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UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD
Hollywood, CA (Abbreviation: USH)
NBC Universal / Comcast
---- THE LATEST NEWS ----
(11/16/2024) Fast & Furious Coaster Car Reveal Expected Next Week
(10/8/2024) Universal Studios Hollywood To Expand Winter Offerings To Super Nintendo World
(10/6/2024) Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift Construction Update
(10/5/2024) Universal Studios Hollywood Confirms Several New Additions For Universal Fan Fest Nights!
(9/29/2024) New Harry Potter Experience Added To FanFest Event in 2025 & Hollywood Drift Construction Update
Ride Rehabs - These dates are not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as refurbishments are subject to change.
Super Silly Fun Land / Silly Swirly - NOW CLOSED through TBD
Jurassic World: The Ride - NOW CLOSED through TBD
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 - (10/8/2024) Universal Studios Hollywood has annnounced that they are expanding their winter holiday offerings this year to also include Super Nintendo World, while also keeping the popular Grinchmas and Christmas in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter activities. This year’s holiday festivities will run from Nov. 29th through to Jan. 6, 2025.
So what happens in the Mushroom Kingdom during the Christmas season? We’re about the find out! “SUPER NINTENDO WORLD will welcome guests to celebrate the holidays in the Mushroom Kingdom alongside Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Toad. A tree adorned with a Super Star topper, festive wreath and two snowmen—one donning a red Mario hat and scarf and the other a green Luigi hat and scarf—will greet guests for a memorable photo op.
Once inside the Mushroom Kingdom, the spirit of the holidays will shine bright with themed décor. Plus, for the first time ever, guests will be able to enjoy an array of holiday merchandise at select SUPER NINTENDO WORLD retail locations and seasonal treats at Toadstool Cafe.”
Meanwhile in Grinchmas will arrive at Universal Plaza, featuring the Grinchmas Who-bilation, the return of the 65-foot tall Grinchmas tree, and of course The Grinch himself who will share the story of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”.
Over in the Wizarding World, each night guests can enjoy “The Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts Castle” show as it is projected upon the surface of Hogwarts Castle itself. Hogsmeade will be decorate with extra special holiday decor you can view while listening to the holiday version of the Frog Choir, or enjoy a season holiday meal at Three Broomsticks.
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(9/10/2024) Universal will be adding all new experiences, retail and dining opportunities to Universal Studios Hollywood and the Universal Orlando Resort themed to the new two-part “Wicked” films hitting theaters in November 2024 and 2025.
“The engaging Wicked experiences will differ at each of the destinations but are both designed to capture the imagination and spirit of the breathtaking world of Wicked, allowing guests to express their fandom through fashion and accessories, while stepping into the story for the first time ever.”
Beginning in late October, Universal Studios Hollywood will transform its popular Feature Presentation store within the theme park, and UNIVRS store at Universal CityWalk Hollywood into memorable Wicked experiences. Feature Presentation will showcase props from the film, an exciting photo op will debut within the theme park and, later in tandem with the film opening, costumes will be displayed within the Universal Cinema, an AMC Theatre, at Universal CityWalk.
Fantabulous-themed dining will complement these exciting Wicked experiences at both theme park locations, as well as Voodoo Doughnuts and The Toothsome Chocolate Emporium & Savory Feast Kitchen at both Universal CityWalk locations will share the joy with the debut of a limited time treats inspired by the world of Wicked.
At the core of these experiences will be redefining new retail opportunities and exclusive products, inviting guests to rejoicify as they peek behind the Emerald City gates. An exciting variety of merchandise including elevated apparel, home goods, accessories, toys and more along with exclusive products will be available at Universal Orlando Resort, Universal Studios Hollywood and at both Universal Citywalk locations including:
The Shiz University collection is inspired by the iconic school where Glinda and Elphaba first cross paths featuring back-to-school must-haves featuring a Spirit Jersey, duffle bag, tumbler, hat, journal and more.
More Wicked themed surprises are also coming to the Universal Studios Singapore and Japan theme parks between late 2024 and early 2025.
(9/6/2024) It may be Halloween season at Universal Studios Hollywood, but the park has also announced that their new Hello Kitty and Friends Cafe and gift shop will open to guests at the park starting today, September 6th. The cafe will offer various sweet treats and themed beverages for guests to enjoy, including cakes, churros, macaroons, cookies and mousse domes. Guests can also meet Hello Kitty outside the Animation Studios Store on the upper lot as well.
