Laissez les bon temps rouler (let the good times roll). Short trip to Universal for Mardi Gras 2021......Feet don’t fail me now.

[Lynne G]

Yay! A Robo report with fabulous pictures. Love all the colors and looks like nice weather. Thanks for sharing.

 

[christophfam]

I’m so glad you are writing this trip report! I will have to live vicariously through your report since I won’t make it to mardi gras this year. I wish I was a bit closer, although I’m probably closer than most on this board. I am envious of your short drive. Hope you had an amazing trip.

 

[Robo56]

Monday February 8th continued.



Another pic of the skeleton throwing beads off the Pirate Float.


My next stop on the Krewe Crawl was the San Francisco Candy Factory.


My map stamped and I was on my way to Fast and a Furious custom gear shop. My next stop on the map.



King and Queen decorations on the way to my next stop.



I thought I would touch on the weather a bit. It was overcast, but around 75 degrees. The weather was
finally warming up after a cold snap.

Next stop on the Krewe Crawl was Rosie’s Irish Shop.




Sahara Traders




Film Vault




Transformers Supply Vault

 

[Robo56]

Yay! A Robo report with fabulous pictures. Love all the colors and looks like nice weather. Thanks for sharing.

Your welcome. Lynne so glad you are enjoying the report.

I’m so glad you are writing this trip report! I will have to live vicariously through your report since I won’t make it to mardi gras this year. I wish I was a bit closer, although I’m probably closer than most on this board. I am envious of your short drive. Hope you had an amazing trip.

Thank you. I had a wonderful time on my short trip.

I hope this report shares the fun I had with others who can not travel now. Just wanted to keep the love of Universal alive in your hearts until you all can return.

 

[Robo56]

Now it was time to take a break from the Krewe Crawl for my first food tasting.


I purchased the AP 15 choice lanyard. It was $ 65.00 plus tax. There is no AP discount on the purchase. As a AP holder you are already getting a good deal on the lanyard as it is. The food lanyards are available for purchase at all the food booths. After every purchase your receipt will have the number of food choices you have left. Nice to keep that in case you forget.

The lanyards are available to purchase until March 21st. They do not expire. In addition to the food you can purchase soft drinks, water, cocktails that are on offer at the booths. Also you can purchase pretzels, popcorn and water at any food stand with your lanyard.

The one thing not covered at a food booth I found was the Large Bloody Mary. I will touch on that later.

I decided since it was Mardi Gras why not sample a Crawfish and Shrimp boil.

The booth is located in the park area where the benches are across from Transformers store.





It is pretty nifty the way the individual portions are made. Each portion is in a net that had Shrimp, crawfish, sausage, a small potato cut into and half of ear if corn. They boiled your order while you waited then put seasoning on it.

Everything was perfectly cooked. The seasoning on the corn was delicious. The shrimp was delicious and tender. Of course eating the shrimp and crawfish meant using your hands to peel the shrimp and pull the tails on the crawfish. They provide a plastic fork, knife and knapkin packet, but this is finger food.

I would suggest if you are a foody to bring moist hand wipes.

The sausage was spicy, but very tasty. The potatoes were perfectly cooked.

This was a great first tasting.

The food portions are easily shared by two if you are traveling with family.

I was very impressed with the portion and quality of the boil.

The only thing I would have done different is I would have just done the shrimp boil. The crawfish are on the small side and to much work to get the tail meat out.

Now it was time to restart my Krewe Crawl. My next stop was Shreks’s Ye Olde Souvenir Shoppe. On my way I stopped to talk to Donkey.



To be continued

 

[J'aime Paris]

Food! Now you're talking
I love seafood...that looked so good!

 

[Robo56]

Food! Now you're talking
I love seafood...that looked so good!

It was really good. They really have done a great job with all the good food choices.

 

[Robo56]

Shrek’s Ye Old Souvenir Shoppe



Super Silly Stuff Store




The Five & Dime


I stopped by the AP lounge to pick up the AP Mardi Gras pin.



I decided to head over to Canada booth.
I ordered the Beef Short Rib Poutine


This was delicious. The shredded tender beef was served over crispy fries that were covered with slightly melted pieces of cheese curds.

Now for another walk.

Scooby was out for a photos




To be continued

 

[Worfiedoodles]

I am loving your trip report and all the wonderful photos!

Thanks so much for sharing your awesome trip with us,
I feel like I’m along for the fun!


Maria

 

[macraven]

That’s a great picture of Scooby!

 

[schumigirl]

The Krewe Crawl looks like a lot of fun, they`ve done a fabulous job of working around the restrictions this year.

Short rib poutine looks gorgeous.......and yes, enjoying your pictures

 

[VictoriaT]

Thanks for this wonderful trip report! We are going in a couple weeks, your photos are fuelling our excitement! Can't wait

 

[Robo56]

I am loving your trip report and all the wonderful photos!

Thanks so much for sharing your awesome trip with us,
I feel like I’m along for the fun!

Your So welcome. Thank you for coming along on my adventure.

That’s a great picture of Scooby!

Yes, he was playing on the lawn with Shaggy.

The Krewe Crawl looks like a lot of fun, they`ve done a fabulous job of working around the restrictions this year.

Short rib poutine looks gorgeous.......and yes, enjoying your pictures

Thank you........They have done a good job. They always seem to come up with good alternatives to help with the changes do to Covid.

