Author: Chris Glass

Back in October we mentioned how the Revenge of the Mummy locker rooms and the Mummy Treats snack bar were scheduled to close to make way for the up-and-coming StarWay expansion. After many months construction, the area has re-opened to guests with all the previous services intact, just slightly repackaged. Mummy Treats has the same menu and location as before, while the photo spot and locker rooms have been reconfigured to give more breathing room to the widening escalator footprint. The Lower Lot aesthetic has also been maintained. Please stay tuned to Inside Universal for more on this and other…

Just in time for Christmas, Starbucks has seen fit to grace Universal Studios Hollywood with their own You Are Here mug. These hyper-localized mugs sport a stylized skyline of select cities. Localized mugs from the You Are Here series can be found in every Starbucks around the world. Earlier this week, Universal Orlando Resort also revealed their own Starbucks mug, combining icons from both Universal Studios Florida and Universal’s Islands of Adventure into a single mug design. Universal Studios Hollywood would debut their own design soon after. The Universal Studios Hollywood You Are Here Starbucks mugs are available for $14.99,…

Hot on the heels of last weekend, John Murdy and Chris Williams returned to the stage – this time at ScareLA – to go into detail about some mazes that will be appearing at Halloween Horror Nights 2016. While last week focused on the big four villains in their trio of mazes, this week focused on The Exorcist and the recently revealed Krampus maze. On the topic of Krampus, Murdy surprisingly acknowledged that fans had correctly guessed the intellectual property of the maze before their official announcement. It wasn’t difficult, of course, given the icicle-covered facade on the New York…

This year, Halloween Horror Nights will host park-wide scare zone based off The Purge: Election Year. The park-wide scare zone will feature heavy references to the American political system, including heavy references to the Democratic and Republican party. Stilt walkers dressed up like Uncle Sam or the Statue of Liberty will roam the area, while both election parties will have their own style of chainsaw wielding maniacs. Due to the logistics surrounding The Walking Dead Attraction and its external queue, Baker Street will not feature a scare zone, indicating the end of Dark Christmas. The horror train will continue to…

In a departure from their annual reveal events at Halloween conventions, John Murdy and Chris Williams took the stage at Midsummer Scream to go in-depth about the history and the future of Halloween Horror Nights. Traditionally, Murdy and Williams’ presentations would be shrouded in absolute mystery, featuring a special guest and – if any – a top-secret reveal. However, this year is different. With four big slasher monsters that have been a part of the horror culture for decades now on Universal’s roster for this year’s event, Halloween Horror Nights 2016 featured a cohesive lineup of classic Halloween characters. Freddy…

Hot off the heels of yesterday’s rather lukewarm announcement, Universal has put together a more comprehensive picture of the changes that are coming to the Lower Lot. Thanks to Variety for covering this news. What this essentially boils down to is another 5-year plan, following the conclusion of the original one that we covered extensively over the last few years. While the previous one mainly focused on rebuilding the Upper Lot with Springfield, Harry Potter, and Despicable Me creating a strong footprint, this new plan is focused on the new real estate on the lower lot from the destruction of…

In the initial article of this “A closer look at” series, I discussed how Universal and other theme park companies duplicate their attractions for a litany of reasons. I also mentioned how we’d be going through Universal Studios Hollywood’s attractions to see how they’d fare against their siblings across the world. I went into this not considering the order I would cover Universal’s roster of attractions, but a reader comment gave me inspiration to initially cover Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride – Hollywood’s first coaster. Appropriate for a number of reasons, but most of all timely due to its…

If you’ve followed the site for any length of time, you may have noticed a handful of articles about how Universal’s annual pass situation has changed over the years. We’re going to detail some of those changes, alongside the most recent one from late last week in an attempt to understand how Universal may have tarnished their goodwill with the pass-holder community by overplaying their hand with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It all began back in 2014 with removal of several annual pass benefits. Changes like this were to be expected as the park was in the middle…

Editor’s note: this is currently a live document, with continuous updates from our editorial staff. Last updated: 10:48 PM PST … It’s less than 24 hours until the Wizarding World officially opens the gates and the crowds are expected to be beyond massive. As with anything else Universal has done regarding this date, the park has tried to be prepared as much as possible. A wristband for the grand opening of the Wizarding World But because plans like this always involve an insane amount of details, expect this to change and change often. We will do our best to be…

Universal debuted Universal Boulevard today, featuring a larger Universal Studios Store and a new Starbucks embedded in a new spectacular new stretch of facades that line Universal’s main thorough way. Replacing the hodgepodge that marked Universal’s previous entrance (most notably Universal’s House of Horrors and Hollywood Photoland), the new facades feature Art Deco architecture based off landmark buildings found across the Los Angeles area – with homages given to Hollywood greats such as famed make-up artist Jack Pierce and producer Irving Thalberg in the form of store front labels and window displays. Universal’s founder Carl Laemmle is also given a…