
• Aside Comment: Towards the end, when Shrek tells Donkey how much he appreciates him, he looks towards the audience and says, "Aw shucks. I think I'm gonna cry..."
• Attack Reflector: And a very unusual one at that. When Shrek ends up falling onto the stone dragon, it breathes fire towards him, but Shrek ends up flatulating, which sends the fire right back at it.
• Big Bad: Farquaad, yet again.
• Big Damn Heroes: Shrek, Donkey, and Dragon come riding in to rescue Fiona at the climax.
• Big "NEVER!": Fiona does one when Farquaad says that he'll "see her on the other side".
• Big "NO!":
  • Pinocchio does one right after Farquaad threatens to make him into firewood.
  • The Three Little Pigs do this in their Anything but That! reaction.
  • In a rare variation, Shrek actually does a Double-Big "NO!" when he and Donkey are about to get hit by the carriage.
  • Farquaad does a particularly long one when he gets hit with Dragon's fireball.
• Big "SHUT UP!":
  • First occurs in the pre-show when The Three Little Pigs keep interrupting the Magic Mirror's retelling of the first film, Pinocchio simply yells, "WILL YOU BE QUIET?!?!"
  • When running from the stone dragon, Donkey continues to whistle for Dragon, which, thinking that it will jinx them more, makes Shrek yell, "SHUT IT!"
• Black Comedy: Much of the discussion of torture in the pre-show is Played for Laughs.
• Bound and Gagged: Fiona's hands are tied together by Thelonius, and later are tied to a raft.
• Breaking the Bonds:
  • Gingy is shown somehow being able to break free of his restraints in the pre-show.
  • Fiona busts out of the ropes that had her bound to the raft and attacks Thelonius immediately after.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  • In the pre-show, The Three Little Pigs and Pinocchio are baffled that the guests "didn't see the movie", with Pinocchio mentioning, "It's what happened after the end credits that got us all into this pickle!"
  • In the updated 2015 version of the pre-show, when Farquaad threatens to make Pinocchio into firewood, Donkey says, "You can't kill him, man! He's in the sequel!"
  • After the pre-show, any involvement the audience had in the story is dropped, as the main show has them watching a straightforward 3-D movie. However, that doesn't stop the characters from messing with the Fourth Wall.
    • At one point, Donkey is flung towards the audience, where he comments, "Wow! This 3-D is pretty cool!", and when Shrek pulls him back into the carriage, he tells him, "I just saw into another dimension!"
    • When Farquaad's ghost appears behind his grave site, he looks at the audience and whispers "Shhhhhhh..."
    • After Farquaad's ghost reveals himself, Donkey says, "I know I've seen you die in the first movie!"
  • At the end of the film, Tinker Bell is sent flying out of the screen and into one of the theater's speakers.
• Building Swing: A frequently-used promo image for the attraction shows Shrek and Donkey swinging from a chain◊.
• Butt-Monkey: Tinker Bell at first almost gets eaten by a frog, then gets hit by a bottle cork and flies into one of the theater's speaker, as mentioned above.
• Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": The attraction's 3-D glasses are referred to as "Ogre-Vision glasses".
• Canon Discontinuity: Possibly. The Halloween special, Scared Shrekless appears to retcon the events of this attraction, as the special treats Farquaad being a ghost as an urban legend, and Shrek and Donkey make no mention of ever having encountered him again. However, official statements by DreamWorks Animation still continue to claim that this attraction is canon regardless.
• Cave Behind the Falls: What Dragon pops out of when saving the protagonists.
• Chain of People: When falling off the waterfall, Fiona manages to grab Thelonius' hand (who was hanging onto a branch), Shrek then grabs her hand, then grabs Donkey by the tail. The four are left dangling for a few seconds just before the branch breaks.
• Chase Scene: First when Shrek and Donkey chase after Thelonius to get Fiona back, then later when they ride on Dragon to get away from Farquaad's stone dragon.
