|
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD
Hollywood, CA (Abbreviation: USH)
NBC Universal / Comcast
---- THE LATEST NEWS ----
(2/2/2026) Guest Begins To Strip Naked On The Backlot Tram
(1/17/2026) New Experiences Confirmed For Universal Fan Fest Nights 2026
(11/30/2025) Grinchmas Returns To Universal Studios Hollywood with New Dining Option
(11/18/2025) Check Out Dom's Charger Coaster Car For the Hollywood Drift!
(11/12/2025) More Hollywood Drift Testing
Ride Rehabs - These dates are not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as refurbishments are subject to change.
WaterWorld - NOW CLOSED through Feb. 14
Super Silly Fun Land Wet Zone - NOW CLOSED through Mar. 29, 2026
Read the Official Review of Halloween Horror Nights 2017 - CLICK HERE
Read the Official Review of Halloween Horror Nights 2016 - CLICK HERE
Read the Official Review of Halloween Horror Nights 2015 - CLICK HERE
Despicable Me Minion Mayhem - THE GRAND OPENING
 General Park News - (2/2/2026) Oh boy… some guests on the Universal Studios Hollywood Backlot Tram Tour got a little extra bit of a show on Saturday. Apparently a guest on one of the trams, who may have been under the influence of something, exited the tram in the middle of the tour and began taking his clothes off. He was also said to be rolling around on the group, taunting the staff from the ground, and then when he got back on the tram, he began to take the rest of his clothes off in front of the other guests on board.
Who had that on their bingo card for 2026? And that was just on January 31st! Security arrived about 15 minutes into the strip show to handle the situation and remove the rest of the guests from the area.
(11/6/2025) Universal Studios Hollywood posted a list of their 2026 planned events, which revealed one special surprise. The list included things like Butterbeer Season from March to May and the second Universal FanFest Nights on select nights from April 23 to May 16. It also revealed that Halloween Horror Nights 2026 will be expanding to open a week earlier than before, starting on Thursday, Sept. 3rd, as an early start to Labor Day Weekend and run through to Nov. 1st, 2026.
For the past few years Universal Orlando has been opening their HHN a week prior to the Hollywood event, with a Labor Day Weekend opening of their own, so now it looks like they should be opening around the same time next year.
(9/14/2025) Just a quick heads up, but as being reported around Social Media this week, Universal Studios Hollywood just increased their parking prices this weekend across the board, to all tiers. General Parking is now $35, Preferred parking is now $60 and if you want to park at the very front, it is going to cost you $80.
(9/6/2025) While the latest Evolution plan map for Universal Studios Hollywood had the current site of the WaterWorld show marked for future development, Universal has reached out say that they are not planning on removing the park’s popular stunt show. While nothing lasts forever, the park simply shows where future work or even just enhancements may take place over the next few years, so the inclusion of that location on the map could simply be a sign that the show itself may receive some kind of upgrade or remodel for the future as well.
(9/4/2025) Universal Studios Hollywood has filed a new long-term planning document (part of the ongoing Evolution Plan) that includes an overhead map layout of the park showing off the locations where new projects are being planned.
A number of interesting locations are highlighted to become new theme park attraction locations, but as the park is fairly developed, often something has to be removed to bring a new project to life. One item noticed by the local news is that the current site of the Waterworld show has been now marked as the site for a “New Theme Park Attraction w/ Food & Beverage Retail”
A total of five locations are marked on the legend for new attractions, but I’m only able to locate four of them. In addition to the site of the Waterworld show, the other three sites are all in the backlot: T-11 located where the current Tram Garage currently is, next to the Backlot Tour loading/unloading station, T7 located half-way down the hillside where I think the old mid-point tram stop for the original version of the tram tour was once located, and T6 down the hill from there, just to the west of the long closed Fast & Furious dancing cars installation.
