So What You’re Telling Me Is… Don’t Eat The Baby. Mardi Gras Round 2 ~ March 4-7, 2023 (Completed)

[wdwrule]

Hello and welcome! We just couldn’t get enough of Mardi Gras so we headed back

This time DS would be home on spring break from college so I was super excited to have him join along this time. On this trip besides myself was: hubby, DD (who was also on spring break), DS and DS’s girlfriend. We had wicked cheap flights again which makes our frequent trips possible. I think it was around $260 TOTAL for 5 adults round trip. We don’t take extra bags though for four days or less. We take the largest possible personal item which is a small suitcase each. The flight itself is only two hours, sometimes just under two hours. We usually go for short trips so not having a checked bag is glorious. Right off the plane and into an Uber.

We originally had a family suite booked at CB but I then changed it to two rooms at trusty Aventura. This worked out so much better due to varying sleep and shower schedules among us. I love the deluxe rooms there but saved some $$ by booking standards. The standard rooms were still perfect for what we needed. We are barely in the rooms when we travel.

Anyways, we had an early 6am flight on a Saturday so up and at ‘em at around 3am Our adrenaline was pumped though! Excited to get our Woah on! The flight was on time and before we knew it we were sitting in the Leaky Cauldron for breakfast. (We had checked in at Aventura and rooms weren’t ready, so luggage services it was.) We each enjoyed kids meal breakfasts which was plenty and all came with a beverage of choice. Some had frozen butterbeer, some had hot butterbeer while others had Tongue Tying Lemon Squash. Forgot to mention, while I checked into Aventura, hubby bought us some caffeinated beverages from the lobby’s Starbucks for on the walk over to the park. Love that walk!

We rode a ton of rides leading up to lunch, mostly with using single rider line. We’ve had many trips already with unlimited EP, so we are very comfortable using SR line and actually prefer it in many cases for its efficiency. We always have a good story to tell at the exit when we meet up

Then we were off to Confisco’s lunch upstairs in the AP lounge. I love the views from UO here! I had the chicken lettuce wraps and hubby had the tofu udon noodle bowls. Haha this may have been the only “healthy” meal we partook in. ‘A’ for effort. Both dishes were quite good.




DD and I split the chicken wraps and we also split the spinach artichoke dip which was yummy. DS and his gf split penne a la vodka which is always a hit. They shared an app as well which I’m blanking on. Then they surprised DD with a birthday cookie! Her birthday was a couple of days prior to leaving for our trip.


I thought that was such a sweet gesture.

After a bunch of more rides, the early flight fatigue set in and since we received our room ready text, we headed back to rest for just a bit. We needed a little recharge.

To be continued…

 

[wdwrule]

So we headed back to Aventura, picked up our luggage from the luggage service desk, and got settled into our room. Note to those planning on staying at Aventura: once you exit the elevator to your floor, take note of the color on the carpet that leads to your hallway. There are several elevators with a big colorful design in the middle of the area. Because you’ll take different elevators during your stay, it’s wise to note which color hallway you’ll need as you can easily get disoriented otherwise.


Photo cred: Next Adventure Vacations

This central area on each floor has at least 4 elevators.

Our room (and also DS’s room) was a 2 queen room with plenty of storage and space. I love how all of the rooms at Aventura have the floor to ceiling windows. Always a great view (although we request high floor so nice views) and the room feels bigger and more open. The deluxe rooms have the massive amount of windows though but this was still very nice.

Housekeeping was wonderful as usual and kept everything constantly replenished. I also like how Aventura lines all of their trash cans in the rooms. Not sure why not all of the UO hotels don’t do that… some do, some don’t. Not a big deal at all though but it’s just those little things you know?

After a much needed brief rest, we ventured out to ride Velocicoaster using our after 4:00 EP. I still have mixed feelings about Velocicoaster having EP but I’ll get into that later. We were visiting at an interesting time because Hagrids would be closed for refurb during our first two days but would apparently reopen during our last two days. Velocicoaster had just started accepting EP shortly before our trip.

Forgot to mention before our rest, the family headed to ride the Mummy while I caught up with a friend who was also visiting UO at the same time. When I headed back to meet up with them I saw her







She was so cool! I loved just standing there and watching her interact with guests. I never saw her there before and I’ve visited a ton of times during the last year and a half.

