The popular Mardi Gras parade will be returning this year! Catch beads flying through the air as you enjoy a dazzling Mardi Gras parade with authentic floats direct from New Orleans. This year’s parade features six brand new floats along with six traditional favorite floats.
Note: there is no Mardi Gras parade on April 1, 2 and 8.
On select nights, there will be live concerts by some pretty big names, including Styx, Khalid, Marshmello, Diana Ross and more live on the Music Plaza Stage. Get there early! Check the site often for updates to the lineup.
Of course, there will be plenty of treats, from sizzling New Orleans specialties to flavors inspired by tastes from around the world, available for purchase. Be sure to visit the Mardi Gras food kiosks located throughout the park.
Access to the parade and concerts are included with the standard park entry ticket to the Universal Studios park. Make sure that you start your day in that park, not Islands of Adventure, if you don’t have park-to-park tickets.
There has been so much news from Disney lately that it has dominated the blog, but I love Universal too! Here’s a rundown on several happenings at Universal Orlando.
Halloween Horror Nights has been in full swing on select nights since early Sept and will go til Oct 31st. If you’re into scary thrills n chills, this may be for you. There are shows, haunted houses, scare actors roaming all around, and, of course, food and merch. Make sure you know what you’re getting into before you go though. This could be intense and not an event for the faint of heart. It is extremely popular though, so check for ticket availability before you make any plans.
Voodoo Donuts has a secret menu Pumpkin Spice donut, only available if you order via the Universal Orlando app. Details here.
Holiday festivities will begin Nov 13th and run thru Jan 2, 2022. This year, the Grinchmas show, Hogwarts projection show, and Macy’s parade will take place! Of course, there will be plenty of themed foods n merch and the lands will all be decked out. More details to come.
Shrek 4D is going to close permanently in January 2022. If you like that show, catch it now! No word on what’s going to replace it yet.
Revenge of the Mummy is closing for a lengthy refurbishment from Jan 7th to late summer 2022. If this is your must-do ride, you should plan your trip before or after this timeframe. No word on what they’re doing that’ll take so long though.
Mardi Gras is returning in full force from Feb 5 – Apr 24, 2022 . There will be parades, concerts, foods, and all sorts of fun! For more details, check this post from Universal, where you can also sign up to get notifications on the concert lineup.
We love Universal as much as Disney, especially the Harry Potter areas. They did an amazing job recreating those lands. If you like thrill coasters, the Velocicoaster and several others around the parks will be right up your alley. Each park has it’s own merits and are fun in their own different ways. We’ve often done trips where we go to both Disney and Universal. It’s ok to love both!
That’s all the news for now. I’ll post updates as I get them. If you want to chat about a possible Universal trip, feel free to contact me.
Bonus news! If you’ve read this far, you deserve this treat. Universal Japan just announced a partnership with Pokemon! No details on what they’re doing yet, but after seeing the videos on what they did with Nintendo, I bet this will be just as amazing! Can’t wait! Start saving now for a Japan trip!
Universal Studios Hollywood has announced that beginning Oct 7, 2021, all persons ages 12+ must be prepared to show proof of full FDA or WHO approved COVID-19 vaccination (a full 14 days after final dose was administered), or a negative test taken within 72 hours of visit, prior to entry to the theme park. Persons ages 18+ must also show photo ID. Guests under the age of 12 are not required to provide proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test. Verification will take place when required based on theme park attendance. This is to comply with LA County’s recent Public Health department requirements.
Everyone aged 2+ are required to wear face coverings at all times, both indoors and outdoors, when visiting the theme park. At Universal CityWalk, face coverings are required to be worn indoors.
If you, or someone you know, has not read the Harry Potter books yet, now is the best time to start. What better series to encourage summer reading!?! And, what better way to prepare for future trips to the Universal Parks?!? They have recreated the Harry Potter worlds to such amazing detail! The movies barely cover half of the details in the books. Knowing more from the books will take your trips to the next level.
Starting this week, you can participate in extra activities and get reading guides as you start reading the first book at the Harry Potter Reading Magic site. I know it sounds like it’s geared towards your little ones, but who says magic is limited to littles?
These books get more and more intricate and nuanced as you progress in the series. They are no way just children’s books if you get into all the details and implications. Once I started, I couldn’t put them down. I stayed up all night to finish each book as soon as it came out because each chapter ended on such a cliff-hanger. The writing is so vivid that you really get pulled in and immersed in their world. You will want to keep going. I may just have to join this party and start re-reading again! Follow along in this magical journey!
Universal Studios Japan just announced the official opening date for their new Super Nintendo World section! It will finally open on February 4, 2021. If you’re a Nintendo fan, I’m sure you’ll be super excited. It looks incredible! We can’t wait until the travel situation gets better and we can go! For now, check out the pictures and videos here.
The Universal parks are starting to open now. Of course, Covid safety protocols have been put in place, so be sure to know before you go. Keep up to date here, and feel free to contact me if you want any help planning your trip.
Well, we had a full, week-long Universal and Disney World trip all planned out for Spring Break week in early April, as part of some agent training. It’s something we actually haven’t done in a while, we’ve just been doing long-weekend trips lately. However, with the Coronavirus situation, that has now been canceled. Of course, we’re bummed, but we also understand that it’s necessary. We figured the announcements were coming that both parks were closing longer. They finally said it today, so it’s official now that we’re not going.
Of course, there are way worse things happening in the world now than us missing a trip and many people are being affected worse, so this is really nothing in the scheme of things. We’re also facing the same college and high school closings/online classes, working from home, and shelter in place restrictions as most of you, but luckily, doing fine so far. Hopefully, you are too. Crossing fingers!
I’m sure many of you are disappointed over canceled trips and other events too, and those feelings are valid. But, once we deal for a bit and put things into perspective, we can only move on from here. Eventually, things will get back to normal, albeit, probably a new normal. Hopefully, everyone will get to do what they missed again. For now, we can only have a little hope and look forward to the future.
So, we’ve decided that we will still take our trip, but virtually instead! We will do it online, just like classes are online nowadays. We will experience the parks and “ride” the rides (via YouTube videos), “eat” the foods (using some imagination), and maybe try things we’re not able to do in person (we’ll see)! Calories don’t count, and money won’t be real, so time to go wild, right? We’ll try to describe things as much as we can so that you can visualize and follow along.
Perhaps, this will give you a little bit of fun and needed escape in your quarantined lives too. Maybe, it’ll give you ideas for your future trips as well. We’ll base it on our past trip experiences so you that you can see what a real trip could be like. I’ll throw in tips n tricks along the way.
In fact, now that we’re all home more, it is a perfect time to start researching and planning future trips. Just don’t book anything non-refundable until things become more stable. Ping me if you want help.
So, join us and follow along. In fact, let’s all pretend we’re going together! Group trip!
This will be a 7 day trip during the first week of April, covering all three Universal parks (Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Volcano Bay) and four Disney World parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom)!
Click on the links for each day below. The content will be added as they “happen” (several times a day approximately between 8am – 10pm ET, like a normal park day). Follow along all day or check in for the final results at the end of the day. Feel free to add comments on what you want to do on future days, and we’ll try to incorporate them.
Let’s start packing! We’re flying down tonight! See you there!
Join us on our virtual Spring Break trip!
Disclaimer: The videos and photos that I’ll use are all publicly posted online. Credit goes to the original creators. I am not affiliated with any of them. They are bloggers that have the content relevant for our trip. For this, we’ll pretend we’re going along with them as well.
Adventures By Anne 