I’m surprised more by the fact that the now closed Fast & Furious: Supercharged attraction site is not one of the spaces marked for a future attraction. It’s on the map, just colored is as an existing attraction like the rest. The one location I wasn’t able to spot is supposed to be marked as T2.
You’ll also notice a H2 location set between the One Universal building and the parking structure that is also home to Despicable Me on top. That is the location of a proposed 500-room Universal hotel and parking structure. Me? I would have put it in that flat parking lot location to the south of the center of Citywalk, but hey… what do I know.
 Spring 2026 - Universal FanFest Nights 2026 - (1/17/2026) Something new is coming to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood. According to Universal a limited-time walk-through attraction themed to the “Forbidden Forest” will be added as part of the 2026 Universal Fan Fest Nights event, taking place on select dates from April 23 to May 16, 2026. Guests will “Experience a new adventure through the Forbidden Forest with new spells, surprises, and magical creatures. You’ll meander the forest looking for a lost Hippogriff and encounter other challenges and beasts along the way.”
Universal also revealed a few other details about this year’s Fan Fest Nights experience in addition to the previously teased Scooby-Doo x Universal Monsters cross over, where the Backlock has been overtaken by Monsters. “Guests will travel to the destination via Studio Tour tram where they have a chance to walk along a movie studio backlot with Scooby-Doo himself and his pals Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy. The exciting escapade will challenge them to solve a mystery involving the most legendary Universal Monsters in cinematic history, including Frankenstein, Dracula, Bride of Frankenstein and Wolf Man, as they navigate portions of Universal’s world-famous outdoor film sets, from the cobblestone streets of Little Europe to the iconic Court of Miracles, the original filming locations for historic Universal horror films Frankenstein (1931) and The Wolf Man (1941).”
One Piece: Grand Pirate Show has just been announced as taking over the Waterworld stunt show arena where you can experience “Liffy and the Straw Hat Crew in a high-energy spectacular of battles, stunts, and pyrotechnics.” The show is inspired by the similar successful show that was created for Universal Studios Japan’s “Universal Cool Japan” fan event.
Super Nintendo World is getting in on the action with “a colorful celebration with different Yoshis” while you explore the Mushroom Kingdom.
The fan favorite Dungeons and Dragons experience from last year is back, where you can “Behold one of the fiercest villains in all Faurun, Xanathar, as you brave the dangers of Waterdeep”. Universal promises that there will be some new enhancements to the experience as well, so if you enjoyed is last year, this year’s version should be even more fun.
Even better, Universal promises that they have more fun in store that has yet to be revealed so stay tuned!
(10/5/2025) Universal Studios Hollywood has already begun teasing what new experiences they will bring to the table for the 2026 editon of Universal FanFest Nights. While we don’t know if any of last year’s experiences will return, the park has already promised to add a unique new mash-up experience that will see the iconic Scooby-Doo gang cross-over into the world of Universal Monsters.
(6/1/2025) While the first ever Universal Fan Fest Nights event in Hollywood has now come to a close, Universal has officially confirmed on their website that Universal Fan Fest Nights will return in Spring 2026.
2026 - Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift - (11/18/2025) Intamin revealed a full scale roller coaster car for the new Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift coaster at IAAPA earlier today. It is safe to say that this is probably the most highly detailed roller coaster train of all time, bringing to life Dom’s classic black Dodge Charger, complete with working headlights, supercharger and an on-board audio system. It is safe to say that if you visit Universal Studios Hollywood in the Summer of 2026 you’ll be drifting through the Hollywood hills in style!
(11/12/2025) Some fun video footage of the new Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift coaster making test runs was posted by the local news on Tuesday. Check it out below.
(10/18/2025) Fans who can’t wait to see the new Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift themed roller coaster open at Universal Studios Hollywood next year will be happy to know that testing of the coaster has now begun. Some pictures of the train loaded with water dummies and camera gear can be found over at Blooloop this morning. I can’t wait for Universal to release some sweet POV footage from the ride to show off what we’re in store for.