Thanks for this wonderful trip report! We are going in a couple weeks, your photos are fuelling our excitement! Can't wait

Your so welcome. Glad you are enjoying the report. You will have a wonderful time. The food is amazing.

 

[keishashadow]

late to the mardi-party here . Happy anniversary to you and the mr.

Was on fence whether to drive up for this or do SW’s fest, think you’ve made that decision for us.. might actually like the idea of being able to take my time examining the float detail vs the quicker, usually partially blocked, glimpse during the parades

Therefore, i breezed thru ur pics so not to have too many ‘spoilers’

It is pretty nifty the way the individual portions are made. Each portion is in a net that had Shrimp, crawfish, sausage, a small potato cut into and half of ear if corn. They boiled your order while you waited then put seasoning on it.

I like when they do it that way, more quality control that you get a fair amount of everything. That said, yuck to crawfish for us, it’s the scary head. Anything with eyes puts me off. Would you say 3 shrimp sounds about right per package?

This was delicious. The shredded tender beef was served over crispy fries that were covered with slightly melted pieces of cheese curds.

That’s a very generous portion of beef! Might be brave and finally try a cheese curd

 

[Robo56]

Was on fence whether to drive up for this or do SW’s fest, think you’ve made that decision for us.. might actually like the idea of being able to take my time examining the float detail vs the quicker, usually partially blocked, glimpse during the parades

Welcome along Keisha so glad to see another San family member here. You will enjoy the up close view of the floats.

I like when they do it that way, more quality control that you get a fair amount of everything. That said, yuck to crawfish for us, it’s the scary head. Anything with eyes puts me off. Would you say 3 shrimp sounds about right per package?

I think on looking back at the picture the mixed boil I had 4 crawfish and 4 shrimp, so just a shrimp boil should have a generous amount of shrimp.

That’s a very generous portion of beef! Might be brave and finally try a cheese curd

It was very tasty. The cheese was minimal and the beef was the star in this dish as were the nicely cooked fries.

 

[Robo56]

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Fat Tuesday.


Monday February 8th continued


There were Mardi Gras stilt walkers out now. I’am always amazed at how they can walk so well on the stilts.

There was a man Gator



and a Lady Gator

The TM’s are so sweet and are happy to stop for photos.

I decided to do another tasting and stopped by Columbia to sample the Carnitas Arepas.


This was a cornmeal cake that they split into a pocket and filled with shredded pork, ketchup, Mayo and cilantro. They will leave off ingredients if you want. I heard a couple folks order it with no cilantro.

I took the Arepas and walked over to the large open area in front of the large bandstand were they have concerts. There were tables with chairs and stand up tables to stand and eat. I decided to get a drink and walked over to the Bloody Mary booth.

I should have been more observant about the choices wild or mild. I’am going to guess the wild is the really spicy one.




The Bloody Mary’s are pre-made in a machine. The
9 once are covered under your tasting lanyard the 24 once is not. Brave is the soul who can drink the 24 ounce.

I did not specify and just asked for a Bloody Mary and my guess is I got the wild. As it was spicy.

They do not skimp on the alcohol here. The drink came garnished with two big olives, okra and a cornichon.


I saw someone walk away with the 24 oz in the distance and it looked like it had a lot of things...veggies and what looked like chicken on it.

If someone reading here gets the 24 ounce take a close up picture and share.

The Carnitas Arepas was delicious. The meat was moist, juicy and flavorful. The corn meal cake was sturdy enough to support the meat and juice, but also soft and delicious. All the other ingredients complimented each other.

This was very good. There was a line at this booth and I know why now.

The Bloody Mary was spicy.......LOL....I kept saying that. I was able to have a few sips and I had to throw the rest away.

The downside side of trying to sample a few things in a day if your alone is throwing away the food after a couple of bites.

My older sister was going to join me, but it worked better to meet up later.

After I was done I went to Silver Screen Collectibles (Hello Kitty Store) for my final Krewe Crawl stamp.




My map was completed.



So I collected my Krewe Crawl loot for completing the map.


This was fun. I enjoyed the Mardi Gras vignettes at each stop.

This was a great idea by Universal.

My dogs (feet) were barking by this point and I had received a text 3 hours ago that my room was ready.

I was ready to head to the boat and back to RPR.

 

[macraven]

Robbie
That cornmeal cake is calling my name!

 

[J'aime Paris]

I love the beads! Great job walking all over to get them!
I cannot tolerate too spicy either. That's too bad yours was hot, I enjoy a medium spice bloody mary...

 

[schumigirl]

I love the beads! Great job walking all over to get them!
I cannot tolerate too spicy either. That's too bad yours was hot, I enjoy a medium spice bloody mary...

I`ve never drank a bloody mary in my life......am I missing anything?? I don`t particularly like tomato juice......but I do like spice......

 

[J'aime Paris]

I`ve never drank a bloody mary in my life......am I missing anything?? I don`t particularly like tomato juice......but I do like spice......

Bloody Mary's vary wildly depending upon the mix and the bartender. Order one at 4 different places, and you'll likely get 4 different tasting drinks. Some are terrific, others not so great unfortunately.
I've learned to ask before ordering which mix is used, so I know if I'll enjoy it.

Here's a few of the Bloody mary's you can get just down the road from me!! They really take it to the next level! And yes, that's a WHOLE CHICKEN!!!