Mardi Gras Mayhem?

I was feeling the UOR itch last week and impulsively booked a family trip for our spring break next year which is March 1-8, 2025. I thought we would hold out until Epic opens but I’m actually really excited to visit the existing (legacy?) parks before the Epic tidal wave comes. It will be our first time staying at Cabana Bay and visiting Volcano Bay in addition to USO and IOA, which we love.

After booking, I realized that our school’s spring break, which is always the first week of March, coincides next year with Mardi Gras (March 4) and a lot of southern schools have that week off too.

Will there be a noticeable increase in crowds that week? It doesn’t seem to really be reflected in the crowd calendars. I know a lot of folks are waiting to visit Universal until Epic opens but I suspect there are still a lot of fans like us that are planning pre-opening visits, especially with some of the ticket and dining card deals.

Also, what impact do the USO Mardi Gras concerts have on crowds in the parks? Is it a case of the non-concert parks feeling less busy, or that all parks get more visitors because of the concerts? (I know the schedule won’t be announced for a few months so it could be a non-issue).

We have experienced the USO Mardi Gras parade and celebration before and really enjoyed it, but it was during a random week that didn’t coincide with the actual Mardi Gras holiday.

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I’m curious, too. Also in the same boat…didn’t think we would go back until well after Epic opens and then got the itch and impulsively booked us for our February school break (presidents day). :slight_smile: We have never been during Mardi Gras and I’m curious about its impact on crowds and if regular parade or cinesational will happen or not…

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It’s going to be busy! That whole month is a spring break somewhere. The weekends will be worse than mid-week, but you should expect decent sized crowds.

Going for a week will allow you to do the parks at your pace though. If you were only going for 2 - 4 days I’d be more concerned for you.

All that is offered is the parade. The time of year you are going it will run at 6:15pm. USF will close at 7pm. This is the park closing “finale”. The parade usually lasts about 45 minutes and takes around 15 minutes to pass a given location.

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The Mardi Gras parade will replace the Mega Movie parade during this season.

Cinesational is unknown. 2024 was the first year it premiered and it didn’t happen until summer. I can’t answer if it will happen during Mardi Gras. There are nights during Universal’s Mardi Gras that host concerts along with the parade. I would suspect the Lagoon Show won’t be happening on those nights - maybe the entire season

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Thanks for the insights, @darkmite2 ! I just reupped my TP subscription for UOR and sure enough, the TP crowd calendars reflect elevated levels much more than some of the other usual suspect sites out there. I’m glad we will have several days to experience the parks and will take advantage of early entry, maybe splurge on Express Pass, etc.

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