I’ve been scheming how to attend Universal’s Mardi Gras event since I attended Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights in September. Universal puts on Mardi Gras during February and March. The seasonal event includes food stands similar to the festivals at Walt Disney World’s EPCOT, as well as an evening parade and a free concert every Saturday night with different artists each week. However, flight and hotel prices were high, so I couldn’t justify attending.
Weekend Travel Arrangements
About two weeks ago, the right deal came along: I could get round-trip, Friday to Sunday flights to Orlando for $38! I have to give a shout-out to a travel agent friend who attends my church, Michelle Jenkins. She recently booked a trip to Disney for my friends and me in January. She gave me the travel budget tip to try flying Spirit. I’ve never flown Spirit Airlines before due to the horror stories people have posted online. However, when I visit family, I have flown Allegiant numerous times to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, so I know how they get you up charging the extras. For a weekend trip to Universal, I could fit the clothes I needed into a personal item and get through a 2-hour flight in a middle seat if I didn’t pay to choose one up-front. I thought to myself, why not?
Next, I leveraged my annual pass with Universal for a discounted, one-night stay at Universal’s Royal Pacific resort. Royal Pacific is one of the three premier resorts on-property with the coveted benefit of Unlimited Express passes, which would easily cost $300-400 outright. I love having Express Passes when I go to Universal, especially when the parks are expected to be busy (like for the start of Spring Break this weekend). However, with flying in late Friday night, I didn’t want to pay the cost of a premier resort for two nights when I just needed a place to lay my head Friday night. To save some money, I made a last-minute reservation at the DoubleTree right outside the entrance of Universal Orlando for Friday night at a fraction of Royal Pacific’s discounted rate.
BNA to MCO
As I always do, I arrived at the Nashville airport early and decided to try the Minute Suites in Terminal D at BNA. There aren’t many lounges available in BNA, but Minute Suites gives you a quiet room away from the hustle and bustle of the airport. It includes a desk, a TV equipped with Apple TV to use popular streaming apps, and a sofa that doubles as a day bed. If you have Priority Pass or any major travel credit card that offers airport lounge access, odds are you have access to a 1-hour stay at Minute Suites. I approached the front desk as another person checked out of their suite. They had me wait 5 minutes to clean it and then admitted me. I decided to sign into Netflix and watch a few episodes of Seinfeld while I looked at pictures from my Paris trip. Helpful tip: sign out of any apps you sign into, as Apple TV does not appear to reset after checking out, like TVs in many hotels.
After a relaxing hour’s stay at Minute Suites, I looked for my gate. This was my first time flying from the C terminal since the recent renovations at BNA. My gate, C7, required a bus to shuttle us to a separate terminal building. All other times I’ve flown out of BNA, none of the terminals required a shuttle. Shortly after, I boarded Spirit with my backpack. Something interesting about Spirit is that you can bid on exit and front-row seats if you don’t want to pay the additional cost outright. Exit row seats cost about $50 or more for each segment, but no one was purchasing them. A few days before my flight, I used a link Spirit emailed me and put in a $10 bid for an exit row seat. I was pleasantly surprised that my seat had been upgraded to $10 each way instead of $50! With bidding, you are not guaranteed to win the bid, but there’s always a chance. The flight itself wasn’t bad! There was a dad who was acting entitled and delayed our flight taking off, but the staff acted professionally, and I felt safe the entire duration of the flight.
A Night at the DoubleTree near Universal Orlando
When we landed in Orlando at 11:00 PM, we were delayed about 30 minutes on the tarmac since there was still a plane at our gate. After deplaning, I grabbed an Uber to my hotel for the night: Double Tree near Universal Orlando. I had checked in earlier that day from the Hilton Honors app, so I already had my room selected. When I arrived, several families were in line at the front desk so I could go straight to my room with the app’s digital key. The room was similar to other Hilton hotels and not particularly special, which was fine since I only stayed the night.