But back to Velocicoaster. We showed our APs and entered the EP line. Posted wait time was 120 minutes but the standby queue ended inside by the raptor statues. EP line was zigzagged throughout that area. Interesting no one was outside which was nice. There was a moment though where I was wondering if we should ditch the EP line and join standby instead since standby looked much shorter. I realized later that we benefited with staying in the EP line. It crawled for awhile but then picked up a little. We also ended up skipping a room. We merged at the entrance of the locker room. They stopped standby to let lots of EP people in the locker room. Then vice versa. No idea what the ratio was. We ended up waiting 38 minutes but I really think the 120 standby wait was inflated a bit. I also realized while Hagrids was closed during this day, things would be much slower in general.

All in all, I was happy to have EP, but I missed the almost-constant move of this line. Hagrid’s can be a craawwwlll but Velocicoaster has always been a constant steady move (at least in our experiences) and we’ve always felt like we were getting somewhere fast. I can’t even imagine the pace of Hagrid’s once it gets EP with it being so slow even without it for everyone. I’m thinking even the EP line will crawl a bit. But oh well… what do I know

But holy cow this ride never disappoints! My DD talked me into putting my hands up a long time ago and it’s now a go-to every time. It’s so invigorating! I love that feeling of weightlessness.

We then tried for virtual queue for parade float riding which my DD and myself did last year and it was phenomenal! Well no luck. All of us kept trying and checking and lo and behold we scrounged up two spots!!! Wahooo! We gave the spots to DS and his gf since they never experienced it. They had an absolute amazing time!! Not only that but they were assigned to the gator float!!

While they got checked in, we were suddenly a little hungry so since we were right at the Simpsons area, we headed to Cletus Chicken Shack and split some chicken tenders and tots. These were freshly made and good… nothing I’d run to again but it hit the spot. This was the first time we ate at this area. I heard the Krusty burger was good so maybe I’ll try that at some point. I’m spoiled with the excellent burger at Jake’s though, so I’d probably be disappointed.

They had an absolute blast! We watched the parade across from Schwabs Pharmacy. It was so cool seeing them throwing beads on the float and caught a few of theirs

The floats were amazing and as usual, the TMs were so upbeat and interacted with the audience. They truly made the whole experience energetic and engaging.







After catching more beads we caught up with DS and gf at Citywalk. We were getting a bit tired so we went our separate ways. We were all going to originally hang out at The Cursed Coconut Club but we were all getting sleepy and figured we’d do that the following evening. I think DS and gf ended up eating at Jake’s that night. On our walk back, we had a sweet tooth and decided to stop at Strong Water at SF to get their luscious tres leche cake.


Haha this slice is always so massive but sooooo good! It’s so vanilla-ly. Nope not a word, but yep it is now. I just love the atmosphere here. And to my delight the singer from the group 506 (I think that’s what they call themselves) was performing! She is just amazing! She sings some popular hits and has such talent. I love the tone of her voice. After relaxing, eating and having some drinks, we rolled out of there after thanking her for her amazing talent!!

That slice of cake was so good. There was definitely enough for the three of us to split and we even left behind a tiny bit.

So tired, we walked right across the lot to our hotel and hopped into bed. We hoped the rest of us would maybe get a parade float spot later in the trip…

 

[Robo56]

I’am reading along on your report. Enjoying your photos.

 

[wdwrule]

I’am reading along on your report. Enjoying your photos.

Thank you! Loving your report as well. I’m still laughing about the Broom-Hilda incident

 

[wdwrule]

So I don’t have many notes about the next morning or afternoon. Lol I’m not the best trip reporter as I usually live in the moment and don’t usually take many notes in general. But I still love to write these so I can A) reread and relive the wonderful time we had B) entertain those who haven’t been to UO in a while or at all yet and C) help those who are planning a trip.

I feel like I notice new details around UO or learn something new with every trip. Our first ever trip here was August 2021. Before then we’ve visited Disney once per year. Let’s just say we’re really addicted to UO. I’m currently having a nice beverage on the couch wishing I was strolling along with it on Citywalk or people watching while kicking back in IoA at Backwater Bar. But all is good.