(7/31/2025) Universal Studios Hollywood fans can expect to see the new Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift coaster continue to make pull-through testing along the track throughout the month of August along with “Powered Ride Vehicle Movement in Station Area”. This is all according to an email sent out to local residents around the park to let them be aware of the construction and potential noise issues taking palace 7am to 7pm weekdays and 8am to 6pm on Saturdays in August, along with more “Earthwork and Grading”, Sound Wall installation, Prop installs, a sound barrier coming to the Eastern half-pipe along with trees and other landscaping.
So it doesn’t sound like we can expect to see any launch testing until at least September, and I’d expect some of those first early tests to potentially take place at night under the cover of darkness if possible.
(7/16/2025) The pull-through of a car around the new Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift coaster track at Universal Studios Hollywood continues and you can catch up with the latest progress in the video below.
(6/12/2025) Universal Studios Hollywood revealed some new artwork for the Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift coaster coming in 2026, as well as our very first look at one of the themed coaster cars, this one themed as Dom’s Dodge Charger.
(6/4/2025) Crews working on building the Hollywood Drift coaster at Universal Hollywood have begun a pull-through of a car on the track, which has been outfitted with a clearance frame that tests how far out a guest can stick out their arms to ensure there is no risk of coming into contact with anything while riding.
(4/11/2025) According to various reports the final pieces of track for the Hollywood Drift coaster at Universal Studios Hollywood have now been installed. You can catch a video showing off some of the latest view of the project below.
(4/2/2025) A reader has sent in some great new photos of the Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift construction progress over at Universal Studios Hollywood.
(2/20/2025) The latest construction update for the Hollywood Drift coaster comes from an unexpected source… franchise star Ludacris. Some very up close and cool shots of the coaster to be sure… check it out below.
(2/17/2025) Rob, who has frequently sent in updates for Screamscape in the past, decided to head out and get some great new photos of the construction on the Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift coaster, as seen from angles OUTSIDE of the park grounds, giving us an entirely new perspective on the project. Enjoy!
(2/5/2025) You know, the best way to really see the construction progress on the new Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift roller coaster at Universal Studios Hollywood is to wait for one of the local news choppers to fly over and post some amazing footage. Just like in the video below…
(2/2/2025) For those curious about how things are going over at the Fast & Furious construction site at Universal Studios Hollywood, the track has now been installed as the coaster travels up and over the park’s giant escalator that travels down to the lower lot. Check it out in the video below… it is going to be an impressive photo site going forward once the ride opens.
Speaking of which, it’s almost crazy that there is still at least a year’s left of work to do before this coaster will be ready for guests to ride!
(11/28/2024) A fantastic aerial view of the Hollywood Drift coaster construction site was shot by helicopter and posted by a local news station, giving us an epic view of the attraction from an angle we haven’t seen before. The camera lingers for quite some time along the station building which features a complicated mix of switch tracks to allow train access to the maintenance barn tracks as well as the dual-sided loading station.
(11/16/2024) Looks like Intamin is set to show off one of the ride vehicales for the Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift coaster at IAAPA next week based on a tease they posted to instagram that says, “Welcome to the Family”.
(10/6/2024) A new construction update video for the Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift coaster coming to Universal Studios Hollywood can be found below.
(9/29/2024) Lots of progress is starting to take place on the Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift roller coaster at Universal Studios Florida. Check out the video below to see the latest changes and additions.
(8/25/2024) A new construction update from Universal Hollywood shows off the latest progress on the Hollywood Drift coaster. There are slime interesting pieces of track and supports now in place, new progress on the station, and now they’re installing track that runs below the park’s big escalator down to the lower level.
(6/13/2024) New construction pictures from Universal Studios Hollywood show that the track for the dual-loading station for Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift is now in place. Meanwhile in another update you an see just how far down the hillside construction is take place for the coaster, with the installation of some massive footers just past the giant parking structure, next to the new NBC/Universal office complex. Meanwhile there is a lot of activity taking place to pour more footers all around the “Starway” bridge/escalator area as well.
