2024 Holidays at Universal Orlando

[Brian G.]

The 2024 Holidays at Universal Orlando dates announced

Universal Orlando Resort has announced dates for their upcoming Holiday season, beginning Friday, November 22, and running daily through Tuesday, December 31. https://x.com/UniversalORL/status/1810704911643873484 No other details were shared, but returning favorites like “The Magic of Christma

www.insideuniversal.net

 

[Mad Dog]

The 2024 Holidays at Universal Orlando dates announced

Universal Orlando Resort has announced dates for their upcoming Holiday season, beginning Friday, November 22, and running daily through Tuesday, December 31. https://x.com/UniversalORL/status/1810704911643873484 No other details were shared, but returning favorites like “The Magic of Christma

www.insideuniversal.net

Lot earlier announcement than last year, when they waited until the last minute. I'll give them credit for that. I'm glad I anticipated this and booked early November for a vacation when the weather is better for driving down. I'll probably be skipping Holidays at Universal in the future. Potential for too many cold days. Mid November wasn't bad though, when they were starting then.

 

[IzzyB]

Glad they learned their lesson and announced earlier. Shocked it is so late into November though. Hoping at least 1 new offering, it is getting old, they need more.

 

[Brian G.]

Glad they learned their lesson and announced earlier. Shocked it is so late into November though. Hoping at least 1 new offering, it is getting old, they need more.

Think this year would be “Year 7” since the overhaul. IMO, a few float switch outs would be ideal to freshen up the parade a bit.

 

[IzzyB]

Think this year would be “Year 7” since the overhaul. IMO, a few float switch outs would be ideal to freshen up the parade a bit.

I guess I should say they don't offer enough in my opinion. The parade is fun, so is Grinchmas. But nothing else really excites me. We were able to do all the Christmas offerings in both parks in one day arriving between 2 and 3pm and leaving before close while hopping parks twice. This included a very long sit down dinner.

I needed a full day at Sea World to see all the offerings and actually went back a second time because we liked it so much. We did quick service at SW and while we didn't go open to close we did noon to close.

I would never go twice for Universal offerings. Once and done for us. Kids absolutely LOVE universal theming and park over Sea World, but when it came to Christmas stuff they were disappointed and felt it was Meh compared to SW.

 

[TVUpbm]

Setting up Mistletoe Pines in CityWalk was really good for the event IMO. I'm surprised that never returned.

 

[Mad Dog]

Glad they learned their lesson and announced earlier. Shocked it is so late into November though. Hoping at least 1 new offering, it is getting old, they need more.

Yeah. Last year the excuse for the late start was that it was an early Thanksgiving and they allocated the same number of weeks as before. This year it's a late Thanksgiving so that rational doesn't hold up. They used to start around Nov. 12/13/14....No doubt the real reason is a bit of cost cutting, though I know some hate to hear that word. But it is what it is....I don't care. I'm done with their Holiday season since they kicked the start date back like Epcot does. We have more Christmas shows and stuff to see in the Pittsburgh area. If I have to wear a coat, I may as well stay here. The times we went to Orlando in Dec., it was chilly most every day. So we quit Dec. and went mid November when they were starting the Holiday stuff earlier. . Mid November was nice weather though.

 

[Brian G.]

No doubt the real reason is a bit of cost cutting, though I know some hate to hear that word. But it is what it is....I don't care.

No, they just hate seeing it pop in every thread as the de facto answer to everything. It can be exhausting.

They used to start around Nov. 12/13/14.

They moved the dates back because the timeframe between HHN ending and Christmastime was too tight a squeeze. Is Nov 22 later than usual? Yes. But look at the history of the last 10 years.

2014 - Dec 6
2015 - Dec 5
2016 - Dec 3
2017 - Nov 18
2018 - Nov 17
2019 - Nov 16
2020 - Nov 14
2021 - Nov 13
2022 - Nov 12
2023 - Nov 17
2024 - Nov 22

The "usual dates" of Nov 12-14 fell within the COVID period, which is more unusual than the normal circumstances, and HHN ended Oct 31.