• Clip Its Wings: Shrek, Donkey, and Dragon defeat the stone dragon by tricking it into going into a tiny cave, which results in its wings getting crumpled to pieces.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: What Farquaad does to Pinocchio, Gingy, and The Three Little Pigs in order to find out where Shrek and Fiona are.
• Comedic Sociopathy: After the Magic Mirror finishes retelling the story of the first film, one of The Three Little Pigs asks if he can show Lord Farquaad getting eaten by Dragon over and over again for laughs, which he happily obliges to.
• Company Cross References: In the later years of the attraction, the gift shop featured merchandise from other DreamWorks Animation franchises, such as Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, and Trolls.
• Continuity Nod:
  • In the beginning, Donkey is once again sent into the air by Tinker Bell's fairy dust.
  • Upon being threatened by Thelonius, Fiona once again attempts her Matrix take down move, though this time it ends up being used against her.
  • Fiona yet again makes a bird explode with her voice.
  • Shrek reprises his Compensating for Something joke from the first film upon seeing Farquaad's massive gravesite.
  Shrek: Well, looks like Farquaad's still trying to compensate for something, I wonder what that could be?
  • At the end, Donkey goes off with Dragon, saying they'll go home to "make some waffles!"
• Continuity Snarl: Mama Bear (from The Three Bears), who was strongly implied to have been killed in the first film, is mentioned as being alive in one of the newspapers in the queue line.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: In the pre-show, Farquaad assures the guests that they will all be tortured. According to the team member spielers at the attraction, the main show is supposed to be the audience's "torture".
• Covers Always Lie: One of the posters for the attraction was a near-duplicate of the first film's poster, showing the trio running away from Dragon; despite the fact that Dragon serves a heroic role in the attraction. This was later corrected, with future posters showing the trio instead running away from the stone dragon.
• Creepy Cemetery: Shrek and Donkey end up stumbling into one, and are forced to walk through it.
• Damsel out of Distress: Fiona gets kidnapped by Thelonius and later tied to a raft for Farquaad's plan, but ends up being able to break free on her own and immediately after beats up her kidnapper.
• Deadpan Snarker: The team member spieler in the dungeon pre-show is this.
• Deader than Dead: Farquaad's ghost winds up getting destroyed (or at least forcibly returned to the afterlife) by Dragon's fire, presumably ending him once and for all.
• Department of Redundancy Department: At the start of the main show, the screen is finally revealed after three sets of curtains open up.
• Disney Villain Death: Subverted with Thelonius, who manages to grab onto a branch before falling down the waterfall, then later gets saved by Dragon.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Before entering the main auditorium, the Magic Mirror gives the guests the rules of the theater, which apparently state that all cell phone users will be flogged and anyone that uses flash photography will be burned at the stake.
• The Ditz: Thelonius, to an even bigger extent than the movie. His stand-out moment is when he sets Fiona's raft afloat...without getting off of it first.
• Dive! Dive! Dive!: Both Shrek and Donkey shout this to Dragon just before they go into the canyon.
• Do a Barrel Roll: Dragon performs a 360 roll during the canyon chase.
• Double Entendre: When retelling Shrek's escape from Dragon, the Magic Mirror mentions, "Shrek saved the princess...and his ass." before showing a clip of Donkey.
• Double Feature: At Universal Studios Japan, the park's 3-D theater rotates between showing this and Sesame Street 4-D throughout the day. And sometimes the movie does not show for certain periods of time at all when Universal Japan does special events where an Anime feature is shown instead.
• Double Meaning:
  • In the pre-show, when Gingy tells the guests to get out before it's too late, Pinocchio tells him, "They're not a very animated bunch, Gingy." This refers not only to the fact that the guests aren't moving, but also that they're not animated characters.
  • When Shrek tells Donkey (in the middle of his monologue) to "cut to the chase" - meaning to wrap up what he's saying, but also cut to the chase scene that's to follow.
• Dramatic Thunder: Occurs just before Thelonius storms in on the protagonists.
• DreamWorks Face: Shrek does this expression on the attraction's sign.◊
• Dying Declaration of Love: Played with. While falling down the waterfall, Shrek and Fiona both say that they love each other, though they both obviously knew that before, and they ultimately are saved by Dragon.
