Fan Fest Nights is a relatively new evening event held on select nights at Universal Studios Hollywood in the Spring. In its second year, Fan Fest Nights is family-friendly and focuses on IP-driven attractions — ranging from guided immersive walkthroughs to a live stage show — which pop up for the event and are only available during the festival.
This year’s offerings include a Sailor Moon meet-and-greet and short film; a Yoshi-based interactive quest; a One Piece live stunt show; a walkthrough Jurassic Park exhibit with live actors; performer-guided immersive experiences based upon the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons as well as Harry Potter; and an open world interactive mashup of Scooby-Doo and the Universal Monsters featuring everyone’s favorite meddling kids and classic movie monsters, located in the Little Europe section of the backlot.
These pop-up attractions are also supplemented with photo ops, exclusive merchandise, and themed food items like Scooby Snacks (which turn out to be quite good) or a series of Sailor Moon mystery cupcakes. Guests are also permitted to come in cosplay, which is why it felt like every queue I was in had at least one visible Luffy hat at all times if not several (do not bet against the popularity of One Piece, my friends).
I’ll note that the event begins at 7:30pm (6pm for Early Access, with a small number of attractions available) and wraps up at 1:30am. And it can be challenging to shop, eat, and do all the Fan Fest-exclusive experiences without springing for Early Access and an Express Pass. General admission wait times to enter some of these limited time attractions can push the 1-2 hour mark so advanced planning is necessary. The One Piece show has also proven popular enough that Universal has now added a fourth showtime at 1:00am. And, the Scooby-Doo back lot experience gets more and more crowded as the night progresses, so it’s better to hit it up first. With all that in mind, fans of immersive can selectively hit the most relevant live entertainment experiences in a single, long visit, and many of the popular thrill rides — which are available year-round — have no wait at all.
The fantastical “Dungeons and Dragons: Secrets of Waterdeep” guided linear experience is essentially the same as last year’s iteration except with better sound (the actors have been given real microphones!). The brief moments of improv and interactivity remain and there is perhaps faster pacing and tighter crowd control, from what I could tell. The extremely detailed puppet at the end remains just as impressive, while the rationale for having a puzzle in the middle continues to escape me. (I’ll note that lines quickly grew for this experience during the 6pm hour since this one of the few attractions open during Early Access but it’s much shorter later at night.)
The “Jurassic World: A Journey Through the Eras” attraction is conveniently located around the corner from D&D. Simply stroll past the underside of the escalators to find a museum-like outdoor exhibit featuring props across the portfolio of films, populated mainly by well-known characters from the first movie. It’s an interesting combo of in-world live actors with out-of-world set pieces with plaques. I had the opportunity to have a fun chat with the overly confident John Hammond and the shifty Dennis Nedry, the former whom I absolutely could not convince to invest in something else instead of a dinosaur theme park and the latter who hilariously claimed not to know anything about stolen canisters when confronted by a child. The actor playing Nedry was particularly adept at drawing the crowd in. Had I not been on a strict time table, I might have lingered longer for a glimpse of Dr. Ian Malcolm. But, alas, I had a tram to catch and a mystery to solve.
Scooby Doo, Be Ready For Your Act
Some fans expressed disappointment that the announcement that “Scooby-Doo Meets the Universal Monsters: Mystery on the Backlot” would be the big backlot event this year, compared to last year’s hit, “Back to the Future: Destination Hill Valley.” But where “Back to the Future” took inspiration from open world immersive theatre with roaming characters and a looping storyline, “Scooby-Doo” is a lot more structured and easier to understand. The designers of the new escape room-esque experience have taken great care in giving players clear instructions as to who they are (extras on a film set), what to do when there (identify the masked Phantom Director who is wreaking havoc on set by summoning monsters), and how to do it by solving four puzzles (including a souvenir booklet with instructions). All this information, and more, is explained during the pre-show video played on the tram ride down to the backlot.
