A Night at Universal Fan Fest: Red Alerts, Romulan Ale, and a Glimpse at a new Star Trek Experience

On April 26th, I had the chance to attend Universal Fan Fest Night—a special after-hours event at Universal Studios—and I have to thank our friend and Badmiral Tara right off the bat for the ticket! Let’s start with this: the ticketing options were incredibly confusing. Between early access, VIP tiers, and fandom-specific extras, it was a maze to navigate. I expected something more streamlined like Halloween Horror Nights, but this was a different animal altogether.

I had early access, which meant I could hit the attractions starting at 5:30 PM instead of the standard 7 PM And naturally, my first stop was the Red Alert Star Trek Experience.

First of all, Red Alert isn’t a ride—it's an immersive experience. From the moment you enter the queue, you're told (via sleek in-universe videos) that you're in the Los Angeles Spaceport en route to the Enterprise-D at the Fleet Museum. The atmosphere was solid Trek vibes—dim lights, Federation emblems, and that low hum of anticipation.

Unfortunately, one of the photo ops is awkwardly placed in the middle of the queue. You can’t get to it unless you’re already deep in line, and once you are, the staff are actively encouraging you to move along. Not really an ideal situation for Trekkies who like to make the most of a photo op.

Once you're in the shuttle bay…something unexpected happens. No spoilers, but it’s called Red Alert for a reason. Suddenly, actors in Starfleet uniforms are urging you forward amid flashing lights and klaxons. It's chaotic—in a good way—but also too rushed to truly soak it all in. The first time through, I blinked and it was over. Luckily, I went back later when the crowd thinned out (no line at all), and it was much more enjoyable on a second and third run-through. I was able to take some pictures and videos as I knew where to look and how to sneakily pose where I wanted to!

Now, if you were hoping for a meet-and-greet with Star Trek characters, you're out of luck. There were no character photo ops like One Piece or Wicked had. There was a captain’s chair outside of Ten Forward where you could pose for a pic, though, which helped scratch the cosplay photo itch a little.

Food-wise, there were two Trek-themed options: Ten Forward offered themed drinks, while Quark’s Bar served food. I wanted to love them, but honestly? Both were...very, very, very okay. Classic eatable-ish theme park food (not on a Disney level at all) and overtly sweet White Claw-based cocktails.

The Star Trek merch was also aggressively average. T-shirts, pips, a few collectible odds and ends—but nothing that made me want to throw latinum at the counter. Between you and me, I did leave with a lot of Wicked merch—because those were cool.