January 29, 2025, 12:00 PM ·
Tickets go on sale today for Universal Fan Fest Nights, the new after-hours event at Universal Studios Hollywood. [Here is the link.]What is it? Think Halloween Horror Nights, but with Comic-Con-style IP instead of haunted houses and scare zones. Universal will present “pulsed, story-based experiences” based on Star Trek and Dungeons & Dragons, as well as fan zones themed to Back to the Future and One Piece.Universal pulled back the curtain to reveal details about the event to invited reporters yesterday (including me). So I want to start with that Back to the Future fan zone, because it sounds like pure fan-service heaven.Back to the Future: Destination Hill Valley will be set on Universal’s Courthouse Square street set – the very location where “Back to the Future” was filmed. Universal will dress the square to look like it did when Marty McFly traveled back in time to 1955. Visitors will take Universal’s trams to the location, where they will exit and can explore the space at their leisure.It will be just like stepping into the 1985 movie. “Mr. Sandman” will play on the BGM. The Texaco gas station attendants will run out to service a period-appropriate car before breaking out into 1950s songs. The “Enchantment Under the Sea” dance will spill over from the high school next to the square, with Marty taking the stage to perform. And several times each night of the event, lightning will strike the clock tower, sending Marty McFly “Back to the Future.”Back on the Upper Lot, Star Trek will take over the old Walking Dead Attraction space. Star Trek: Red Alert puts visitors aboard the Starfleet Museum, where they will be taking a tour of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D. This will be a walk-through experience, sort-of, but not-exactly like a Horror Nights house. Instead of walking through in a conga line, small groups of visitors will be led through several show scenes aboard the Enterprise-D, where of course something will go terribly wrong and you will have to help save the day… and the ship.
Photo courtesy UniversalOne of those show scenes will be the bridge of the ship – which will be an original set piece featured in the final season of “Star Trek: Picard.” And if you were a fan of the old Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas, Universal is teasing that you might just be invited into the Enterprise’s Transporter room for a trip back to Earth in this experience.The other walk-through experience at Universal Fan Fest Nights will be Dungeons & Dragons: Secrets of Waterdeep, on the Soundstage 15 site of the Universal Classic Monsters maze from last fall’s Halloween Horror Nights. Set in the northern city of the Sword Coast, visitors will be recruited to join the Harpers on an adventure through multiple scenes to save the city from Xanathar, the beholder. One of the show scenes in this experience will feature massive version of Xanathar created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.
Illustration courtesy UniversalThe other fan zone at the event will be One Piece: Grand Pirate Gathering. Set on the Upper Lot, this zone will feature character meets and interactive photo ops featuring Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Crew, including Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Sanji.The final new IP element at Universal Fan Fest Nights will be Jujutsu Kaisen: Hunger of the Cursed, which brings the 4D theater experience from the Universal Cool Japan event at Universal Studios Japan to Hollywood’s DreamWorks Theater.In addition to these five attractions, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter will host the west coast debut of the Hogwarts Always castle projection show during Universal Fan Fest Nights.The Niffler and Baby Dragon characters from Universal Studios Japan also will be appearing in Hollywood for the event, joined by the premiere of an Occamy, as well.Super Nintendo World will add a Let’s Go, Yoshi theme for Universal Fan Fest Nights, with a scavenger hunt to locate five colorful Yoshi eggs. Those who complete the challenge will be invited to meet a different colored Yoshi. Drone shows also will happen above the land during the event.Finally, the Universal Plaza will transform into a block party during the event, with more photo ops. The following attractions also will be open during the event:Mario Kart: Bowser’s ChallengeRevenge of the MummyJurassic World: The RideThe Simpsons RideHarry Potter and the Forbidden JourneyFlight of the HippogriffDespicable Me Minion MayhemUniversal Studios Hollywood also previewed special merchandise and themed food and drinks that will be available for sale during Universal Fan Fest Nights. The big news? Doc Brown’s chicken is back! Well, at least in the form of a chicken pot pie. We did not get to try that, but I did love the Hogwarts meat pie and chicken curry that are coming to The Three Broomsticks, exclusively for the event.Tickets start at $71 for Sundays, $76 for Fridays and $81 for Saturdays via our ticket partner. Universal Fan Fest Nights starts at 7pm and runs on April 25-27, May 2-4, May 9-11 and May 16-18.To keep up to date with more theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider’s weekly newsletter.
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