Mardi Gras 2023. Laissez les bon temps rouler (let the good times roll). Parades, King Cake, Cursed Club, Voodoo Dolls, Food, Rocket Ships and more

[Robo56]

Amatista is sometimes overlooked but it is lovely, and your dish is one their classics, chicken looks amazing.

It is really good. I keep coming back for more….LOL..

I did laugh as I`ve been guilty of telling someone for the love of all that was holy to shut up.....some folks just don`t know when to keep it shut, we always think we have a magnet for these idiots!!! Glad it`s not just us......lol......

That is funny…..nope I your not the only one….LOL

That same evening in line I saw a wonderful act of kindness also. A guy and his wife started up a conversation with another couple. The one couple was holding a big pink Voodoo donut box. The one wife said it was her husbands birthday and he had wanted some Voodoo donuts for his birthday, but the line was terribly long.

The guy holding the box asked him what donuts he wanted to try and the guy said “the Voodoo doll donut . The guy opened his box and he had a Voodoo doll donut and a couple other donuts and he told the guy he wanted him to have the donuts for his birthday. He then gave the guy the box and told him happy birthday. The birthday dude wanted to pay the guy for the donuts and he refused.

Always nice to see acts of kindness too.

As always enjoying your report.......

Thank you so much. I always enjoy reading yours too. You are Queen of trip reports.

 

[Robo56]

Friday, February 10th

I had a great sleep and was up early. I had a nice bubble bath and got dressed and ready to head out The door.

I walked over to the the garage got my suv and I was on my way. I stopped by the Starbucks drive-thru on Palm Parkway.

I had a friend who wanted me to shop a belt from Gucci for her at Vineland. So my plan was to head back there and face time with her and let her pick the belt she wanted.

By the time I got to VIneland shopped the belt and got back on the road it was already almost 1 pm.


I headed back from Vineland. Turned right on SR 535 then right on Palm Parkway (You will know you are at the correct right turn because Olive Garden is on the Right at the light). Palm Py.

As you are driving on Palm Pkwy turn right at Daryl Carter Py it crosses Over I4. There is a nice Target on the left and new Shopping Center on the RIght as well as a Cheesecake Factory.













I did stop at Cheesecake for lunch. I like having lunch at Cheesecake when in Orlando. My favorite lunch at Cheesecake is the Renee’s special. It is half chicken salad sandwhich, small salad and Mexican vegetable soup. The soup varies on certain days, but the Mexican veggie soup is off the charts.



I never usually have room for Cheesecake, but today I wanted to have some Cheesecake.….LOL…so I only ate half my lunch so I would have room for some yummy Cheesecake.

I ordered the lemon meringue Cheesecake and it was delicious.






After lunch I headed back to the Sapphire and want back to the room and put my shopping away.

 

[Robo56]

After a bit of rest I wanted to head over to CityWalk. I had plans to get into the ”The Cursed Coconut Club” when it opened. It was Friday and I was sure it would be busy later.

I was able to catch a Water Taxi pretty quickly. The fountain at Sapphire was off when I was there in September now it is working fine.



It is a nice boat ride over from Sapphire to CityWalk.





Another difference this year for Mardi Gras is that there were food booths at Citywalk












A couple of restaurants I like at CityWalk are Cowfish and Vivo. These are popular restaurants. Not necessary for ressies on non-busy days, but these are hard to get into when parks close and during special events. You can make reservations for these restaurants.

 

[Robo56]

It was nice to see the Mardi Gras decorations out in Citywalk.

I have eaten at Antojito’s before and had a bad experience with the food. I have read others reports and they were pretty positive. So I keep saying I’am going to give it another try. Just have not gotten around to it.



I have heard some good and bad reviews on BigFire. I have not tried the food myself yet.


I have eaten at the HotDog Hall of Fame a few years ago and it was good.


A few years ago my hubby came to Mardi Gras with me and he liked making a stop at Fat Tuesdays for some Daiquiri’s. They are pretty tasty.