• Early Adaptation Weirdness: It's very easy to tell the ride was made when the franchise consisted only of the first movie. Not only is Farquaad still the villain, with the short taking place in Duloc (which was completely forgotten after the first film), but many of the jokes are repeated from the first movie, and plenty of series hallmarks like Puss in Boots or the kingdom of Far Far Away aren't part of the attraction^note Puss is featured in some of the attraction's merchandise, however. The character meet-and-greet outside of the attraction even features Fiona as a human face character as opposed to her more iconic ogre form (even though the ride itself does).
• Evil Knockoff: The stone dragon that Farquaad brings to life is this to Dragon, more or less looking exactly like her.
• Evil Laugh: Farquaad takes it even further here.
• Evil Plan: Farquaad wants to kill Fiona so he can marry her and become "king of the underworld".
• Faking the Dead: After being saved by Dragon, Fiona very briefly pretends that she's a ghost to Farquaad just to mock him. She appears to him as if she's floating in the air, only to reveal seconds later that she's standing on top of Dragon with Shrek, Donkey, and Thelonius.
• Farts on Fire: As mentioned above, when the stone dragon attempts to shoot fire at Shrek, he ends up flatulating the fire right back at it.
• Fly-at-the-Camera Ending: A slight variation, as at the end Tinker Bell is sent flying off the screen and right into one of the theater's speakers.
• Forced into Evil: There's an implication that Thelonius is only serving Farquaad because he's intimidated by him, as he apologizes to Fiona several times and later has no problem with the heroes destroying Farquaad.
• Forced to Watch: It appears to be implied that the guests' "torture" is having to watch Farquaad take out the main characters, though it obviously doesn't go as he planned.
• Freefall Romance: Shrek and Fiona briefly have this moment together before being saved by Dragon.
• The Full Name Adventures: The attraction is known as Shrek's 4-D Adventure at the Universal Studios parks in Japan and Singapore.
• Funny Background Event: When Farquaad talks to the guests in the pre-show, Thelonius grows curious of the flaming torch he's holding, and attempts to stick his finger in it. The results are what you would expect.
• Gingerbread House: Gingy has one that gets destroyed just as soon as he finishes it.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: A Farquaad statue's eyes glow red when Farquaad's ghost enters it, then later the stone dragon's eyes glow red just as it's coming to life.
• Go Through Me: Inverted. When it at first appears that the stone dragon has caught Shrek and Donkey, the latter tells him, "You can go first, I'll be the dessert!"
• Gold Digger: Farquaad is once again trying to marry Fiona in order to become a king.
• Grave Clouds: The sky during the graveyard scene is filled with pitch-black clouds.
• Grave Humor: There's an easy-to-miss background gag in the graveyard scene, where there's several tombstones that say "COMING SOON" on them.
• Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: When the stone dragon gets its wings cut off, it stays in the air long enough to give an Oh, Crap! reaction before plummeting.
• Groin Attack: Fiona gives Thelonius a particularly brutal kick to it by stomping on one of the logs holding the raft together, which she apologizes for right after.
• Halloween Special: The film is labeled as such on Netflix (where it's titled The Ghost of Lord Farquaad).
• Heavy Sleeper: In the first part of the pre-show, Pinocchio and The Three Little Pigs are somehow not woken up by the dungeon spieler talking over a microphone and by said spieler getting the audience to shout, "OH, NO!" several times. They are only finally woken up when the spieler gets the audience to specifically shout at them to wake up.
• Heel–Face Turn: Thelonius appears to have one, as he can be seen riding on Dragon with the protagonists, and appears to have no qualms with them destroying Farquaad once more.
• Hero Insurance: Averted. After Shrek accidentally destroys Gingy's house, the latter tells him that, "I hope you're insured!"
• I See Dead People: Parodied. In the graveyard, Donkey notices a ghost hand grabbing his tail, which in response he exclaims to Shrek, "I feel dead people!"