 

[Mad Dog]

No, they just hate seeing it pop in every thread as the de facto answer to everything. It can be exhausting.



They moved the dates back because the timeframe between HHN ending and Christmastime was too tight a squeeze. Is Nov 22 later than usual? Yes. But look at the history of the last 10 years.

2014 - Dec 6
2015 - Dec 5
2016 - Dec 3
2017 - Nov 18
2018 - Nov 17
2019 - Nov 16
2020 - Nov 14
2021 - Nov 13
2022 - Nov 12
2023 - Nov 17
2024 - Nov 22

The "usual dates" of Nov 12-14 fell within the COVID period, which is more unusual than the normal circumstances, and HHN ended Oct 31.

The new stuff started in 2017, so Nov. 22 is a real aberration. I really don't care. Makes my decision easy, like with Epcot. Don't go when it gets chilly. I don't buy their story since it's the complete opposite of last years' dates. If it quacks like a duck......They have a credibility gap when it comes to the truth....like the trial period for 3D Kong glasses Just admit it Universal. You're saving a few bucks and the Efficiency Committee warrants their existence. It's not that big a deal to me since I expected it. It's become their MO....But I still love Universal Orlando....regardless . They've just lost me as a Holiday season customer. But I come other times.

 

[Brian G.]

I don't buy their story since it's the complete opposite of last years' dates. If it quacks like a duck......They have a credibility gap when it comes to the truth....

You're saving a few bucks and the Efficiency Committee warrants their existence. It's not that big a deal to me since I expected it. It's become their MO

What are you even blabbering about?

 

[Mad Dog]

What are you even blabbering about?

It's obviously a cost cutting thing, bottom line. Their story on Thanksgiving date reason was what they used on their official Universal AP page last year when lots of posters complained about no notification and the later start date than usual.

 

[IzzyB]

They moved the dates back because the timeframe between HHN ending and Christmastime was too tight a squeeze. Is Nov 22 later than usual? Yes. But look at the history of the last 10 years.

2014 - Dec 6
2015 - Dec 5
2016 - Dec 3
2017 - Nov 18
2018 - Nov 17
2019 - Nov 16
2020 - Nov 14
2021 - Nov 13
2022 - Nov 12
2023 - Nov 17
2024 - Nov 22

The "usual dates" of Nov 12-14 fell within the COVID period, which is more unusual than the normal circumstances, and HHN ended Oct 31.

It is just interesting that other parks do it earlier and also have Halloween events. SW starts November 8th. So not sure that need that many days to convert from Halloween to Christmas. SW Halloween stuff ends Nov 2nd (Hallowscream) and 3rd (Kid event). I really don't care as I will probably do early December instead of early November like I would normally do for SW. Not a huge deal for me.

 

[Brian G.]

It's obviously a cost cutting thing, bottom line. Their story on Thanksgiving date reason was what they used on their official Universal AP page last year when lots of posters complained about no notification and the later start date than usual.

Great. IDK why you keep bringing up Thanksgiving when my post didn't mention anything about it. If you can link that response, I'd love to see it because that would be funny as hell if they said that.

It is just interesting that other parks do it earlier and also have Halloween events. SW starts November 8th. So not sure that need that many days to convert from Halloween to Christmas. SW Halloween stuff ends Nov 2nd (Hallowscream) and 3rd (Kid event). I really don't care as I will probably do early December instead of early November like I would normally do for SW. Not a huge deal for me.

I'm not gonna sit here and say Universal is the best Holiday offering in Orlando because it isn't.

But we cannot compare the two on a logistics level. SeaWorld doesn't even operate the whole park during Howl-O-Scream, and the bulk of the Christmas offerings are set up during October because it's closed off for HoS. (i.e. Sea of Trees, Ice Skating). Their Scarezones aren't even that populated with props.

