Dire Bare
Legend
I just got back from LA and Universal Studios Hollywood, and I got the chance to attend Universal's Fan Fest! Including the D&D experience "Secrets of Waterdeep"!
Universal Fan Fest is an after-hours event brand-new this year that focuses on various fandoms to lure park-goers during the off-season. This year, fan events including D&D, Star Trek, Back to the Future, Jujutsu Kaisen, One Piece, Harry Potter, and Super Nintendo World.
The D&D "Secrets of Waterdeep" was in a soundstage in the lower lot and park guests were herded through several rooms with a threadbare story about joining the Harpers to thwart Xanathar conspiring with a red dragon to steal a dragon staff that prevents dragons from entering Waterdeep. Our heroes also face off against a Cult of the Dragon villain before the adventure is over! Each room was themed and decorated much like an escape room . . . except there was very little interaction . . . but the sets were very cool. We started in a magic shop, our Harper heroes (a dwarven bard and a tiefling rogue) led us into the back rooms where we eventually stumbled across Xanathar and Sylgar! Escaping Xanathar, we encountered a Cult of the Dragon cultist and . . . the day was saved!
Guests were supposed to be sorted into fighters, rogues, wizards, and clerics . . . but this was not made clear during my trips through Waterdeep. It led to confusion later, as the script had the actors asking the various "classes" for help!
I did the experience twice with different actors both times. The actors did well, but it was hard to hear at times and the whole show could have used more rehearsal . . . lots of mixed tech cues. Costuming and sets were awesome, the Xanathar puppet was amazing! It even had cool eyebeam lighting effects as it shot rays at the crowd and the heroes! All of the heroes, villains, monsters, magic items, and the magic shop all had proper names . . . but I can't remember any of them!
The experience was fun, but felt rushed, crowded, and poorly rehearsed. The story was bland but serviceable, and didn't have any connection to the movie or the Baldur's Gate video game, which surprised me. Everything represented the game and the Forgotten Realms well, I didn't notice anything "wrong" . . .
A good first stab at this by Universal, hopefully they'll bring back D&D for next year's Fan Fest and improve the experience!
In addition to "Secrets of Waterdeep", there was themed food, merchandise, and a gelatinous cube photo op! The best merch was a Bag of Holding (kinda small, but fits a PHB!) for $60 and a cool "scroll" style dice bag for $40. The dice bag is huge compared to similar items from Ultra Pro and others. There were also shirts, pins, and other stuff, but nothing that lit my fire. The food was at a separate location, the "First Roll Tavern" above the Jurassic Park restaurant. I tried the desserts, the "Fireball" (a frosted brownie) and the "Gelatinous Cube" (a jello cube with sugary bones inside). Both were . . . okay. Other entrees or desserts included "Hunter's Mark", "Beholder's Brew Fondue", and "Traveler's Rations". I don't remember what each was, other than the "rations" was a charcuterie plate. There were themed alcoholic drinks, but sadly no themed non-alcoholic drinks (the Star Trek experience did have non-alcoholic drinks). These included the "Eldritch Blast", "Red Dragon's Breath", "Goodberry", "Tasha's Caustic Brew", and "Beholder's Blueberry Shandy". The drinks were too spendy for me at the end of the evening, and too boozy for driving home!
I also did the Star Trek "Red Alert" experience, the Back to the Future event, but skipped the anime experiences and character meet-and-greets in Super Nintendo World and Harry Potter World.
Universal Fan Fest is an after-hours event brand-new this year that focuses on various fandoms to lure park-goers during the off-season. This year, fan events including D&D, Star Trek, Back to the Future, Jujutsu Kaisen, One Piece, Harry Potter, and Super Nintendo World.
The D&D "Secrets of Waterdeep" was in a soundstage in the lower lot and park guests were herded through several rooms with a threadbare story about joining the Harpers to thwart Xanathar conspiring with a red dragon to steal a dragon staff that prevents dragons from entering Waterdeep. Our heroes also face off against a Cult of the Dragon villain before the adventure is over! Each room was themed and decorated much like an escape room . . . except there was very little interaction . . . but the sets were very cool. We started in a magic shop, our Harper heroes (a dwarven bard and a tiefling rogue) led us into the back rooms where we eventually stumbled across Xanathar and Sylgar! Escaping Xanathar, we encountered a Cult of the Dragon cultist and . . . the day was saved!
Guests were supposed to be sorted into fighters, rogues, wizards, and clerics . . . but this was not made clear during my trips through Waterdeep. It led to confusion later, as the script had the actors asking the various "classes" for help!
I did the experience twice with different actors both times. The actors did well, but it was hard to hear at times and the whole show could have used more rehearsal . . . lots of mixed tech cues. Costuming and sets were awesome, the Xanathar puppet was amazing! It even had cool eyebeam lighting effects as it shot rays at the crowd and the heroes! All of the heroes, villains, monsters, magic items, and the magic shop all had proper names . . . but I can't remember any of them!
The experience was fun, but felt rushed, crowded, and poorly rehearsed. The story was bland but serviceable, and didn't have any connection to the movie or the Baldur's Gate video game, which surprised me. Everything represented the game and the Forgotten Realms well, I didn't notice anything "wrong" . . .
A good first stab at this by Universal, hopefully they'll bring back D&D for next year's Fan Fest and improve the experience!
In addition to "Secrets of Waterdeep", there was themed food, merchandise, and a gelatinous cube photo op! The best merch was a Bag of Holding (kinda small, but fits a PHB!) for $60 and a cool "scroll" style dice bag for $40. The dice bag is huge compared to similar items from Ultra Pro and others. There were also shirts, pins, and other stuff, but nothing that lit my fire. The food was at a separate location, the "First Roll Tavern" above the Jurassic Park restaurant. I tried the desserts, the "Fireball" (a frosted brownie) and the "Gelatinous Cube" (a jello cube with sugary bones inside). Both were . . . okay. Other entrees or desserts included "Hunter's Mark", "Beholder's Brew Fondue", and "Traveler's Rations". I don't remember what each was, other than the "rations" was a charcuterie plate. There were themed alcoholic drinks, but sadly no themed non-alcoholic drinks (the Star Trek experience did have non-alcoholic drinks). These included the "Eldritch Blast", "Red Dragon's Breath", "Goodberry", "Tasha's Caustic Brew", and "Beholder's Blueberry Shandy". The drinks were too spendy for me at the end of the evening, and too boozy for driving home!
I also did the Star Trek "Red Alert" experience, the Back to the Future event, but skipped the anime experiences and character meet-and-greets in Super Nintendo World and Harry Potter World.
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