(6/29/2024) If you are visiting Universal Studios Hollywood, there are a few special things taking place right now you might want to keep an eye out for. As part of the ongoing 60th Anniversary of the backlot Studio Tour attraction, a number of special movie vehicles have been set up throughout the park that are not normally there. This includes a special photo-op at Universal Plaza of one of the iconic Back to the Future time machines. These extra special photo-ops are only going to be in place through to August 11th.
Speaking of anniversaries… in celebration of the first anniversary of Super Nintendo World, collectors will be interested to know that a special-release Golden Power-Up Band is now available for purchase, while supplies last. For those not in the know, the collectible power-bands are how guests can play and interact with a number of features within the video-game themed landscape. This includes the new “Frosted Glacier” interactive display that just opened as well.
(6/14/2024) Universal Studios Hollywood is now offering guests a second-day-free ticket special. From now through to October 9, 2024, guests to the Hollywood park can take advantage of a “Buy A Day, Get A 2nd Day Free General Admission” ticket offer, with both visited required to be completed on or before December 18, 2024.
While there are no blackout dates on your first visit, there are some restrictions about the dates you can use your free second day admission however. Visit the official website for all the details and to make your purchase online.
(4/28/2024) In a fun bit of cross promotion, guests present at Universal Studios Hollywood to see the new ‘The Fall Guy’ themed pre-show taking place before the Waterworld stunt show were treated to the unexpected live appearance of Ryan Gosling.
(4/21/2024) UPDATE - (4/21/2024) A quick small new update has come out regarding the Backlot Tram incident at Universal Studios Hollywood. An updated post by the local Fox news confirms a comment from an authority on the scene that “The Collision caused several passengers to fall out of the vehicle”, which matches up to my thoughts after seeing how the section of the barrier/door section over the last row of the tram was seen to be bent away on the right side of the tram.
A further comment from Los Angeles Country Sheriff’s Lt. Maria Abal also confirmed that “There was some type of issues with the brakes”, and that “The last car struck a rail when it was traveling down a hill”. Now the exact path the backlot tram takes can change from year to year, even day to day, as various segments can be added or omitted due to availability, the common approach to the Flash Flood area takes a road along the hillside past a collection of various movie Star Cars, and past the former Fast & Furious dancing car loop, and then down the hill past a collection of Jurassic Park themed props and vehicles where it makes a tight left turn at the bottom before proceeding right to the spot where the tram was stopped and guests were seen being treated for injuries in the helicopter video. In fact, the guard rail in question can be seen in the video on the page just behind a bright yellow curb, so it now sounds more likely that a possible brake problem may have saw the tram take that corner a little too fast, possibly fishtailing the last car of the tram into the guard rail.
For those interested, you can check out video footage shot on a tram from what looks like the last car making this actual turn in a video clip below.
(4/21/2024) According to the local news some kind of incident took place at Universal Studios Hollywood involving one of the backlot Studio Trams. The report first said 10 and now updated to say that 15 guests were injured in a “crash” involving a tram, almost all with minor injuries but with one guest classified to have “critical injuries”. All were transported to a local hospital for treatment.
However, that is where the details stop… according to the report “It’s unclear what caused the tram’s collision or if any other vehicles were involved.”
That last part may be important, because really… those trams are long and do not move at a high rate of speed. Those familiar with the attraction know that the course travels up and down some steep and windy roads, but based on aerial footage posted by the local news outlets last night, this is not at all where the tram was seen surrounded by emergency vehicles treating the injured.
Instead the tram was actually positioned as if it was about to stop for the ‘Flash Flood’ effect sequence. The right-hand “door” panel that would normally hold in the passengers in the last row of the tram was seen to be physically damaged and somewhat pulled down and away, which appears to be the likely point of impact right now.
(4/20/2024) According to a local news update a new pre-show will be added to the popular Waterworld stunt show at Universal Studios Hollywood in the near future. The new pre-show will actually be something inspired by the up-coming “The Fall Guy” film. Before you start scratching your head, realize that the tie-in is actually a bit fitting as new film, “The Fall Guy”, is also inspired by the concept of the 80’s era TV series of the same name that centered around the lives of one of Hollywood most thankless professions, stunt men & women. Yes, the very same people who are about to give it their all to entertain you during the epic Waterworld stunt spectacular.