(6/5/2024) New track has been installed on the Fast & Furious coaster at Universal Studios Hollywood, as well as the creation of lots of new footers. Check out the video below shot by ACN.
(5/4/2024) Universal issued a small press release along with the new 2026 opening date for the Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift roller coaster that also confirms that the attraction will feature cars that are able to rotate 360º.
“The state-of-the-art ride system is being uniquely designed to immerse guests within the high-speed Fast & Furious universe. Highlights will include groundbreaking 360-degree rotation of the individual ride vehicles as they rocket along an elaborate track meticulously constructed with sound reduction technology for a breathtaking, superior experience. These attributions will create a seamless sensation of drifting cars as guests spin in motion at furiously fast speeds.”
““Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift” will be located on the Upper Lot of Universal Studios Hollywood. Guests will queue up within a large, red brick, garage-style structure before settling into the ride vehicles, modeled after several authentic cars featured in the films, and catapulting along an aerial track that winds its way over parts of the theme park.”
(5/3/2024) Given the slow construction pace that we’ve been seeing as of late, new signs posted on the construction walls at Universal Studios Hollywood now state that Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift roller coaster won’t open until 2026. I’m not surprised, as the site prep work alone just to set up all the footers along the hillside has been far more involved than I think we expected.
While we’ve been talking about Hollywood Drift since May of 2022, Universal itself did not confirm the project until July of 2023. However, while we’ve all been assuming that it would be ready in 2025, to my knowledge, Universal has not officially set any kind of date expectation until now.
(4/12/2024) You can check out the latest construction photos of the Hollywood Drift coaster construction site over at Twitter by clicking here. (Sorry, embedding is blocked).
Lots of work has been taking place to install footers for the new coaster along the hillside, while retaining walls are being put into place to hold everything in place while they work to reshape the hillside for the new attraction. Meanwhile a couple of taller track supports have been installed along the upper levels near where the station is going.
(3/23/2024) New pictures posted at InsideUniversal show that the first sections of track on the upcoming Fast & Furious themed roller coaster have been installed. From the look of things, this appears to be a switch track up near the station area, but no word on if this is for a dual-side station or a switch to come and go into the maintenance bay. Meanwhile the surrounding hillside of crawling with workers making preparations to pour the various footers for future roller coaster track supports.
(1/29/2024) A new construction video showing off the progress on the Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift coaster at Universal Studios Hollywood can be seen below, align with other updates taking place in the park and CityWalk areas.
(1/17/2024) It isn’t much, but the local news pointed out that there are some new long distance rendering of how the Universal skyline will look once the new Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift coaster is installed. These are posted to a Universal Community website, and are meant to appease the local neighbors around the park with realistic views of how things will look with the ride in place.
As you might expect, there isn’t much to see, as Universal is taking care to keep the coaster as out of sight as possible, running along the hillside terrain in order to keep it from view. One interesting thing can be seen however, as it looks like there will be some kind of inversion that wraps around the Starway escalators near the top, where the track will be enclosed inside some kind of structure that should contain the noise of the ride.
(12/29/2023) A tower crane has now been set up at the Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift construction site, which means that construction on this new attraction should be kicking into high gear very soon. Check out the video of this massive crane below.
(11/25/2023) A couple of looks like the site for the new Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift coaster can be seen below from Coaster Empire. While an official opening date for the new attraction has not been set, it is believed that it will be ready to open in the first half of 2025, though there is always a chance if things move quickly it could be ready by the very end of 2024.
(11/14/2023) In a separate story I mentioned a new preview video from Intamin showing off a number of unique new themed trick elements and coaster car types they are offering for themed and dark roller coaster attractions.
