Halloween Horror Nights is in full swing at Universal Studios Hollywood, but that’s not stopping the park from getting ready for its next big event. Earlier this year, Universal Studios Hollywood debuted Fan Fest Nights, an after-hours event similar in concept to Halloween Horror Nights, but focusing on non-horror franchises. Fan Fest Nights is one of the best theme park experiences I’ve had this year, with incredible attractions involving everything from Star Trek to Back to the Future to Dungeons & Dragons.
The first announcement for Fan Fest Nights 2026 at Universal Studios Hollywood is here, and it might be the most perfect concept for an experience at Universal Studios Hollywood you could possibly come up with. What do you do for the theme park that has both the Scooby-Doo gang and Universal Monsters? You bring them together, of course.
It’s the crossover event of the century. Scooby-Doo X Universal Monsters is just excellent. I have no notes. This is perfect. I cannot wait to go back to Fan Fest Nights. The incredible popularity of Dark Universe at the new Epic Universe park in Orlando shows that the classic Universal Monsters still draw fans, and Scooby-Doo is almost as iconic at this point.
This particular experience will take place somewhere on the Universal backlot. At this year’s event, a Back to the Future experience was set there, using the actual Hill Valley set that’s part of the iconic Universal Studios Tour. The backlot is also used during Halloween Horror Nights for the Terror Tram.
The setup will see guests board the same trams used for the studio tour, which then drop guests off and allow them to walk through the backlot set. One imagines Scooby-Doo X Universal Monsters will have some sort of story that sees the Scooby Gang come up against Dracula, the Bride of Frankenstein, and the like, in an experience that might bear a resemblance to a Halloween Horror Nights House, but will be a lot sillier.
I love this announcement for a couple of different reasons. First, it’s just an excellent combination of two different IP Universal has access to that brings them together in a way that makes sense. Second, it’s just something new. With this year’s Fan Fest being the first event, it was simply impossible to know whether future events would reuse concepts in year two. While it’s still possible that some of last year’s experiences might return, the fact that there will be something new means there’s a reason for those of us who went last year to go back.
It will be interesting to see if Scooby-Doo X Universal Monsters is a walk-through attraction, like the Terror Tram, or if it will be more of an event space, like Back to the Future was this year. It gave guests the chance to mingle with characters, buy food, take pictures, and watch different elements of the movie’s story take place in different vignette spaces. It was a highlight of Fan Fest Nights, so this new backlot experience has a high bar to clear.
I attended Halloween Horror Nights for the first time this year, and I went to Fan Fest Nights, and between the two, Fan Fest Nights is the one I’m most excited to return to. Scooby-Doo X Universal Monsters has me excited not only for the event itself, but all the other announcements yet to come.
