Inside ‘Star Trek' And ‘Dungeons And Dragons' At Fan Fest Nights

Forbes

16-04-2025

'Star Trek: Red Alert' is one of the headline experiences at the inaugural Fan Fest Nights at ... More Universal Studios Hollywood.
If you thought Halloween Horror Nights was impressive and immersive, wait until you get a load of Fan Fest Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. Having elevated the celebration of Titans of Terror to a world-class standard, the theme park creatives are bringing iconic pop culture phenomena, including Star Trek, Dungeons and Dragons, and Back to the Future, to life in a whole new way.
The all-new, after-hours event kicks off on Friday, April 25, 2025, and runs select nights through Sunday, May 18, 2025. Tickets are on sale now. Ahead of the first-ever Fan Fest Nights, I got to go behind the scenes and look at two of the headline attractions to find out what lies in store. First up, Star Trek: Red Alert.
"Everything you see in this attraction is based on references from the original sets and the original archives from Paramount," enthuses Stephen Siercks, Senior Director of Entertainment Production at Universal Studios Hollywood. "We were able to tap into a lot of their resources, and a lot of the team that we are working with now worked on some of those early iterations of the franchise, so being able to tap into their history and experience has been really exciting as well. You cannot get more authentic and uniquely Universal than this attraction."
"It's a really large-scale attraction for us, and being able to develop it in a way that tells the story and brings to life the iconic scenes and environments was so important and core to the overall concept. I think they did a phenomenal job bringing it to life."
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Star Trek: Red Alert, a walkthrough experience similar to the haunted houses at Halloween Horror Nights, has taken two years to develop and realize. The attention to detail has been second to none, from the Enterprise-D bridge to the classic 'swish' doors.
"Not only is it the door, but it's the sound effect that we got from Paramount," Siercks enthuses. "It's straight from the TV show, so it's really exciting to see something like that come to life in that way. Also, not only is this a recreation of the bridge, but this is actually the screen used set seen in the Picard series on Paramount Plus."
"It's such a great collaboration with the Star Trek team and the Paramount team because they were brought on as creative consultants with us. They've been developing this attraction lockstep with the Universal team, which has been super exciting because you get that level of authenticity that Fan Fest is building for, as well as that fan-first approach of really understanding what the guests are going to want to see and experience throughout."
Journey to adventure through iconic corridors on 'Star Trek: Red Alert.'
Star Trek: Red Alert, housed in the former The Walking Dead attraction building, will take guests into the heart of the beloved sci-fi franchise, with a concept reminiscent of the classic Klingon Encounter and Borg Invasion 4D attractions at the shuttered Star Trek: The Experience attraction in Las Vegas. The adventure kicks off with guests at the separately ticketed event being split into groups and invited to board a shuttlecraft.
"A pre-show video plays where you get a chance to understand who you are, what you're doing, and why you're there. This is where we set up the story that we're being given an exclusive tour of the Starfleet Museum, and one of the ships this is now on display is the Enterprise-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation. You board a shuttlecraft, and that's where our experience begins," Siercks explains.
"A video playing on a massive screen makes it look like you're flying through space. You are around the corner, and all of a sudden, you're on the shuttlebay of the Enterprise-D. As the ship's docent leading your tour talks, an entity starts appearing in the distance. It gets closer and closer, then suddenly breaches the force field and whooshes past you, utilizing audio, lighting, and some effects overhead. The entity has infiltrated the Enterprise-D. Everything starts going haywire, and we must get to shelter and safety to better understand what's happening."
The journey eventually leads guests to the ship's bridge, where a red alert is declared and the unidentified being appears on the ship screen.
"Through translation, we realize that this entity means no harm, and it apologizes for any inconvenience and learns that we've made first contact. For those Star Trek fans out there, that's a big deal," Siercks enthuses. "Not many people get to experience the feeling of getting beamed down to Earth, but in the attraction, they do before they make their way back down to the park."
Action stations on the Enterprise-D for 'Star Trek: Red Alert.'
Moving from Star Trek: Red Alert on the Upper Lot, the next stop on the top secret tour is Dungeons and Dragons: Secrets of Waterdeep on the Lower Lot. It is constructed and housed in the same soundstage space that has hosted the Stranger Things and The Weeknd houses at Halloween Horror Nights in recent years.
