Woody Woodpecker's Nightastic!

Woody Woodpecker's Nightastic! is a nighttime performance at Universal's Islands of Adventure Orlando and Universal Studios Manhattan which features fireworks, fountains, flames, lasers and as well as costumed performances. The attraction's story focuses on Woody Woodpecker fighting off all Universal Villains, Horror Movie villains, and other LP Villains as they try to turn Woody's dream into a Nightmare! Also this show also focuses on the spirit of Universal movies.

The show is considered to be the most technologically complex one Universal has ever built.

Ever since the show opened, it was a critical success and one of Universal's most popular attractions next to Journey Through The Land Before Time and SpyroSpin.

Parental Discretion is Advised!

Woody Woodpecker's Nightastic! Teaser Poster (1996)

History & Development of the Show

In December 1994 during the Construction of Universal Studios Manhattan, Thomas L. Williams, the CEO of Universal Parks & Resorts and Universal Creative saw reviews about two Disney attractions Fantasmic! and ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter. He took note, and thought about a rival to Fantasmic!, and ETRAE (ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter). He had an idea about combining the two attractions from Disney into one attraction. A few months later, Williams started work on this project. This project was called Project W (Later named Woody Woodpecker's Nightastic!), an upcoming E-Ticket Thrill 4D ride. He asked MCA Planning & Development (now Universal Creative) to get ideas for the upcoming E-Ticket Thrill nighttime attraction. The idea was a story about Woody Woodpecker fighting off all Universal villains, Horror Movie villains, and other LP Villains as they try to turn Woody's dream into a Nightmare! Also, this show also focuses on the spirit of Universal movies. Thomas L. Williams loved this idea so they used that idea by Same technology From Fantasmic! On 10/10/95, they bought the rights to Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, & The Gremlins and The Friday the 13th franchise to use for the upcoming show In 1997 When Universal Studios Manhattan Opened, Universal Studios Manhattan Had Its First Thrill Show Called Woody Woodpecker's Nightastic! the show was one of the most popular shows that Universal ever made And Had Great Reviews And also was considered the scariest and darkest attraction universal has ever made in the park due to most parts taking place in darkness, frightening imagery including depictions of violence and blood and loud noises. In late 1998 due to the attraction's popularity, it was announced that it would be coming to Universal's Islands of Adventure Orlando.

TBA

Woody Woodpecker's Nightastic! Teaser Poster Universal's Islands of Adventure Orlando FL version (1998)

Safety Sign

This is a night time water show that contains pyrotechnics, loud noises, smoke and water effects and frightening imagery.

You may get wet!

WARNING!/BEWARE!

Due to the frighthing imagery in this show, Parental Discretion is advised.

To experience this show, you must be free from:

Medical Sensitivities to Smoke, Strobe effects and Fire effects.

Show

In the Pre-Show from top of Laemmle Lake/Universal Mountain Theater (NY), Adventure Lagoon (FL).Thomas L. Williams has created favorite plans of heros since he got thinking about Woody's dream, for his animation Woody knock the door and he said hey Mr. Tom, come over here, Thomas L. Williams invite to join the stage for Woody's interview. Freddy brings the Villains. The Villains has a plan to destroyed Woody's dream.

Woody Woodpecker's magic outfit consption art — Woody Woodpecker's magic outfit concept art (1996)

Female Narrator says "Welcome to Nightastic!! Tonight, our friend and host Woody Woodpecker uses his vivid imagination to create magical imagery for all to enjoy. Nothing is more wonderful than the imagination you and over 1 billion people have. in a moment, you can experience a beautiful fantasy or an exciting adventure, but Before our adventure begins, please listen to these safety rules. This show contains pyrotechnics, strobe lights, smoke effects, loud noises, and frightening imagery including depictions of violence and blood which could be too scary for young children. And for your safety, remain seated throughout the entire show, and watch out! The seats will bounce up and down during the show! But beware, nothing is more powerful than the imagination, for it can also expand your greatest fears into an overwhelming nightmare. Are the powers of Woody's incredible imagination strong enough and bright enough to withstand the evil forces that invade Woody's dream? You're about to find out. For we now invite you to join Woody, and experience Nightastic!!… a journey beyond your wildest imagination."

