Fan Fest: 16 Scooby-Doo, Universal Monsters Easter Eggs
by Angelica MartinezBuzzFeedBuzzFeed StaffAngelica Martinez is the Latine Editorial Lead at BuzzFeed and covers a little bit of everything, from quizzes and true crime to celebrities and pop culture.
Fan Fest is soooo back at Universal Studios Hollywood, and if you're a Scooby-Doo fan like me...run don't walk, girlypop! In addition to their immersive experiences for fans of One Piece, Harry Potter, Sailor Moon, Dungeons & Dragons, and Nintendo, Universal Studios temporarily turned their backlot tour into an interactive Scooby-Doo x Universal Monsters experience that, truly, is unlike any theme park experience I've ever had.
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If you, too, grew up on the cartoons and have Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed in your Letterboxd top four...you are my people.
So, of course, I headed over to the park and made a beeline for the tram to see it for myself. If you've ever wanted to be in an episode of Scooby-Doo and solve a crime alongside the gang, you're in luck, because that's exactly what this experience is!
While waiting to hop on the tram, everyone gets one of these Mystery Inc. Manuals, which — along with clues at the scene of the crime — have everything you need to know in order to crack the case wide open and identify the Phantom Director, who is sabotaging the filming of the movie Monsters! Monsters! Monsters!
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Once the tram arrives at the final destination, it's up to you to put the clues together, alongside some familiar Mystery Inc. faces and iconic Universal Monsters.
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I won't spoil the details of the experience too much for you, but what I do want to talk about is the wiiiild attention to detail throughout the whole thing. Here are 16 clever Easter eggs, facts, and subtle details so good, I think the Scooby Gang themselves would be impressed:
1.
The whole immersive experience takes place in "Little Europe" on the Universal Backlot. As you gather clues, you also get to explore the historic filming location of tons of iconic monster movies, like Frankenstein (1931), Dracula (1931), The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and The Wolf Man (1941).
This is the "Court of Miracles," which was heavily featured in these movies. Unfortunately, a 1967 fire destroyed much of the original sets, but they've been rebuilt and were even used in more modern movies like Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
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2.
Over at Craft Services (aka Shaggy's Snacks), you'll find a ton of iconic food from the cartoons, like these Scooby Snacks:
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And guess what? You can try them yourself and take home your very own box! Right across from Shaggy's Snacks, they're available for $10.99. Here's what they look like:
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I got a chance to try them a few weeks ago, here's what I thought: First of all, A+ for packaging here. Obsessed. Secondly, I really enjoyed that there were two different kinds of cookies. The paw print ones were slightly sweeter, with a good chocolate-to-cookie ratio that was complementary and not overpowering. The cookie itself is subtly sweet and heavier on the spices, giving the whole thing a Mexican hot chocolate-kinda vibe.
The "SD" cookies, which are honey and cinnamon-flavored, reminded me of a cross between a shortbread and a graham cracker. They're on the drier side, but something about the flavor is soooo nostalgic.
Rating: 6/10
3.
They also have the iconic sky-high sandwiches Shaggy and Scooby often enjoyed between solving mysteries, which...
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Surprise! You can also try this for yourself! Made with ham, turkey, beef, a selection of cheeses, tomato, lettuce, and Ruffles, you can get your very own iconic Super Shaggy Sandwich for $19.99 in the same spot at the Scooby Snacks. Here's what it looks like IRL:
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I also gave this one a try a few weeks ago, here's what I thought: All in all, this was just OK. It's a bit on the bland side as the only condiment on it is mayo, but I definitely think it'd be refreshing after a long, hot day of walking around the park. Plus, just like Mystery Inc., it seems like an ideal treat to split with your own gang of pals, monsters not included. I couldn't get a big enough bite to eat all three layers at once, but the roast beef was by far my favorite and the most flavorful of the bunch.
If you eat it right away, it might be a non-issue, but I do wanna note that by the time I sampled this, the potato chips had gone all soggy from being on top of the veggies, so I missed out on the crunch of it all. Feel like that would've added some interesting texture to an otherwise basic sandwich, TBH!
Rating: 6.5/10
I taste-tested a whole bunch of the fun themed treats from Fan Fest, and you can read about them all here!
4.
Eagle-eyed Scooby-Doo fans might notice that the masks on display in the Wardrobe Department — aka where you'll find Daphne — are recreations of actual masks from the original cart