I Went To Universal Studios' Fan Fest Nights, And There Are A Bunch Of Things I Need To Do Again Next Year (And A Few Things I'd Change)

As someone who’s been lucky enough to have always lived less than three hours from Universal Studios Hollywood, I’ve been to the theme park many times over the years. While Universal has been adding new attractions all the time, I’ve been a bit neutral on making a trip outside of Hollywood Horror Nights there until I heard about Universal Fan Fest Nights, and how it features immersive experiences from two of the big fandoms close to my family: Star Trek and Back to the Future.

Well, I just went to the brand-new event with my dad and sister on its final day on Sunday, and I’m so happy I did because it was the kind of theme park experience I’ve been wanting to have (but didn’t quite realize). I need to talk about why I enjoyed it so much and what I need next year, should it return.

Not Having To Wait Longer Than 30 Minutes For Anything Gave Me Life

While I truly love theme parks, my biggest turnoff when it comes to going to them right now is long line waits. So any opportunity where I can go to one and not spend my whole day in a queue is absolutely my jam. Before buying tickets, I had heard that Universal Fan Fest Nights was being praised for its short lines, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn for myself they were completely right.

While I almost opted for an Express Pass that I find necessary to see everything at a Universal event like Horror Nights, I’m so happy I didn’t waste my money getting it this time. It honestly kind of spoiled me for my next HHN visit. Just about everything there was a walk-on situation, except mainly for photo ops. We only ended up doing the one they had with the Delorean and Einstein the dog, and that was totally worth it.

Fan Fest Nights is the kind of event that starts after the park closes, and the dopamine hit of seeing crowds of people leaving as we walked in made the event basically worth it on its own for me. It made us feel special and like Universal really had its guests in mind rather than all the dollar signs. I would absolutely go again for this reason alone.

I’m Already Ready For A Sequel For The Back To The Future: Destination Hill Valley, Because It Was So Cool

Me and my family's big selling point to go was the Back To The Future portion on the studio backlot. If you didn’t know, Universal decided to redress the real Hill Valley where the movies were filmed to look like the 1955 set. The park created this awesome immersive time that makes you feel like you’re in the first movie.

You are brought on the experience via the trams that usually make up one of the best Universal Studios rides, the Studio Tour. Usually the Studio Tour takes you through Hill Valley, but for Destination Hill Valley, it stopped there, and we spent about two hours checking out all it had to offer.

There, some very convincing actors embody the characters from Back To The Future and basically treat the set as their own play, except guests can follow them around and interact. As we hung out in Hill Valley, we saw George McFly get bullied, Marty and Doc wander around before the Enchantment Under The Sea dance occurred (with a live band), and lightning struck the clock tower.

We were there for two runs of the “show,” and it had me thinking how cool it would be if the 2015 version or Old West version was also reenacted in the same place in a future year. I love how it feels like everytime you go something else is going to happen because it's not a straight ride.

I Was Definitely Let Down By Star Trek: Red Alert, But I Have An Idea For How It Could Improve

We also went to Fan Fest Nights for Star Trek: Red Alert, which was also branded as an “immersive” attraction set in the world of Star Trek, but it was significantly lower quality to me then the Back To The Future side of things. As someone who’s not really big on rides as much these days, I like the idea of walking through an attraction without getting scared outside of Halloween season, but Red Alert was pretty anticlimactic.

The experience takes guests through the inside of one of the Enterprise ships as a mysterious anomaly is threatening the vessel. It featured a lot of actors asking guests if they were ok while we were all aware we were not really in danger, so I found it kind of awkward and odd. I mean, it was fun to see a recreation of the Enterprise, but how did they not send us to an alien planet? I mean, isn’t that every episode of Star Trek?

It also would have been way better if they had actors doing characters from one of the shows because the only one featured was Deep Space Nine’s Quark through his own themed cafe for some reason. I hope they do it again, use a bigger set and go for it more, but hey, it’s their first time.

Not All The IPs Highlighted Were My Thing This Year, So I’m Interested In What Next Year Could Look Like

Otherwise, we went to the Dungeons and Dragons attraction (which had very similar problems to the Star Trek one in my opinion) and stopped in Hogwarts to grab some Butterbeer and see the projection show, which was just gorgeous, especially without too much crowding around the castle.

I’m not invested in anime, so we skipped those photo ops. We were in Super Nintendo World for a little bit, but didn’t end up doing the Yoshi Egg Hunt, because my dad learned who Yoshi was that day. However, it actually looked really fun, and if I went back I would totally try that. I do have to say I wish the ride there was open, because it's so much fun.

While I wasn’t invested in every IP that was featured at Fan Fest, I felt that I got my money’s worth out of what I did see. I’d be curious what another year of the event might look like. It got me thinking about the other non-horror properties Universal has to its name I’d like to see experiences modeled around.

My top picks not featured otherwise in the park are Wicked and E.T. Or what about one of Universal’s beloved sitcoms like The Office or Parks And Recreation? But as they did with many of the experiences this year, they don’t even necessarily have to be Universal movies to be on the table. It was a great time, and now I'm intrigued what else the theme park is going to do outside of Halloween season.