Universal Fan Fest Nights 2026

[Viator]

I can’t help but bring up that hypothetically speaking, it might’ve been too late in the process to negotiate and work with Paramount on getting the props/sets back from what they used for Red Alert—and that with the current business ethic handlings from Paramount/Skydance, it might’ve been possible that no dice could’ve worked for Universal to secure what they wanted for the sake of a rerun of Red Alert.

Might get flack for that comment but I don’t think this is inheritedly Universals fault that they can’t get something quickly done with that level of scale.

It’s not like a Evil Dead Rise scenario where they can then convert an IP concept to an original. Additionally they still have more gas in the tank with a few more IP announcements. Assuming if things land, DreamWorks Theater and Plaza should hopefully pick up the weight.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Well...maybe this will surprise people but for now...I'm happy

One Piece show, count me in

Monsters and Scooby, Wish more monsters that were unique were apart of it but if its even half as good as BTTF then its going to be great

HP walkthrough - Love it finally another HP attraction


Would I like K pop sure...but like that is just something we all made up. So I'm not getting disappointed over something the community just made up when the movie just came out and is the biggest thing on the planet. I can give them a pass for this because they don't own it and too little time

Star Trek would be better then nothing, But unless they really added to it I'm also not going to miss it. I hope they can just throw something in there
Maybe Fallout didn't work out but that for me would have be the easiest thing to just redo a little and make into a experience and ties into season 2 of the show but....maybe its what was suppose to happen and did not

Maybe make it into a walkthrough museum, if they need something fast. I'm sure they could throw something in there if they really need to maybe a tribute to Video game movies and that way FNAF in someway is apart of the event

Yoshi is fine, we might not be excited by it but the lines speak for themselves and it soaks up people there where rides and other attractions have less waits that is a win for me, I do think it sucks no Drone show or anything but....even if MK could have some new AR stuff that would be cool

The Plaza will hopefully have music again, by the end of the event I saw lots of people there. I think it just needs more advertising but once people heard the Pokemon song or other cool 80's tunes people seemed really into the live music. So just need a way to communicate with the people what the band does next time more to hopefully get people in there, along with adding a food booth or meet and greet in there

Dreamworks theater....I hope is MHA. the Fandom is just peak right now but could also see it as JJK because of season 3 and Japan is also getting a new show.

But my thoughts are the events sounds great but....not just here but Reddit, facebook and other places I'm not seeing people as hyped as last year....so I hope it can get the people it needs to give us a third year and beyond

 

[BriefCasey]

Reading the PR notes a few more things pop up:

• Yoshi seems to be a slimmed down experience that compensates the loss of the Scavenger Hunt with more Yoshi color variants. No note of the once planned drone element that was considered for 2025, so it doesn't seem they took that to the workshop
• One Piece doesn't seem to be a direct transplant of the Osaka show--which makes me wonder how they're going to do dialogue. I imagine they'll try to go for just live actors with all of them on mics, but I wonder if Universal will work with Toei and have the English VO actors onboard to do voiceover (as I believe the USJ experience has the JP cast doing VO for the grand show there).
• (Spec on Potter) I wonder if part of the reason why we don't have the magical creatures from last year returning, because they're going to have those creatures be part of the Forbidden Forest experience. Would certainly make sense to reuse what you can from the previous experience, and build it up to be something robust.

Damn, I didn't know SNW was a semi repeat until I just saw for myself on the website too. I suppose it's nice for those who didn't get to attend last year, but I do hope next year they try something different.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Also I saw the hours are pushed back

Last year it was 5:30 PM -7 PM for EA, and 7 PM - 2 AM for the main event

This year its 6 PM - 7:30 PM and then 7:30 PM to 1:30 AM

https://www.undercovertourist.com/blog/universal-fan-fest-nights-early-entry/

 

[Freak]

Also I saw the hours are pushed back

Last year it was 5:30 PM -7 PM for EA, and 7 PM - 2 AM for the main event

This year its 6 PM - 7:30 PM and then 7:30 PM to 1:30 PM.

https://www.undercovertourist.com/blog/universal-fan-fest-nights-early-entry/

The event gos into 1:30PM the next day!? WHOA

I know that was a typo, but I don’t think the 30 min loss is a big deal.

 

[BriefCasey]

I am a bit bummed it won't run until 2 like HHN did. I didn't even get to do everything in one night, both with and without early access.

Also after checking the website, I do see that the OP Fan Zone is back again too, which is really nice. Hope it'll have more balanced meet and greet crowds with the show giving fans another OP thing to check out.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

I am a bit bummed it won't run until 2 like HHN did. I didn't even get to do everything in one night, both with and without early access.