• Idiot Ball: According to the backstory, the guests themselves grab onto this. One of the newspapers in the queue line states that many fairy tale creatures are being forced to line up all throughout Duloc for questioning as to Shrek's whereabouts, and the guests are apparently "just wayward tourists that saw a line and joined up with it".
• Inevitable Waterfall: The entire climax of the main show involves Farquaad trying to kill Fiona by sending her over a waterfall.
• Intangibility: Farquaad's ghost is shown to have this ability, as in two scenes the show creates the illusion of Farquaad phasing through the audience's heads.
• Internal Retcon: The statues at Farquaad's grave site depict him having died while trying to selflessly fight off a dragon to save everyone, which clearly wasn't the case.
  Shrek: Talk about re-writing history...
• Interrogated for Nothing: Farquaad interrogates the guests about Shrek's whereabouts, even though from the perspective of the story, they don't know anything.
• Is There a Doctor in the House?: Gingy says this right after his face gets stuck to a tree.
• It's a Long Story: After Donkey and Dragon leave to "go home and make some waffles!", this exchange happens between Shrek and Fiona.
  Fiona: Waffles?
  Shrek: (chuckles) It's a long story.
• I've Got an X, and I'm Not Afraid to Use It!: Shrek says to Farquaad, "We've got a loaded dragon here!" to which Fiona finishes, "...and we're not afraid to use it!"
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: When Farquaad calls Thelonious insults like "nitwit" and "numbskull" for releasing the raft with him on it, it almost seems like he's acting out of Anger Born of Worry. But when Thelonious gets knocked over the raft and he just says "never mind him", all bets are off.
• Just in Time: Dragon rescues the protagonists just before they reach the bottom of the waterfall.
• "Just Joking" Justification: Before getting destroyed by Dragon, Farquaad quickly tries to counter his actions by saying, "It was just a joke!"
• Kill It with Fire: Farquaad's ghost is revealed to be vulnerable to fire, as he is ultimately destroyed when he gets enveloped by Dragon's fireball.
• Late to the Realization: In the pre-show when one of The Three Little Pigs questions why the audience are in the Dungeon, Pinocchio responds, "What are WE still doing in here?!" Upon realizing that they're trapped, they pause for a moment, and then promptly freak out.
• Letting the Air out of the Band: Occurs when Fiona's Matrix-style moves don't work as intended with Thelonious.
• Literal Cliffhanger: When the main trio are sent down a waterfall, they, along with Thelonious, are briefly able to hang onto a branch for a moment before it snaps.
• Living Statue: The stone dragon that is brought to life by Farquaad.
• Locked in the Dungeon: Pinocchio, The Three Little Pigs, Gingy, and the guests themselves all find themselves in the Duloc dungeon at the start of the attraction.
• A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away...: Parodied in the pre-show. When the Magic Mirror is told to tell the guests "the story", he starts off with this before getting stopped by Pinocchio.
• Lured into a Trap: Shrek and Donkey are lured to the graveyard by Farquaad in an attempt to kill them.
• Made of Iron: Thelonius shows little emotion or signs of pain when Fiona punches him in the face multiple times, though getting hit in the crotch appears to be his weakness.
• Magic Fire: Apparently, dragon's fire breath can even harm or destroy ghosts, as Dragon's does just that to Farquaad toward the end.
• Mighty Roar: The stone dragon does one in its near-Eat the Camera shot when attempting to reach the heroes.
• Mistaken for Brooding: Fiona is sobbing and Donkey tries to guess why. He suggests that it's because she's unhappy about marrying Shrek or not getting a puppy when she was a kid, but she clarifies that it's because the carriage she's sitting in is a giant onion.
• Mockumentary: A sizeable portion of the queue line video is this, with Shrek and Donkey being interviewed about their lives.
• Mood Whiplash: Played for Laughs when the scene of Shrek and Donkey chasing after Thelonius abruptly cuts to Gingy putting the finishing touches on his new house.
• My Life Flashed Before My Eyes: When going down the waterfall, Donkey yells, "My short, furry life is flashing before my eyes!"