There’s just so much to see and do at Universal. My sister, who visited once several years ago, is a huge Harry Potter fan as well and didn’t even know Knockturn Alley existed in the park (and totally missed out on it). I have a sisters trip planned in June and I will make sure she visits Knockturn Alley! Thanks to these boards and numerous trip reports from others, I learned so much before our first trip.

But on to the evening of our second day during this trip. “Let’s have a parade!!”

I was so determined to ride the float and definitely wanted hubby to ride since he was the only one now at this point who did not experience throwing beads from the parade float. Our son and his gf got to experience this the previous night which was amazing and I was ecstatic for them! So I thought, if at least hubby and our daughter could ride tonight, that would be fabulous!

Before we tried for the virtual queue, we had an early dinner at Bubba Gump’s. This was our first time here. We heard if you had a Landry’s card, it would help to get seated quickly since they do not accept reservations. So, hubby got a card a few weeks prior to our trip. This was a very nice place. The food didn’t wow me, but all of the Forrest Gump memorabilia was really cool. Food was good, just not stellar. The card did help by the way. It was kind of like an Express Pass for dinner. What was amazing though was our server, Julie. She was fantastic!! Now and then she’d drop by and ask Forrest Gump trivia. At one point it was us versus the table next to us. We were all laughing so hard! She truly made the whole experience.


After dinner, we headed to Studios and tried for virtual queue for the parade float riding.

The five of us all tried, hoping at least DD and hubby could ride the float.

Well O…M…G. All of us got a spot!!!!!

Now, DS and his gf rode the float last night and I thought they might rather use the after 4:00 EP which they did. They had tried though to help us get spots. I had no idea all of us would get spots. What are the odds?? So, we all looked around for two people trying to get a virtual queue spot. We then noticed two older ladies feverishly tapping their phones trying to get spots. My son and gf walked up to them and asked them if they’d like their spots. You should’ve seen the look on their faces!! They looked like they were about to cry. These gracious women must’ve thanked DS and gf 10 times during the next few minutes. They were stunned and so gracious! The one lady said it was her birthday too

Ahhhh very heart-warming moment. The kids still talk about that moment to this day.

After that, myself, hubby and DD quickly checked in and got assigned to our float. The Phoenix float! Yay one of the new floats this year!!

We quickly went to get our tunics. All of the costumes and pep rally were held in the Animal Actors area. We sported the burgundy with gold trim. Burgundy is my favorite color.


We sat in the arena and watched others prep for the event. We were so excited!!

So excited, that is, until we saw rain clouds roll in. I heard it happens rain or shine so it is what it is. I was just so happy we could throw beads. More than that, I was excited to watch hubby’s reaction to throwing beads into the crowds.

Well it was beyond rain after a few more minutes. It was literally buckets of rain. Pouring. We had about half an hour until showtime so I was still hopeful. Just when I thought they might cancel the parade, they started leading out certain float members to their floats. They exit the arena one float at a time. About half the arena was cleared and I figured they’d soon call our float. I could see it raining buckets still outside so yikes.

Then there was a pause. A very long pause. Manager TMs coming in and chatting with the other TMs. We thought ok, they’re going to cancel now. Nothing was communicated yet but then…. Float members who were brought out in the elements were slowly trickling back in…. Soaked. I felt sooo bad for them.

Shortly after this, they made an official announcement that it was truly cancelled. Aaahhh bummer! So close yet so far.

To our delight though, the manager TM made an announcement that everyone could email her and request an alternative date. We were to include if we had Ride and Dine or a QR code from virtual queue or a reserved AP spot and include our name and info etc. I really didn’t know if we’d be accepted tomorrow night or if it was for just those who paid for the Ride and Dine package (who I felt truly sorry for and hoped they could get an alternate date or money back). Anyways, I emailed right away in hopes for the following night which would be our only chance since we had to depart the night after. Oh well. I really, REALLY hoped the two ladies who DS and gf gave spots to were able to modify to another night! They were just so pleased, I would feel devastated if they couldn’t make it another night

So we waited some of the heavy rain out then met DS and gf at The Cursed Coconut Club. Spirits were low but hopeful. We figured if anything, we still had a good experience and laughed in the light rain to meet up.


