Universal Orlando Resort Mardi Gras Celebration | Written By: Erika
Universal Orlando Resort Mardi Gras Celebration
Looking for something to do today? Well head on out to Universal Orlando Resort and check out their amazing Mardi Gras Celebration. This annual event running on select nights from February 8th-June 7th features a phenomenal parade featuring 12 show stopping floats by fabulous Kern Studios and performers, live music performances by some of today hottest artists, Nola culture and tons of New Orleans cuisine from beignets to jambalaya.
We attended a fun blogger event out at Universal Orlando Resort highlighting their Mardi Gras Celebration. We started out our trip to Orlando’s Universal Resort like any good adult would by walking thru City walk and making a visit to Margaritaville. This girl loves Margaritas and there is nowhere else on earth better than Margaritaville to stop and have one.
New Orleans Cooking
Afterward we headed to the arched entrance of Universal Studios where we were greeted by Meredith that does PR for Universal and was a wealth of knowledge and fun that evening. We began our fun family event with a yummy New Orleans style meal. We were served a fantastic authentic meal including jambalaya, a delish gumbo as well as amazing Andouille sausages. They also included a salad bar and a veggie pasta for an vegetarians in the crowd. For dessert we had the famous New Orleans King Cake as well as fresh beignets. The people of Universal were very thoughtful in that they put out a spread for the kids including chicken fingers, macaroni, crudité’s as well as amazing sugar cookies the kids could decorate with Mardi Gras colored icing and sprinkles.
After our yummy meal Meredith took us to the Despicable Me ride. It was by far the best amusement park ride I have ever been on. The 3D experience was superior to other parks 3D rides I have been on. The realness of the ride actually made me feel nauseated. In the ride you are turned into a minion and go on an adventure in Gru’s lab. I don’t want to spoil it but it is a MUST go on for every visitor to the park.
Mardi Gras Parade
After our thrilling ride we enjoyed a front row seat to Universal’s Mardi Gras parade. The floats and street performers were breathtaking. The amount of dedication and time put into making these floats is incomprehensible. The costumes of the street performers and the people on the floats were beautiful and very well made. What I really appreciate was that the street performers came up to the children on purpose as well as stopped to pose for pictures whenever possible. The people on the floats also made it a point to throw bead to the children. As a parent I cannot tell you how much that meant to me that they do this.
Concert Series
After the parade we headed over to the concert area where we were treated to a special area to view the Gavin DeGraw concert.
He put on an amazing show. The sound quality was very good and the crowd was huge. There are many other amazing shows coming up that I would love to see including Weezer, Lynard Skynard and Huey Lewis and the News.
The 2014 Mardi Gras Grand Celebration Lineup includes:
APR 5 SKILLET
APR 12 LYNYRD SKYNYRD
APR 19 KOOL & THE GANG
MAY 3 NELLY
MAY 10 THE WANTED
MAY 17 THE ROOTS
MAY 24 CHER LLOYD
MAY 31 HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS
JUNE 7 ROBIN THICKE
After the first few songs Rich snuck off with Kyle to ride the Rip Ride RockIt Rollercoaster. The coaster is truly a thrill ride and one I am not sure I would go on without losing my lunch. Rich loved it and Kyle screamed and has his eyes closed the entire time. He still loved it though!
We cut out after about ½ the concert because Karolyn’s head was hurting. We had about 5 minutes before the park closed so we headed over to ride the new Transformers ride and made her go on it. It was also an amazing ride. Again, the 3D quality was just out of this world. I truly am amazed at the superiority to Universal’s 3D ride experiences in comparison to other park brands.
My favorite part of the UniversalMardi Gras Celebration, was the family friendliness of the event. Most people think adults only when they think of Mardi Gras, but this event is quite the opposite You can go with a group of adults and enjoy the beer and jello shots served but you can also go and ride fun family rides, shop for minion toys and enjoy a concert by todays best artists that both you and your kids will enjoy.
Universal Orlando Resort Expansion
This year’s celebration will be an epic one for Universal Orlando Resort with a historic expansion to Universal CityWalk, the opening of our fourth and largest on-site hotel, Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort and the opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley. This makes it a great year to plan a family day out to Universal Studios and Universal’s Islands of Adventure. After attending the blogger event my family is talking about getting annual passes as well as planning a Universal Resorts vacation with some of our friends and their families’ joining us. There is just so much to see that one day is not enough at the park and with the onsite hotels it’s a no brainer. The 4 world class Loew’s hotels on site including the Hard Rock Orlando would make for a memory making long weekend.
For more information about Universal’s Mardi Gras Celebration visit https://www.universalorlando.com/Events/Mardi-Gras.
*This is a sponsored post. All opinions are her own.
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