It has been a solid 6 months since we have jetted off on a vacation (outside of visiting my in laws in Door County) so B and I booked a quick trip down to Universal Orlando Resort for a little weekend getaway. We were joined by my brother in law and his wife, neither of whom had ever been there.

The weekend we chose to go was the kickoff weekend of Universal Studios Mardi Gras Celebration, which runs in 2022 from February 5th to April 24th. There are specialty foods and drinks available at trucks all over Universal Studios Florida, a full blown Mardi Gras themed parade runs nightly (except for three nights in April). There are also live concerts included in the cost of the park ticket most Saturday nights - the weekend we were there the musical act was Sugar Ray but other acts include Diana Ross, Gavin Degraw, Marshmello, LL Cool J, and Becky G to name a few.

My favorite of the food I tried was at a food truck that had different kinds of arepas. I tried the carnitas variation which came with cotija cheese and a mildly spicy sauce. It was very good, ran around $10 with my Universal Passholder discount, and was the perfect amount of food. We also got jambalaya and some beignets.

I felt that there was a great variety of food available in many locations throughout Universal Studios. We never waited more than 5-10 minutes for our food and everything was either warm or hot when we received it. Prices were as expected for theme park food but Universal was offering a food/beverage card that could be purchased - I believe it was $60 for a $75 gift card.

We had a really great time enjoying the Mardi Gras celebration, even though the temperature was around 40-50 degrees each day. I would highly recommend going to Universal for Mardi Gras, especially if you are able to go during a non-Spring Break week.