On a brighter note, I love how they’ve been re-theming the Coconut Club to match the season/holiday. We’ve been to it during HHN, Christmas and now, Mardi Gras. This place has such a nice, chill vibe to it. It’s decorated so creatively and during each holiday, feels different. I learned my lesson from last time, and did NOT order a specialty drink which I wasn’t fond of. Abita Purple Haze instead this time which I enjoy. We sat at a table together and chatted up a storm with lots of laughs.






I should’ve taken more pics of this place but alas, I did not. I believe I have more pics from here in my previous trip report. It’s fun watching some people getting a bit loopy and dancing the night away. I kept teasing I was going to hit up the dance floor but never did

Shortly after, we headed to bed. DS and gf always sleep in a little and are up late so I got them a last minute reservation to NBC Grill while we were sitting at the table in the Coconut Club. They said it was good. We’ve eaten there a few times in the past and have always had a good experience there. There’s something on the menu for everyone there.

Next up, fingers crossed we ride the float during the next evening.

 

[wdwrule]

So I’m not gonna lie… I checked my email a few times in the middle of the night and…

Yay!!! We had our spots on Monday’s parade float!! Oh joy and what a relief!! Hubby has not done this at all yet so more than anything, I wanted him to experience it. Oh so nice!

Up and at ‘em to church aka Velocicoaster which had a short-ish standby posted 45 minute wait HOWEVER we walked right into the animatronic room! Nice!! I think the key is, early admission is great before EP can be used. It was so nice to be in the constantly moving line. Ahhh the good ole days. Even with our evening EP this line has been slloooww. So this was a nice treat.

This day was also the official re-opening of Hagrids. So I’m sure people were flocking over there. Friends of ours were there and fortunately got there early and were able to ride before they departed back home. I would just rather not get up at 6am to be at the turnstiles at 7am then wait another 45 minutes for park to open for early admission only to find out it’s delayed (which it was for a bit at opening). It works for many people though. I’d rather ride tons of rides and re-rides during EA then attempt Hagrids right after lunch when waits are usually lower. But to each his own.

After a bunch of rides we walked over to Studios. I love this walk. It can be tricky in the middle of the summer with high humidity but still very nice. If it’s early in the morning sometimes we’ll take the Hogwarts Express for the experience but more often than not we walk.

We headed to the Japan booth for some ube ice cream. I heard this was a really good hit and that it basically tasted like vanilla soft serve with some cookies and cream vibes. Wow wow wow this was so good. DD and I split it and it was plenty. So good and refreshing… but incredibly messy to eat. Have a spot to lean over while eating because it eventually drips from the bottom.



The bubble waffle cone was so good as well. Warm and crispy on the outside; chewy on the inside.

We eventually went to Red Oven on Citywalk again and this time just split two grilled chicken Caesar salads with the Perfect Margarita of course

Back to Studios for more rides. I just love the Wizarding World!! I watch those movies over and over again. My favorites are Book 1 and Book 7.



So just yesterday I realized that the actor who played Bill Weasley is the son of the actor who played Mad-eye Moody!!




I had no idea!!! I also saw Domhnall (Bill) also played in some Star War movies.

Anyways, more rides including beloved ET then off to our reservation at Finnegan’s.


At Finnegan’s DD and I split the grilled salmon. It was very good and cooked to perfection. I also love the Irish soda bread with apple butter that they bring out before the meal.



Then more rides and checking out all of the lovely Mardi Gras decor.


We then checked in (lol again) for parade and it rained a little while waiting… uh-oh.

But never fear, it was not raining buckets. Just sprinkling here and there. By the time we went to our float, it we totally cleared up. Wahoo!!

We were on the Serpent float this time which was another new one for this year I believe. Our colors were lilac which were the same tunics DD and I wore last year although that float was the floral float at the time. Omg we were so excited!! Our leader, Brendan, was the best!!! Oh wow he was hilarious!! He was so welcoming and just chill. He joked at us saying we’d get points for hitting trash cans and such. Just joking around and having tons of fun.




This was our float:



What a blast!! My hubby was hilarious! There was a guy in the crowd with a Disney shirt with his name written in Disney font. Hubby yelled: everyone, get Evan!! Let’s just say Evan got tons of beads. Everyone was laughing including Evan. Then we saw Transformers TMs in their uniforms and yelled “Freedom Fighters!” They were laughing too as they caught the many beads we threw their way. I couldn’t help but to yell to them to protect the allspark.