• Mythology Gag: In Farquaad's torture chamber, the Three Little Pigs' cages are made out of the same materials each of their houses were made out of.
• Never Trust a Title: When this was once aired on Nickelodeon in 2007, it was marketed as Shrek's Never Before Seen Adventure, which is blatantly false since the attraction had been around since 2003 and on DVD since 2004.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Fiona tosses a grappling hook at a rock in an attempt to stop the raft from going over the waterfall, but when Shrek and Donkey show up to save her, they jump on the raft. The added weight causes the grappling hook to snap.
• No Honor Among Thieves: When Thelonius gets knocked off the raft, Farquaad makes no effort to save him, showing no remorse if he goes over the waterfall.
• "No Talking or Phones" Warning: The Magic Mirror gives the spiel just before guests enter the main theater.
  Magic Mirror: As the auditorium opens, please enter in an orderly fashion, and take a seat as far over as possible. Do NOT wear your glasses until you are seated, unless you like falling over. Please do not eat, drink, smoke, or puke. All cell phone users will be FLOGGED. Flash photographers will be burned at the stake! You have been warned. Enjoy the show!
• Non-Action Big Bad: Aside from bringing a stone dragon to life, Farquaad doesn't do anything physical. Justified as well, he's a ghost, but subverted in that he was surprisingly a bit more active than he was in the first movie.
• Object-Tracking Shot: The opening scene of the film follows a frog being dragged around by Tinker Bell, who the frog is trying to eat. The struggle leads the camera through above a pond, through a log, and into a tree.
• Offscreen Teleportation:
  • After the pre-show, Thelonius is able to make it from Duloc to Shrek's swamp in a remarkable amount of time.
  • Likewise, there's only a very brief gap in time allowing Gingy to go from escaping Farquaad's dungeon to putting the finishing touches on his own house.
  • With the 2015 alterations, this occurs in Hollywood's version with Donkey somehow going from the Duloc dungeon in the pre-show to Shrek's swamp in the main show.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • The stone dragon gives this expression right after it gets its wings cut off before plummeting down.
  • All of the heroes do this just before the branch they're holding onto breaks, sending them down the waterfall.
• Oh, No... Not Again!: Farquaad says this word-for-word upon seeing that Dragon rescued the protagonists again.
• Ominous Fog: The graveyard scene is filled with it.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: A part of the music that's used as the guests walk into the main theatre.
• Once Upon a Time: The Magic Mirror begins his re-telling of the first film with these words.
• Onion Tears: In the opening scene, Donkey makes several guesses as to why Fiona is crying, until she flat-out states that it's because she's sitting inside a carriage made out of an onion.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Farquaad's ghost is able to make a stone dragon come to life, though beyond that he doesn't do very much and getting hit by fire permanently kills him off.
• Outrun the Fireball: Subverted. Farquaad attempts to outrun Dragon's fireball, but fails.
• Paddleball Shot: There are many, many shots of objects and characters sticking out of the screen - a statue with a sword, Shrek's finger, Pinocchio's nose...
• Playing Hard to Get: Farquaad accuses Fiona of such with him, even though it's plainly obvious she has no interest in him.
• Plot Hole: Universal Studios Hollywood's addition of Donkey into the pre-show pretty much throws the entire story of the attraction right into the dumpster. It makes no sense for him to be in the dungeon, see Farquaad, and minutes later be back with Shrek and have no memory of Farquaad being a ghost or his plan to find Shrek and Fiona.
• Previously on…: A big chunk of the pre-show is dedicated to the Magic Mirror retelling the events of the first film, with clips alongside.
• "Psycho" Strings: Can be faintly heard when the spider first appears in front of Donkey.
• Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh...: While he doesn't attack back, Fiona's attempts at punching Thelonius in the face multiple times prove to be unsuccessful, until she finds his vulnerable spot...
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: The trees in the dark forest all have glowing red eyes.
• Reveal Shot: It at first appears that Shrek and Donkey are grabbed by the stone dragon, but the shot then pulls upwards to show that it was actually Dragon.
