Jimmy Fallon is now officially part of the Universal Orlando family with the grand opening of Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon! The red carpet spectacle saw Fallon riding on a float with his wife and two daughters, The Roots, Steve Higgins, Gary, and Hashtag the Panda, while the Ragtime Gals, a troop of Tight Pants dancers, and Universal’s best characters joined in on the fun.
During the ribbon cutting ceremony, Fallon gave a moving speech taking time to give thanks to everyone who helped make the attraction possible. Fireworks and a storm of confetti signaled the official grand opening moment and now you can ride Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon every day at Universal Studios Florida!
The Tonight Show has been filming on property at Universal Orlando Resort to celebrate the grand opening of Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon with celebrity guests like Shaquille O’Neal, Vin Diesel, Blake Shelton, and Dwayne Johnson. Fallon is also featured on the Studio Tram Tour at Universal Studios Hollywood.
I am not a fan of Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show. I don’t dislike him or anything, I just don’t do the late night TV thing anymore. But when we were at Universal a few months ago, we heard about a sneak-peek event and the “virtual line” concept sounded kinda cool, so we decided to check it out. The ride was actually pretty fun.
I’ll spare you the narrative here and just get to the good stuff.
I liked that you had a time slot to see the show, and they used a color-coordinated method to keep all the lemmings herded into the right places. My pass was orange, but I swear when our color popped up, it was NOT orange, and I am not color-blind, I have been tested. It was more yellow, so keep that in mind, especially if you are color blind!
There was a live show by an a capella barbershop quintet, the The Ragtime Gals (all men btw) that was terrific and made the line wait enjoyable. I won’t spoil the safety precautions bit, but I will tell you it is delivered in a very clever way that you will remember.
The ride itself is like Despicable Me; you don’t actually go anywhere, but the whole theater moves and with the 3D glasses, it feels like you are actually zooming along racing Jimmy Fallon through New York . . . and other places.
This is one of those attractions that you can do more than once, because it is layered and you will catch different things each ride. And if you ARE actually a fan of Fallon’s Tonight Show, I am sure there are plenty of inside jokes etc. that you will appreciate which were wholly lost on me.