When the attraction opened in Universal Orlando in 2003 it only used up half of the original building, but the crowd waiting to see the attraction generated enormous wait times. Universal decided to build an exact mirror image to the ride in the other half of the theater to reduce wait times which opened in the spring of 2004.
The plot for this ride was originally going to be the plot of Shrek 2 (2004).
Even in this short feature there's plenty of side references. For example, Donkey's line "We got a donkey driving a carriage made from an onion, it's dark, and our horse are wearing sunglasses. Hit it, boys!" is a quote from The Blues Brothers (1980), and shortly after that he says "I feel dead people", reference to a quote from The Sixth Sense (1999) stating "I see dead people".
When Shrek and Donkey are riding the dragon, there is a spoof of Star Wars, the Death Star trench scene, and the sound effect of the dragon shooting a fireball is the same one from the same scene in Star Wars.
There are notable differences between this version that is made for the Universal Studios attraction, and the version that is retitled 'The Ghost of Lord Farquaad'.
-In this version when Theolonius kidnaps Fiona, Donkey yells "Mother fletcher!". In 'The Ghost of Lord Farquaad', his line is changed to "Shrek!".
-When Donkey almost falls out of the carriage in the chase scene, he breaks the forth wall acknowledging the 3-D and looking into another dimension. This part was cut out of the new version.
-When Donkey rides off with Dragon near the end, he sings "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You". The new version has this muted out.
-In this version when Theolonius kidnaps Fiona, Donkey yells "Mother fletcher!". In 'The Ghost of Lord Farquaad', his line is changed to "Shrek!".
-When Donkey almost falls out of the carriage in the chase scene, he breaks the forth wall acknowledging the 3-D and looking into another dimension. This part was cut out of the new version.
-When Donkey rides off with Dragon near the end, he sings "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You". The new version has this muted out.