2025 Mardi Gras

[Nick]

Alright never mind I’ll be at Boys Like Girls at Sea World instead of T-Pain lmao.

 

[jwbitterman]

Any word on passholder reservations for float riding or is it all pay to play now?

 

[UNIrd]

Alright never mind I’ll be at Boys Like Girls at Sea World instead of T-Pain lmao.

Did SeaWorld announce a lineup? I don't see anything.

Also, just booked onsite for TLC weekend! Those are my girls.

 

[MrRoamer]

Joe Jonas, All Time Low, T-Pain, and maybe Pauly D are the concerts I’ll be at. All Time Low is a much bigger get than AAR was imo.

And All Time Low are likely much more stable than the lead singer of AAR. They're one of our favorite bands but we had to walk out of that show when he started getting creepy. That was up there with the time Train played.

I'm not all that excited about the lineup this year but I may finally cross off seeing T-Pain since I missed Jason Derullooooo and Mr Worldwide all the times they were here

 

[Mad Dog]

You know you're old when you only can recognize the name of one band on the list . No big deal for us since we're realists and don't expect bands from our era. Anyway, we like Mardi Gras for all of the other stuff and we'll just hang out in a less crowded Diagon when the concert plays.

 

[sonoma15]

Any word on passholder reservations for float riding or is it all pay to play now?

There will be passholder reservations opening on January 16th after 12 PM. I assume they'll be pretty limited so if anyone wants one it'll probably be like a Disney boarding group type situation where you have to be fast.

 

[SeventyOne]

All Time Low is a much bigger get than AAR was imo.

Personal music taste is something I can't argue with. But AAR has eight Top 40 hits--four of those top 10 (with "Gives You Hell" going to #1). All Time Low charted a couple times on the Rock chart, but never came close to a Top 40 song. In terms of mainstream popularity, AAR wins in a no-contest.

 

[Mad Dog]

Lots of complaints on the Universal AP FB page about the number of food/beverage booths decreasing again in 2025 from 2024 . 2024 decreased from 2023 in number too, according to the maps that were posted.
*2025; 13
*2024; 18
*2023; 27
I'd guess manpower shortages due to Epic....and perhaps a couple other reasons

 

[Brian G.]

Lots of complaints on the Universal AP FB page about the number of food/beverage booths decreasing again in 2025 from 2024 . 2024 decreased from 2023 in number too, according to the maps that were posted.
*2025; 13
*2024; 18
*2023; 27
I'd guess manpower shortages due to Epic....and perhaps a couple other reasons

The problem is the entertainment focus still remains over on the left hand side of the park. So there’s little reason to go towards the right side for booths. I’d rather have 13 great stands that efficiently get out food instead of 18 OK stands with iffy ops; so hopefully we see better results this year.

On the flip side, they increased concert dates from 8 to 10 to 12.

Also - 27 was definitely way too damn much, too.

 

[Mad Dog]

The problem is the entertainment focus still remains over on the left hand side of the park. So there’s little reason to go towards the right side for booths. I’d rather have 13 great stands that efficiently get out food instead of 18 OK stands with iffy ops; so hopefully we see better results this year.

On the flip side, they increased concert dates from 8 to 10 to 12.

Also - 27 was definitely way too damn much, too.

Food was good last year. That's the most important point. Yes, 27 seems way too many for the size of the park.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

The problem is the entertainment focus still remains over on the left hand side of the park. So there’s little reason to go towards the right side for booths. I’d rather have 13 great stands that efficiently get out food instead of 18 OK stands with iffy ops; so hopefully we see better results this year.

On the flip side, they increased concert dates from 8 to 10 to 12.

Also - 27 was definitely way too damn much, too.

2023 was a mess ops-wise.

The booths over by FFL weren't popular beyond opening weekend (I don't blame people for not seeing them, nothing of substance back there). The food truck over by Simpsons ended up closing earlier on event days (and then entirely shut a few days prior to official event end).

Mardi Gras also priced ~$2 higher than Food & Wine for example, so it never really got the traction/popularity to maintain so many booths.

 

[Frank Drackman]

You know you're old when you only can recognize the name of one band on the list . No big deal for us since we're realists and don't expect bands from our era. Anyway, we like Mardi Gras for all of the other stuff and we'll just hang out in a less crowded Diagon when the concert plays.

it's worse than that when you realize that NO ONE in that band was in that band when their hits came out.......

 

[Nick]

Personal music taste is something I can't argue with. But AAR has eight Top 40 hits--four of those top 10 (with "Gives You Hell" going to #1). All Time Low charted a couple times on the Rock chart, but never came close to a Top 40 song. In terms of mainstream popularity, AAR wins in a no-contest.

I feel like for the crowd Universal is trying to draw in with AAR and ATL, ATL is generally more popular among the crowd and that’s more the point.

Did SeaWorld announce a lineup? I don't see anything.

Also, just booked onsite for TLC weekend! Those are my girls.

SeaWorld didn’t, but Boys Like Girls announced on their own.

 

[Mad Dog]

it's worse than that when you realize that NO ONE in that band was in that band when their hits came out.......

Yeah. They're almost all Tribute bands now.

 

[MrRoamer]

The problem is the entertainment focus still remains over on the left hand side of the park. So there’s little reason to go towards the right side for booths. I’d rather have 13 great stands that efficiently get out food instead of 18 OK stands with iffy ops; so hopefully we see better results this year.

On the flip side, they increased concert dates from 8 to 10 to 12.

Also - 27 was definitely way too damn much, too.

Preach!! I feel so bad for the folks that get stuck in the booths and are completely overwhelmed and understaffed.

I also really hope that the food quality goes up (looking at you jambalaya) and they get away from the Food for the Gram thing they been doing

 

[saint.piss]

 

[Captain Spaulding]

No Bloody Mary Bar stinks!

 

[Brian G.]

No Bloody Mary Bar stinks!

They may just not be listing it as it’s not technically a food booth.

 

[jwbitterman]

No sign of signup for the Mardi Gras float for passholders yet.

What does "after 12PM" even mean? Typical unfriendly universal customer service experience.

 

[Tbad556]

No sign of signup for the Mardi Gras float for passholders yet.

What does "after 12PM" even mean? Typical unfriendly universal customer service experience.

I got an email for signups at noon. Might be worth keeping an eye out.