I received complimentary park tickets for the purpose of review, but all words and opinions are my own.

Last week the boys and I headed down to Orlando to kick off the holidays with a trip to Universal Studios to check out the variety of holiday festivities they have there. Don't worry, for you Scrooges, there is plenty of non-holiday fun to be had too. Universal Orlando does a great job of integrating the holiday festivities and decor in with their regular schedule, so that you get just the right about of holiday cheer. You know, the kind that gets you all warm and fuzzy and excited to celebrate!

{Merry Grinchmas in Suess Landing}

Over in Islands of Adventure, Seuss Landing is all lit up with Christmas cheer. You can't miss the myriad of holiday decorations, and apparently my youngest felt the need to hug a tree. Everything about this land inspires you to get silly.



How the Grinch Stole Christmas is one of my very favorite Christmas movies of all time. I loved seeing quotes from the movie dabbled among the decorations here.


You can't leave Seuss Landing without a visit to see the Grinch. After all, they don't say Merry Grinchmas for nothing. Seriously though, the show is amazing, and the actors do a great job of recreating the magic of the movie and book on stage.



{Holiday Decor and Fun in Universal Studios}


After our share of Grinchmas fun over at Universal's Islands of Adventure, we headed over the Universal Studios park for more holiday cheer. I loved that there were fun decorations and holiday characters to meet everywhere we turned, including these two very tall toy soldiers!




There were also famous floats from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade sprinkled throughout the park, and we had fun getting great photo opps with each of them. Where else can you sit next to a gigantic Garfield?


The Macy's Holiday Parade at Universal Orlando is pure fun in one colorful and high flying package. I loved the fact that the floats were from the actual Macy's parade in New York. I have always wanted to see that parade in person, and now in a small way, I did! More fun holiday characters help to really make the parade a success, including this crying guy. I don't know why, but it just cracked me up!





Santa Clause came at the very end to wish us all a Merry Christmas, and my youngest was thrilled, because it looks like he was waving right to us!


Unfortunately, we were there during a weekday, so we missed out on seeing the incredible Mannheim Steamroller Concert, but the remaining dates for the season are December 21st and 22nd at 6pm., so if you can plan your trip around one of those dates, I would highly recommend it!


During the day you can also catch fun holiday shows for the whole family throughout the park, including A Barney Holiday and the Blues Brothers Holiday Show.

Although we loved checking out the holiday fun, we could not miss out on the incredible rides and adventure that Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure offer. This was our first time visiting since the new Despicable Me Minion Mayhem ride was introduced, and it was so fun. "Bananas!" I also rode Spiderman and Transformers for the first time and the graphics and simulation on these rides is just unbelievable. Check out this video I created with Voyzee with a fun holiday rhyme to see how we enjoyed the rest of our trip!

{The Blue Man Group}
We also were given ticket to see The Blue Man Group while we were visiting. I was a little hesitant especially when the usher told us the show was an hour and 45 minutes long, I wasn't sure it would be able to keep the boys entertained that long. Man, was I ever wrong. This show is incredible and we laughed and smiled the entire time. If you have not seen the Blue Man Group in person, it is a must see for the whole family, and I promise you, you will not be disappointed! Our trip to check out the holiday festivities at Universal Studios was a hit, and I can't go back next year to check out the new additions to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
Have you ever been to Universal Orlando for the holidays?