So I wanted to start off by saying, yesterday was my birthday, the reason I chose to go on the second to last night of Fan Fest Nights. Earlier in the day I drove out to Vasquez Rocks (approximately 40 miles from Universal Studios). It was such an amazing night.
For those unaware, Fan Fest Nights is a new (first year) after hours event at Universal Studios Hollywood celebrating fandoms. Specific to the event, not preexisting were: Star Trek, Dungeon & Dragons, Back to the Future (the backlot had the entire Hilly Valley town square built for the event), One Piece, and Jujutsu Kaisen. This event included themed walking attractions (aka shows), characters (photo ops), food, drinks, and merchandise.
For Star Trek we got Red Alert a walking attractions that emulated the attraction from Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas years ago. Red Alert set in 2403, where you travel from Spaceport Los Angeles to Athan Prime to visit the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D (featuring the actual bridge set from Picard season 3) located at the Fleet Museum. Depending on when you went during the night, different actors/aliens would be seen. Among the species were Human, Trill, Bajoran, Andorian, Vulcan, Orion and one I couldn’t name (I swear was Elaysian but didn’t make sense due to gravity). At certain points actors would look for guest wearing Picard era uniforms (like myself) and ask them to check their Combadge.
Aside from Red Alert, the park featured Quark’s Cafe for themed food and beverage and Ten Forward for additional alcoholic beverages. I had a Cardassian Dog, Vulcan Fritters and Bajoran Hasperat (I forgot to get a photo of the hasperat since it wasn’t available when they opened for general admission). As for the beverages I had a Orion Hurricane (real delaq not included) from Quark’s and Ceti Eel Margarita at Ten Forward (gummy eels in it).
I bought myself one piece of merch, Ceti Eel earrings. I need to get my right ear pierced now.
The video linked is my recording of Red Alert.
I went a few weeks ago, it was an awesome experience! My biggest disappointment was simply that the experience was so rushed and we didn’t get enough time to appreciate being on the bridge.
I was wearing a Voyager uniform with Captain’s pips, and one of the actors said “Glad to have you aboard, Captain,” which absolutely made my night.
Yeah that kind of thing, just like when they looked out for guest wearing Picard uniforms (as I mentioned before) to check their Combadge made me smile. I was in tears.
@hopesdead @qantravon I really wish they had some dedicated time for photo ops inside the red alert areas. I got some cool pics, but had to ignore the event to do so. It would have been great if early access meant you could have a scheduled time to walk around, look at the details. A separate place that actually looked like ten forward would have been amazing. It was nice to see other Trek fans.
I saw a bridge photo op outside Quark’s. A tactical station and captains chair with the other stations as a backdrop. I got a photo forgot to redeem it.
@hopesdead i did get one of those. i wasn’t sure about the “point up into the sky” instead of “point at a spot that’d be on the view screen”
I was told to “engage!”.
That spot was self-service when I got there, people were just taking turns taking pictures for people.
I wish I had redeemed my photos but they probably would have cost like $50.
They had somebody taking pictures as we came in, but I lost the card they gave us so those pics are gone forever.
I know it’s in my bag, I just couldn’t find it at the end of the night. Oh well.
I had to keep all my stuff in it since of course my uniform has no pockets.
I know the VIP tickets got semi-private guided tours, I wonder if they got extra time for photos as part of that.
@qantravon It did seem like there was a confusing number of ticket options.
I encountered many people who also have attended STLV.
Thank you for sharing - we appreciate any and all first-person accounts of events!
I have to admit, when they first announced the Fan Fest Nights, my initial reaction was that it sounded like it would be kind of cheap and disappointing. But it seems like they did a really nice job of the Trek event, along with some of the others that I’ve read about (especially Back to the Future).
My expectation for Back to the Future was a linear story (it wasn’t that). There were actors you could interact with but you had to find them. The DeLorean with the dog was a photo op that had a huge line. There was a section of street set one fire perpetually like when the car goes 88mph.
