Universal Studios Hollywood brought back Fan Fest Nights after an intriguing opening run of the event. It was a cross between Halloween Horror Nights and a way for guests to meet their favorite characters from various properties. The One Piece characters dominated the meet-and-greets last year, and that turned into the new One Piece Grand Pirate Show in the Waterworld area. They also brought guests back to the backlot for a live event based on Scooby Doo and the Universal Monsters.
Adding to all of that, there are events in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a new Sailor Moon show, Dungeons & Dragons: Secrets of Waterdeep, and some Yoshi action in Super Nintendo World. There’s also plenty to do that’s already available at Universal Studios Hollywood during regular hours, like most of the rides (besides the Illumination section).
Finally, there are specialty items like food and drink that are only available during this event. So if you’re in the market for food and drink based around your favorite properties, they’ll have it at Fan Fest Nights.
The Good Of Fan Fest Nights 2026
Fan Fest Nights adding the Scooby Doo x Universal Monsters: Mystery On The Backlot was what really hyped me up for this event. Last year’s Back to the Future experience by the clock tower was easily the highlight of last year’s event. This time around, the new “cinematic” type of experience is going around the Little Europe set on the backlot to find out who’s messed up the movie and brought the Universal Monsters back to life. The various members of Mystery Inc. are around to help you get clues and find out who the villain is.
This section takes the most time and can be as long or as short as you want, because you don’t NEED to get all the clues to get to the Big Reveal ending. But if you want to immerse yourself, you can talk to all the characters, see all the Universal Monsters, and fill out a booklet that they give you. The ride down on the tram takes a bit, so if you’re trying to hit other shows or whatnot, give yourself at least an hour to do everything here.
It’s a magical kind of experience being on the lot where they filmed a lot of these classic Universal Monster movies. Seeing them interact with guests and have their own spotlight adds a bit of a horror wrinkle to the event. This kind of adventure is why we go to theme park events like this.
One Piece Grand Pirate Show Steals The Show
The other “main event” level addition to Fan Fest Nights is the One Piece Grand Pirate Show. This was the most popular thing at opening night of the event. For fans of the show, it has all the characters that you know and love and they do all their special moves. The boats might not exactly be pirate ships, but they look cool enough, and they have to fit them into the Waterworld set. But the show itself is thrilling and has some really exceptional effects like characters teleporting, bad guys getting attacked by the Chopper puppet, and Luffy doing his special rubber abilities.
For those worried about getting wet, the water doesn’t ever really leave the arena. Other than that, the show is pretty lengthy, but the lines to get in get quite long, so make sure to budget some time for this.
Dungeons & Dragons: Secrets Of Waterdeep returns from last year, and it has mostly the same story but with some small tweaks that make the adventure that much better. The characters in the adventure with you have microphones, so you can actually hear them. They also put in some smaller moments where you have to cast spells or move around the room based on what is going on. So all the things from last year that made this amazing are there, plus some improvements.
Sailor Moon Is Awesome, But This Is Where They Need Improvements
The new Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The Miracle: Moon Palace Chapter Deluxe movie is great. It has lots going on, some crisp 3D animation in the Dreamworks Theater, and a story that actually makes sense for someone who doesn’t know a bit about Sailor Moon. That new addition is awesome, and if this is a yearly thing for Fan Fest Nights, having an anime mini-movie in the theater is a great escape from the crowds.
The biggest issue I saw on opening night was the line for meeting Sailor Moon. They seemingly only have one actress playing the character for meet-and-greets, so she needs to take breaks. At 11:00 PM last night, they already had people lining up for the 12:30 AM meeting. The line to meet her caps almost immediately, so for those who want to get a picture with her, you’d better get in line early.
The other improvement I would make for the event is adding one or two more things for guests to do. Last year, we had the Star Trek adventure in the London section of the park, but there’s nothing there this year. So they replaced it with the One Piece Grand Pirate Show, but it feels like there’s one thing missing in the park.
Fan Fest Nights 2026 Is Well Worth Your Time
Between all the new food, new events, and returning fun, Fan Fest Nights 2026 is a welcome update to the debut event. They brought back just enough for guests to enjoy and added some new awesome things like Scooby Doo x Universal Monsters plus the One Piece Grand Pirate Show. The food for the event is nicely themed and readily available across the park. The only critiques I have for next year’s event are more meet and greets and possibly one or two more adventures/events for guests. Fan Fest Nights 2026 runs from April 23rd to May 16th for 12 nights only. You can get tickets here.
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