At one point in the animation they show off a motorized spinning 12-seater car called the “MDC 12 Seater” which is shown running through a series of themed environments and trick elements, but I have to point out that around the the 2:35 point in the video where the car is shown running on an outdoor track while spinning the riders around and then cuts to the same car appearing to be launched into an Immelman style inversion, while the car spins the riders 360º around. At this point I’m fairly confident that this is an example of an element we will see actually built for the Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift coaster Intamin is making for Universal Studios Hollywood right now.
(10/29/2023) While Screamscape has already reported that the new Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift coaster will feature more than one launch and vehicles that can spin, we’re now starting to hear just a little more about the ride vehicles themselves. As this is a Fast & Furious themed ride, the theming of the coaster trains themselves as F&F style cars is said to be of the utmost importance to the project. As such, look for these car themed trains to look unlike anything you’ve ever seen before on a roller coaster.
(10/18/2023) It’s kind of funny how all the news stories this week about the upcoming Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift coaster are suddenly all excited about the fact that the cars will be able to rotate. Sorry, I’ve got to say something here about that, because Screamscape posted that the cars will rotate way back on 5/17/2022 (scroll down) when we first broke the story revealing the coaster and the early concept artwork.
As we posted back then… “The Gringotts comparison is apt, because just like we saw built for Gringotts, these cars will utilize a controlled spinning system.” At the time, back when the early layout included that crazy C-shaped spike track, the cars could clearly be seen rotating on the spike in the concept art.
Ok… just saying.
(10/13/2023) Some images of the Hollywood Drift construction taking place at Universal Studios Hollywood can be seen below, where the entire hillside from the Starway over to the parking structure is being completely reworked to accommodate the new roller coaster.
(9/22/2023) A batch of new construction photos from Universal Studios Hollywood show off the state of construction for the Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift coaster project. Much of the hillside between the parking structure and the Simpsons ride building has now been cleared out to make way for where the various footers for the coaster will need to be poured.
(9/1/2023) New construction pictures showing off the clearing for the new Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift coaster at Universal Studios Hollywood can be seen below, posted by Coaster Empire.
(8/14/2023) According to photos posted to Twitter, clearing of the hillside at Universal Studios Hollywood to make way for the new Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift roller coaster project has begun.
(7/14/2023) While I’ve been talking about the Fast & Furious coaster project for months now, it is important to know that Universal has not confirmed the existence of this project... until now. With a single tweet, the park has now confirmed that the project is now officially under construction!
(7/5/2023) ParksFans has posted some drawings of what appears to be the Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift coaster project in the works for Universal Studios Hollywood. As we indicated on Screamscape when we posted the early concept art, the layout was said to have changed, including the removal of that giant “C” shaped spike track on the one end in favor or something more traditional.
They’ve even posted a rough animation of what the ride experience might be like, with the trains taking advantage of the hillside terrain in this area of the park. This is all early speculation of course, but it does look like they are trying to create a terrain style ride that can offer something along the thrill levels of the VelociCoaster in Florida.
(5/25/2023) A new video update from Universal Studios Hollywood has some footage showing off the start of demolition prep work as crews prepare to make way for the rumored Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift coaster project. There is already a bulldozer tearing up the Animal Actors show venue as well. Later on they spot some early work taking place to prepare for Halloween Horror Nights as well, so check it out.
(5/17/2023) According to an update at Inside Universal, construction walls have now been set up around the Animal Actors Soundstage as well as some around parts of the Castle Theater. These areas were previously rumored to be on the way out to make way for the proposed Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift roller coaster project. It is expected that both show venues will be demolished over the summer, as both have simply been sitting dormant since the start of 2023.
(3/29/23) An interesting reel post to IG on Tuesday shows off an interesting scene taking place at Universal Studios Hollywood, next to the top of the StarWay. A large speaker was placed on top of a nearby structure that was playing a recorded audio track of roller coaster noise and screaming riders in exactly the area where the park is planning to build the Hollywood Drift roller coaster.
