Trivia / The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash

• Release Date Change: A victim of COVID: Originally set to open on March 27th, 2020, it ultimately opened in April 16, 2021, the day Universal Studios Hollywood as a whole reopened.
• Role Reprise: Patton Oswalt, Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Jenny Slate, Lake Bell, Dana Carvey, Bobby Moynihan, and Tiffany Haddish return to play Max, Duke, Snowball, Gidget, Chloe, Pops, Mel, and Daisy respectfully.
• The Shelf of Movie Languishment: As implied above, the ride was essentially finished and ready to open when the COVID lockdowns hit, delaying it by just over a year.
• Sleeper Hit: The ride largely flew under the radar during its development in-part because theme park fans didn't find the idea of a ride based on The Secret Life of Pets to be that interesting, but it impressed upon opening for being a charming old-school dark ride, and it quickly became one of Universal Studios Hollywood's most popular and acclaimed attractions.
• What Could Have Been:
  • This ride was originally slated to open at both Hollywood and Florida, before the latter was put on indefinite hold.
  • At Hollywood one location considered for the attraction was the Lower Lot in the same spot now occupied by Super Nintendo World.
  • The ride was also originally designed as a trackless dark ride where you the guests would have ridden in a ride vehicle designed like a Roomba and the attraction as a whole would have had features to take advantage of the trackless format like cars following you around during one scene. But this was changed to have a more traditional ride system around the time the decision to focus on opening at Hollywood was made. This was reportedly due to Universal's troubles with the trackless dark ride system of Skull Island: Reign of Kong, and them becoming reluctant to commission new trackless dark rides as a result. Another factor could be that that the development of Off The Leash coincides with the development of Yoshi's Adventure at Super Nintendo World, both of which use the same ride system from Sansei Technologies. Thus, the switch from trackless to tracked allowed both rides to be developed in unison.