Hubby was proud of his bead that landed on the lamppost. We had checked the next day if it was there and it was.



We had a blast and were so thankful that Universal let us do this with the cancellation the previous night. They handled everything so well.

Off to bed feeling fatigued and with fatigued throwing arms.

 

[wdwrule]

Complete Side Note:

We’re big into Harry Potter and watch the movies over and over again. A month or two ago, we found these great 3D Harry Potter Wizarding World puzzles at Sam’s Club (I think they sell them on Amazon as well).

These are so much fun to assemble and they take quite awhile. The first set we got was the Diagon Alley set which features Gringott’s Bank, Ollivanders Wand Shop, Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes and the Quidditch Supplies shop. We of course had on a HP movie during assembly There’s so many cool details to these puzzles which includes characters and interior details. Here are some pics of the ones assembled:





And their interiors:


More:




Their interiors:


I thought it was so cool that there was a lever to raise and lower the hat on the Weasley store.

Anyways, some parts were tedious but it makes for a great rainy day activity… or any weather activity

We also spotted Hogwarts Castle during our next Sam’s Club visit! So we definitely bought that. Here it is so far but we still have lots to finish yet.


And its box that it came in:


If you ever stumble upon these, I would highly recommend them, especially for all you Harry Potter fans out there!

Yet another side note, but HP related, I just saw that there’s now a chocolate frog tea set being sold at the UO store on Citywalk


I just might have to get this.

 

[wdwrule]

Ok back to the trip report! Our night of throwing beads was truly magical and full of laughter. But it’s always sad trudging back to the hotel knowing that the next morning we’d have to pack up. At least we’d have a full last day at the parks though with a 10:30pm flight.

After dropping our bags off at luggage services, we headed straight to Velocicoaster. We always opt for this ride during early admission since most of the crowd zooms off to Hagrids (which is often unfortunately delayed right at rope drop). With a 20 minute posted wait time, we actually rode twice within a 45 minute period from 8:15am-9:00am. This time is golden and the line moves very quickly since EP is not taken yet. Oh my soooo much fun!!!! The second round we even waited for front row which is my favorite!!

We then were getting hungry for breakfast and tried to decide on what we wanted. We thought of Green Eggs and Ham tots which we love but didn’t feel like waiting in line. I stopped to admire this beautiful tree while we decided.

The gorgeous flowers from this tree were gracefully fluttering softly to the ground. It was if it was snowing flower petals.

We then spontaneously remembered we didn’t have king cake during this trip yet. That’s close enough to breakfast food right? Kind of like a cinnamon roll? Sure. Decision was made and king cake it would be. We mobile ordered a king cake from Croissant Moon Bakery. I walked right in and got our cake. Lol that’s where the TR title comes into play.

The TM was super friendly and she told me “Just be careful with the plastic baby in there. You could chip a tooth. Please be careful because it’s really hard…” and went on and on. I let her continue for awhile and finally said, “So what you’re telling me is… Don’t eat the baby.” We both had a chuckle
Here it is, complete with the potential culprit:


This was yummy and plenty for the three of us… about the size of my head. Not bad for a $13 breakfast. I just wished it hadn’t been chilled from the fridge.

Hagrids had just reopened from refurbishment the previous day so we figured we’d give it a whirl. Our limit is a 90 minute wait for that ride. Well it had a posted 95 minute wait but we attempted anyways. It is such a fun ride. Oh and we got a slushie from Moose Juice on the way that was very refreshing.

We got in line and it seemed to take forever to get to the building. 30 minutes at this point so far. Just as we were nearing the building we heard an announcement that single rider line is now opening. Wohoo! We ducked under and switched to SR. 10 more minutes and we were on the ride. We really lucked out. We know the courtesy is that standby guests have first choice to choose the bike and rightfully so but we don’t care what we have… we just thoroughly enjoy this ride even in sidecar.

After more rides it was time for lunch. We headed to our beloved Cafe La Bamba. This place is so good! Service, quality, atmosphere… all fabulous. We love sitting out on their porch but it was a bit hot today and after waiting in the heat at Hagrids we opted to sit inside. This place is beautiful.






We ordered two burrito bowls to split among the three of us.



This is always so good and fresh.