If you know anything about the history of the park and studio itself, you’ll know that Universal Studios Hollywood has had a long history of dealing with noise complaints from the nearby neighbors who’s homes on the hillside overlook the studio backlot. There have been complaints about the park’s various stunt shows over the years like Waterworld, complaints about noise from loud sequences and explosions taking place on the studio backlot during filming, and in general a lot of complaints about various noises generated by the theme park and its guests.
It’s a major reason that the majority of theme park attractions at Universal Studios Hollywood have been built indoors and why the park has never tried to build a traditional large scale outdoor roller coaster before. They’ve talked about it in the past many times, with some wild ideas for indoor/outdoor concepts for coasters themed to Terminator 2 or Twister, but in the end the park has never been ready to pull the trigger on those concepts. So it is interesting that they are attempting to simulate the noise of a coaster now, which more than likely was being tested at various locations outside the park to generate real-world data on just how large or small the noise impact would be.
(10/9/22) Just before Summer Screamscape revealed the details about a launched roller coaster in development for Universal’s Hollywood park called Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift. At the time this was the big concept the park was looking at as their next big attraction to come after the opening of Super Nintendo World.
The word going around is that some early building permits have been filed for this project, which would seem to indicate that it has gone from concept to being greenlit. While I’ve been told that the overall concept has changed just a little bit, the same basic idea of having a launched roller coaster with with sports-car themed vehicles able to spin to create a “drift” sensation is still very much alive and well. Like most coasters we’ve seen Universal build as of late in North America, Intamin is said to be providing the hardware once again.
So since this project seems to be moving forward, I thought it was about time to share with everyone some early concept artwork for the Hollywood Drift attraction that was shared with me. Remember, this is early concept artwork, so the final product shown once Universal is ready to announce it will be a little bit different, but this will give you the basic look and feel of the concept, as well as the location just to the left of the top-side of the Starway.
(5/17/22) There has been some early talk about building a new Fast & Furious ride at Universal Studios Hollywood. Screamscape dug a bit deeper into these rumors and apparently it is true that something Fast & Furious themed is indeed planned. The interesting thing is that the new ride planned will be a roller coaster unlike anything we’ve really seen before. And no, this won’t be the drifting dark ride/coaster system developed from Dynamic Attractions.
Now before I get too far into the details on this thing, know that this is simply an attraction concept. No construction has started, so the concept can be changed, the concept can be canceled entirely and replaced with something entirely different. I make no promises that this will be built… but dang if it doesn’t look interesting.
That said, this particular concept is being called Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift, and on the land side of things we are looking at the removal of both the Animal Actors show and the Special Effects Show on the upper deck to make way for this new coaster concept from Intamin. I believe the overall track layout to still be somewhat fluid at this point, but the idea would be to use a dual-sided loading station, not unlike Gringotts at Universal Orlando, with the roller coaster trains made to look like a set of four Fast & Furious style cars.
The Gringotts comparison is apt, because just like we saw built for Gringotts, these cars will utilize a controlled spinning system. From what I understand the trains will pull out of the station and onto a multi-launch track area where they will spin to launch up into a rather bizarre looking half-loop shaped spike track. The best I can describe it is that the trains will enter the element as if going up into a loop but by the time they reach the vertical moment, the track will have rotated 90º sidewards for the remainder of the element which will look more like a giant letter “C”. During this rise, stall and eventually fall back down the individual cars will spin and rotate to be facing the opposite direction by the time they enter the launch track and are boosted out at a higher speed to soar up and over the pathway leading to the Starway to the lower level, and then drop down into an unknown roller coaster section that I’m assuming will go around to the hillside behind the Simpsons ride building before turning around and heading back for a return run towards the station again.
