The Traitors: New Blood Takes Over the Bars at Universal's Great Movie Escape Saturday, With 10 Named Drinks and Two Alan Cumming Costumes
The bar areas inside a CityWalk escape room are about to start serving drinks called The Faithful and The Traitor.
From Saturday, September 12, the bar areas inside Universal's Great Movie Escape at Universal CityWalk become a "The Traitors: New Blood" themed space, with Scottish Highland decor, two separate drink menus running to 10 beverages, and two authentic costumes worn by host Alan Cumming set up as a photo opportunity. Universal posted the whole thing on its own blog on Wednesday, September 9, and Attractions Magazine got inside on Friday afternoon while crews were still finishing the space. That report also raises the possibility of a soft opening on Friday, ahead of the official Saturday start.
The short version: Traitors takeover at Universal's Great Movie Escape from September 12, running the season. Two menus, 10 drinks, 2 of them mocktails. Two Alan Cumming costumes on display. The Voice takeover at CityWalk's Rising Star from September 21, with 2 more cocktails. You must be 21 or older with valid photo ID for the alcoholic ones.
Two menus, not one
This is the detail that makes it more than a sign swap. Universal split the drinks across two separately named lists, The Library Beverage Menu and The Roundtable Beverage Menu, five drinks each.
The Library: The Raven, a scotch whisky and blackberry whiskey build with cassis, lemon and ginger beer. A Murder in Plain Sight, prosecco with hibiscus syrup and lemon. The Castle at Midnight, an espresso martini built on vodka, espresso, coffee and chocolate liqueurs and chocolate bitters. The Secret Passage, bourbon with agave, orange bitters and bourbon barrel-aged aromatic bitters. The Shield, the menu's mocktail, which Universal describes as "A fizzy, flavorful mocktail made with apple juice, lemon juice, hibiscus syrup, smoked saline solution, and club soda with a lemon peel garnish."
The Roundtable: The Faithful, gin with blue curaçao and elderflower. The New Blood, cherry rum and dark rum with cassis, cherry liqueur and barrel-aged spiced cherry bitters. The Traitor, rye whiskey with a red Italian bitter, lemon and grenadine, topped with a cocktail foamer. The Dagger, vodka with green chartreuse, lime and lychee syrup, topped with a foamer of its own. The Ally, the second mocktail, built on lemon, club soda, blue curaçao and elderflower syrup.
Ten drinks, eight of them alcoholic, and the names track the show: a Faithful and a Traitor on the same menu, an Ally and a Shield and a Dagger.
The costumes are the part you cannot order
Universal's wording on the wardrobe is specific: the venue "will also feature two authentic costumes worn by 'The Traitors: New Blood' host Alan Cumming, making for a unique, can't-miss photo opportunity that's yours to partake in starting September 12."
Authentic and worn are doing real work in that sentence. The blog post never uses the phrase screen-used and does not say which episodes the pieces come from. They arrive the same day as the drinks.
The displays themselves say more. Attractions Magazine, which visited on Friday afternoon, reported that one of them holds a tartan outfit Cumming wore, styled by Emmy winner Sam Spector, and that the signage there credits historical Scottish dress as the inspiration and describes the garment as made to order in modern distressed denim. The same report puts the takeover in the venue's second-floor lounge as well as the downstairs lobby, and notes you do not have to book an escape room to drink there.
The Voice follows on September 21
The second half of the announcement moves down the block. CityWalk's Rising Star, the karaoke club with a live band, gets a "The Voice" themed takeover starting September 21, timed to the show's 30th season.
Two cocktails come with it, a much shorter list than the Traitors bars get: The Blind Audition, which Universal calls a spiced cocktail, built on bourbon with lime, house-made honey syrup and lemon-lime soda, and Chair Turner, described as bittersweet, white tequila with triple sec, lime, cranberry and agave.
What Universal has not published yet
Prices. The blog names all 12 drinks and lists what is in them, but does not put a number on any of them. Attractions Magazine came back with the first two: The Secret Passage at $20, and The Shield, the nonalcoholic one, at $12.50. Universal also has not said how long either overlay runs beyond tying each to its season, which for The Traitors: New Blood means "the entire season's run."
Both shows air on NBC with next-day streaming on Peacock. The Traitors: New Blood premieres Thursday, September 17 at 8 p.m., and The Voice starts a three-night premiere event on Monday, September 21 at 8 p.m.
Sources
- Universal Orlando Resort blog: Tune in to The Traitors: New Blood and The Voice Themed Experiences at Universal CityWalk
- Universal Parks press site: Universal's Great Movie Escape photos
- Universal Parks press site: CityWalk's Rising Star photos
- Attractions Magazine: The Traitors takes over hidden bar at Universal Orlando CityWalk
Image credits: The Traitors: New Blood and The Voice key art, NBCUniversal via Universal Orlando Resort. Great Movie Escape and Rising Star photographs, Universal Orlando Resort.
