 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, hey friends, today I'm hanging out at Universal Studios and it is the kickoff of the holiday season here. I forgot my hat, but I do have a Holiday Universal Studios mask, which makes me so happy. Anywho, let's go do this. It being a Saturday, the park is extremely busy and actually Islands of Adventure is just near the capacity. So it's going to get even busier over here. We are going to be taking our time here today because one thing that is definite. I want to stick around and I want to see like the Christmas tree lights and I want to see everything just bright and merry. So we're going to have to be here until dark or until like close. But there it is, our first look at the Christmas tree. This is the girdiest Christmas tree out of all of the parks. Nobody can hang with Universal Studios when it comes to girth. So we're definitely going to wait out and see this bad boy light up later on tonight. So in the meantime, we have some other holiday festivities that we can actually entertain you with. Hey, are you aware of Earl the Squirrel? He is wearing a mask. Earl the Squirrel has a mask. Jackie just showed me. Look at it. It's a holiday mask too. He's got a holiday mask. I can give him a better look than yesterday. It's fancy. Look at all the decorations out here. This is going to be so beautiful later and I absolutely love just hearing the music and walking down this street. That's like one of my favorite things to do during the holidays here. Hey friend. We're going to actually head to one of the pass holder lounges and get some AC and probably some good food and drink. I hear that they actually might even have some holiday food and drink. We'll find out though. Right here at Lumbards. I didn't even know they had an annual pass holder lounge here. That's pretty fun. I'm excited to come in here. First timers. Oh and I'm with Jackie. Hello. Yeah. Hi friends. This place is actually very beautiful. We had dinner and cocktails in here once before but never up to a pass holder lounge. Look at that. So beautiful, right? Very fancy fountains. So when we actually got here we had a check in and we showed them our annual pass and they actually gave us a return time to come back. And that makes it easier because then it's like a dinner reservation and you go about walking around the parks until it's your turn to go up. And up there is actually where the lounge is. It looks so fancy. I see two chairs sitting there. I'm very excited. I love doing new things. Oh we're going up. Look at those fishes. Oh wow. It's so beautiful up here. Look at the art too. This truly is like a little pleasant surprise up here. I was not expecting all of this like glamorous elegance, right? Look at this fireplace. I wish we could turn the fire around. Oh my gosh. Please crank it up. Crank it up. Turn it up. They're actually playing Christmas music up here too. And look at those ceilings. I like them a lot. If you guys want to take a peek at the menu right there it is. But I already have it pulled up on my phone. And it looks like we have some pretty good food in here. We've got some Baja Mahi tacos. Fish and chips. A nice filet for $29. That's like some really good actual prices. I'm not sure what I'm going to go with. So they don't actually have any pass holder food yet. They had it in October but the menu is no longer available. But what they do have is a holiday drink. And it's called a pair of frosts. I'm so excited to try it. I really didn't even hear what's in it. As soon as they said holiday drink I said we'll take two. That's exactly what we did. Holiday Catalina Frost. The holiday Catalina Frost. And what's it again? It's a runway drink with pear juice. It's sweet and delicious. It could be a dessert or something. I love it. I love that. So we're going to cheers our Christmas drinks. To the holidays. It's okay. I like it. I like it a lot. I think it's really good. It's like pear juice. Oh wow guys the food is here. This is phenomenal looking isn't it? Yeah. These are really nice portion sizes. I'm very happy right now. So yeah I decided to get the bone-in pork chop with the asparagus and the fingerland potatoes. And this looks absolutely phenomenal. The pork chop was phenomenal here. But there's another really cool thing I want to show you. Outside this door. Wait till you guys see the view from out here. Look at this view. This is on the outside of Lombards. It's so beautiful isn't it? You can actually sit here too. I'm sure if you come here you can ask to reserve this table. You can even see the backside of John's. That was so great to actually step inside Lombards there. That was probably the best little place you can actually get away from the crowds. Very shot. Very very good. Then we come back out and wowza. Crowds everywhere. So we're going to dive right into the Diagon Alley and just see what they got going on as it comes to the holidays. You know because that's what we're all about here folks. All about the holidays. Thank you. Oh it's super pretty. It's real dead. Holy moly. Look at that like dead wreath that actually leads to Nocturne Alley. That's a cool detail. And then all of the other stuff actually just fits in with the shops. I really like it. Look at how the wreaths actually fit too. So this is the door to the wool shop and they have a bunch of yarn as the wreath. And then up there are the daily profit and the lawn is actually just like a whole bunch of letters like the daily profit. On an off chance that we don't actually make it over to Hogsmeade because of islands getting that capacity, we're going to come back here and actually hang out at night time. So we'll see either way. Whatever we can possibly do. Oh I'm loving it. You can see the lights are turned on a little bit but you really can't tell right now because of you know how bright it is in here. One thing for sure though I want to wait to actually see a show