Universal Studios Hollywood · Upper Lot
The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash
A trackless dark ride full of practical animatronics, air conditioned, gentle, and consistently the most underrated attraction at this park.
Ride facts
- Type
- Dark ride
- Height
- 34in (86cm)
- Intensity
- Very gentle
- Motion sickness
- No motion risk
- Getting wet
- Stay dry
- Indoor / outdoor
- Indoor
- Air conditioned
- Yes
- Rider Switch
- Available
Last verified July 2026
What it is
The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash opened in 2021 and is the only attraction built at Universal Studios Hollywood in recent memory that is not built around a screen. It is a trackless dark ride through a stylized New York apartment building and the streets around it, populated with a very large number of animated figures.
The design conceit is that you are a puppy being taken home, which puts you at floor level looking up at everything. The sets are built at that scale — furniture and doorways loom, and the animals are at eye height. It is a small idea executed with real care, and it is the closest thing at Universal Studios Hollywood to a classic Disney dark ride.
It is also the park's most consistently underestimated attraction. Adults walk past it because the intellectual property does not appeal to them, which means the wait is usually shorter than the ride deserves. If you want a gentle, air-conditioned, well-made four minutes in the middle of a hot afternoon, this is the best one here.
What riding it is actually like
The queue runs through the interior of the apartment building, with the corridors, mailboxes and stairwells built out properly rather than painted on. It is indoors and air conditioned end to end, which by itself makes it worth choosing over an outdoor queue in August.
You board an open trackless vehicle that seats a small group and moves without visible rails, drifting between scenes rather than being pulled through them. The route runs through apartments, out into the street, into an alley and eventually back home. The animatronics are dense — there are far more figures per scene than you expect.
The one darker beat involves the alley animals and the animal control van, with the lighting dropping and the sound rising. It lasts under a minute. Everything else is bright, slow and funny, and there are no drops or sudden movements at any point.
Is The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash scary?
Gentle almost throughout. There is a short sequence involving the animals in the alley and the animal control van that goes darker and louder, and it is the one point where toddlers occasionally object. It passes in under a minute and there are no drops or fast movement anywhere on the ride.
Scores are editorial, on a 1–5 scale, judged against what frightens a typical four- to seven-year-old rather than an adult.
Accessibility
- Wheelchair
- Must transfer to the ride vehicle
- Audio description
- Not offered
- Handheld captioning
- Not offered
- Assistive listening
- Not offered
- Sign language
- Not offered
- Service animals
- Must use a kennel or wait with a companion
You transfer from a wheelchair or ECV into an open vehicle with a bench seat and a low step over the sill. The queue is entirely indoor and air conditioned, which makes it one of the more comfortable waits in the park.
Tips that actually help
- Ride this in the middle of the afternoon. It is air conditioned start to finish, the wait is usually short, and it is the best available break from the heat that is not a theater.
- It is the most family-friendly real ride in the park at 34 inches, which is well below the 40-inch wall that closes off most of Universal Studios Hollywood.
- Look up rather than ahead. The scenes are built at puppy eye level and most of the jokes are placed above the vehicle.
- Do not skip this because the film does not interest you. The ride is better than the intellectual property and the animatronic work is the best in the park.
Timing
- Best time to ride
- Mid-afternoon, when the queue stays short and the air conditioning is worth as much as the ride.
- Typical wait
- Usually 15 to 35 minutes, and rarely the longest wait in this half of the park.
- Express Pass
- Universal Express Pass
The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash: common questions
What is the height requirement for The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash?
34 inches, which is the lowest requirement on any real ride at Universal Studios Hollywood. That makes it one of very few options for a family with a child too small for the 40-inch attractions.
Is it scary for toddlers?
Barely. There is one short sequence in the alley where the lighting drops and the sound rises, lasting under a minute. There are no drops, no fast movement and no sudden effects anywhere else on the ride.
Is it worth riding if I have not seen the films?
Yes. The ride does not depend on the plot — you are a puppy being taken through a building full of animals, which is legible without any prior knowledge. The animatronic work is the reason to ride it, not the story.
Is this ride better than it looks?
Considerably. It is a trackless dark ride with dense practical animatronics in a park that otherwise leans almost entirely on screens, and it is air conditioned end to end. Adults skip it on the strength of the branding and are usually wrong to.