After the event’s successful inaugural run in 2025, Universal Fan Fest Nights will soon return to Universal Studios Hollywood for its second year in a limited 12-night run, beginning April 23 and running through May 16, 2026.
For those unfamiliar with the event, you can think of Universal Fan Fest Nights as a separately ticketed after-hours event like Halloween Horror Nights, where you similarly can experience a variety of attractions only open to event guests during the same late-night hours.
The main difference between the two is that while Halloween Horror Nights solely focuses on the horror genre and only includes haunted house and scare zone attractions, Universal Fan Fest Nights offers a much more diverse variety of experiences celebrating a broader selection of IPs and genres, including immersive walkthroughs, new shows, and unique character interactions.
Though the lineup will vary year by year, some of the main genres Universal Fan Fest Nights highlights include IPs from the worlds of sci-fi, anime, fantasy, and even some beloved classics like last year’s Back to the Future: Destination Hill Valley and this year’s Scooby-Doo and Universal Monsters immersive experience collaboration.
Naturally, with a wider variety of genres and experiences beyond haunted houses comes an appeal to broader, more family-friendly audiences than Halloween Horror Nights typically attracts. This has provided the Universal Creative team with the exciting opportunity to let their imaginations run wild in new directions bolder than the general guidelines for designing year-round experiences for guests, given the impermanent – and thus more exploratory – nature of the attractions created solely for Universal Fan Fest Nights.
Moreover, most intriguing of all for many fans is how numerous IPs not currently featured at Universal Studios Hollywood now have the potential opportunity to make their exclusive debut at Universal Fan Fest Nights. This offers casual guests and fans alike the enjoyment of getting to experience something entirely different from the park’s daytime offerings, yet through equally “authentically Universal”, fan-centric activations and experiences.
To celebrate the upcoming return of Universal Fan Fest Nights, Inside Universal was recently invited for a preview of everything this year’s event has to offer, though with the promise of a few bonus surprises come opening night.
We’ll begin with an overview of the experiences and activations that will be featured at Universal Fan Fest Nights 2026, then will transition into a photo tour showcasing this year’s fantastic selection of food and merchandise offerings – including of course, our favorite food items we had the chance to sample. Be warned that there will be spoilers ahead.
Scooby-Doo Meets the Universal Monsters: Mystery on the Backlot
Transporting guests to the (in)famous Little Europe and Court of Miracles sets on the Universal Backlot via Studio Tour tram, this immersive walk-through experience will offer guests the ability to step into a real-life Scooby-Doo episode and solve a mystery alongside the Scooby Gang, but with a twist: the mystery is deeply entangled with the classic Universal Monsters, including Frankenstein, Dracula, Bride of Frankenstein, and the Wolf-Man.
The premise is that guests will be ‘cast’ in the role of extras in a new movie featuring the Universal Monsters, set to be filmed on the same original filming locations for historic Universal horror films including Frankenstein and The Wolf Man. However, in a very ‘Universal’ fashion, chaos ensues the moment guests disembark at the vibrant Tristan Eaton Universal Monster murals on the backlot, as the ‘Phantom Director’ unleashes a horde of monsters at guests.
Before the ambush can get too far, however, the Scooby Gang, sensing a mystery arising (“The Case of the Phantom Director”), will arrive to help save the day, offering guests mystery manuals in exchange for their help in searching for clues on the backlot to identify which suspect is the villain.
Of course, one cannot invite guests to Little Europe and the Court of Miracles without honoring the legacy of the Universal Monsters that once walked and stalked there, so each of the featured monsters will get the chance to shine in the spotlight during celebratory moments that will periodically take place throughout the night.
Without giving too much more away, most exciting from this new style of immersive experience is the promise that different endings will rotate each night, ensuring a unique repeatability factor that’ll keep returning fans on their toes before they can ever get too confident that they’ve solved the mystery yet.
One Piece: Grand Pirate Show
After the massive success of last year’s One Piece character meet-and-greets, Luffy and the Straw Hat Crew will return to Universal Fan Fest Nights this year, but this time in an even bigger capacity. One Piece activations will include a live action show housed at the WaterWorld show venue as well as a themed takeover of the surrounding area, including a new menu of food options at served at Hollywood & Dine and a One Piece themed bar in Laemmle Courtyard.
Given the massive fan base for this anime series, the Universal Fan Fest Nights creative team has put a lot of care into collaborating with Universal Studios Japan – which has its own iconic seasonal One Piece live show – into designing the 20-minute show for guests to enjoy at this year’s event.
Fan favorite characters (including the official event debut of Buggy) will bring action, comedy, and chaos to the center stage to fully immerse guests in the world of One Piece, which follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Crew as they pursue a quest to find “One Piece” – the legendary treasure of Gol D. Roger, the former King of the Pirates – with plenty of mayhem ensuing along the way.
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon the Miracle: Moon Palace Chapter Deluxe
Continuing the celebration of anime at Universal Fan Fest Nights will also be the debut of Sailor Moon at the event through a Japanese language CG anime short film, originally featured as part of Universal Studios Japan’s Cool Japan.
