Preview of Universal Studios Hollywood’s ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ experiences at Fan Fest Nights
Senior Director, Entertainment Production at Universal Studios Hollywood, Stephen Siercks, recently walked Attractions Magazine and other media outlets through the “Star Trek: Red Alert” and “Dungeons & Dragons: Secrets of Waterdeep” immersive experiences as they put on the finishing touches for Universal Fan Fest Nights.
Universal Studios Hollywood is taking the learnings they’ve made from the mega-popular Halloween Horror Nights event and are putting a pop-culture spin on it for the inaugural Universal Fan Fest Nights. Besides the obvious difference in franchises featured, pulsed-storytelling experiences takes center stage at Fan Fest for both “Star Trek” and “Dungeons & Dragons” fans.
As Halloween Horror Nights fans, we’re simply used to walking through the haunted houses as onlookers. But with the story-based pulsed attractions at Fan Fest Nights, guests will take part in the stories. Each of the pulsed attractions will be an approximately ten-to-twelve-minute guided experience.
With everything created for Fan Fest, the foundational goal for the creative teams is “fan first and authentic.” They want to service the passionate fans of these genres, and authentically do it in a uniquely Universal way.
My assumption walking into these experiences was the production value wouldn’t be as grand as Halloween Horror Nights considering it’s only a 12-night event. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. All the sets are full of detail and felt huge in comparison as each scene takes place in a large space instead of a narrow hallway.
For “Star Trek: Red Alert”, guests will be broken into small groups with whom they’ll experience the attraction. The story will unfold around you, but there will also be time to take in and enjoy the various environments.
In this attraction, they’re bridging new elements of the “Star Trek” franchise with legacy aspects. The experience takes place in the Picard era (one of the latest iterations) while getting an exclusive look at the Enterprise-D from “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.
Throughout the experience you’ll get to meet several different characters. Every character represents a different race or character type from the franchise. Things go south as we head into Yellow Alert before eventually going into Red Alert (the namesake of the experience).
In a surprising way, guests will end up on the bridge of the Enterprise-D. Up to this point, you will have enjoyed impressive recreations of various Star Trek environments. But the bridge location is a film-used set from season three of “Star Trek: Picard”, adding an extra level of authenticity.
When considering different intellectual properties for Universal Fan Fest Nights, the creative teams specifically chose franchises that are multi-generational. “Star Trek” has certainly reached multiple generations of family over the decades, as has “Dungeons & Dragons”.
The “Dungeons & Dragons: Secrets of Waterdeep” experience is housed inside a working soundstage. Halloween Horror Nights fans will remember this stage as the one used for The Weeknd haunted house at last year’s event.
What’s remarkable is how approximately 60% of the stage is used for the Halloween Horror Nights haunted house while almost the entire space is being used for Fan Fest. The scale is massive and impressive.
The story told is fairly classic. We’re on a quest where something has been stolen and we’re along for the journey to help find it. Although having knowledge of “Dungeons & Dragons” will amplify the experience, this is traditional quest that anyone can enjoy. Simply put, Xanathar has stolen the Dragonstaff and we’ve been recruited to help gain control of it.
Unlike the “Star Trek” experience where we’ll meet different characters guiding us through each beat of the story, in “Dungeons & Dragons: Secrets of Waterdeep” we’ll have the same characters with us for the whole journey.
The multiple rooms throughout the experience will be used in various ways. Some rooms are presentational while others feature action, show scenes in-the-round and a bit of puzzle play.
To create this experience based on the legacy of the game, Universal worked closely with Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast. They also collaborated with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop to create an impressive Xanathar puppet.
“Star Trek” and “Dungeons and Dragons” are just two of the franchises featured at Universal Fan Fest Nights. “Back to the Future: Destination Hill Valley” is sure to impress as guests will be taken to the actual filming location of the movie on the Universal Studios backlot.
Courthouse Square will be brought back to its 1955 splendor while moments from the film are reenacted around guests. This part of the event is meant to be experiential and exploratory. Unlike the previously mentioned attractions, guests can wander around without any kind of time limit. There will be scenes taking place from the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance, gas station attendants singing, and a lightning storm recreated like the finale of the iconic film.
When asked what Siercks is looking most forward to at Universal Fan Fest Nights beyond the tentpole offerings he said, “We’re creating space within the event at Universal Plaza to create a celebration of the fan. We really are looking forward to fans and guests continuing to come back to that space throughout the night for trivia contests, cosplay celebrations, live music … to really create the hub of energy in the plaza.”
Universal Fan Fest Nights premieres on April 25, 2025, and will continue on select nights through May 18, 2025. This is a separately ticketed event not included with daytime park admission. Learn more and purchase your tickets on the Universal Studios Hollywood website.
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