The holidays are back at Universal Orlando Resort. Universal welcomed back its annual holiday celebrations on Friday, including Grinchmas, Christmas in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and its Macy's holiday parade balloons.
The celebrations continue daily through the end of the year at both Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure. IOA is where you can queue to watch "The Grinchmas Who-liday Spectacular," which plays in the old Blue Man Group theater (and Nickelodeon theater before that, if you're an old-timer like me).
Christmas decorations have taken over The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in both IOA's Hogsmeade and USF's Diagon Alley. The Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts Castle projection show is playing nightly in Hogsmeade, while Celestina Warbeck and the Banshees are singing their holiday set over in Diagon Alley.
Universal Studios Florida also hosts nightly performances of Universal’s Holidays Parade featuring Macy’s, featuring Dreamworks and Illumination animated characters as well as those iconic balloons.
Finally, Mannheim Steamroller will return to the stage at Universal Studios Florida for its traditional holiday performances on December 2, 3, 9 and 10.
Here are our videos of the above events from previous years at Universal Orlando:
Looking ahead to 2024, Universal Orlando has announced the dates for its next big special event. Universal Mardi Gras: International Flavors of Carnaval, will return to Universal Studios Florida starting February 3 through April 7, 2024.
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AFAIC, everyone got a pass for holding tight on their holiday stuff during the pandemic years, but that pass expires with this season. Time to hit the drawing board for some new stuff in 2024 - and that's at Disney and elsewhere, too, not just at Universal.
Disneyland's A Christmas Fantasy is so badly in need of updates and replacement...
I completely agree with that, though the phrase "be careful what you wish for" haunts me.
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I've always enjoyed the Macy's parade, but at 7 years now, it's probably time for an update on some of the floats and balloons.