Dungeons & Dragons Returns to Universal Fan Fest Nights With Secrets of Waterdeep Experience

Dungeons & Dragons: Secrets of Waterdeep earned its return to Universal Fan Fest Nights the hard way, by becoming the breakout hit of the 2025 inaugural run. Now confirmed for a second year by popular demand, the immersive walkthrough is back at Universal Studios Hollywood across 12 nights: April 23-25, May 1-3, May 7-9, and May 14-16, 2026, with tickets already on sale as of January 15.

The experience lives inside Soundstage 15 on the Lower Lot, where guests leave Southern California behind and step into Waterdeep, the Jewel of the Sword Coast. The setup mirrors the structure of an actual D&D session: a pre-show assembles guests into a party, orients them to the stakes, and sends them room by room through an original adventure. "As the lights go down, you better understand who you are, what you're doing, and why you're there," as one collaborator described the pre-show's purpose to Discover Universal. Guests are recruited by the Harpers, a heroic spy network, to foil a plot by the beholder Xanathar and recover key artifacts including the Rod of Absorption and the Dragonstaff of Ahghairon, with a Tiamat fire-breath sequence along the way.

The centerpiece is Xanathar himself, a life-size beholder created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, which brings more than 40 years of puppetry, animatronics, and digital animation expertise to the build. The figure was one of the most talked-about elements of Fan Fest Nights 2025. Kenna, a representative from Wizards of the Coast, captured the reaction well: "I'm used to seeing our characters on paper or on a TV screen or a movie screen, but haven't actually gotten to stand in front of a life-size Beholder as it's being constructed by master puppeteers before. So that felt like an amazing collaboration and opportunity to see these characters in a totally different way that I've never seen before."

The story design was deliberately built to function as two narrative bookends. "There's 50 years of legacy for Dungeons & Dragons brands," said Siercks, a creative collaborator on the project. "We really wanted to make sure that we were creating a story that the most casual fan could follow, but the fan of D&D could really immerse themselves within so that's when we certainly zeroed in on the Sword Coast and the town of Waterdeep, and then being able to bring to life the beholder, Xanathar, were kind of our two bookends. And then the story developed from there."

Unlike Halloween Horror Nights, where guests move continuously forward through mazes, Secrets of Waterdeep holds groups in each room while characters Throckary and Evalina interact with the party and expand the story. Kenna noted that the structure is intentional: "At the heart of D&D is an adventuring party, and when you play a game, you usually travel through with that party and maybe have conflicts, friendships, overcome obstacles with them. And so I think having the same people take you through each room and go through the entire adventure with you gives you a little bit of that adventuring party experience." Reviewer Joey Inigo, writing about the 2025 run, called the pacing unexpected in the best way: "We didn't expect the escape room type vibe of this experience that helps break up the routine of what fans might expect at events like Halloween Horror Nights."

Universal has confirmed the 2026 version returns with enhancements, though the park has not yet detailed what those updates include. Nearby, the First Roll Tavern takes over Jurassic Cove on the Lower Lot with a themed menu that runs from marinated beef sandwiches and tavern loaf with fondue to candy-filled Gelatinous Cubes and fantasy cocktails. The broader Fan Fest Nights 2026 lineup at Universal Studios Hollywood also includes Scooby-Doo Meets The Universal Monsters, ONE PIECE, Jujutsu Kaisen, Star Trek, Back to the Future, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, and new experiences inside The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Super Nintendo World, with Universal signaling the announced lineup is still subject to additions.