Gabrielle Russon
On an 80-degree Florida Winter day, it still felt like Christmas at Universal Studios Florida as the crowd gathered on the curb to see what was coming next down the street.
There were dancers and over-the-top floats from popular children’s movies. The biggest stars of the show were Macy’s balloons.
Since the early 2000s, Macy’s and Universal have partnered together for the annual Holiday Parade that is scheduled daily at 5:30 p.m. through Dec. 31 for the park’s seasonal festivities.
“Macy’s balloons are such an iconic part of the holiday season and it’s really special that our guests can come to Universal Orlando to see them firsthand,” said Lora Sauls, Assistant Director of Creative Development and Show Direction, Entertainment Art and Design at Universal Orlando Resort.
“Macy’s is the perfect partner as their larger-than-life balloons complement our state-of-the-art parade floats. This year we are excited to introduce a new Madagascar balloon. Rico the penguin will fly high in the sky wielding a Christmas mallet that he used to break himself free of a holiday ornament.”
For Universal Studios, it’s a fast turnaround to go from the creepy, dark Halloween Horror Nights to a cheerful family-friendly Christmas.
“Our holiday celebration begins not too long after Halloween Horror Nights ends, so as you can imagine time can sometimes be one of our biggest challenges,” Soules said.
On a recent visit, towering palm trees were lit up with Christmas lights and holiday music played throughout the park. The crowd-pleaser was the parade, which blended in iconic holiday staples, like Santa Claus, with intellectual property from DreamWorks Animation, like “Shrek” and “Minions.”
Behind the scenes, a parade like this takes hundreds of employees to pull off, creatively and operationally, Soules said.
“We have performers, drivers, escorts and, of course, balloon handlers all making the Holiday Parade happen daily, but some of the jobs behind the scenes are our entertainment technicians that make everything look incredible,” Soules said.
“They assure the floats drive, the lights are twinkling, and the snow is falling all in time with the beautiful musical score of the Holiday Parade. We also have an amazing costume and makeup team that fabricates new costumes for our performers every year and creates that makeup look for each role.”
Soules also credited the entertainment production team as “the superheroes” who keep the parade running as smoothly as possible.
