Universal Studios Hollywood this morning announced the opening date for its new dark ride.
The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash! will open to the public on March 27. Based on the Illumination Entertainment franchise, The Secret Life of Pets will co-anchor a new Illumination "neighborhood" on the west side of the park's Upper Lot, along with the adjacent Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem attraction.
When it opens, The Secret Life of Pets will be the first attraction in Hollywood to use Universal's Virtual Line, which the company uses on the Jimmy Fallon and Fast & Furious attractions at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando. Universal Express also will be offered on the attraction, which features a walk through the New York apartments of the pets - including Buddy's apartment, Snowball owner Molly's living room, as well as Max and Duke's apartment - before boarding a five-minute omnimover-style dark ride.
The attraction will feature 64 animatronic figures on a series of practical sets, occasionally enhanced by media and projection mapping effects. Motion tracking technology also will enable riders to appear as puppies in the two-person "cardboard box" ride vehicles, on their way to adoption.
Voice talent from the movies reprise their roles for the theme park ride, including Patton Oswalt as Max, Kevin Hart as Snowball, Eric Stonestreet as Duke, Jenny Slate as Gidget, Tiffany Haddish as Daisy, Lake Bell as Chloe, Dana Carvey as Pops, Chris Renaud as Norman, Hannibal Buress as Buddy, Bobby Moynihan as Mel, and Jessica DiCicco as Princess.
Universal Studios Hollywood's London-themed Baker Street has become the New York-based Pets Place to support the new attraction.
For discounted tickets to Universal Studios Hollywood, visit our officially authorized Universal Studios Hollywood tickets page.
TweetThey did say "among the first" for that, which was a bit of a red flag for being the very first.
I typically read "among the first" statements as a caveat for guests that forget about media events and VIP previews of attractions, not a full day after the GP get to ride.
We all know you'll be the very first one on the ride Robert :)
Is the Virtual Line pretty much boarding groups that don't sell out in a minute?
@Postcott - Universal's "Virtual Line" is used at UO as a way to allow guests to wander an open room while maintaining and awaiting their spot in line to be called. Guests are given a color coded card as they enter the waiting room, which includes themed entertainment (at Jimmy Fallon there's a stage with rotating performances and a number of touch screens) and benches to relax while they wait to be called. When your color is called, you walk up to the entrance to the boarding area and enter the actual ride. Disney uses a similar queuing technique on Dumbo at MK and MFSR (though guests are called so quickly on the Falcon that you're rarely in the actual VQ area for more than 2-3 minutes).
I think the most interesting take-away from the additional details here is that this is an "omni-mover" style attraction. SLOP (I guess it's better than ASS) had been rumored to be a trackless dark ride for the longest time by many outlets, so either Universal was really good at keeping this attraction's details under wraps or the media was jumping to conclusions based on current trends, and UC never bothered to correct the erroneous theories/rumors about the ride system. It also bolsters my comparison to the "Hitchhiking Ghost" effect alluded to in the ride description.
The price for the peacock live is literally the same price as a usual one day ticket. You still get in at noon and they are open extra late those nights. So. It's still a good deal irregardless of being the 2nd day of operation of the ride.
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
I guess so much for guests paying for the Peacock Live hard ticket event on March 28-29 getting the public's first crack at the new attraction.