The pre-show addition is only set to be a limited time add-on that will take place between April 27th and May 19th, 2024.
(3/15/2024) If you’re headed out to Universal Orlando or Universal Studios Hollywood soon, get ready to enjoy the new “Butterbeer Season” event at the parks. This first annual event just started and will run through to April 30th, and feature a variety of new limited time offerings in the parks that will appeal to those who love Butterbeer.
In Hollywood this will include the opening of a Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor in the Hollywood park inside the Honeydukes location. Similar to the one ion Orlando, the magical ice creamery will offer some wild new ice cream flavors to enjoy, including a Butterbeer ice-cream.
According to the report at Blooloop other new items to be added during the special event will include Butterbeer flavored popsicles and Butterbeer flavored caramels that will join the usual assortment of Butterbeer beverages (hot,cold and frozen) as well as Butterbeer Fudge and Potted Cream.
(2/4/2024) As Universal Studios Hollywood approaches the one-year anniversary of their new Super Nintendo World land, the park will be adding a brand new Nintendo themed restaurant on the upper level of the park (in New York Street) called the Power Up Cafe. It is no secret that the huge demand for the existing Toadstool Cafe inside of Super Nintendo World has exceeded the available capacity, so it’s good to see another restaurant offering being added as an alternative.
(2/2/2024) Universal Studios Hollywood will celebrate the Lunar New Year with a special themed menu takeover at the Hollywood & Dine this month. The park sent over a few photos showcasing some of the special dishes being offered.
(1/24/2024) The Backlot Studio Tour at Universal Studios Hollywood will turn 60 this year and after transporting over 200 million guests, the park will soon begin an “exciting program planned for spring and summer in support of the Studio Tour’s 60th anniversary.” One tidbit was leaked in the press release where the park confirms that the Earthquake segment of the Tour will “debut anew with updated and contemporary technology and aesthetics.”
Halloween Horror Nights 2024 - (9/7/2024) Halloween Horror Nights has kicked off at Universal Studios Hollywood at last! While we couldn’t make it to the event this year, Universal did send out some very impressive footage of several of their haunts to share, and they look absolutely stunning.
Check out the fun video below…
(8/29/2024) Universal Studios Hollywood has announced a few fun live entertainment options have been added to Halloween Horror Nights. Previously they confirmed that the fan-favorite Waterworld stadium will be transformed to put on a new show called, “The Purge: Dangerous Waters”. But the newest addition to the line-up will be “Late Night with Chucky” inside the Dreamworks Theater.
Just as it sounds, the demonic Chucky character will be hosting his very own talk show, “Late Night with Chucky” in front of live guests. Chucky will interact with guests, both live and can answer questions submitted by mobile devices by scanning a QR code in the lobby before the show begins.
(8/8/2024) Universal Studios Hollywood has released a teaser video for Terror Tram: Enter the Blumhouse! Check out the theme for this year’s popular Terror Tram experience. Also new this year will be The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy.
(8/4/2024) Universal Hollywood’s John Murdy released a bunch of info about things coming to this year’s Halloween Horror Nights at the Hollywood park during the Midsummer Scream convention last week. This included that the park would bring back the Texas Chainsaw Massacre theme as part of a ‘multiverse’ haunted house concept to be called “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Legacy of Leatherface”. This is also being done as a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the original film.
Other news released was the reveal of a “Luchadores Monstruosos” themed scare zone featuring luchador style wrestlers who resemble various famous monsters, as well as more details and concept art for the announced Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines haunt.
While the official Universal Studios Hollywood website for HHN hasn’t been updated much to include most of this into, the Hollywood HHN Instagram page has been dropping announcements for other scare zones as well like Skull Lordz, Chainsaw Punkz, and Murder of Crowz.
 (7/27/2024) Universal has announced their latest haunt coming to Halloween Horror Nights in the Orlando and Hollywood parks. This will be the next edition of the Universal Monsters themed haunts, led by an all female cast of Monsters to be called “Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines”. The haunt will feature The Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula’s Daughter, She-Wolf of London and Anck-Su-Namun, as well as Saskia Van Helsing, daughter of the famous Monster Hunter.