Taking residence in the DreamWorks Theatre, guests will get the opportunity to watch a subtitled version of the film featuring Super Sailor Moon as she battles an unforeseen enemy seeking to acquire the Legendary Silver Crystal from Moon Palace’s enchanting ball. With her iconic unwavering spirit and charm that has captivated millions of fans worldwide, Super Sailor Moon will fight to restore peace to the Moon Palace and prove yet again that good indeed prevails over evil.
Forbidden Forest: Search for the Hippogriff
Expanding upon the introduction of new exclusive activations in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at last year’s event, Forbidden Forest: Search for the Hippogriff will now whisk guests along a guided immersive walk-through experience in the Wizarding World.
Guests will embark on a roughly 12-minute journey through the Forbidden Forest grounds as a group to find a lost Hippogriff, with a Hogwarts professor leading the way from beginning to end. Putting the group’s witchcraft and wizardry to the test, guests will have to follow the guidance of their professor to come up with clever solutions to pass through all the obstacles that arise along the journey, ranging from irritating pixies attacking the Monster Book of Monsters to escaping a nasty Devil’s Snare while rescuing other magical creatures similarly entangled in it.
Without giving away too many specifics, as guests traverse through the Forbidden Forest, they’ll encounter a variety of both friendly and not-so-friendly faces – including spiders, centaurs, and other familiar magical creatures never before seen at Universal Studios Hollywood – before the experience culminates with a showstopping finale. Here, guests will come face to face with a massive Hippogriff intricately puppeteered to articulate a wide range of lifelike movements, including proudly fluttering its magnificent wings spanning 20 feet across.
Dungeons & Dragons: Secrets of Waterdeep
Alongside the many new experiences that will be featured at this year’s event, the fan-favorite Dungeons & Dragons: Secrets of Waterdeep will return for second year in all its glory, though of course polished and improved with a handful of enhancements.
Inspired by the “World’s Greatest Roleplaying Game”, Dungeons & Dragons: Secrets of Waterdeep offers guests a truly epic experience as they are transported into the fantastic world of D&D. With the story anchored in the Sword Coast in the town of Waterdeep, guests will get the opportunity to join the Harpers – a heroic spy network – to help foil a plot by the legendary beholder Xanathar and save the city of Waterdeep.
Returning fans are encouraged to keep an eye out for subtle changes made to further increase the interactivity of the experience, including the promise of some new puzzles to solve alongside the heroes on their journey.
In addition to the walk-through experience itself, a Dungeons & Dragons bar will also be returning to the Lower Lot, though with a refreshed menu including a handful of new food options.
Super Nintendo World – Colorful Yoshi Celebration
Last but not least, Super Nintendo World – Colorful Yoshi Celebration completes the event lineup. Taking place across Super Nintendo World, this activation will expand upon last year’s debut of Yoshi at the theme park by bringing back more Yoshi than ever.
This year, guests will have the chance to meet not one, not two, but five different Yoshis, including green, light blue, pink, yellow, and purple.
Moreover, this year’s quest in the Mushroom Kingdom will include a new activity requiring guests to solve clues that help them decode a secret password. Once completed, you’ll have the opportunity to unlock a special photo op featuring two unannounced mystery characters.
Themed Foods
After our preview presentation diving into the event details, Inside Universal was also invited to sample a wide assortment of the themed food options that will be served across the park at Universal Fan Fest Nights, as well as an early look at some of the new merchandise that will be available for purchase at the event.
From the handful of options we had the chance to sample, we believe that this year’s food offerings are already proving to be even better than those served at last year’s event, with many tasty standouts equally hogging the spotlight.
Though you’ll find a complete photo overview of all the food, beverage, and merchandise offerings at the end of this article, we also wanted to give an extra special shoutout to some of our personal favorites.
Our top savory option, “Luffy’s Meat on the Bone”, is a delicious pork dish served on top of fried rice with vegetables. Not only does it make for a fun presentation, but the meat was even more rich and flavorful than expected, perfectly complemented by the fried rice. This offering – which will be served at the Hollywood & Dine One Piece location during the event – was an absolute standout to us, and we highly recommend it to any meat-lovers visiting the event.
As for our favorite sweet option, we overwhelmingly agreed that “Luffy’s Straw Hat” was the best – a sugar cookie base topped with a cream-based mix in the center. This combination blew us away, far surpassing our expectations as a delightful dessert that’ll undeniably satisfy your sweet cravings, but without being overpoweringly sweet. This One Piece-themed option will also be found at the Hollywood & Dine location during the event.
Some other favorites of ours included the Hippogriff Brown Sugar & Oat Trifle, which fans of creamy desserts will especially enjoy; and the Welsh Rarebit, which was delightfully crunchy with a little bit of a kick, though one tolerable for even those highly sensitive to spice.
We’re excited to soon dive into year two of Universal Fan Fest Nights and explore all it has to offer – including the few remaining surprises teased at during our presentation, but not yet formally announced. We recognize that establishing a new annual event as large in scale as this one takes a lot of dedication and heart from many collaborating teams, and we are eager to see Universal Fan Fest Nights succeed and thrive as a long-term staple of Universal Studios Hollywood.
As a reminder, Universal Fan Fest Nights will run on select nights beginning later this month, including April 23-25 and May 1-3, 7-9, and 14-16, 2026. Tickets are now on sale on the Universal Studios Hollywood website with a variety of ticket options available, including the return of the Ultimate Fandom Pass for fans eager to visit multiple event nights.
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