The show begins with Woody in formal attire directing a water show on the river. The show's signature water projection screens are activated, onto which animation from the magic sequence and the "Imagination" theme accompany the animation as Woody conducts animated shooting stars pyrotechnics launched from the six pyrotechnic barges on the river.

From there, the falling stars of the Woody's magic scene morph into flowers, and after a brief interlude, we transition into a Madagascar scene set in a jungle. Elephants, lions, giraffes, monkeys, birds, ostriches, crocodiles, rhinos, and cheetahs begin to herd in the mountain. Neon animals make noise and dance around on the mountain while Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria, King Julien, and the penguins do a dance on floats traveling across the water. A dino crashes onto the scene. Woody gets somewhat startled. He runs away from the dino, and sprints and jumps.

The dino's head laughs, The music segues to a contemporary rendition of "Jurassic Park Theme" from the movie, as the Jurassic Park dinos appear onscreen and in the form of performers on the mountain.

And then transition into a sequence based on The Land Before Time. Littlefoot, & the Gang do a dance on floats traveling across the water set to Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Later, we transition into a sequence based on Beetlejuice. He then shows Woody his powers while singing a song similar to Friend Like Me from Aladdin called Jump in the Line.

Beetlejuice then disappears causing Woody to go underwater causing a transition into a sequence based on SpongeBob and then a shark from Jaws interacts with live splash effects on the river. The storyline progresses as Woody notices his dream becoming darker as he has been sucked down a whirlpool on a spell book. After his eyes were shown wondering where he is, an airship lost in a night stormy sea at night is shown. On the airship, we see that Optimus Prime is battleing Megatron in a fighting/projection stunt sequence. This is similar to the to the Peter Pan Vs Hook segment in Fantasmic. After the fight ends, the whole mountain goes dark. Then we hear Love at First Sight beginning to play as the water screens shows a montage of Spyro and Cynder in love with water and lighting effects.

And then transition into a sequence based on Back to the Future, The Secret Life of Pets, Sing, The Fast and the Furious, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Shrek, Peanuts, Harry Potter and Despicable Me.

The music takes on an ominous tone as Woody's dream takes a turn for the worse as Ozzy from The Land Before Time II on stage, calling for Malefor which appears onscreen in animated form. Ozzy informs Malefor that the heroes always win, and the villains always lose, and that "in Woody's imagination, beauty and love will always survive." Angered by this, Malefor concocts a spell amidst pyrotechnics, lasers, and other special effects, and makes Woody weak, causing him to fall to the ground. Malefor now has the power to control Woody's mind. Malefor uses the oppertunity to cast villains, and invokes some of the most infamous villains of all time.

Pennywise uses his magic to send Woody to the Sad Sewers. After escaping a wave of lava, Woody encounters Pennywise, who transforms into a giant spider from part 2 of the 1990's the miniseries appearing on both the stage and the mist screens. Seeing an exit door, Woody goes through it, assuming it will help him. The mist screens turn on again. Unfortunately, It leads him into an unknown room as Woody notices a figure in a body bag standing outside the classroom.