that they actually perform here in Diagon Alley. And I think that's coming up next. Oh yep. Happy that we actually waited around for this. That's my first time seeing Snoop this year in Diagon Alley. It's crazy. And we were just sitting here and then all of a sudden our party got very bigger. Jojo. Christina, a burger with everything and then Tampa J. Well he showed up a little bit right before everyone was just like oh this is going to be it. This is it. And it was it. It was magic. But now we're going to make our way out of Diagon Alley. The lights are like on like I said it's just too bright. So we're going to head on out. If we can we'll come back and we'll see this at night. Only if we can though. But I think we're going to head over to Diagon Alley because they do have a holiday beverage there that just started today. I am so excited. So excited for things to actually get darker and the lights to get brighter. It's always a tradition to stop at Finnegan's and we got such a great seat. Live entertainment right behind us. This is the holiday exclusive right here. But they don't have all the ingredients to make it. Luckily our waitress has her drink. That's kind of like a secret menu here and I cannot wait to try it. We're going to get some Irish Christmas music. Loving it. So reindeer poop. Cheers. There's some rubble mitts in there. I can smell it. And some bear leaves. That is delicious. That is delicious and dangerous. Delicious because you can drink a lot of it. Wow. Good cheers. Again. That's Finnegan's. But now I think it's time to move along and one of the things that I'm going to miss the most about this year is there's no Macy Balloons. We're going to get back to the lights and then definitely go in the tribute store. There's no place to go. Let it snow. Let it snow. Let it snow. Right here it is. Universal's holiday experience and it looks like we only have a five minute wait time. So we're going to be able to see some of the Macy Balloons. I am so excited for this. This definitely brings a little Halloween Horror Nights vibe to it. I'm really loving it. Here we are. Oh wow guys. This is amazing. I love it. I love it so much. This is amazing. Kudos to Universal Studios for this. Honestly. They are just so massive. Look. I got to give you a comparison here. This tree right here is probably at least a foot taller than I am. And take a look at the Gingerbread Man. What? Crazy. This is so much fun guys. I am so happy that they decided to do something like this. Santa. You can actually meet Santa Claus. What's awesome is that. Oh man. And the Christmas music just makes everything so much better. It is with a bunch of snow. I'm loving the fact that Universal is actually using snow. Oh. I love it. This is what we need. Now I think it's time we actually head on over to the tribute store and actually check that out. I'm so excited because this looks like it probably could be the highlight of the holidays at Universal Studios. Well I don't know. We're going to find out. Oh wow. You can smell it as soon as you walk in. This is so awesome. Wow. I feel like I'm in Santa's like. This is good stuff guys. Oh. What? Beautiful. This is so amazing. Wow. And now here's another room in here. Oh now this is my type of room. I love the multi-colored lights. Oh this is so beautiful. I wish this was my living room. When you can see the Grinch up there. Look it. Wow. This place is so much fun. They have some holiday treats and even an alcoholic eggnog that we're definitely going to check out. It's so funny because we're going from a German Christmas to the Grinch Christmas to what's next? Well I don't know. We'll have to take a peek-see. We're in a wizardly world Christmas. They have their own room in here. I love it. This is really awesome guys. This is some good stuff. Look it. Oh wow. Harry Potter Village. You can buy this. This whole entire setup right now I'm going to put my math skills to a test. 200, 100, 330, 4, 500, 580, 580, 80, 6, $700. $700 for all of that. Correct me if I'm wrong though. Now we're going to move into the next room which is Earl the Squirrel's farm. We're nuts about trees. They've got tons of great sweets in here. Wow. Look at these holiday gummy lights. Butterscotch, peppermint and cinnamon $2.99 each. Oh boy. Watch out for those flashing lights. And then some more delicious things. Oh wow. Chocolate peppermint mousse ornament. Holiday wreath cake. Vegan reindeer brownie. This is some good stuff. This will take a long time to get through all of it. I think I'm going to get a piece of the holiday wreath cake. And then definitely an egg nog. Here's the actual drinks. I know it's a little discoloring but we have hot chocolate with the marshmallow bomb for $5.49. And then Earl's nutty nog. And Earl's nutty nog with alcohol. That is how you make hot cocoa right there. That is a fancy hot cocoa machine. Right here's the wreath cake and wow. I'm already a little shocked. It's a vanilla cake with buttercream icing and peppermint and then Jackie got some nuts. I got some nuts. And here comes our actual alcoholic eggnogs. Here we go. Here's our eggnogs. Oh boy. Oh. That's a piece of coconut cake they put on top. A piece of coconut cake? It's delicious. Like I said I would buy this on its own. Oh and then we get a little cinnamon. Oh wow. This is some fancy stuff. Can I have extra cinnamon? Yes. Yeah. That's the way. Sticky bun. Jackie got the sticky bun. I think I'm going to try the eggnog first but I shouldn't mix it. I asked for extra cinnamon and they put it on top of my coconut piece. So like it's going to be very cinnam-y coconut-y egg. So I'm going, I'm going with the coconut piece first here. It's real good. And now for the eggnog. Thanks. Yeah. But the cinnamon, don't ask for extra cinnamon. I don't know. I mean I got to mix it somehow but it is good. I have a fork. This is seriously so good and I was a little shocked. At first the cinnamon took me back. I