January 28, 2025, 6:30 PM ·
The new year brings the start of a new look for CityWalk at Universal Studios Hollywood.While Universal has yet to announce its immediate plans for the shopping and dining area, construction walls have gone up and several stores have closed this month as work begins on CityWalk’s transformation. Ultimately, the changes will place CityWalk within the security perimeter for Universal Studios Hollywood, much like rival Downtown Disney now stands within the security perimeter for the Disneyland Resort theme parks. Universal has filed permit applications with Los Angeles County to begin site work for a new security screening location behind the NBC Sports Grill & Brew on CityWalk. Construction walls are now up on the parking lot, but work has not yet begun on the site, beyond clearing a couple of palm trees.Once operational, this new security location will allow Universal to begin construction on a planned hotel at the park’s entrance. That is the current site of Universal Studios Hollywood’s security screening lanes. Two new satellite screening locations will complete the security perimeter – one just west of the park entrance near the Frankenstein parking structure and another on the far, east end, next to Buca di Beppo.Meanwhile, several stores and food locations have closed recently on Universal CityWalk Hollywood: Here is the list of closed locations, as well as any announced replacements:PopcornopolisFossil (announced as the site for a new Line Friends Square store)Crepe CafeMini Monster (soon to be Insomnia Cookies)Sparky’sAbercrombie & FitchDongpo KitchenSamba (site for new Escapology escape rooms)iFly indoor skydivingCuriously, an Epic Universe merchandise store also has opened in Hollywood, next to Voodoo Doughnut. The hype for Universal Orlando’s new theme park really is nationwide now.Here is a new video walking tour of Universal CityWalk Hollywood, so you can see some of the changes for yourself.For comparison, here is the previous walking tour I did of Universal CityWalk in Hollywood, back when it had just reopened from the pandemic lockdown.To keep up to date with more theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider’s weekly newsletter. And to help support Theme Park Insider while saving money on discounted theme park tickets, please follow the ticket icon links on our Theme Park visitors guides.
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