These looked like walls from HHN.

 

[Robo56]

They started turning the Red Coconut Club into event clubs for for HHN, Christmas and now Mardi Gras. Great idea for sure.


They had a little outdoor shop and I saw some more of the little Nola Voodoo Dolls.




They were releasing puffs of I guess what is dried ice smoke every so often. I bet it is pretty cool at night.


I was there when it opened and they had some great decorations inside.








To be continued

 

[wdwrule]

Glad you made it to Cheesecake Factory. We have an enormous mall with some high end stores about an hour or so from us and we usually stop in at their Cheesecake Factory. Decadent!

I really hope they continue to re-theme the Red Coconut Club. It’s become a type of ‘Tribute Store’ for us to visit. This one definitely gave off some cool HHN vibes. Great pics from there!

 

[schumigirl]

Well, thank you for the lovely compliment!!! I`ll certainly take it......I love doing trip reports as you know and I`m always happy to see how many read them and enjoy them, so thank you, I`ll get my crown sorted.......

Yes, I think there are more kind people out there than there are nasty and little touches like the man with the doughnuts always makes me smile. I`m a big believer in paying it forward where you can too.

That whole area with Turkey Lake/Daryl Carter/Palm Parkway is amazing to see how many buildings are there now. We used to drive that road and there was one building that used to sit on it`s own in the pitch black and that was a Hilton Timeshare, the rest of the road was surrounded by complete darkness, so it`s lovely to see it rise the way it has.

I remember hearing they were planning to do a themed Coconut Club I knew it would be a lot of fun, and they have done it well, your pictures are lovely. Yes, those are walls from Graveyard, Deadly Unrest scare zone, they look good.

 

[Robo56]

Glad you made it to Cheesecake Factory. We have an enormous mall with some high end stores about an hour or so from us and we usually stop in at their Cheesecake Factory. Decadent!

The Cheesecake Factory in Orlando is the closes one to me. So when I make a trip there i enjoy a stop. The Cheesecake is indeed decadent.

I really hope they continue to re-theme the Red Coconut Club. It’s become a type of ‘Tribute Store’ for us to visit. This one definitely gave off some cool HHN vibes. Great pics from there!

Yes, the decision to repurpose the Red Coconut Club has been a great idea.

Well, thank you for the lovely compliment!!! I`ll certainly take it......I love doing trip reports as you know and I`m always happy to see how many read them and enjoy them, so thank you, I`ll get my crown sorted.......

Your so welcome. There are so many of us who have been inspired by your trip reports to try our hand at writing reports too.

Yes, I think there are more kind people out there than there are nasty and little touches like the man with the doughnuts always makes me smile. I`m a big believer in paying it forward where you can too.

Paying it forward is always the right thing to do for sure.

I remember hearing they were planning to do a themed Coconut Club I knew it would be a lot of fun, and they have done it well, your pictures are lovely. Yes, those are walls from Graveyard, Deadly Unrest scare zone, they look good.

Thank you I do enjoy taking photos.

It is nice to see Universal repurpose event decorations when needed.

 

[Robo56]

Friday, February 10th continued


Some more photos inside the Cursed Coconut Club.


















There photos were on the walls leading to the second floor.

 

[Robo56]

All these photos were on the second floor.






Looking down on the first floor from second floor,






This creepy fake Fire place looks like it belongs in a old house in the bayou.

 

[Robo56]

Second floor photos continued in the Cursed Coconut Club.





I liked this skull chandelier.




This is a menu of the cocktails and beers.


There is a bar downstairs and upstairs.




I ordered the Bayou Thunder and it was strong and tasty.




I had a seat on a couch and enjoyed my drink and the cool decorations.

 

[Robo56]

 

[Robo56]

The decorations are awesome. The Spanish moss hanging from the ceiling is indicative of the moss that hangs from the Oak Trees in the south.

The moss is very visible hanging form the Oak Trees in Southern States like Georgia, Louisiana and Florida.