he finds the body bag being dragged down the hall. Turning the corner, Woody knocks over a girl wearing a green and red striped sweater who demands Woody to show him his hall pass. After telling the girl off and running down the hall, the girls calls out for Woody in a masculine voice. Looking back, Woody sees her wearing the finger knives and instructing him not to run in the hallway. Woody follows the trail of blood into the boiler room, where he is chased by the Freddy Krueger as Woody escapes from being killed as Woody then encounters Drake the Penguin to try‘s to knock him away while singing "Don't Make Me Laugh". After the song, Woody finds him being sold in a toy factory as Chucky decides to kill Woody. He then loses one of his hands, which he replaces with his knife, but still goes after Woody as he finds himself in a room filled with Little Green Army Men toys shooting guests with toy pop guns. Chucky will pop up wearing a green helmet and shoot with a real gun. (It's really a disguised tap gun.) as he tries to shoot him but misses. Chucky murders a factory worker by slashing him in the cheek and causing toy eyeballs to go into his sockets. Woody then put him into a machine and activate an emergency assembly, causing various arms and legs to go into his torso. Unfortunately, Chucky escapes by cutting off his own waist. Woody is knocked by the worker's corpse swinging on a crane. Chucky then starts crawling over to Woody and lunges at him, but his knife gets stuck in a radiator, and this gives a distraction that allows Woody to escape. Suddenly, the Gremlins try to attack Woody. He then remembers that in the movie Gremlins, the Gremlins were defeated by bright lights. Woody then orders all of the guests to take out their cell phones and cameras and snap as many flash photos as possible. Through strobe lights on the screen and sound effects, the Gremlins are defeated by the flashes and disappear into a cloud of smoke before the mist screens turn on. The disappearance of the monsters is created by a fog machine and trap doors.

We then cut to a scene where Freddy calls infamous villians. Freddy then calls upon Plankton who then calls Jason, who shows some the most memorable kills from the Friday The 13th franchise. As Jason finishes, the mountain once again goes dark as Woody's eyes appear on the mist screen, saying "Oh no! Ugh! It's gone dark again!" Unknown to guests, During the transition, a turntable on the mountain rotates in darkness as a trumpet plays in the background, the lights turn on and the mist screens go up as Roll Back the Rock to the Dawn of Time plays. Rex's stomps cause the seats to bounce up and down. After the musical number, Woody suddenly encounters Ripto, which he uses "all the powers of hell" to transform into a 30ft tall Sharptooth (Achieved with spels or something, IDK). Woody runs away from the Sharptooth, not knowing what to do. Then Woody hears a voice that says "Face your fears young lad, use your magic and save your dream!" The finale begins as Woody shoots electricity from his hands and stuns the Sharptooth. His fellow heroes then join the fight via the mist screens! After a few minutes of fighting, Woody finds a sword and stabs it into the chest of the Sharptooth, defeating the villains once, and for all! As Sharptooth screams, the villains who have appeared scream onscreen as they feel the wrath of the magical electricity from the sword, and the sequence ends with a pyrotechnic & fireworks burst/bang from the river. Woody then is seen driving a ferryboat with all the characters that appeared in the show. After doing some magic. Woody bows and waves to the audience as the mountain goes dark for a few seconds, The cartoons start to talk all at once as they exit (which triggers the hidden leg ticklers underneath the seats again). The Female announcer then tells the audience to gather up their personal belongings as they exit. The lights come on guests are told to exit.

Attraction facts

Official debut: June 17, 1997 (NY). May 28th, 1999 (FL).
Location: Laemmle Lake/Universal Mountain Theater (NY), Adventure Lagoon (FL).

Show length: 1 hour
Producers: Universal Creative, Landmark Entertainment, Amblin Entertainment, Universal Animation Studios, Sony Pictures Recreation, AT&T TimeWarner Recreation, and Fox Animation Studios.
Executive producer: Steven Spielberg

Audio: LCS matrix audio system with WildTracks audio playback software
Control: Fully Automated by SMPTE timecode
Seats: Hydraulic Theater Seats.
Score: James Horner
Director and conception: Thomas L. Williams

Show cost: approx. $60 per evening.
Manufacturers: Intamin, ITEC Productions.

