Mardi Gras at Universal Orlando for Families

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Mardi Gras at Universal Orlando is the Mardi Gras festival you didn’t know you needed! Universal Orlando is running a Mardi Gras event for families. I’m going to share a few tips from our experience with the parade. We did not eat the Mardi Gras food because of food allergies so I won’t be sharing much about that. Let’s talk about Mardi Gras at Universal Orlando for families.

Mardi Gras at Universal Orlando for Families

Universal Orlando Mardi Gras Tips

Our family was given 4 Universal Orlando tickets with express passes to facilitate this post. However, all opinions shared here are 100% our own and are not influenced by the tickets we received.

Buy a mask before you go!

We visited our local dollar store before heading out to Universal. They generally stock Mardi Gras-themed items during this time of year. I picked up a mask for each child. They were able to get a bit more excited about the parade before it began. The performers in the parade also paid special attention because of their masks. This really made their nights and let them have more fun.

If you want to buy a mask in the park, there are a variety of locations you can find masks including the tribute store.

Get your seats early!

We picked our spots an hour before the parade and rested our feet after a long day in the parks. We grabbed snacks, refilled our reusable drink cup, and let the kids play on their phones a bit until the parade was due to start. It was a much-needed break after a long day and helped us to get spots we could be happy with. Crowds will grow as you get closer to the parade.

It can help to ask staff members about the best places to sit depending on your needs.

Don’t sit on the curb if you want beads.

If you are there to catch beads, you will want to step back from the curb a bit. Many of the people throwing beads will be able to throw them out a bit past the curb. If you want to be on the curb because you want smaller children to be able to see, you can still leave with plenty of beads. We went home with over 50!

Focus!

Beads are flying like crazy. Make sure that you are watching or you might accidentally get hit with beads. I know a woman near us was looking at her phone instead of the parade and took some beads to the face pretty hard. Make sure that you are looking up and watching when they start throwing beads. You also don’t want to miss out on some of the incredible performers and floats!

Be prepared to stand up and dance.

I thought at first we would be sitting for the parade but that definitely was not the case. Be prepared to get up and dance along as the parade comes down the street. I know that we had a great time engaging with all of the performers as they worked their way by us.

Ask a staff member about seats

The best thing you can do is ask a staff member at the parks where they recommend sitting for the parade. They will be able to tell you where the beads are and talk to you more about your goals for the parade. We wanted to get beads, be near the exit, and have a great view. The staff member suggested we sit in front of Betty Boop and we were not disappointed at all. It made it so easy to leave the park at the end of the parade and we still had an amazing time.