In contrast, Universal doesn't put one speck of Christmas up in USF until all the Halloween stuff is done.

 

[Mad Dog]

It is just interesting that other parks do it earlier and also have Halloween events. SW starts November 8th. So not sure that need that many days to convert from Halloween to Christmas. SW Halloween stuff ends Nov 2nd (Hallowscream) and 3rd (Kid event). I really don't care as I will probably do early December instead of early November like I would normally do for SW. Not a huge deal for me.

Seems they're pretty quick with those changeovers at both Universal & Disney. I recall photos from last year that most all of the HHN stuff was down in a few days and they were putting up the Seuss Xmas decorations (started Oct. 24th) even before. They're both good at those changeovers. ....@Brian G. ....I was never referring to your explanations from last year. For some reason you took it personal. I was always referring to Universal's explanation on their FB AP page last year when there was an uproar from guests that scheduled their vacations anticipating Holidays as usual schedule. Universals story didn't make sense then, and it even makes less sense now with the later date for Thanksgiving. I really don't recall what your reasoning was. But Universal's sticks in my mind since it was fixated on the Thanksgiving date. If they just said they changed their way of doing it, I would be fine with that. But I don't like to be BS ed. They even shut the discussion down since they didn't want to hear it anymore. And I just watched. I don't participate over there.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Looks great, really enjoyed it last year and we were so busy we couldn’t even see the parade!

 

[Mad Dog]

I like their Holiday presentation also. I think they do a really great job with the Parade, Grinchmas, and Seuss Landing.

 

[Patrokls]

Glad I guessed the dates correctly. I wanted to see the Holidays at Universal( and get a little more use out of my seasonal pass before it expires). I’m bringing my mom down with me as our holidays were pretty crappy last year due to my father passing. It’ll be nice to just have some fun with no worries.

 

[IzzyB]

I'm not gonna sit here and say Universal is the best Holiday offering in Orlando because it isn't.

But we cannot compare the two on a logistics level. SeaWorld doesn't even operate the whole park during Howl-O-Scream, and the bulk of the Christmas offerings are set up during October because it's closed off for HoS. (i.e. Sea of Trees, Ice Skating). Their Scarezones aren't even that populated with props.

In contrast, Universal doesn't put one speck of Christmas up in USF until all the Halloween stuff is done.

The parts closed off for HoS are open for the kids stuff though. So the kids candy path and those decorations are over where the HoS is not. Now what I don't know is if they still do the party where the ice skating is. Because they used to do the kids party stuff where the ice skating is, maybe they changed that when they changed the candy path. We haven't been going to that as we typically go and get candy and do a show during the halloween stuff. They used to have the candy over where the scare zones are now, so when HoS came to SW they moved the candy route. They also have to switch the show over because they have a Christmas show in the same theater as the HoS show. But I agree, the sea of trees is put up well before November, it was odd seeing them at Halloween time. But prior to HoS they did have to convert the ice skating rink after halloween for sure, but they had less decorations to take down when HoS didn't exist.

There may be more that needs to be done and no prep is clearly done at Universal. Just seems late to me for Christmas offerings based on all the other parks I know of. But again not a huge deal in the end. It mostly effects people trying to travel early November, but after last year I am sure most waited until dates were released.

 

[Jake S]

for what it's worth, here are some numbers. the gap between the last night of horror nights (11/3) and the first night of the holidays (11/22) is 19 days. that's about a week longer than the past few years, which have ranged from 12-14 days (so, two weeks) since Universal moved the holidays up in 2017.

I'm hesitant to assign a why to this because, well, I don't know why. but if they're communicating the dates this far in advance, I'm inclined to lean toward a "who cares."

 

[fryoj]

Both last year and this year it opens the Friday before Thanksgiving. The calendar just jumped this year with the 1st falling on a Friday.