• Rewind, Replay, Repeat: After the Magic Mirror finishes retelling Shrek's story, he goes back and replays the footage of Farquaad being eaten by Dragon over and over again for laughs, at the request of one of the pigs.
• Running Gag: Before the pre-show starts, the team member spieler makes it a gag for the guests to shout, "OH NO!" every time they say the word "flogging".
• Say My Name: Fiona at one point yells, "SHHHHHRRRRRREEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!" so loud that it results in a raven exploding.
• Scenery Porn: The "Hotel Honeymoon" at the end is quite gorgeous, in contrast to the dark settings the characters were previously in.
• Screen Tap: A rare non-Breaking the Fourth Wall example occurs in the pre-show. Gingy, shown on the "Dungeon Cam", breaks free of his restraints and taps on the lenses of the camera to get everyone's attention.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: In the pre-show, Gingy briefly contemplates trying to free everyone, but knowing of Farquaad's imminent return, he takes the every man for himself route.
• Seen It All: The end of the newspaper in the queue line states that the writer has already seen this situation happen in the past.
  "Yup, midget tyrant rises from the grave and kidnaps fairy tale creatures to find out where an ogre and princess have honeymooned. I've seen this before. I hate to start a Monday with a case like this."
• Shout-Out: All over the place.
  • In Florida's queue line, there's a couple of movie poster parodies, such as Liar Liar with Pinocchio, Terminator 2: Judgment Day with Thelonius, and a "Claws" parody of Jaws with Dragon as the shark, Farquaad as the lady, and the setting being in the clouds instead of the sea.
  • When Pinocchio tells the Magic Mirror to tell the guests the "story", he begins, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." before rising upwards to the tune of the famous music.
  • Just before starting the carriage, Donkey states, "We've got a donkey, driving a carriage made from an onion, it's dark, and our horses are wearing sunglasses!"
  • The chase scene with the stone dragon in the canyon is very much reminiscent of the Death Star trench battle, right down to the sound of Dragon's fireball coming right from the movie.
  Shrek: This is Red Dragon, we're going in!
• Silence, You Fool!: In the pre-show, Farquaad's very first line is a big "SILENCE!", to get everyone's attention.
• Smash Cut: The sudden cut when the first chase scene changes to Gingy decorating his house.
• Souvenir Land: The advertised "Dulocland" in the queue is this, with one sign advertising an attraction that has "74 gift shops and 1 ride". There's also a warning posted in the dungeon room telling people that they only have 45 seconds to visit the nearest gift shop before their torture commences.
• Spiders Are Scary: There's a whole scene dedicated to Donkey reacting in fear to a bunch of spiders.
• Spider Swarm: The spider that comes down in front of Donkey is soon followed by a whole bunch of spiders that drop down on the ground, with the attraction creating the illusion of them crawling on the audience's legs.
• Swallowed Whole: Tinker Bell by a frog in the opening scene, just before she escapes a few seconds later.
• A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Averted. Though he is ultimately unsuccessful, Farquaad attempts to make Shrek and Donkey suffer the same fate as his - getting eaten by a dragon.
  Lord Farquaad: You fools! This time it's your turn to be the entrée!
• Tear Off Your Face: Gingy smashes into a tree, which results in his face coming off him and getting stuck to the tree.
• Tempting Fate:
  • When Donkey expresses his fear of the forest, Shrek rebuttals, "What is there to be scared of?" Cue Thelonius riding in on his horse.
  • After the Gingy's house just very nearly gets destroyed, he exclaims, "That was close!" Cue his house getting accidentally destroyed by Shrek and Donkey.
  • When they finally reach the "Hotel Honeymoon", Fiona, in relief, says, "Finally we're alone..." Then it's revealed that all the fairy tale characters were there waiting for them.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Plays just before Shrek, Donkey, and Dragon dive into the canyon to defeat the stone dragon.
• This Cannot Be!: Farquaad is shocked upon seeing that Shrek and Donkey survived against the evil dragon, saying, "Impossible! I thought they were dragon-food!"
