GET READY FOR FUN AT UNIVERSAL ORLANDO

The park explodes with color and new attractions in 2023

By Sandra Chambers

Put on your party clothes, don your detective hat and sharpen your villainous skills for loads of fun at Universal Orlando’s new attractions this spring and summer.

UNIVERSAL ORLANDO’S MARDI GRAS: INTERNATIONAL FLAVORS OF CARNAVAL

Join the fun at the parkwide celebration of Universal’s Mardi Gras: International Flavors of Carnaval from February 4 through April 16, 2023. The Carnaval is inspired by celebrations from New Orleans, Brazil, Belgium and beyond. A Mardi Gras parade filled with vibrant floats, street dancers and street performers marches through the park, and on select nights, there are live performances by top names in music. This year, guests can take their Mardi Gras celebration to the next level with the new “Mardi Gras Float Ride and Dinner Experience.” Reserve your spot and have fun tossing beads from a float during the parade. Then enjoy a three-course meal at one of four participating restaurants. universalorlando.com/mardigras

Universal Orlando’s first-ever escape room invites guests of all ages to solve their way through two immersive escape adventures inspired by Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment’s Blockbuster films: “Jurassic World” and “Back to the Future.” Each adventure consists of eight immersive environments that feature state-of-the-art challenges, detailed sets and captivating storylines.

In Jurassic World: Escape, guests become new geneticists-in-training, splicing dinosaur DNA to create new genetic codes. When an apex predator escapes, guests must work together to avoid becoming its prey.

In Back to the Future: Outatime, Biff has stolen Doc Brown’s newest time travel device to sabotage the space-time continuum. Guests must work together to track down Biff and save the past and future before they run “outatime.” These story-driven adventures are also randomized, so guests can get a different answer each time they play, as well as being adjustable based on participants’ skill level and desired complexity. universalorlando. com/web/en/us/things-to-do/entertainment/ universals-great-movie-escape

Coming Summer of 2023 as part of the new Minion Land, an interactive blaster game will invite guests to put their villainous skills to the test as they compete to join the ranks of the franchise’s most infamous supervillains. The family-friendly attraction will transport guests to VillainCon, the biggest criminal convention on the planet. There, they will take part in an epic competition to see if they have what it takes to become the newest member