Mardi Gras Celebration – Universal Orlando

I’ve always wanted to go to Mardi Gras, but I’ve never been. Never even been to New Orleans, unfortunately. 

I had the chance to go with a group of friends a couple of years ago, but chose not to. They were a pretty rowdy group and I wasn’t sure I wanted to be involved in that much fun, if you know what I mean.

I want Mardi Gras without arrests. Without hangovers. Without seeing strangers’ body parts. But is that even possible?

It is! At Universal Orlando’s Mardi Gras Celebration:

Last week I was lucky enough to finally experience Mardi Gras in person, and I have to tell you that I’ll never want to do it any other way.

As with all of their experiences, rides and shows, Universal spares no expense to bring the best of everything to us. And that was absolutely the case with Mardi Gras at Universal Orlando.

From now through April 18th, on select nights, guests at Universal will be able to experience an amazing family-friendly Mardi Gras unlike any they’ve seen before.

There are actual Mardi Gras bands and musicians flown in from New Orleans playing throughout the day:

And authentic Cajun cuisine to enjoy as you stroll along, enjoying the music, the shows and the street performers:

There’s even a French Quarter – complete with “N’awlins” inspired performers, face painters, jugglers and more!

After enjoying the entire park and the rest of the Mardi Gras experience, the most exciting part comes in the evening.

The amazing Mardi Gras Parade!

We were lucky enough to be able to see some of the floats up close, and let me tell you, they are amazing! Every inch of the floats is decorated to the tiniest of details – nothing was overlooked. 

They are truly spectacular.

The 13 floats in this year’s parade were all engineered by Blaine Kern Artists, the same company that has been hand-crafting floats in New Orleans since 1947.

As if it wasn’t exciting enough just to see the beautiful floats in person, we were also thrilled to be able to ride the ‘King and Queen’ float. 

We threw hundreds and hundreds of beads to the crowds as we wound through the streets, dancing to the music and having a ball! Everyone in the crowd was having such a good time, smiling and waving and calling out for more beads.

It was such a fun experience and one that I know I’ll remember for many years to come.

All of that would have been enough to make our Mardi Gras experience complete, but we still had one more surprise waiting…

We got to meet MKTO!

We got to hang out for a while, sing with them, get photos together and even chat for a while. They were so sweet and gracious to all of us and it was really cool to meet them in person.

Afterwards we headed over to see our new friends in concert.

MKTO was amazing and the crowd went crazy to hear their favorite songs, including “Thank You”, “Classic”, “God Only Knows” and my favorite –  “American Dream”.

It was the perfect ending to the perfect day.

There are 16 concert nights featuring some of the biggest names in music, including The B-52s, the Barenaked Ladies, The Band Perry, Kelly Clarkson, and more! The live concerts, along with all of the Mardi Gras celebrations are included in the Universal Orlando experience and are the perfect way to end a fun-filled day.

If you’ve always wanted to see Mardi Gras, but would prefer a family-friendlier version, then Mardi Gras at Universal Orlando is for you!

Learn more about Mardi Gras at Universal Studios in Orlando.

Disclosure: I was part of a sponsored trip to Universal, but was not compensated for this post.  All opinions are my own.