It’s on! Universal’s Mardi Gras and SeaWorld’s Seven Seas Food Festival are battling for the best non-Disney foodie event in the Orlando theme park world! (It’s a very specific title.) Which one is right for you? Let’s meet the contestants!
About The Festivals
Universal Orlando’s Mardi Gras
At Universal Studios Florida, you can celebrate New Orleans’ culture with a pandemic-friendly Mardi Gras event! While there’s no traditional parade or live concerts this year, you can still enjoy delicious food, drinks and entertainment!
NEW for 2021, you can experience celebratory treats from 13 different cultures (instead of primarily Cajun fare). Food booths are spread throughout the park and include countries such as Italy, Puerto Rico, Germany, and Brazil.
SeaWorld’s Seven Seas Food Festival
Technically the biggest theme park food festival in Orlando (as it includes 200+ menu items), SeaWorld’s festival includes 26 booths with a variety of culinary palates. Options include North Atlantic, Mediterranean, a Sweets Market, and even an all-vegan booth.
The Food
Above all else, a food festival needs a delicious variety of culinary delights! Let’s take a closer look at the menu offerings for SeaWorld’s Seven Seas Food Festival and Universal’s Mardi Gras.
SeaWorld’s Seven Seas Food Festival
Let me start with the most important thing: SeaWorld’s food tastes PHENOMENAL! I tried two plates, and they were both top notch!
We started with the Palermo Fontina Cheese Meatballs from the Italian Market. Now if you’re a regular reader of my blog, you might be a little surprised that I ordered this dish. While I’m not a full-time vegan or vegetarian, I can easily go days without eating meat, and I won’t even miss it (with the strong exception of seafood or the occasional very rare, bleeding steak). Knowing this, you won’t be surprised that the meatballs were a special request from my son. While I initially dragged my feet and grumbled internally at the thought of “wasting” a plate on stupid meatballs, I was pleasantly surprised by this dish! The meatballs were served with a flavorful sauce and topped with shredded cheese. They were tender with a definite cheese flavor inside the meat. My kids and I loved sharing this dish, and the portion was large enough for us all to have several bites.
On the other side of the world, we tried the Crispy Florida Cracked Conch from the Caribbean Market. These were ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! The conch was made into round fritters with some sort of delicious batter. It kind of tasted like a spicy seafood hush puppy (but in a good way). The fritters came with a mango salsa that really sold the whole dish. My daughter and I were both obsessed. I would go back to SeaWorld just for this conch!
Universal’s Mardi Gras
At Mardi Gras, I got to try three different plates. While they were all very tasty, they weren’t quite as satisfying as my SeaWorld dishes. I will add that I don’t think this was a simple matter of flavor profile. The food at SeaWorld was seasoned more appropriately and tasted like it was made with higher quality ingredients. The food at Universal’s festival tasted more like theme park fare (made for efficient, mass production).
Either way – the food I tasted at Mardi Gras was certainly an experience! Here’s what I got to try:
Of course, I had to taste the Crawfish Boil. Is there a better New Orleans culinary tradition? As always, the crawfish were a challenge to eat, but the meat that I was able to dig out of the tail was pretty tasty! The corn was also really great, but the sausage and potatoes were just okay. They were pretty bland, and I ended up giving most of my sausage away.
I then tried the Etouffée. This is one of my favorite traditional New Orleans dishes. I love the savory seafood stew over the warm rice. While this version was certainly more rice than stew, and the portion was pretty filling (and a great value at approximately $5 – $6)!
Lastly, Hung Up On Theme Parks and I split the Vegan Bratwurst with Beer Braised Onions from the German booth. While the protein was not a convincing substitute for actual meat, I enjoyed the flavor! The mustard and onions were delicious, and once again – Universal served a very generous portion! The brat included a bunch of homemade chips that were super satisfying. This honestly could have been an entire meal for me.
Final Thoughts on Food?
Both festivals had a wide variety of tastes and culinary styles from which to choose, and both featured a fine value as far as pricing per portion. For the best value, however, consider purchasing a tasting lanyard for a huge savings! I won’t go into the details here, but you should definitely look into both Universal’s and SeaWorld’s lanyard options and pricing. And don’t forget about Annual Passholder specials and discounts!
Entertainment
SeaWorld’s Seven Seas Food Festival
SeaWorld’s daytime operations will remain very much the same (with the notable exception of the festival booths of course), but each festival weekend SeaWorld will feature special concerts in their Bayside Stadium. Concerts include acts such as Jeremy Camp, Scotty McCreery, Craig Morgan, and an assortment of Tribute Artists. Check SeaWorld’s website for the exact concert schedule.
You might be wondering how SeaWorld will maintain pandemic protocols with live concerts. The Bayside Stadium will be operating at a limited capacity with social distancing encouraged between parties. Additionally, concert audio will be played in other areas of the park so you don’t need to be physically in the auditorium to enjoy the music.
Universal’s Mardi Gras
In past years, Universal has offered both live concerts and a huge parade each event evening. In a pandemic world, they’ve decided to forgo this entertainment. Instead, Universal has scattered the parade floats and performers throughout the park, maintaining a lively atmosphere all day long. While I miss the parade, I do appreciate the ability to take in the floats at my own pace. Additionally, the live Mardi Gras performers add a lot of fun, posing for pictures and handing out beads.
And don’t forget the highly immersive Mardi Gras Tribute Store! With four themed rooms and lots of specialty merchandise, this is truly a unique experience!
Final Thoughts on Entertainment?
If live music is important to you, then SeaWorld is definitely the right choice. Personally, however, I far preferred the all-day festive atmosphere at Universal. The floats are beautiful, and I enjoyed getting a taste of celebration throughout my visit.
Festival Logistics
Even if you create the most amazing event in the entire world, you’ve gotta make it accessible. If no one can understand how to get to your event, no one gets to experience it; right? Let’s take a look at some of the finer details:
Operating Hours
Universal’s event is occurring daily from Feb 6 – March 28 while SeaWorld’s food festival only operates on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays until May 9. Granted SeaWorld’s run is over a month longer than Universal’s event, but the severe restriction in available dates certainly adds a bit of complication when planning a visit.
Getting Around
While both parks offer maps of their food festival offerings, SeaWorld’s is quite difficult to understand. Here, take a look at this:
While the map clearly shows the locations of each booth, it fails to clearly indicate the type shown. To figure out which number goes with which menu, you actually have to pull up an entirely different page on SeaWorld’s website. It’s very cumbersome and presented some real issues during my visit.
Universal’s map is much more clear:
With the flags, I can clearly tell which culinary palate I can expect at each location. Additionally, the entertainment offerings are marked for optimum navigation!
So, which is the better food festival?
Let’s break it down shall we?
SeaWorld Pros:
- Better Tasting Food
- Live Concerts
- Longer Festival Run
Universal Pros:
- All-day, Themed Entertainment
- Easier to Navigate
- Daily Operation
So, which festival is better? It’s really up to you to decide which aspects are most important to your experience. Ultimately, I prefer Universal’s Mardi Gras. I like the all-day atmosphere and theming of a New Orleans celebration. While I enjoyed SeaWorld’s food a bit more, I will sacrifice a bit of taste for theme.
Which festival do you prefer? Let us know in the comments!
