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March 4, 2014

It's Fat Tuesday Somewhere

Happy Fat Tuesday! While Mardi Gras is winding down in the Big Easy, it will stretch all through Lent and beyond at Universal Orlando. Then again, there's no need for police to clear the streets inside the park tonight. Universal's party is mostly on weekends through May 31st. If that seems like a long time to party,  consider the first parades in New Orleans started in January.

The centerpiece of the celebration is the park's parade.  The picture above is of the "Mask Float" which has gotten a bit of a face-lift this year.
I was fortunate to go behind the scenes to see how the parade was put together. Here is a link to my blog post complete with pictures.

Universal is touting three new floats this year, 12 in all, celebrating Jules Verne's novel, "Around the World in Eighty Days." I hope to update this post soon with pictures of those floats.   All of Universal's floats were made for the park, but by the real deal:  Blaine Kern Artists. They have been crafting floats for New Orleans' many krewes since 1947.   

The courtyard in the heart of the park's New York is where you can find  authentic New Orleans jazz and blues bands, plus booths featuring tasty (and reasonably priced for a theme park) New Orleans favorites including King Cake, jambalaya, Creole gumbo & beignets.

So if you're heading to Universal any time soon, remember the party continues this Saturday, March 8 -- and Prince Royce is the featured concert at the Universal Music Plaza Stage.

Here's a list of the remaining big-name concerts:
MAR 8    PRINCE ROYCE    
MAR 14    CODY SIMPSON    
MAR 15    FOREIGNER    
MAR 21    A GREAT BIG WORLD    
MAR 22    GAVIN DEGRAW    
MAR 28    KELLY ROWLAND    
MAR 29    WEEZER    
APR 5     SKILLET
APR 12    LYNYRD SKYNYRD
APR 19    KOOL & THE GANG
MAY 3                NELLY
MAY 10    THE WANTED
MAY 17    THE ROOTS
MAY 24    CHER LLOYD
MAY 31    HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS

Here's a link to Universal's official Mardi Gras site for more information.

For more flavor of the park's celebration -- here's a link to a slideshow I put together last year.

And in case you missed it, here is a link to yesterday's Theme World blog post on big changes to help ease the crowd congestion at the Magic Kingdom.

keep your emails, questions, tips and comments coming! I always appreciate the feedback. You can always find all of my blog entries at www.clickorlando.com/themeparks