An interesting story told to us by a tour guide in Savanah is that when folks moved to Savanah back in the early days they tried stuffing their beds with the moss only to find out there are tiny bugs in it.



I went outside on the balcony on the second floor. This is a photo of some of the fast food options on the upper level in CityWalk.





to be continued

 

[wdwrule]

to the tiny bugs in the moss filled beds!

Your pics are amazing and capture the vibe of the Club. The second floor has been my all-time favorite part of this place… for all three themes so far. It’s so nice that there’s balcony access for those amazing views. It’s so nice out there!

I’ll have to try the Bayou Thunder when we go back. I had the Cafe Brulot and it was not my cup of tea

 

[Robo56]

Your pics are amazing and capture the vibe of the Club. The second floor has been my all-time favorite part of this place… for all three themes so far. It’s so nice that there’s balcony access for those amazing views. It’s so nice out there!

Thank you. I liked the upstairs the best also. All the staff were very nice.

I’ll have to try the Bayou Thunder when we go back. I had the Cafe Brulot and it was not my cup of tea

I will tell you the Bayou Thunder packed a wallop. It was strong. They do not spare the alcohol. You get your moneys worth on the cocktails.

I have never received a watered down drink anywhere at Universal or the Resorts. They do not hold back on the liqueur in the cocktails. You get a good drink worth the money you paid.

 

[wdwrule]

I will tell you the Bayou Thunder packed a wallop. It was strong. They do not spare the alcohol. You get your moneys worth on the cocktails.

I agree! You are spot on. Funny, when I first ordered The Perfect Margarita at Margaritaville, our server warned us and said it’s basically alcohol with a drop of lime juice. Love it though… and she wasn’t kidding.

 

[keishashadow]

Awesome parade pics! For us, the main reason to make an effort to visit for Marco grad there. IMO the pacing level & beautiful floats elevate it to one of the best parades in town.

Amatista is indeed often overlooked…fine by me, makes it easier to grab a table without a reservation. The chicken & steaks among our favs there

Sounds like a perfect day!

 

[Robo56]

Awesome parade pics! For us, the main reason to make an effort to visit for Marco grad there. IMO the pacing level & beautiful floats elevate it to one of the best parades in town.

Thank you Janet. Happy to hear you’re enjoying the photos. I agree the floats are awesome.

Amatista is indeed often overlooked…fine by me, makes it easier to grab a table without a reservation. The chicken & steaks among our favs there

I like the fact that it has always been easy to get into without a reservation. The food is really good and the service wonderful. Glad to hear your positive take on it too.

 

[Robo56]

Friday, February 10th continued



After I was done soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying my drink at the Cursed Coconut Club my plan was to head over to IOA. I wanted to see what they had done to the Halloween Boutique for Mardi Gras.

I walked through the Christmas store after getting in the park.

There were some new Potter ornaments of HoneyDukes and Butterbeer.


The Snow Globe of the snowman from Hogsmeade was cute.


They have Earl the Squirrel merchandise. It is pretty funny how they have embraced this funny squirrel from the Christmas Tree.

I wonder if this character will be walking around at Christmas.








A couple of photos from the area overlooking the water. You can tell by the clouds rain is coming.




I have never eaten at Green Eggs and Ham, but I see people at the tables eating the tater tots they sell there.


The grandchildren and I have eaten at Mytho’s many times over the years. The food has been pretty good overall. It is always so cool in there. On a hot day it is a wonderful respite from the heat for a meal and a cool down.

 

[Robo56]

I had tried to get in and see the changes that I had heard occurred at Poseidon’s Fury a couple days ago. After we had moved to the next room the alarms went off and we were evacuated from the building. I usually give this walk through experience a miss. I will give it a try another time.


I walked through the store that lets you pick you pearl from the shells.



The All Hallows Eve Boutique was a nice way for Universal to incorporate something at IOA for the HHN season.


These stacked Pumpkins had been out on the street near the Halloween Tribute store during HHN.