"The intention is to give fans and guests that moment of playing the game and being thrust into it. When you walk into this room, you can see a lot of game memorabilia around, so it's very much about the gameplay. As the lights go down, a dungeon master voice comes on overhead and starts to introduce you to who you are, what you're doing, and why you're there," Siercks explains. "When the lights come back up, the door in front of us has opened, and a scrim effect creates a disappearing room, so we're transported into the Curious Past Shop, which is the next scene. Now we're in the world of Dungeons and Dragons, so we go from playing the game to being thrust into it."
Every campaign starts in a tavern, so that's the next location. It's also where participants are introduced to two adventurers, Throckary and Evalina, who join guests on the rest of the quest to claim the stolen Dragon Staff as they continue advancing forward in the attraction.
"It's a little different than our typical take on how we usually develop character experiences, but this allows us to get to know these characters that much more and allows for more interactivity and immersion because the groups start playing off one another," Siercks says. The whole quest takes about ten to twelve minutes to complete. Most of the characters in Dungeons and Dragons: Secrets of Waterdeep are original, with one exception.
"In the real gameplay, everything is original to that campaign. We're creating our own campaign while still relying on some big bads like Xanathar the Beholder, one of the more well-known evil characters," Siercks recalls.
An example of the intricate design detail in 'Dungeons and Dragons: Secrets of Waterdeep.'
Moving through, guests next find themselves in an abandoned marketplace. They're told they're getting close to the goal, but before they can progress, they need to solve a puzzle called the Rune Rumble using symbols that adorn the walls. As that happens, things get crazy.
"All of a sudden, we hear a dragon, and through shadow play, it starts to fly overhead of us, and it gets closer and closer. There's an interaction between the dragon and our adventurers, where the dragon ends up breathing fire and starts causing havoc in this space, so we have to find a secret entrance to keep moving forward, and that's what propels us to the next room."
Continuing the push forward, look for Easter eggs carefully hidden amongst the décor to add "an extra level of detail and authenticity." The grand finale is where guests come face to face with Xanathar.
"Xanathar is all about his possessions and prizes from his conquests, which are placed all around the room, and the missing Dragon Staff is one of them. Our two adventurers go up and grab the Dragon Staff. We hear a cackle, and we turn around," Siercks reveals. "Creating Xanathar has been a really amazing partnership with Jim Henson's Creature Shop, which developed and built this puppet. He's one of those characters that every player of Dungeons and Dragons has imagined, and now they get to see it in real life. It's a really special moment."
"His eye moves, blinks, his jaw opens and closes, and there's even some articulation of the tongue, so there's full animation. He can rotate left and right as well. He's fully puppeted in real time as well. What's interesting about Xanathar and some of these other characters is that every voice is different depending on your campaign, so now we're bringing life to some of these characters that haven't necessarily been able to have this type of presence before in such an attraction."
'Back To The Future' is just one of the iconic IPs that being brought to live in a new and exciting ... More way Universal Studios Hollywood's Fan Fest Nights.
These aren't the only two experiences that will be available for fans to enjoy. Back to the Future-themed Destination Hill Valley invites guests to time travel back to 1955 to experience a celebratory recreation of Courthouse Square in the space where it was first created: the backlot at Universal Studios Hollywood. Among the elements are a complete recreation of the Enchantment Under the Sea prom and an environmental recreation of the classic film's epic finale involving the DeLorean getting Marty home. Elsewhere, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter will offer magical creature interactions and the visually spectacular Hogwarts Always light projection show. Fan Fest Nights will also provide a new meet and greet with fan-favorite Yoshi and a scavenger hunt at Super Nintendo World, as well as One Piece and Jujutsu Kaisen-themed experiences in the park.
"The goal with Fan Fest Nights was to create guiding principles for the event experience," Siercks said at the event unveiling in January. "We wanted to be fan first and authentic, meaning that we wanted to service the fans who have extreme fandom for these genres, as well as celebrating the communities that have an affinity for them. We continue building on the legacy of delivering these authentic experiences that are uniquely Universal. We're using a foundation set by events like Halloween Horror Nights to build upon the level of immersion and storytelling through all facets of the event."