Universal CityWalk Hollywood keeps changing—and the latest addition might just trap you. In a good way. As longtime staples like iFly, Sparky’s, and Popcornopolis make way for new experiences, a brand-new escape room complex has quietly opened behind the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium. Tucked between Buca di Beppo and Margaritaville, Escapology offers 10 intricately themed rooms where guests have 60 minutes to puzzle their way out—sometimes with the help of Scooby-Doo or even Batman!
Escapology is a big player in the escape room business, boasting nearly 100 locations worldwide. Players are tasked to “escape” a themed room within a sixty-minute time limit by finding clues, cracking codes, and solving puzzles.
Tucked away in a back corner of CityWalk, not many guests will just happen upon this new adventure, but there’s ample signage to let you know you’re in the right place. Escapology is located near valet parking, which you can get validated for three hours for $10. That’s plenty of time to complete a game and have dinner elsewhere in CityWalk. If you’re planning on sticking around longer, the Universal Cinema offers $5 general parking with any movie ticket.
CEO Burton Heiss graciously took me on a tour of Escapology’s ninety-sixth location. Split between two floors, the CityWalk location has ten rooms and eight individual themes.
The two licensed themes—Scooby-Doo and the Spooky Castle Adventure, and Batman: The Dark Knight Challenge— each have two identical escape rooms, increasing capacity for the two most popular bookings. The other rooms are Haunted House, A Pirate’s Curse, Mansion Murder, Lost City, 7 Deadly Sins, and Who Stole Mona?
The space might look small until you ascend to find even more escape rooms upstairs.
The themes also extend into the puzzles. For example, an earlier photo showed Burton inside Who Stole Mona? He explained that this one was unique because it’s one large room. The storyline follows the theft of the Mona Lisa. Thus, the laser grid that pops on during the experience. I didn’t have a chance to play this room, but I did take note that the laser grid isn’t just for show. It’s part of a puzzle and registers when you walk through it.
One of the things that sets Escapology apart is the level of theming. It’s a bit different when you can touch and handle the theme instead of just observing it from afar. Each room I visited was of a much higher quality than other escape rooms I’ve visited.
When you start your adventure, there’s an hour timer, but you get unlimited hints. Burton said that many guests just enjoy the immersion and will utilize the hint button to spend the maximum amount of time taking in the details.
While the goal is for each group to win— to escape— it’s totally up to the player how involved they want to be. The game masters will ask if you want to go completely blind or to receive nudges when they feel you’re stuck.
I played the two most popular games, Scooby-Doo and the Spooky Castle Adventure, and Batman: The Dark Knight Challenge. I actually played these two alone; Dusty was busy covering the grand opening of Universal’s Epic Universe theme park. When you play, your group will always play alone; the bookings are all private.
Both games are listed as moderately difficult, and they certainly were extra challenging to play on my own (in fact, some rooms require two people, and I couldn’t play them). Fortunately, the game masters were great about nudging me along.
The game masters in mission control have cameras, and everything has triggers to tell them your progress. Hit the hint button, and they’ll give just the right amount of information to push you forward. During my tour with Burton, they manually opened things for us to check out, so I suspect that if something didn’t trigger correctly for any reason, they can remotely advance you forward.
I started with Scooby-Doo and the Spooky Castle Adventure, their most popular escape room. That didn’t come as much surprise to me. There’s nothing more Scooby-Doo than scouring a spooky castle for clues. It’s also an enduring franchise.
I religiously watched reruns of the original ’60s show, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? as a kid in the ’90s, and there have been quite a few different versions over the years. That includes the 2002 live-action film written by none other than Guardians of the Galaxy (and upcoming Superman) director, James Gunn. Needless to say, a Scooby-Doo escape room would’ve been popular with 6-year-old me.
The puzzles in this escape room were fairly intuitive, definitely something that children would be able to figure out. In fact, there’s a special “kids mode” booking intended for them to play independently with a walkie-talkie. If you prefer to play alongside them, the standard mode allows you to solve the puzzles with them.
Scooby-Doo and the Spooky Castle Adventure has a unique set of magical portraits that show each of the members of Mystery Inc. when activated. When you find the corresponding activation tool, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, or Scooby talk to the players and then display a clue they found.