“The “Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines” haunted houses will introduce guests to an all-new terrifying storyline, as they find themselves in the center of the ultimate battle between two unexpected alliances of classic female Universal Monsters. Fans will encounter Saskia Van Helsing, a new fearless huntress and daughter of revered Abraham Van Helsing – who killed Count Dracula by driving a stake through his heart and destroying his reign of terror. Saskia now faces Dracula’s daughter, Countess Marya, who arose from the dead to seek revenge for her father and destroy the Van Helsing bloodline. With a mission to kill, Dracula’s daughter, from 1936’s Dracula’s Daughter, forms a deadly alliance with the She-Wolf, inspired by the 1946 film She-Wolf of London, and Anck-Su-Namun, from the 1932 film The Mummy – only to be intercepted by Saskia and an unlikely ally, The Bride of Frankenstein. The terrifying adventure will take guests on a journey between the hunted and the hunters in a life and death battle with only one bloodline left to survive.”
The Hollywood park version will also feature a special treat, as the Haunt is being constructed inside the legendary Sound Stage 12 on the backlot, which was the original filming location for many of Universal’s horror films including Dracular (1931), Frankenstein (1931) and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Legendary and Grammy winning rocker, Slash, will compose an original score for the Hollywood version of the haunt, while Emmy-nominated composer Sara Barone will create the score to be used for the Orlando version.
(7/12/2024) Insidious The Further has been announced as the next themed Haunted House coming to Halloween Horror Nights in Hollywood and Orlando this season.
(6/29/2024) Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has been added to the list of Haunts for Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando and Hollywood this week. For those keeping track, this is now the fourth haunt out of eight that has been announced thus far for the Hollywood park.
You can see the teaser video below!
(6/27/2024) Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood did in announce a second custom-made IP haunt for this year’s event… Monstruos 2: The Nightmares of Latin America. The haunt will bring the legends of the rider El Charro, the devil dog El Cadejo, the boogeyman El Cucuy and La Muerte to life.
(6/23/2024) While nothing has been added to the official website, Universal Studios Hollywood did confirm another Haunt on their Instagram page, tying together those toxic waste zombie hints as Dead Exposure: Death Valley, making this the first custom IP for Hollywood’s HHN this season. Given how many the Orlando park announced already, I do wonder how many of their own creations Hollywood may try to offer this year.
(6/16/2024) Universal Studios Hollywood has begun to announce their lineup for this year’s Halloween Horror Nights. The first reveal took place last week with the announced of a haunt themed to “A Quiet Place” coming to both the Orlando and Hollywood events.
The Hollywood park will feature 8 Haunts this year, plus the return of the Terror Tram, and it looks like they’re about to reveal something new as teasers featuring a nuclear radiation warning sign and some kind of toxic waste looking zombie face have been posted this week. Local fans of the event are anticipating that it could be some kind of return or sequel to the Toxic Tunnel scare zone from HHN 2017, Toxxic Tunnel in 2018 and Toxxxic Tunnel in 2019.
(5/15/2024) While all the hints thus far about what’s planned for Halloween Horror Nights 2024 have been aimed at the Orlando park, a slightly different version of a major teaser video was released yesterday for the Hollywood park, indicating that whatever this new big-bad force is, it’s been growing somewhere in the dark passageways below Universal Studios.
The video was titled, “Fear Cannot Be Contained” but there was a bit more context in the description, “The gate has been opened, and there’s no containing the insatiable evil that will break through from beyond.” Whatever is being unleashed upon the world, has been growing for some time now inside some kind of cocoon somewhere below Universal.
You’ve been warned!
(3/17/2024) The rumor masters at Horror Night Nightmares have posted the first version of their Halloween Horror Night speculation maps for the Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando events. As they say, this is just the early speculation and they promise that these will change over time, which Screamscape’s own sources have also confirmed. While some of these are just very vague rumors right now, others have a good chance of being more locked in. But as strange as it sounds, I’ve been hearing that the line-up is still very much in a state of flux right now, even with construction under way, there not everything has been 100% locked down and could be subject to change.
What’s fun is that you’ll notice that they aren’t coming right out and saying what is going where just yet, with most haunt locations marked simply by a small icon of some sort. You’ll also notice some have a small film reel in the corner to indicate if it is expected to be a licensed IP themed haunt, as opposed to those that are original creations. Also, keep in mind that these teaser maps are the creations of Horror Night Nightmares and not the Universal theme parks when you look over them.