Also after checking the website, I do see that the OP Fan Zone is back again too, which is really nice. Hope it'll have more balanced meet and greet crowds with the show giving fans another OP thing to check out.
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That sounds to me like a themed WaterWorld Corridor + Hollywood & Dine.

Really hoping a Chopper puppet happens this year.

 

[kingcooger]

Sorry to be the boring ticket question guy, but I bought the presale price assuming it would go up (it didn’t) and now I want to change my ticket to the After 2pm one; should I expect any trouble when I call to change?

 

[BriefCasey]

One thought I had, but if there's gonna be new Yoshi colors in SNW, I'm hoping a Red Yoshi is one of them. Favorite color bias, I know, but I feel like Red and Yellow would be great picks to shake it up. I suppose it all comes down to how much this will differ from the scavenger hunt from last year.

 

[bdubsCEO]

…purbo yoshi…

 

[Viator]

The full cast list for One Piece is now out as Action Horizons has put out their cast list for auditions:

Spoiler: One Piece Spoilers

 

[kingcooger]

Do we think Waterworld will still run during the day on Fan Fest evenings?

I’m curious how extensive of a retheme the theater might get or how much time to convert if a day to night scenario.

 

[Viator]

Do we think Waterworld will still run during the day on Fan Fest evenings?

I’m curious how extensive of a retheme the theater might get or how much time to convert if a day to night scenario.

Typically when The Purge runs during HHN, they've had Waterworld run during daytime hours--but considering the scale of this show and the difference in technical elements in comparison to The Purge..

I'd actually wonder if they might make a case for at least this year, to have just One Piece run during the time of FFN's operations, and close the amphitheater for during daytime.

 

[kingcooger]

Typically when The Purge runs during HHN, they've had Waterworld run during daytime hours--but considering the scale of this show and the difference in technical elements in comparison to The Purge..

I'd actually wonder if they might make a case for at least this year, to have just One Piece run during the time of FFN's operations, and close the amphitheater for during daytime.

In a roundabout way, that’s sort of what I was trying to figure out.

In the same vein I am wondering if the creature puppets might not return to HP since some or all of them might be present in the walkthrough attraction?

It seems to me that would make that walkthrough more popular plus eliminate some of the bottleneck created by the walk around characters/puppets.

 

[Jerroddragon]

I hope WW isn't down for another show

If anything you'd just have show's earlier have the last show before 4 PM, so you can set up the next show but on weekend...would be kind of crappy to lose the show

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Typically when The Purge runs during HHN, they've had Waterworld run during daytime hours--but considering the scale of this show and the difference in technical elements in comparison to The Purge..

I'd actually wonder if they might make a case for at least this year, to have just One Piece run during the time of FFN's operations, and close the amphitheater for during daytime.

I really wish this stuff just worked like Cool Japan where these events ran throughout the day and special offerings were just placed behind an additional paywall. It's ultimately better for the event itself because then each attraction can be directly monetizable in some way, but it probably wouldn't make financial sense here without the base price of a ticket itself being lowered.

 

[ItsAtrap]

One Piece show, count me in

I just hope it’s a good show. USH can really (M)uck up a show if the get cheap.

 

[Jerroddragon]

I just hope it’s a good show. USH can really (M)uck up a show if the get cheap.

Example?

The Purge show is pretty great. The Chucky show kind of comes to mind but that was more due to them not allowing the actor to go off script, then it being cheap

 

[Tillsy]

Star Trek licensing has become a nightmare in the past 6 months, with many operators winding up their involvement in the franchise. So not in the slightest surprised on that front, but also did anticipate they would rest it a year as the event can't just repeat everything.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Star Trek licensing has become a nightmare in the past 6 months, with many operators winding up their involvement in the franchise. So not in the slightest surprised on that front, but also did anticipate they would rest it a year as the event can't just repeat everything.

The seems to be the number one complaint

I think HP and Once Piece upgrades are worth "repeating" IPs

But many comments I've seen are pretty critical of the Nintendo and D&D just being the same thing again

I mean Imagine if next year the HP walkthough repeats, so does D&D...One Piece and Yoshi....I hope thats not the plan but we will see what this year brings

BTTF was truly unique and I wish I spent more time in it, I understand why it can't come back. So I hope Scooby Doo blows people away but this will be an interesting year for the event...if it works then it just people online hating and if half the event isn't new I guess that works but if this year does pull less people then they thought then I hope they find a way to spice it up more