Most escape rooms have three individual spaces, each with its own puzzles to solve.
Batman: The Dark Knight Challenge invites you to try out to be on Batman’s team. He’s set up scenarios similar to field work and given you an hour to solve them to deactivate a villainous device.
This, too, felt like a natural fit— Batman is often touted as the world’s greatest detective. Although this is more comic book Batman than any live-action rendition. I watched a lot of Batman: The Animated Series as a kid, so this one definitely charmed me as well.
My game master confessed to me that the clever puzzles in the Batman escape room are a tad more difficult, which explained my need for more hints to get through it on my own.
Of course, it can’t be a Batman experience without the Joker causing a little mischief…
Overall, I was impressed with the quality of the escape rooms at Escapology. The licensed experiences will definitely be a draw, and each room I entered was intricately themed. Some may be dissuaded by the $50/person cost, yet that’s competitive with other escape rooms in the area.
I agree with CEO Burton Heiss that when it comes to immersion and theming, it’s the attention to detail that makes the experience special. Escapology is a high-quality experience, one that you can play how you want. With licensed IP, detailed sets, and game-mastered puzzles, there’s a level of polish that’s rare even for escape rooms in a theme park setting. I just hope that Universal Studios guests make it around to the back of Toothsome to try it out for themselves.
Let’s hear from you. Have you ever played an escape room? Which room sounds most interesting to you? Are you excited to see more new tenants move into CityWalk? Let us know in the comments below.
🎁 WIN A UNIVERSAL CITYWALK ESCAPOLOGY EXPERIENCE FOR 4! 🎁
Are you ready to make your great escape? One lucky reader will win a visit to Escapology at Universal CityWalk Hollywood for themselves and up to 3 guests — courtesy of Escapology!
How to Enter:
1️⃣ Share this article on your public social media account (Instagram, X/Twitter, Threads, or Facebook) or comment directly on this MiceChat article.
2️⃣ In your post or comment, tell us: Which Escapology escape room would YOU want to try first? Scooby-Doo? Batman? Pirates? Haunted House? Laser grids and the Mona Lisa? Or something else?
📌 Example post (but please be creative and post your own thoughts): This MiceChat article reviews the new Escapology escape rooms at Universal CityWalk Hollywood. I can’t wait to solve a mystery with Scooby-Doo and friends!
3️⃣ Be sure to tag @MiceChat and use the hashtag #MiceChatEscape so we can find your entry.
Entry Details:
- Contest runs through June 30, 2025 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time.
- Limit one entry per person.
- Winner will be randomly selected from eligible entries and contacted via direct message on the platform they used to enter.
- If we are unable to reach the winner within 5 days, an alternate winner will be selected.
Prize Details:
- Prize includes one (1) private Escapology experience at Universal CityWalk Hollywood for up to four (4) people.
- Prize covers admission to one escape room only. Parking, travel, meals, and other incidental expenses are not included.
- Prize must be redeemed before December 31, 2025, and is subject to booking availability.
- Prize is non-transferable, has no cash value, and may not be resold.
- Prize provided courtesy of Escapology.
Eligibility and Legal Stuff:
- By entering, participants acknowledge that they are voluntarily participating and agree to assume all risks associated with prize redemption and participation. Winner and guests agree to release and hold harmless MiceChat, Escapology, and all associated partners from any and all claims, liability, loss, or damages arising out of or related to the prize or participation in this contest.
- Open to legal residents of the United States who are 18 years of age or older at the time of entry.
- No purchase necessary to enter or win.
- Void where prohibited by law.
- This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Universal Studios, Meta, X/Twitter, Threads, or any other platform.
- By entering, you grant permission for MiceChat to repost or share your contest entry for promotional purposes.
- MiceChat and Escapology reserve the right to modify, suspend, or cancel this giveaway at any time for any reason.
Thank you to our friends at Escapology for providing this exciting prize — and good luck to all!
Ready for a Universal escape of your own?
Our travel partners at Get Away Today have the latest deals on Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, Knott’s Berry Farm, Disney Cruise Line, and more — including low hotel rates, bonus days, special perks, and limited-time ticket offers!
(MiceChat works with Get Away Today to provide you with great rates and excellent service. When you book through our travel partner, you help support MiceChat — and we sincerely appreciate it!)