Looking over the Hollywood event map there are some icons that are subject to some fairly clear messages, or at least a general theme. For example, based on rumored from the Orlando park, there is a strong indication that HHN may tap into Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire this year. The same Cadillac symbol is also on the Orlando map and with the new Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire movie to be released in theaters next weekend, I’d even predict that we may have our first official HHN haunt announcement before the end of the month.
The rest are subject to interpretation, but there is a vampire skull and moon/stars icon that are also on the Orlando map. A small plant that I’m not sure about (could it be the return of The Last of Us?), a bloody knife (Halloween again? Scream? Maybe Chucky?) , a strage alien bug looking thing, and then there is the muted speaker icon. That last one is also on the Orlando map and could possibly be themed to tie in with the release of A Quiet Place: Day One in late June.
As for the rest, I just don’t know at this point. The scare zones are listed as Unknowns and two show icons…one with a castle turret icon that was also shown on the Orlando map and a second one that clearly appears to be the outline of the Blumhouse studio logo. With so many iconic horror films under the Blumhouse umbrella, this show could include just about anything. Five Nights at Freddys, M3GAN, Insidious, or current IP in theaters now… Night Swim or Imaginary. Of course another anthology show could also be on the books, not unlike the Blumhouse Behind the Screams show from last year.
 Spring 2025 - Universal Fanfest Nights - (10/5/2024) Universal Studios Hollywood has announced two more additions coming to their first Universal Fan Fest Nights special event taking place in Spring 2025. As Screamscape previous mentioned ahead of the launch of the event, Universal’s US parks were eyeballing a way to bring the popularity and fan-service of the Universal Cool Japan event from that theme park to the US, and indeed they did with the announcement of the first Universal Fan Fest Nights in Hollywood in 2025.
While we don’t know all the details, the event wa first announced as featuring special experiences themed to Back To The Future, Star Trek and Dungeons & Dragons. That list was expanded in late September with the addition of some Wizarding World of Harry Potter / Fantastic Beasts experiences, such as an encounter with a Niffler, something also offered in the Japanese park, BTW…
The latest announcement includes another inspired lift from Japan with the inclusion of two hit Japanese Anime productions: One Piece and Jujutsu Kaisen. While I’m not familiar with Jujutsu Kaisen, I do know that the popularity of One Piece has only grown in the US with the launch of the live action version on Netflix.
Universal has also confirmed that the bridge of the USS Enterprise-D from Star Trek that was created for the 3rd and final season of Star Trek: Picard is being set up as a major part of the experience as well.
While we don’t know exactly what kind of form we may see Universal use to create an Dungeon & Dragons experience, one rumor old rumor does suggest that Universal just might find a way to create the former Back To The Future: The Ride experience inside the former attraction space, which still features the same style simulator vehicles that have since been rethemed to serve as The Simpsons ride.
Tickets are not yet on sale, but will be soon for Universal Fan Fest Night events scheduled to take place April 25-27, May 2-4, 9-11 and 16-18.
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(9/29/2024) A new detail about the upcoming Universal FanFest event coming to Universal Studios Hollywood in 2025 has been confirmed. As part of the extra-ticket night-event’s coverage of the fan favorite Harry Potter franchise, it was recently confirmed that some kind of guest encounter with a ‘Niffler’ creature would be part of the experience.
It is quite possible that the Hollywood park may be borrowing the Niffler experience creature that has been in use at Universal Studios Japan to put on some street performances in Hollywood. In fact, this could just be one aspect of the experience, as the Wizarding World in Universal Studios Japan has several such “magical beast” style creature experiences that can take place.
 (8/24/2024) Universal Studios Hollywood has announced a new special event is coming to the park in Spring 2025 called Universal Fanfest Nights. This is the evolution of a concept we first heard was pitched for the Orlando resort, but since they are busy ramping up for the opening of the new Epic Universe theme park in 2025, Hollywood now gets to premier this brand new special event that celebrates the best of fan favorite Sci-Fi-, Fantasy, Gaming and Anime like never before.
