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11/24/2025 0 Comments

Universal Studios Hollywood Update - Fast and Furious Hollywood Drift Testing and the arrival of the Holidays

This past weekend we headed out to Universal Studios Hollywood mainly to get some pictures and video of Fast and Furious Hollywood Drift testing, but also to take a look at the holiday preparations at the park.

The Holidays at the park begin today which may seem odd for them to start on a Monday, but many people take off Thanksgiving week so it actually makes a lot of sense. You can see all of the details for the holiday season activities here!

We'll be checking it out during the AP night next week!

Let's head in and check out the park!

Fast and Furious Hollywood Drift Testing!

Testing has actually been going on for a couple of weeks now, but this was the first time we were able to get to the park to check it out.

I think this will have the best views of any coaster in the United States. The only one I can think of that may come close is Wildfire at Silver Dollar City.

I know some people will claim it's Millennium Force, but most of those views are via drone, etc. I'm talking about views from inside the park. =)

Hopefully something on the backside of the sound walls?

I saw it test 3 times and then decided to move down to get footage from this angle. And stood here for an hour with no testing before I moved on. I always forget what a "hurry up and wait" game coaster testing is.

Believe it or not, the park now has Fast and Furious Merchandise!!!

Still no "Hollywood Drift" merchandise. But it's definitely coming.

Universal Holidays

Let's check out some of the Holiday fun. The tree in front of Universal Cinema is themed to Wicked: For Good, which makes perfect sense.

It's not the holidays in LA until King Kong is wearing his Santa hat.

The Studio Store is decked out for the holidays.

Just chilling with my dude ...

There is a new Pass Member magnet. Love this one! Be sure to pick yours up.

I am not a spirit jersey person at all, that may be changing. I think I need this.

The back!

Check out some more holiday merchandise below. There's actually a lot of really cool and new stuff this year!

Click any image below to see a full size version

Random Stuff

Five Nights at Freddy's Pizza is still available on the lower lot. Still say this is coming back for FanFest Nights.

Lots of new Wicked merch!

Tried out Slice House for the first time

Honestly, it was just okay. It may have been better had I actually gotten what I ordered. I didn't feel like going back in and telling them.

Raising Cane's is almost done and is apparently scheduled to open on December 11th.

And finally, work is continuing on the new security area as well. I know I've said this before, but I'm still curious how the logistics of this are going to work.

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6/24/2024

Universal Studios Hollywood Update: June 24, 2024 - New Photo Ops, HHN and Fast and Furious!

Over the weekend we headed out to Universal Studios Hollywood to check out the new photo ops in Universal Plaza to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the studio tour (we absolutely LOVE them), check out what's the latest on Halloween Horror Nights progress (we've started working on our yearly survival guide already) and of course the latest on Fast and Furious progress.

For this update we'll start out in CityWalk.

The Minion's are coming back and they've got a new photo op. Apparently there are MEGA MINIONS in this one? In the Universal Store, some new HHN merchandise has arrived, and it's very similar to Orlando's.

Absolutely gorgeous day, a bit warm, but didn't seem too crowded.

Let's head into Universal Plaza and check out some of the new photo ops. They're fantastic and IMO they should have been out here the entire time. There's also some incredible murals.

Help, Shark!

Who remembers/misses the Ice Tunnel?

Once this thing hits 88mph you're gonna see some serious ...

Some of the 60th anniversary merch has made it's way out here. I almost got the shirt.

A fantastic E.T. photo op.

The wild west stunt show photo op has a fantastic cast of deputies, who I had a bit of fun with. I really do miss when the park had so many awesome shows.

Let's move on, here in the Parisian courtyard, a yet unannounced house for HHN 2024.

Dead Exposure: Death Valley which was announced last week. It's looking like we may get an announcement of a new house very soon.

Even though it appears Fast and Furious: Hollywood Drift is moving quickly (it is), the attraction still isn't opening until 2026.

A look at the construction site, lots of footers being dug.

We've got what appears to be an entry and/or exit from the station to the course. Until we get a full layout description from the park we still aren't sure.

The area that is going under and over the Starway.

A look back up at what we assume will eventually be the station.

Looking down the hill you can see just how big this project actually is.

You can see here the size of the footers, which go very deep into the ground here. And the cylinders (left side of the pic) that surround the footers until they are completely cured.

Jurassic World just came back from a very quick (it was like 2 days) refurb.

The ride is looking fantastic, but that splash could be a bit bigger.

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2/12/2024

Universal Studios Hollywood and Fast and Furious Update - February 12, 2024

Today we've got a great update for you from Universal Studios Hollywood, and some Fast and Furious Construction pics and video! We spent about 13 hours at Universal Studios Hollywood and CityWalk last week as it was my son and daughter in-law's first time to Super Nintendo World (and riding Secret Life of Pets). We even capped off the day with an incredible dinner at Toothsome.

Let's head into the park for some fun!

A look at the Lunar New Year Menu on the upper lot. No large Lunar New Year display this year, we'll get into why a bit down in the update.

Heading down for early entry, didn't get a chance to go into the Power Up Café, but will later this week when I run into the park before the Tool concert at Staples, er, Crypto.

After a week of rain, it was a beautiful day at the park!

We even managed to snag a reservation at Toadstool Café. A word of advice, the line to order can take quite awhile, as well as the food service, so book a reservation about an hour before you actually want to eat.

I tried the spaghetti for the first time, it was delicious.

Princess Peach Cupcake. Very sweet, but this is our favorite dessert at Super Nintendo World.

Luigi Burger (chicken sandwich)

Our group weren't huge fans of Macha, so this wasn't our favorite, it was better without the Macha on it TBH.

After spending about 4 hours inside Super Nintendo World we headed up to the rest of the park, which allowed me to get some awesome Fast and Furious pics and video.

The station is very quickly rising!

If you look closely right above the fence, you'll see some rebar for which will eventually become footers.

Every other park should have coaster view envy.

It didn't look like the rain from last week slowed down progress at all.

Will be interesting to see how much taller this building gets.

They're starting to add some higher fences in a few spots. Makes complete sense.

There are a few other random projects going on around the park. There was some filming going on inside the Earthquake set. This would seem to indicate the update has been completed, we should have an announcement soon I think.

The entire area from the Bates Motel to War of the Worlds was closed down. It looked like there was a rather large sinkhole in the area.

There is some work going on inside Honeydukes, perhaps we're getting the ice cream parlor finally? Will be a tight fit though.

Also some work going on near Moulin Rouge, this is where the VIP Tour area is, so perhaps some enhancements to that experience?

As mentioned, the plaza has been completely gutted of everything and it looks like there is some continuing work going on here.

Whatever it is I'm assuming they'll be done before Spring Break.

There's also a whole bunch of new universal monsters merchandise in the park, as well as a lot of Felix The Cat Merchandise for some reason. Even more than Fast and Furious which only has one little stand in the main store.

Will be interesting to see if Fast and Furious merchandise increases as the ride opening gets closer.

And lastly in this update, a few pics of our Toothsome dinner. So good.

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