Again, this is just a concept, but one that should prove to be nearly as fun to watch from the ground as it would be to ride if Universal were to go ahead with it. I’ve no idea what this means for the longevity of the current Fast & Furious - Supercharged attraction on the Backlot Tour. They could keep it as is for those not into roller coasters who still enjoy the “Fast” films, or perhaps they could turn it into something new further down the line as well.
2027/2028 - Future Attraction Concepts / Replacement For The Simpsons Likely -
The Ongoing Evolution of Citywalk -
(4/27/2025) There has been some activity inside Citywalk outside Universal Studios Hollywood. I’m told that the former Dongpo Kitchen restaurant across the pathway from the theater, now has signage up confirming that a Raising Cane’s chicken restaurant will soon be arriving at the location.
(4/13/2025) An article posted by SFGate this week looks over a lot of the big changes that have been taking place at CityWalk outside Universal Studios Hollywood. In short, we’ve been seeing a lot of closures lately, with some claiming that their leases simply were not up for renew by Universal, preventing them from staying, even if they wanted to.
So what’s going on at CityWalk? The answer may be more apparent if you look at all the changes that have taken place at CityWalk in Orlando over the past decade. The original slate of venues in Orlando’s CityWalk has changed quite a bit, with Universal themselves taking over a large number of sites that were previously leased out to other retailers. Instead we’ve seen Universal take more charge to bring a new vision to that CityWalk, adding more restaurants of every size and shape, as well as bringing in more of their own Universal branded retail experiences, along with a unique Universal branded Escape Room attraction and two Mini-Golf courses.
The changes have been very successful for the Orlando CityWalk, but that location also caters as evening destination for the many on-site Universal hotel guests as well all guests departing the theme parks at night. Hollywood has no on-site hotel, and there is only the one park to cater to. Unfortunately, a huge road-block that prevents the locals from enjoying the CityWalk location out west comes in the form of a huge parking fee. If only they would take a lesson from Orlando’s CityWalk and offer free parking after 6pm in order to allow the local market to come in and enjoy the venue but for unknown reasons, they just haven’t gone that route yet.
There are plans in the works to finally build a Universal branded resort hotel that would be attached to CityWalk that can only help things, but in the meantime, I’d keep an eye on just what is coming and going, as I do think there is some kind of vision in place that will slowly transform and update Hollywood’s CityWalk for the future.
???? - Resort Hotel - (11/30/2024) Apparently Universal Studios Hollywood is FINALLY developing plans to build their very own resort hotel just outside the entrance of the theme park, taking over a small flat parking lot area that was used for premium parking, handicapped permit parking and I believe valet parking along with some longer slots possibly used by tourist busses, along with the site previously used by the Saddle Ranch Chop House before it closed in 2018. I guess this explains why the Hilton Universal City suddenly relaunched their own expansion plans once again that would add an new 18-story tower, after letting them fall into limbo for much of the past decade.
???? - Hilton Universal City Expansion - (1/26/2025) According to the local news the City Council of Los Angeles approved the expansion plans for the Universal Studios Hollywood Hilton to build a new 18-story tall hotel tower, adding almost 400 new rooms to the resort. For those counting, this new tower will actually be a little shorter than the existing 24-story tall tower.
(9/23/2024) Keep your eyes peeled for a new construction project to take place just outside of Universal Studios Hollywood. Proposed for years, the 24-story tall Hilton Universal City resort hotel located the street from the entrance of Universal Studios Hollywood has been given an approval recommendation to build a new 18-story / 395-room tower. The existing hotel is said to have an average occupancy rate of 92% over the past year, and if the local city council gives their final approval on the project, the expansion could be up and running in about 30 months. The goal would be to have it all ready in time to take advantage of the 2028 Summer Olympic Games that will take place across Los Angeles.
(10/6/20) While not owned by Universal Studios at all, it is worth mentioning that the nearby Hilton Universal City hotel now has a timeline to begin construction on a new expansion tower in 2023 that will add an additional 395 rooms and a parking structure to the property by the time they finish in 2025.
|