During my time at “Scooby-Doo,” it seemed like nearly every group I encountered was diligently working on the puzzles or engrossed in whatever monster had appeared in our midst complete with lights, music, and haze effects. While the puzzle booklet initially feels like a bit too much reading, I found that relying on the signage at each station was more useful in focusing my attention; participants do not need to literally read the whole booklet to finish. The key to solving the mystery is to take notes, eliminate suspects one by one, and focus on who couldn’t have done it. Kudos also to the decision to rely on good ol’ pen and paper here and not a smartphone app. (Some clever patrons were also using theirs as an autograph book when approaching characters.)
The Scooby-Doo characters are placed at fixed stations in the backlot behind barricades, on small raised platforms, and armed with microphones. The Universal Monsters occasionally materialize and haunt the backlot looking for their next victims or doing short scripted sequences. (The Bride, in particular, does a beautiful performance on a platform which leverages lighting and shadow.) The interactions between these two categories of characters were also delightful. I laughed out loud at the way Shaggy, stuck at Craft Services, figured out how to get rid of Wolf Man. Large crowds still form at the fixed stations for each member of the gang but even if I couldn’t see what someone was doing, I could still hear them. (By contrast, at last year’s event, I found characters often both mobbed and shouting at the top of their lungs.)
The physical clues for the puzzles for “Scooby-Doo” were also repeated multiple times and distributed alongside walls and fences, making it easier to get close up to a map, poster, or telltale costume; this also made the puzzling more user-friendly and distributed players, to a certain extent. Interacting with the characters is not required to finish the puzzles, either, so shyer guests do not feel forced to converse. The design team for “Scooby-Doo Meets the Universal Monsters” has clearly taken lengths to make the interactive experience as fun, approachable, scalable, and solvable as possible, within the constraints of the crowds and available space, and it generally pays off.
Escape room aficionados or gamer weirdos like myself will likely be able to solve the mystery quickly (pro-tip: start with Daphne first, and then find Velma). Those who have completed the four mini games and have identified the culprit or are just ready to leave can then enter a short queue to watch a recurring stage show, set a bit away from the main sandbox area. During this short performance, the gang assembles on stage and eventually our masked villain is revealed in dramatic fashion. I greatly appreciated the finale show being somewhat “on demand,” as opposed to waiting for a 45-minute loop to circle back around, which is what “Back to The Future” did.
Even those who don’t want to complete the puzzles can simply roam the area, talk to the characters, attend the big reveal show, and then head back to the rest of the park via tram. And from what I’ve gathered online, the mystery varies slightly each night with a different villain, meaning would-be detectives can come back and replay the game another night.
Maybe I’m just a sucker for live actors, and maybe I’m just getting old, but I’m heartened to see Universal double down on immersive theatre techniques and high end production values at this year’s event, while also investing resources into quality-of-life improvements, especially when it comes to being able to see and hear the performers. Just give me a talented actor who I can interact with in a cool environment, or some interesting lightweight puzzles to do (which require more than just scanning a bunch of QR codes), or a performer who guides me through a series of themed areas with music, lighting, and the occasional special effect, and I’m usually pretty pleased.
And Fan Fest Nights as a whole is pretty darn pleasing.
But is this what the people want? Universal’s Fan Fest Nights is already drawing in enormous crowds in its second year. In a similar vein, Disney has added new roaming characters from the original Star Wars trilogy at Disneyland as well as exclusive meet-and-play character experiences on their new cruise ship. And Meow Wolf is rolling out their Phenomenaly experience with interactive dancers and talking characters to all five Meow Wolf locations this summer. Not to mention, Knott’s Berry Farm continues to impress with its interactive theatrical experience Ghost Town Alive! each summer.
So based upon my experience, I would have to say yes. The live immersive entertainment at Fan Fest Nights feels fresh and exciting and seems to be — judging from the lines and buzz — what fans crave. To dress up in costume. To spend time in our favorite make-believe worlds. To interact with our favorite characters, both old and new. To make memories with our friends and family.
This is what we want.
And also: Scooby Snacks. Don’t forget the Scooby Snacks.
Universal Fan Fest Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood runs select nights Apr. 23–May 16, 2026. Tickets run from $74 - $350.
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