If you missed our reports on the rumored Orlando event, the inspiration for this new concept was the popular “Universal Cool Japan” fan events held at the Osaka theme park where charcters, themed food, displays, and even custom temporary themed attractions are created for the Japanese theme park based on popular Japanese IPs from video games, music and popular anime. Over the years this has evolved from more simply display areas into complete attraction overlays and the creation of new unique, yet temporary, experiences that can take-over existing attractions completely.
According to the announcement, Universal Fanfest Nights will be a special after-hours event that will bring guests into the worlds of Star Trek, Back to the Future, Dungeons & Dragons and much more “with immersive experiences, celebratory moments, themed food, and exclusive merchandise that takes fandom to a whole new level.” While adding experienced based on Universal IP like Back to the Furure is expected, bringing in popular IPs like Star Trek and Dungeon and Dragons to the mix is an exciting new realm of possibility. Especially the return of Star Trek to Universal Hollywood, just in case you forgot about the former guest-interactive Star Trek Advventure show that was added to the park in the early 90s.
Keep your eyes open for more future announcements and details as it gets closer and you can also sign up on the official website to be notified first of all the latest developments.
2026 - Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift - (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.
2026/2027?? - Donkey Kong Country / Super Nintendo World Expansion - (10/7/2023) So with the Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift coaster now well under construction, you may be wondering what’s next for Universal Studios Hollywood. Well… there have been those rumors about replacing The Simpsons attraction with something new, but I think that may be a bit further out, especially as that would likely involved a similar timed replacement in Orlando, and the Orlando resort is a little busy at the moment building their new Epic Universe theme park.
Still… it does sound like Hollywood’s future may be to take inspiration from other Universal parks for their next attraction. So what does Orlando have that Hollywood might want? Volcano Bay maybe? Yeah… but that just is not going to happen. While this is a tale for another time, would you believe that a California version of Volcano Bay was once under consideration in the most unusual way? Apparently a true story, but again… another day.
What is instead rumored to be the next big project for Universal Hollywood is to expand Super Nintendo World to add on the same Donkey Kong themed area and themed family coaster that is currently under construction in Orlando and Japan right now. If you have not seen this yet, imagine a roller coaster themed like a ride in a mine cart, but the tracks you see under the car are actually false, and the real track runs off to the side on a unique looking set of vertically stacked rails. The concept allows for the ride to create the illusion that your mine carts is tilting to the side and running on one rail, or even leaping over entire broken gaps in the track. Follow this link to read more about it over on our Epic Universe page where I broke down the ride’s technology and layout last August.
From what I’m told, since Universal Studios Hollywood is already working to build state-of-the-art new soundstages on East end of the backlot, eventually most (if not eventually all) of the old soundstages on the West side of the property will be removed for other projects, including theme park expansion, as far away as possible from the residents along the hills East of the park. I’ve been told to keep an eye on this area in 2024 for the first signs of any future demolition to the existing Standstages, including the one where they have shot “The Voice” located next to the Jurassic World attraction.
All said and done, look for a lot of activity to begin at Universal over the next few years as they ramp up the park experience ahead of the planned 2028 Summer Olympic Games being held in Los Angeles in July. In fact, I’d look for most of SoCal’s big attractions to be making plans to up their game ahead of this major event.
???? - The Borne Stuntacular - (11/13/2022) There has been some quiet speculation that the Hollywood park had been looking into the possibility of adding their own version of The Bourne Stuntacular show that first opened in Universal Orlando in 2020. The indoor stunt show mixes live stunt actors with amazing high resolution video wall backdrop and an extensive list of in theater effects. It is quite an amazing production that would fit right in at the Hollywood park if they opt to build their own version. The main difference is that the Orlando version was built as a replacement for that park’s former Terminator 2:3-D attraction, while a custom theater would have to be construction from scratch if they opted to go that route.
???? - Backlot Changes - Announced - (11/4/21) The LA Times confirms that Universal Studios Hollywood is preparing to add eight new soundstage buildings to the far side of the backlot, off of the Barham Blvd. entrance. The plan is to have them in place and operational by Summer 2022 and the grading of the hillside on the site is now complete.
(7/6/21) Looks like you’ll begin to see new construction taking place on the east side of the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot area, around the Barham Gate. Universal Studios Hollywood sent out a note to their neighboring communities as a warning that they may begin to notice construction noise from the area, as well as grading work on the hillside closest to the Barham Gate over the next several months to prepare the site for future production growth.