Media franchises featured in the show

The Land Before Time 1-14
We're Back: a Dinosaur Story
The Pebble and the Penguin
The Secret of NIMH 1 & 2
An American Tail trilogy
All Dogs Go to Heaven franchise
Friday the 13th franchise
Nightmare on Elm Street franchise
Child's Play franchise
Jurassic Park franchise
Crash Bandicoot franchise
Back to the Future franchise
Gremlins 1 (1984) and 2 (1990)
It (1990)
SpongeBob SquarePants/Nicktoons (added in 1999)
Transformers franchise (added in 2010)
The Simpsons (added in 2010)
Spyro the Dragon franchise (added in 1999)
Madagascar franchise (added in 2010)
Beetlejuice
Jaws
South Pacific
Once Upon A Mattress
Futurama (added in 2010)
The Secret Life Of Pets (added in 2017)
Sing (added in 2017)
The Fast and the Furious (added in 2006)
Shrek franchise (added in 2006)
Harry Potter franchise (added in 2010)
Despicable Me franchise (adedd in 2014)
Peanuts series
Bob's Burgers (added in 2011)
Anastasia (added in 1999)

Heroes

Woody Woodpecker
Littlefoot
Cera
Ducky
Petrie
Spike
Rex
Woog
Elsa
Dweeb
Hubie
Rocko
Marina
Charlie B. Barkin
Itchy Itchiford
SpongeBob SquarePants (added in 1999)
Optimus Prime (added in 2010)
Homer (added in 2010)
Marge (added in 2010)
Bart (added in 2010)
Lisa (added in 2010)
Maggie (added in 2010)
Spyro (added in 1999)
Sparx (added in 2010)
Cynder (added in 2010)
Sparx (added in 1999)
Elora (added in 1999)
Hunter (added in 1999)
Crash
Coco
Crunch (added in 2000)
AkuAku
Dr. Alan Grant
Dr. Ellie Sattler
Dr. Ian Malcolm
Marty McFly
Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown
Alex (added in 2006)
Marty (added in 2006)
Melman (added in 2006)
Gloria (added in 2006)
King Julien (added in 2006)
Penguins (added in 2006)
Beetlejuice

Villains

Sharptooth
Ozzy and Strut
Ichy and Dil
Carface
Drake
Professor Screweyes
Jason
Freddy
Chucky
Gremlins
Pennywise
Plankton (added in 1999)
Megatron (added in 2010)
Sideshow Bob (added in 2010)
Kango and Kodos (added in 2010)
Malefor (added in 2010)
Gnasty Gnorc (added in 1999)
Ripto (added in 1999)
Sorceress (added in 2000)
Dr Cortex
UkaUka
Tiny
Dr. Nefarious Tropy
Dingodile
Dr. N. Gin
T-Rex (Jurassic Park)
Biff Tannen
Jaws

Cast

Billy West as Woody Woodpecker/Sparx
Gabriel Damon as Littlefoot
Candace Hutson as Cera
Aria Curzon as Ducky/Elora
Will Ryan as Petrie
Rob Paulsen as Spike / Strut
Frank Welker as Sharptooth
Jeff Bennett as Ozzy / Ichy
Tress MacNeille as Dil/Sorceress
John Goodman as Rex
Rene LeVant as Woog
Felicity Kendal as Elsa
Charles Fleischer as Dweeb
Kenneth Mars as Professor Screweyes
Burt Reynolds as Charlie B. Barkin
Dom DeLuise as Itchy Itchiford
Vic Tayback as Carface
Martin Short as Hubie
Jim Belushi as Rocko
Annie Golden as Marina
Ari Lehman as Jason Voorhees
Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger
Brad Dourif as Charles Lee Ray/Chucky
Howie Mandel as Gizmo
Tim Curry as It / Pennywise the Dancing Clown / Drake
Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants/Spyro/Hunter
Mr. Lawrence as Plankton
Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime
Hugo Weaving as Megatron/Malefor
Micheal Gough as Ghasty Gnorc
Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson / Kodos
Julie Kavner as Marge Simpson
Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson
Yeardley Smith as Lisa Simpson
Kesley Grammer as Sideshow Bob/Ripto
Harry Shearer as Kang
E.G Daily as Cynder
Brendan O'Brien as Crash Bandicoot / Dr. Cortex / Tiny / Dr. N. Gin
Vicki Winters as Coco
Kevin Michael Richardson as Crunch
David Siller as AkuAku
Clancy Brown as UkaUka
Michael Ensign as Dr. Nefarious Tropy
William Hootkins as Dingodile
Sam Neill as Dr. Alan Grant
Laura Dern as Dr. Ellie Sattler
Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm
Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly
Christopher Lloyd as Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown
Thomas F. Wilson as Biff Tannen
Ben Stiller as Alex
Chris Rock as Marty
Davis Schwimmer as Melman
Jada Pinkett Smith as Gloria
Sacha Baron Cohen as King Julien
Tom McGrath as Skipper
Chris Miller as Kowalski
John DiMaggio as Rico
Christopher Knights as Private
Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice

