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Universal Orlando is once again offering its Mardi Gras celebration by bringing a taste of the New Orleans festival to the theme park.
Having debuted major new floats in recent years, this year’s Mardi Gras celebration takes on more minor tweaks to enhance the show. The popular parade has a new purple, green and gold riverboat along with a repurposed Superstar Parade unit used for the Mardi Gras “crew” in which T-shirts and specialty beads are being thrown out to the crowd. The Hollywood and New York areas of the park are the places to stand to catch these new items.
Universal’s entertainment team spans many projects across each year, taking on a different mindset across the seasons. “Every project is completely different,” explained show director & writer Jason Horne, who has written the park’s popular Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure show for the past few years. “What I do with Bill & Ted is its own thing and what I do with the Mardi Gras parade is I just want to give people the most authentic Mardi Gras parade they can possibly find outside of New Orleans.”
Mardi Gras continues at Universal Orlando on select nights through April 18, not only including an upbeat parade but also Cajun-inspired food, characters walking the streets, and headlining musical acts like Kelly Clarkson this past weekend.
More photos from Mardi Gras 2015 at Universal Orlando: