The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash is a dark ride located at Universal Studios Hollywood and based on the Secret Life of Pets film series, opening in 2021. It is notably the first dark ride designed by Universal since 2000's Men in Black: Alien Attack. Situated on the park's Upper Lot, it replaced the Globe Theater, which was used primarily as a conference and event space.
The ride casts visitors as stray puppies, who after entering a Manhattan apartment building encounter Max, Duke and Snowball, who vow to help you in finding an adoptive family. The ride sends you through the streets of New York City, witnessing the many scenes and detours that the pets get in to during their mission.
The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash! provides examples of:
- Artifact Title: If you squint hard enough, the subtitle Off the Leash could possibly be a reference to the original intention for this ride to be trackless.
- Cats Are Mean: A section of the ride goes through an alleyway with decidedly more sinister looking cats, with a pair of them torturing Max.
- Dance Party Ending: The final scene of the ride features the pets welcoming you at an adoption party.
- From Stray to Pet: The plot of the ride. The ride ends with a family discovering and adopting you in a store, before you enter an adoption party at the pet's apartment.
- Genre Throwback: The ride as a whole is one to the classic animatronic-heavy dark rides of old.
- Makeover Montage: The ride sends you through a pet spa, where you can see yourself in the mirror as your puppy self is cleaned up and groomed before being put up for adoption.
- Mirror Reveal: A practical example. At the very start of the ride, you pass by an electronics store, where you can witness yourself as an animated puppy in the television screens in the window. The ride uses AR mapping to translate your facial expressions and hand gestures onto the puppy's CG model.
- Multiple Endings: The family that adopts you at the end of the ride can be one of several different options, each with different dialogue and animations.