The next morning, I took advantage of the Hilton Honors Gold Food & Beverage credit at the hotel’s on-site restaurant. The restaurant was called Sunshine Cafe. I got the traditional eggs, bacon, breakfast potatoes, and coffee. It was quite tasty, and the service was excellent! If memory serves, my breakfast was more than the food credit after the tip. After breakfast, I went back to my room and grabbed my backpack. I checked out of my room on the Hilton Honors app and got a Lyft to Universal’s Royal Pacific Hotel. I quickly finished checking in to get my Express Pass, left my bag at the complimentary luggage hold, and was on my way to Universal Studios! Travel tip: any time I check into an on-property Universal hotel, I always do the check-in via the link emailed to me a day or so prior. That allows me to skip the regular check-in line once I arrive and get the next available front-desk agent.
Saturday: Day Time Activities
Since the time was about 8:45 AM, I took the walking path from Royal Pacific to City Walk and got in line for the park opening at Universal Studios. I quickly got through the line and started my adventure riding my four favorite rides in Universal Studios. First was Minion Blast, where you stand on a conveyor belt and virtually shoot at the various Descipicle Me villains. Travel Tip: Make sure to sync your blaster with the Universal app so it tracks your high score! Next, I went on Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster. My favorite song from the new selections on Rip Ride Rockit is Sandstorm. Third was the Revenge of the Mummy. And finally, Gringotts! I bought a frozen butter beer in Diagon Alley and took the Hogwarts Express to Island of Adventure. I believe it was a record for me, but I managed to ride all four of those rides and get my butter beer in one hour!
The line for Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure over at Island of Adventure was long, so I immediately headed towards Velocicoaster. The line at Velocicoaster was longer than I could remember, with the line for Express Pass guests out past the front of the entrance to the attraction. I decided to stand in line, as a 90-minute stand-by line wait time would likely yield a 45-minute wait with Express. However, it took closer to an hour in the Express Pass line. Once I got through the line, I requested the back row. When we got to the initial launch, the ride shut down due to an issue. We sat restrained in our seats for about 20 minutes before the crew working the roller coaster came by. They quickly got a guest released from their restraints first who was having a medical episode. The crew quickly got the rest of us out of the restraints, gave us cold bottled water, and then the most coveted Ruby Pass. For those who don’t know, a Ruby Pass is essentially a one-time use Express Pass to any ride, including Hagrid’s. When we were escorted through the catwalk along the roller coaster’s side and got our belongings, it was almost time for my lunch reservation.
I rushed to the front of the park and exited to check into my lunch reservation at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium. Located in City Walk, Toothsome is known for its creative chocolate-based food, desserts, and milkshakes. Due to its popularity, I could not get a dinner reservation at Toothsome the last few times I’ve been to Universal. This time, I decided to make a lunch reservation, and I succeeded! I was seated upstairs during lunch and had a great view of the restaurant.
My server quickly greeted me. Following her recommendation, I got the warm chocolate almond bread as an appetizer. Though I only ate half the appetizer, the bread had the right balance of sweetness from the chocolate and was delicious! For my entree, I decided to go with a lighter entree option (due to all the food to come at the Mardi Gras celebration), and I got chicken bercy. The chicken bercy was cooked in white wine and came with a demi glaze and mashed potatoes. The chicken was juicy, and the demi glaze elevated the chicken and the mashed potatoes. By the time I finished eating my entree, I was pretty full. However, my server talked me into a dessert. I asked for her favorite non-ice cream recommendation, and she recommended the chocolate crème brûlée. All I will say is that her recommendation did not disappoint! Don’t get me wrong, it was very sweet, but it tasted very good!
Following lunch, I headed to Island of Adventure and returned to Hogsmeade to use my Ruby Pass and ride Hagrid’s. I showed the Ruby Pass to a team member outside the entrance to Hagrid’s, and they had me go in the single rider line. About halfway through the single rider queue, I showed the Ruby Pass to another team member and was escorted to a side entrance. My Ruby Pass was scanned, and then I was in line at Hagrid’s in the last room in the main queue. My overall wait was about 5 minutes instead of the 90-minute wait time on the app! However, we stopped for about 10 minutes during the ride and had to wait for the ride to resume operations. When we got off, the team members offered for us to ride again due to the inconvenience. So, in about 25 minutes, I rode Hagrid’s twice! After Hagrid’s, I decided to return to the Royal Pacific resort and relax until the evening Mardi Gras event.
