Universal Mardi Gras 2025. Thirty years of celebrating NOLA. Laissez les bon temps rouler. Gators, beads, food, parades and dancing.

[Robo56]

This sweet performer came over to me and put some beads around my neck. I watched the performers go out of their way to give beads to the little ones in the crowd and those standing watching the parade. They were so nice.


Rounding out the parade is always the King Gator Float.

 

[Robo56]

After I was done watching the parade I walked back through the Tribute Store.
















Lollipops with crickets in them. Won’t be buying one of those…LOL

 

[Robo56]

I saw King Gator again in the Floor.








There are some nice photos of the Wicked characters outside of the Wicked Experience.

 

[Robo56]

They did such a nice job on the exterior of the Wicked Experience.




There is Wicked Snacks available at the snack booth near the Wicked Expereince.




To be continued

 

[Robo56]

Tuesday, February 25th continued

After walking by the Wicked Experience I decided to head back towards the New Area.

I walked through a shop that had a lot of Ghost Buster merchandise. I will to go back and see if I can remember the name of the shop and I will add it. The Film Vault.











Then I walked over to the Mummy as I remembered I had seen Monsters merch there before and I wanted to see if they still had some.








and of course they had the Mummy merch and Scenes from the Mummy.

 

[wdwrule]

I have to admit this is probably my favorite float yet. Whoever came up with the idea for this float was a genious.

Airboat rides are a big thing in Louisana and in Florida. I have seen small and large airboats.

People Pay to go out on these to see Gators and the wildlife in the glades and swamp.

It was funny that they turned the table and the Gator is driving the boat. The attention to detail was awesome. From the gators to frogs, truttles, birds, swamp shack. Old broken trees and stumps etc….great float.
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This is my all time favorite parade and your pictures depict the pure joy and awe of it all!

Fun fact: I was on this airboat float throwing beads last weekend and our bead captain let us know that “Shelly”, the turtle from Swamp of the Undead HHN scare zone, was seated above us in an old chair. I thought that was so cool how they incorporate HHN props within other events! Here’s a pic that I took of Shelly during HHN.

 

[Robo56]

I left the park and walked over to Citywalk. Everyone was leaving the park and I knew the line back to the resort would be long so I decided to kill some time.

I really wanted to see the Cursed Coconut Club, but that would not be open until tomorrow at 5 pm.


If the inside decorations were as good as the outside decorations it was going to be awesome.








Universal had placed this interesting Troll outside of the Club to encourage folks to throw their beads on the Troll instead of in the trees. You could toss the beads and try to hook them on the candles that had various words on them. It was a great idea as there were a mountain of beads all over the Troll and at the bottom.


All the restaurants were busy after the parks closed. I went into Burger King and got a burger and sat at a table watching folks pouring out of CityWalk to the garage. I was glad I had kept my sweatshirt with me as it was getting cooler.

When I was done I headed for the boat. There was still a bit of a line going to Sapphire Falls, but it was not bad.

I was glad to get back to the resort. I was tired from a long day.

I was surprised to see a few people in the pool as it was now in the low 60’s burrrrrrrr….


After I got back to the room I took a nice long shower and got into my pajamas. I called my hubby and told him about my day and after talking to him I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.



To be continued

 

[Robo56]

This is my all time favorite parade and your pictures depict the pure joy and awe of it all!

Thank you wdwrule. You are right, this is a great parade.

Fun fact: I was on this airboat float throwing beads last weekend and our bead captain let us know that “Shelly”, the turtle from Swamp of the Undead HHN scare zone, was seated above us in an old chair. I thought that was so cool how they incorporate HHN props within other events! Here’s a pic that I took of Shelly during HHN.

So glad to hear you rode in the parade and had fun throwing some beads. I really liked the Airboat Float.

I always have fun finding props that have been repurposed in such an interesting way. The designers do a great job. I will share one coming up I found.

Thank you for sharing the pic of Shelly. I always love to hear and see fun facts.

 

[Robo56]

Wednesday, February 26th.

I woke up early this morning as unusual. I had planned a few things for the day. It was kinda of a special day. It was my birthday. I wanted to spend the day having some fun. Hubby and I would celebrate when I got back home. So






I went over for my morning coffee at Starbucks in Aventura. It was cool again this morning. I really liked the walk over to Aventura from Sapphire Falls. It is a nice little stroll and refreshing in the cool morning air.

I walked back to Sapphire and took a shower and got ready for the day. I wanted to go over to Disney Springs for awhile.

After I was done getting ready it was about 9 am. I decided to head over to Disney Springs it opened at 10 am. I was hoping the Lime parking garage would be open. I don’t like parking in the Orange garage which is located in the back area of Disney Springs.

I took the back way to Disney Springs and Thankfully the Lime garage was open.

Ok, here is a mild rant. During Covid Precautions times they put of a gate system on the second floor of the parking garage before you went to the elevators or escalator to reach the entrance to Disney Springs.

You had to transect this gated system which added more time and steps required to get through it to allow for people and baggage screening. I get it, but we no longer need that. Baggage screening is good, but forcing people to walk all that distance to reach the screening area is not needed anymore.

I was wondering how that would work when someone returned to the parking garage after walking all day at Disney Springs and then had to walk all the way around those gates to reach their vehicle. More to come on that thought.

I was there about 10 minutes before the stores opened. Then I started my look around at Vera Bradley when they opened.