After our filling lunch, we walked right onto Mummy which had a 15 minute posted wait time. Your souls are mine ️

I love that ride but man is it rough. I know when to brace myself though, otherwise the back of my head slams on the headrest. I was hoping the refurbishment would have fixed some of the abruptness. But oh well, I’ll take it. It’s just so good regardless.

Then off to Fast & Furious I know, I know but we just do it for laughs and we ONLY ride this using SR line which bypasses the queue and preshow. Then we rode Gringotts SR line and waited about 10 minutes.







I adore Diagon Alley! I could spend an entire day there easily just taking all the sights and sounds in …

 

[wdwrule]

After more rides, one of my bucket list Mardi Gras snacks to try was the liege waffle. Let’s just say, this was a real winner. Wow it was light and divine!



The berries were juicy and ripe and the waffle was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. The textures and variety of flavors were top-notch. From the crunchy cake crumb topping to the fluffy whipped cream… We agreed this was probably our favorite Mardi Gras snack.

By this time, our after 4:00 EP kicked in so off to Velocicoaster. I believe the posted time was 55 minutes and with our EP it took about 35 minutes. I do miss the constant move (or near constant move) of this line.

We then used our EP for Spider-Man and then Cat in the Hat. Hulk usually gives most of us an instant headache.




Then off to Jake’s at Royal Pacific for our departure dinner. I love the smell of their lobby. At the checkin desk for Jake’s they had this card that advertised where you can purchase products with that delightful scent.



I did check that site but it seemed pricey. I think some of the products may be mostly for commercial use.

We had a lovely dinner with great service as usual and then headed over to Aventura to grab our luggage. We love cutting through RP from Aventura to head to the parks and vice versa by the way. It’s so convenient and staying in air conditioning when it’s blazing hot out is perfect! (Or when it’s raining.)

Once we received our luggage we changed in the locker rooms on the second floor. There were showers there too. Then we caught a Lyft to MCO.

It was another amazing trip and it was so nice to stay a few extra days this time until we headed back to reality. Our son and his girlfriend did their own thing for part of the time but it was so nice to have the whole family back together again on vacation. I’m so happy that our college-aged kids are becoming independent and finding their way but at the same time, I’m sad that they’ve grown up so fast. I’m already looking forward to our next trip as a whole family in late summer where we’ll do a split Disney/Universal trip (but mostly Universal). As I’ve mentioned in my first trip report or two back in August 2021, we were always a Disney family but since that first trip to Universal we’ve become majorly addicted. We’ve visited almost monthly since then! Sometimes it’s just DD and I since she commutes while other times it’s hubby and I. DS is away at college so it was so nice to have him with us since he was home on spring break.

Speaking of spring break, this trip was very manageable with crowds which we lucked out with. I heard the following week/later that week was when it got crazy busy. So I guess our stay was more or less pre-spring break as it seemed many Florida schools were still in session.

Anyways, enough rambling. We had so much fun and we love the Mardi Gras season there. The TMs are truly amazing and extra enthusiastic. The whole vibe is upbeat and celebratory. I highly recommend this seasonal event. Of course all of Universal’s seasonal events are wonderful in their own way. Hope you enjoyed this and hope it helps someone

 

[DL1WDW2]

Loved your entire trip report and your final words
All of Universals Seasonal Events are wonderful…
Learning to get to know Universal and then comparing it to a lifetime of DL and WDW for me … I would never have understand “knowing Universal” … like I know and love Disney but Universal has won me over with every return visit. I wish everybody would give it more than a quick one or two day trip . A Universal team member Once told me Universal loves to celebrate anything Disney doesn’t want and apparently Mardi Gras was one of those things.

 

[wdwrule]

@DL1WDW2 Thank you! Yes I agree there’s just so much to experience at Universal. Funny, years ago I didn’t dare scroll down past the Disney threads here on the Disboards. Now I find I check the Universal section more than any other section. We still love Disney of course but we’re also incredibly happy that we gave Universal a chance a couple of years ago because as I said, we’ve been totally hooked ever since. It’s a different kind of vibe at Universal… more relaxed and a wonderful small footprint. It has its own kind of ‘magic’.

 

[erinch]

What an awesome report !

 

[wdwrule]

What an awesome report !

Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it

 

[macraven]

Great detailed super report that all readers will enjoy

 

[wdwrule]

Great detailed super report that all readers will enjoy

Thank you for your kind words