Saturday Night: Mardi Gras Parade and DJ Khaled
I arrived back at Universal Studios around 5:30 pm. Before entering the park, I picked up two Mardi Gras prepaid food cards from guest services. Those food cards benefit annual pass holders: pass holders can get $150 loaded onto each card for $120. The cards are also good for food at other events, such as Halloween Horror Nights, which I plan to attend again in September 2024. I recommend getting prepaid food cards to conveniently purchase the foods at the various stands. Once inside the park, I stayed around the New York area and tried food from two stands. First was the papas braves from Spain. Having been to Spain, I felt the dish tasted great and wasn’t overly Americanized. The second dish I tried was the shrimp gumbo from the New Orleans stand, which was delicious!
After trying the food, I decided to get my spot for the Mardi Gras parade and the DJ Khaled concert. I wanted a good view of both without having to move spots. I decided to camp out for an hour or so to the right of the sound booth, towards the back of the open area in front of the stage. When it got dark, the parade started. It lasted 30 to 45 minutes, with various floats in the parade throughout the park. As a float would pass by, guests riding the float were throwing beaded necklaces into the crowd! It was so much fun.
A little while after the parade, the concert started, and DJ Khaled took the stage. Universal brought in an artist to do a concert every Saturday night in February and March. I enjoyed the assortment of music that DJ Khaled played! The energy among the crowd was wild, and everyone seemed to be having a great time! DJ Khaled fed off the crowd’s energy; it felt like a big party. I was pretty tired by about 9:15 pm, so I left the concert early to beat the crowds, returning to Royal Pacific. When I returned to the resort, I saw several people posted negative feedback about the DJ Khaled concert in various Universal groups. Most of their feedback was that DJ Khaled was a hype man on stage, and his concert was boring. Honestly, I disagree with the criticism; I enjoyed his concert.
Sunday: Eating Around The World (Universal-Style)
The next day, I only rode a few rides at the parks and focused instead on trying the food from the remaining Mardi Gras food stands at Universal Studios. Though I didn’t try all the food stands, I tried most of them! My first stop was at Thailand in the San Francisco area of the park. Having been to Thailand and Cambodia during middle school on a missionary trip with my church, I was excited to see their menu appeared to be authentic. One item on their menu was a papaya salad, a very popular dish in Thailand, as I remember visiting the country. I immediately sent my Dad a picture of the Thailand menu, and he remembered papaya salad being popular as well. However, instead of getting the papaya salad, I decided to try the delicious chicken satay with peanut sauce. Across the way from the Thailand food stand was the China food stand. I got their potstickers with black vinegar and chili oil dipping sauce. Of the two Asian-inspired dishes, I preferred the chicken satay.
I continued around Universal Studios, quickly stopped at the Men in Black: Alien Attack ride, and continued to other food stands. I passed Canada and went to Mexico, located at Cafe La Bamba. I got the quesabirria with the birria broth. Though the tortilla was deep-fried, the overall dish was tasty! I passed by France and Germany and returned to the New York area, where I tried Brazil. I opted for the Pão de Queijo, a Brazillian cheese bread. This was the only dish I had at Universal’s Mardi Gras that was disappointing. There wasn’t much cheese, and the bread itself tasted bland. After finishing Brazil, I rode another ride or so before heading to Royal Pacific to pick up my bags and get a Lyft to the MCO airport.
Final Verdict
Universal’s Mardi Gras celebration was an event I was yearning to attend after going to Halloween Horror Nights in September 2023. I was thrilled to attend on a last-minute weekend trip to Orlando! I loved my overall experience with Mardi Gras! The parade and concert added an element of excitement to the weekend. Additionally, the tasty Mardi Gras food stands were a comparable experience to Walt Disney World’s EPCOT. Even if you aren’t a theme park junkie, I would recommend experiencing Universal’s Mardi Gras event to anyone! Though you can make this trip on a low budget, budget a little extra to taste a small bite from each country’s food stand!