They do have some really nice merchandise. There was some Disney merchandise in the back park of store that was 30% off.

 

[Robo56]

I like looking in the SugarBoo & Co. shop it has whimsical merchandise.










I walked out of the store in the other direction and noticed the tethered balloon in sky. It was pretty against the beautiful blue sky.





I wanted to see if there was a line to get in my favorite little spooky Library cookie shop Gideon’s and of course there was. I decided to look in the Ganachery first then think about returning.

 

[Robo56]

It smelled so good in the Ganachery. They were hand dipping some chocolates.

My sister and I came in here in September and bought some chocolates to try. I’am not a big sweets person, but they were very good.

The lovely lady that was working in the shop when we were there in September was working this day and she is so nice.

These chocolates do melt easily in the heat and they have come up with a way to help you get your purchase back to the various resorts without them melting. Last September they were putting a freezer sheet on the onsite of your candy box to keep them cool. It did a great job of keeping the candy cool and fresh.










After I was done in the Ganachery I rounded the corner and the line for Gideon’s had gone done significantly. I ‘am game for maybe a 10 or 15 minute wait, but anything longer is pushing it a little.

The shop is not very big inside so thats the reason for the wait to get in. They are very efficient in getting people served and out the door. So it is worth the wait if you have not been in before.

The staff give you the card of the month while you are waiting in line outside. It has the monthly specialty cookies on them. They are really cute. This also helps to streamline things inside the shop so you have a pretty good idea what you want by the time you enter the store.












I love the creepy photos inside.

 

[Robo56]

I love this photo of the little vampire with his one fang hanging over his lip.


I had decided I would get a couple of cookies to take home and maybe a slice of cake for my birthday to try.












I did get one Key Lime pie Chocolate chip cookie and one of the coffee Cake Cookies and a slice of the Strawberry cream cake. They package everything so well so your purchases do travel well.

 

[Robo56]

I love the bags they package your goodies in.





To be continued

 

[Robo56]

Wednesday, February 26th continued

After I was done in Gideon’s bakehouse it was about 11:30 am and I new where I was going to have my birthday lunch.



My sister K and I had been here in September and had the best meal. So this was an easy choice.

I did not have a reservation and there were quite a few people checking in, but It was no problem. I was shown to a wonderful table by the window inside overlooking the water and the boat's



I took a few pics of the menu if anyone is interested.













The menu has lots to choose from, but I knew what I wanted.

I had a wonderful waiter Milton. He was very kind and attentive. He knew when to show up and was never intrusive. His service was impeccable.

They serve these rolls before your meal arrives and they are so good. They are soft and warm and taste like there is a light mix of honey and cinnamon in them. A had a coupe of nibbles, but I wanted to save room for my lunch.


I ordered a couple of shrimp. I had these in September and they were so good. So I couldn’t pass them up this trip. They are huge.

 

[Robo56]

I had really enjoyed the half wedge salad that I had in September, but I knew it would be too big for just me. Milton suggested a 1/4 wedge salad and it was still huge, but so good.


I had the New York Strip for my entree. I remembered the seasoned butter sauce on top the steak in September, but not all the garlic cloves. I just pushed them aside. The steak was sublime just as good I remembered from September.


It was a nice relaxing meal with a wonderful view of the water and boats. When I was done Milton asked if I wanted to have my leftover food boxed up. I told him no thank you and let him know he had been a wonderful waiter. I settled my check with Milton and gave him a nice tip. By then the restaurant had really filled up and I was sitting in a prime 4 seat table and I never felt rushed.

This had been another great experience at the Boathouse and I cannot recommend this restaurant enough. It is wonderful. From the setting to the service to the food. You cannot go wrong here. At least that has been my experience.

When I was finished I decided to have a walk and look at the all the boats on the dock.


There was a family enjoying a amphicar ride.

 

[Robo56]

There was a nice selection of various outboard motors on display. I will call them vintage even though I can remember a couple of them on our boats…..LOL




It is so nice that there is a way for guests to have a walk around the dock to look at the various boats.

There is also a nice amount of tables for guests to enjoy a meal outside on the dock areas.

I was ready to do a little hiking around after my good meal.

I walked an over to The Art of Disney. My younger sister K loves to walk through this shop.







I bought this a couple of years ago and I use it as a table centerpiece at halloween. The cauldron lights up and you hear a bubbling sound.






This was new and very tempting to add to my halloween collection.


This was also tempting. I did not want to try and carry these items in very large heavy boxes around for the rest of my visit to Disney Springs. I’am wondering if you are staying onsite at Disney if they deliver your purchases to your room like Universal does.

 

[Robo56]

After I was done in The Art of Disney I wanted to have a look in the Star Wars Trading Post. Sadly it was no longer there. I always liked to look in this store as my son is big Star Wars fan. I was told there was another store in the back area of Disney Springs that had Star Wars items.

I walked over to the Trend Store and had a look around in there.




These princess Crocs were cute, but I think they would be hard to walk in.








Lots of Haunted Mansion Merch for fans of Haunted Mansion.




There was a photo op. Did not see the photographers in there though.






To be continued

 

[disneyseniors]

Robo: We absolutely love the Boathouse. We went there for our 50 anniversary and had a wonderful meal. We made it a point to eat there every time we were at Disney, which was at least yearly. We never had a bad meal or a bad waiter. Your meal sounds lovely. What a perfect Birthday meal, and a belated happy birthday