Songs

Let your Dreams be Free by The Universal Chorus (Played during TBA)
I Love to Move It by Will.i.am (from Madagascar) (Played during the Jungle Madagascar scene )
Jurassic Park Theme by John Williams (from Jurassic Park) (Played during Jurassic Park scene that is similar to the Pink Elephants scene in Fantasmic!)
Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Played during The Land Before Time sequence)
Jump In the Line by Harry Belafonte (from Beetlejuice) (played during the Beetlejuice scene)
Love at First Sight by Madonna (played during Spyro and Cynder love sequence)
Roll Back (The Rock) To the Dawn of Time by John Goodman, Little Richard and The B-52s (from We're Back! A Dinosaur’s Story) (Played During TBA)
Don't Make Me Laugh by Tim Curry (from The Pebble and the Penguin) (Played during TBA)
TBA

Seats

With Blue Seats, You'll feel minor 4D effects. You'll also not get wet. These seats are recommended for:

Families with very young children
Families with a pregnant women
Families with easily startled children

With Yellow Seats, You’ll feel intense 4D effects. These seats are recommended for the full experience without getting wet.

With Red Seats, You'll feel intense 4D effects. You'll get very wet, too.

Nightastic! Food Zone Cafe

An indoor/outdoor restaurant that is near the show area seating where guests can get food or drinks before the show starts, during the beginning, or at the end of your experience.

Restaurant

The restaurant features many different food items from the show and on the 2nd floor is the party room.

Cheeseburger
Woody's Slider - Charbroiled mini burger with American cheese served with choice of side and drink
Chicken sandwich
Grilled Chicken - served with choice of side and drink
Grilled Chicken - served with choice of side and drink
Meatball Subs
Turkey Breast (A Turkey sub)
Veggie Delite (A veggie sub)

Appetizers

Mozzarella Sticks
Spyro's Toastin' Hot Chicken Freedyadillas - Red bell peppers, green onions, Monterey Jack, cheddar cheese, pico de gallo, avocado cream sauce, & sour cream
Dual Dip - Shrimp and Artichoke Dip plus Chili con Queso Dip
Garlic Cheese Breadsticks - Our homemade pizza crust topped with fresh garlic, alien seasoning goop (marinara, ranch, or french onion) and a double dose of our special 7-cheese blend. For garlic bread lovers, it doesn’t get much better than this!
Pepperoni Flatbread
Bruschetta - Tomatoes, herbed cheese, toasted focaccia bread, balsamic glaze

Colosso Beef - Nachos for Two - Monterey Jack, cheddar cheese, black beans, pico de gallo, green onions, sour cream

Dogs

Hot Dog
Chili Dog
Corn Dog

Pizzas/Italian cuisine

Cheese Pizza
Pepperoni Pizza
Cartoon Pizza - A mini kids sized pizza. Cheese or pepperoni served with choice of side and beverage
Meatastic Pizza - A pizza with Pepperoni, Sausage, Mini Meatballs, Bacon and Canadian Bacon.
Heathtasic Pizza - A vegetable pizza.
Taco Pizza - Seasoned Taco Meat, Black Olives, Our Special 7-cheese Blend, Diced Tomatoes, Lettuce, Tortilla Chips, & Jalapeno Peppers
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Cuban Pizza - BBQ Pork, and Ham and Pickles combined with our super-secret cuban sauce on our special 7-cheese blend pizza.

