The Holidays at Universal Orlando will begin this weekend and with it will be many changes to the annual event. The Grinch and his Grinchmas will be safe over in Islands of Adventure, but this year will see the debut of decorations and special entertainment inside The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and a revamped Christmas parade.
The first change is the name. Before the parade was dubbed the Macy’s Holiday Parade, but now it has become Universal’s Holiday Parade Featuring Macy’s. In the past, many of the balloons you’d see in the parade came directly from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, but this year Universal has worked with Macy’s to design 13 exclusive balloons to be used for the parade. This will include balloons inspired by some of your favorite characters from Despicable Me, Madagascar, and Shrek.
The Minions are going to be a huge part of this parade. In fact, there will be three floats featuring the Minions as well as a massive Bob balloon. Gru and his daughters will be joined by Lucy Wilde for the very first time on one of the floats.
Dreamworks will be a big focus of course with Madagascar being represented by the Penguins, King Julien, a giant pineapple balloon, and a float with Alex, Gloria, Marty and Melman. Shrek, Fiona, and their baby ogres will lead the way for the Shrek gang, which also will include a Gingy ballon along with a gingerbread house float, Donkey, and Dragon – complete with two Dronkey babies flying as balloons.
Finally, Santa Claus’ float is getting a complete upgrade that looks absolutely beautiful in concept are and will surely be stunning in person. Santa’s elves will also be inviting us into the workshop where they will be bringing toys to life. All of the 15 floats in the parade will be huge with what Universal promises to be an astonishing lighting display. Expect to hear a brand new musical score accompanying this year’s parade!
Universal’s Holiday Parade Featuring Macy’s will run daily starting Saturday, November 18 through January 6, 2018 at Universal Studios Florida. The parade route starts in Hollywood and runs through Production Central and New York before returning to Hollywood. While there are no bad spots to watch the parade, we always recommend catching the parade in New York near the Christmas tree!
Given that it’s Macy’s, expect…
(o) changing rooms overflowing with other shoppers’ clothes
(o) chaotic and disorganized floor shelving
(o) a general air of discontent and malaise.
But, hey, I guess we all float down here.