This all falls into the long-term master plan for the Studio released back in 2016, when they announced that a collection of 13 older soundstages closer to the theme park side of the property would be removed to allow for future theme park growth, and the eastern end of the studio would see the construction of up to 10 new bigger soundstage and production buildings over the years to come. This will eventually cause the removal of the “Park Lake” on the backlot, and so far we’ve already seen the old Parting of the Red Seas end of the lake already removed for new construction. At the time in 2016 they also mentioned that just how much new production space would be built on the Barham Gate side would also depend on if the city of Los Angeles’ bid was selected to host a future Olympic Games, as some of the production space was intended to be used for various international coverage of the games. With the 2028 games now locked in to take place in Los Angeles, it looks like they are moving ahead with the expansion project. This will likely be followed by the slow demolition of certain older soundstages as the new replacements are finished. Some were already removed to allow for the current construction of the new Super Nintendo World area, while the others predicted to be removed later would be the assortment behind the Revenge of the Mummy building and next to Transformers.
(11/18/20) If you notice some land clearing going on at Universal Studios Hollywood just off Universal Hollywood Dr. across from the Sheraton Universal, this is not for a new attraction. According to concept art and a description posted here, this is part of a new ‘dynamic campus’ experience they’ve planned for awhile. The site is to contain a new Employee Commons building with dining options as well as theater and screening rooms and an event space. There will also be a new Creative Office building, new green spaces and indoor and outdoor gathering spaces for “meetings and dining”. Our local guy Rob actually managed to get a picture of the clearing taking place a couple of weeks ago, but we didn’t know what it was at the time.
(4/1/17) Screamscape obtained a few new photos from Universal Studios Hollywood this week, showing off the now cleared site where four of the soundstages (22 - 25) were demolished to apparently make way for future theme park expansion projects, such as the proposed Secret Life of Pets dark ride or Super Nintendo Land.
Meanwhile on the far North-Eastern edge of the park you can see as crews are busy removing what was left of the old swamp / red-sea crossing section of the backlot that was located East of the Clock Tower Square and North of the Earthquake attraction building. It looks like the bigger pond area (Park Lake) closest to Earthquake may be kept for the time being, but a dark construction barrier wall has been placed around it as well.
According to the 5-year plan the park submitted last year the goal was to remove a total of 13 soundstages close to the park (5 so far, 22-25 and 28) to allow it to grow while replacing them with up to 10 new soundstages to be built on the Eastern edge of the park, including the site where Park Lake is now. The new soundstages are said to be bigger than the ones they remove (some possibly with two floors) that will allow for an overall increase in production space.
(3/13/17) Down on the Universal Studios backlot, the crews continued the soundstage demolition and have also taken down Soundstage 25, competing the removal of the set of four that would easily allow for a future theme park expansion. Super Mario Land anyone?
(3/10/17) According to a post on Twitter from Inside Universal, Soundstages 22 - 24 have been demolished. For now SS25 is still standing it seems, but with 24 gone, 25 may not stay much longer than they need to keep it. This follows the demolition of Soundstage 28 (directly to the left of the Transformers attraction building) that took place last year, and 22-23 were located next door to the former site of 28, with 24 and 25 directly south from there going towards the Jurassic Park attraction area.
The land released by the demolition of these soundstages is ideal to allow for the future expansion of the theme park on the lower lot, if it gets handed over to the park for future development, which is what we had previously heard was going to be happening as new Soundstages are built in the far eastern corner of the backlot instead, near the old Crossing of the Red Sea area.
(6/26/16) In an exclusive to Variety, Universal Studios Hollywood confirmed a new five year plan that will see a collection of 13 soundstages close to the theme park removed to allow for future theme park expansion, while building new replacement soundstages elsewhere on the eastern side of the backlot where they will replace Park Lake, home to the very old parting of the Red Seas attraction on the backlot tour. Two of the new soundstages are already under construction it seems, and the other 10 will follow over the next couple of years, though some are pending the selection of Los Angeles for the 2024 or 2028 Summer Olympics which would be used as an international broadcast center during the games. While fewer soundstages will be built than removed, they will be larger, so there will be an overall increase in the square-footage of production space available on the background.
2025 - Hilton Universal City Expansion - (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.
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