Fettuccini

Chicken

The Land Before Time Chicken - The Land Before Time shaped chicken nuggets

Sides

Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
Hunter's World Famous Kebabs
Waffle Fries
ShrimpTIME - Popcorn shrimp & The Land Before Time Chicken served with choice of side and drink
Seasonal Vegetables
French Fries
Auntie Anne's Pretzel Bites - Authentic pretzel bites, served with a giant platter with all of our deluxe sauces
Lobster Tail
Onion Rings
Curly Fries

Seafood

Fish-N-Chips - English-style with seasoned fries, coleslaw, tartar sauce
Shrimp Marinara - Linguini pasta, garlic, basil, white wine, tomatoes, crushed red pepper, marinara sauce, Parmesan cheese
Camp Crystal Lake Fried Shrimp - with tartar and cocktail sauce, seasoned fries, coleslaw
Shrimp Marinara - Linguini pasta, garlic, basil, white wine, tomatoes, crushed red pepper, marinara sauce, Parmesan cheese
Lemon Salmon - with pappardelle pasta, mushrooms, asparagus, red pepper, artichoke hearts, lemon-Alfredo sauce

Pastas

Lasagna - Tomato, meat sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan cheese
Nightasic Pasta - Sautéed Zucchini, yellow squash, sun-dried and Roma tomatoes, linguini, arugula, mozzarella cheese,Tomato sauce and basil oil
- Nightasic Pasta with Shrimp - Sautéed Zucchini, yellow squash, sun-dried and Roma tomatoes, linguini, arugula, mozzarella cheese,Tomato sauce and basil oil
- Nightasic Pasta with Chicken - Sautéed Zucchini, yellow squash, sun-dried and Roma tomatoes, linguini, arugula, mozzarella cheese,Tomato sauce and basil oil
Mushroom Ravioli - Lobster cream sauce, Roma tomatoes, spinach. Add shrimp.
Island Chicken and Shrimp Pasta - Jerk seasoning, peppers, asparagus, mushrooms, white wine alfredo sauce, linguini

Beverages

Water
Capri Sun Roarin' Waters
Milk
Apple Juice
Nesquik Chocolate Milk

Non-alcohol

Note: Coca-Cola products only.

Any Coca-Cola Freestyle drink of your choice

Desserts

Chocolate Mountain River - Creamy chocolate pudding with crushed Oreo cookies and gummy worms
Woody's Sundae - A chocolate chip cookie topped with a choice vanilla or chocolate ice cream & chocolate sauce
Chocolate Mountain (for Four) - Chocolate fudge cake, ice cream, whipped topping, fudge and caramel sauce, Butterfinger® crumbs
SpongeBob Lime Pie - Graham cracker crust, raspberry sauce, whipped topping

Sorbet Sampler - Mango and raspberry sorbet, raspberry sauce
Homer's Donut Bites (for Two) - Chocolate and vanilla donut holes, powdered sugar, caramel and chocolate sauces
Chocolate Pudding Cake - TBA.
Spyro'a Dragon Sundae - TBA.
Cartoon Milkshakes - Bacon N' Vanilla, Strawberry Banana Blueberry, or Triple Chocolate Cookies N' Cream.

Nightastic! Emporium

The store can be found at the entrance/exit of the show. It sells the merchandise of the show such as clothing, apparel, toys, DVDs and everything else.

Trivia

The show has undergone some major refurbishments in 2000, 2006, 2010, and 2017
This show is opened during Universal Studios Manhattan's Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood of Horror and Universal's Islands of Adventure Tennessee - Islands of Fear
There's also a Universal Studios Japan version of the show but its called Woody's Wild Dream! and the Universal Studios Europe version of the show is called Woody’s Nightlazermare!

Ozzy and Strut, Ichy, Dil, Carface, Drake, Professor Screweyes, Jason, Freddy, Chucky, The Gremlins, Pennywise, Plankton, Slideshow Bob, Kango, Kodos, Dr Cortex, Uka-Uka,Tiny, Dr. Nefarious Tropy, Dingodile, Dr. N. Gin, Ripto, Biff Tannen and Sharptooth are the main villains of the show that try to take over Woody's Dream!
TBA

Gallery