• Threat Backfire: When Farquaad is about to send Fiona over a waterfall:
  Lord Farquaad: With you as my spirit queen, I'll be king of the underworld!
  Fiona: Over my dead body!
  Lord Farquaad: Exactly!
• Throwing Off the Disability: Upon getting turned back into a mouse, one of The Three Blind Mice exclaims, "I can see! I CAN SEE!", before getting hit on the head with an onion, to which he then mutters, "...never mind."
• Toilet Humor: The previously mentioned gag when Shrek flatulates the stone dragon's fire right back at it.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Farquaad from the first movie was still as cruel as ever, but he also was willing to negotiate with Shrek to get his swamp back and even clears it out as per their agreement. Here he doesn't seem to show any similar redeeming qualities whatsoever. He also wasn't quite as malicious/capable of murder as he is here.
• Understatement: When the Magic Mirror first sees Farquaad as a ghost, he mentions, "Lord Farquaad! My, you're looking rather...pale."
• Unexplained Recovery: Gingy winds up getting his entire face ripped off during the chase scene, but appears again in the end completely fine.
• Updated Re Release: The attraction was given an overhaul at Universal Studios Hollywood in 2015, with its queue line being given a huge facelift, and its pre-show given significant changes with a new interactive Donkey (a puppet being controlled by a live performer) being added to it, and the removal of the portion where the first film is retold.
• Vertigo Effect: Is done when Donkey first looks at the dark forest.
• "Wanted!" Poster: The queue line is filled with them, calling for the apprehension of Shrek as well as his "accomplices" (Pinocchio and The Three Little Pigs).
• Watch Out for That Tree!: When a frog attempts to eat Tinker Bell, she tries to free herself from its tongue, resulting in her dragging it around through the air until it ends up smacking into a tree.
• We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: In the pre-show, Farquaad flies through the "Dungeon Cam", resulting in it cutting to a technical difficulties screen.
• We Have Ways of Making You Talk: When Farquaad doesn't get an answer as to Shrek's whereabouts from the audience, he responds, "Fine, I'll MAKE you talk!" and proceeds to tell them of their impending torture.
• Wham Shot: Lord Farquaad revealing himself as a ghost for the first time on the "Dungeon Cam".
• What Happened to the Mouse?: While Thelonius was with the protagonists during Farquaad's destruction, he is later gone when they ride to the "Hotel Honeymoon". They may have dropped him off in Duloc.
• Who Dares?: In the pre-show, when woken up, the Magic Mirror says, "Who dares disturb my slumber?", but then quickly switches to a friendly mood upon noticing that it was Pinocchio.
• Why Won't You Die?: Farquaad exclaims "Oh no! Not again!" upon seeing that Dragon rescued the protagonists once more.
• Wolverine Publicity: Before Harry Potter and Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem came along, this along with The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man were the two most-marketed attractions at Universal Orlando.
• World of Pun:
  • In the pre-show, upon getting annoyed with the guests, Gingy says, "This is torture!", whilst in a torture room.
  • When the captives beg Gingy to set them free:
  Gingy: I'm feeling really crumby about this, guys...
  • When Pinocchio tells the Magic Mirror that they want him to tell Shrek's story, not Star Wars.
  Magic Mirror: Whew, so sorry, I've been feeling really spaced out lately.
  • In the main show, when Donkey sees Gingy's new house:
  Donkey: Awwww, now that's sweet.
  • After Shrek accidentally destroys Gingy's house
  Gingy: Hey Shrek! I hope you're insured! That house cost me a lot of dough!
  • When Shrek ends up making Donkey knock over Humpty Dumpty's tombstone:
  Shrek: What a crack-up!
  • When all of the protagonists get sent over the waterfall:
  Farquaad: Splendid! They all fall for me sooner or later.
• The X of Y: The Netflix title for the short, The Ghost of Lord Farquaad.
• Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: In Florida's version of the attraction, the exit gift shop is called Shrek's Ye Olde Souvenir Shoppe.
• You Fool!: Farquaad uses the insult against the Magic Mirror in the pre-show as well as Shrek and Donkey in the main show.

---