probably shouldn't have asked for extra cinnamon but once I mixed it, oh yeah it was definitely worth it. But now we got to try this cake. The reed cake. Oh boy. Oh yeah. That is good. Look how soft it looks. Oh yeah. It's a beautiful cut. We're going all in. Yeah, that is probably my favorite holiday treat so far of the year. I haven't had many but I'm going to look back and compare a lot of things to this cake. This is my third. That's the best thing I've tasted on that. If you end up getting the eggnog and the cake together take the cake, dump it inside the eggnog and it's kind of like tres leches. Very delicious. You know I just realized we're just sitting here right outside of Race Through New York with Jimmy Fallon listening to Christmas music eating Christmas desserts looking at a Christmas tree. This is a good night. Cheers. Cheers. Cake cheers. Not cheers. Oh. So delicious. I absolutely love the eggnog. At the end it got so much better. I would not ask for extra cinnamon. I don't know why I did. I'm not even a big cinnamon man. Anyhoo, we're going to keep moving along. That was delicious. I'm coming back for it and we're going to see more holiday things. Oh. It is so beautiful. Look at this. And actually everything is merry and bright. Oh. Yes, this is what I was talking about. Right? This is it. It looks awesome. I just love hearing all the Christmas music, the screams coming from Rip Riding Roller Coaster and then of course all the ornaments. Wow guys, this is so amazing. So happy to be here right now. Wow. And we actually haven't done anything on Island's side. We're actually going to head out and cut over to Island's Adventure so that way we can see Seuss Landing and then also Hogsmeade itself because that is beautiful during the holidays. Oh, look at how cool that is. That's so cool. Thank you guys. Oh, that's better. Strike up. Oh, now we're going to add the bubble effect. Oh, wait a minute. Some good stuff. The bubbles are snow. Because the Hogwarts Express is at like an 85 minute wait we're going to walk over and we're coming out by the Hard Rock Cafe and I'm still having a hard time. Every time I look in the camera and not having my hat on. So we're going to head ahead and let you know. Oh, and here we are coming to Island's. Do you guys see those spotlights? Yes, we do. This is it guys. Look at all the lights. I am so excited. Oh boy. I think what we're going to do is actually head to Seuss Landing first and then to Hogsmeade because I love Seuss Landing too. Oh boy. Here it comes. It's time for a little Grinchmas. This is what I meant when I said I like the whole entire area over here at Seuss Landing. This is great. This is Grinchmas right here. Wow guys. So good to see all these lights. So many Christmas lights. Oh This is perfect. Right here is where Cindy Lou Who actually meets and did you know? That's my mom's nickname because her name is Cindy Lou. I'm going to keep moving along Street to Hogsmeade but Seuss Landing was beautiful over there. I know that a lot of the characters are as active as they would be. I know that there is a photo opportunity with the Grinchms himself but it's not as cool as last year but we'll take whatever we can get honestly because I didn't think anything would happen. Oh here it comes right now. Ding dong ding dong So happy to be here. This is definitely one of my favorite places to be during the holidays. It's just so Christmasy. Hogwarts Castle is doing a projection but it's not changing so it's just kind of an ambience projection but it's still so beautiful and it's got the Christmas tree right on it. It's still regardless a very beautiful thing just to look at even if it's for a couple minutes and then going about your business. I was kind of hoping for a change in the projections but I figured that might draw a huge crowd here. If you've ever come down here before during a projection show or anything like that you wouldn't be able to stand like right here where I am. It is super crowded. So the fact that they're just doing a little touch like that is good because it keeps people just like quick-looking then go and I like that. It's actually making it a lot easier. Because they're not doing any of the projections or changing any of the projections. We're going to use up the last bit of time that we have and head back to Universal side so that we can enjoy more of the holiday festivities even though over here is beautiful. It really is beautiful. And one section of the park that we actually didn't get to check out is the Beverly Hills side and they have some pretty pretty lights as well. Look at that. Come Santa Claus here. Santa Claus right down Santa Claus way. This is really really fun. Very festive too. Oh and they can see the icicle lights from here. This was one of my favorite spots for Halloween Horror Nights last year or not last year. I don't know actually anymore but I absolutely loved it in here when it was the pumpkin forest and I love these little icicle lights they have here. Makes it really fun and festive. I do have to say the clouds on this side of the park definitely dwindled down a lot. There is so much space to walk around and enjoy. That makes me happy. I mean there is really almost nobody here right now. It definitely got so much more quieter. Wow it really does get prettier over here. You know I would love to know from you guys though what do you like better? Do you like Diagon Alley during Christmas or do you like Hogsmeade during Christmas? I mean they're both like so awesome. The only thing that's missing from this side is the castle. Now we're going to go in and actually look at Diagon Alley. Oh boy. Two transitions in one day. We're going from the muggle world to the wizardly world. I like it. Everybody's running to get the fire shot. You could not walk anywhere in here and now look at it. This is the time you would want to be here like the lights are brighter. This is great. Now we're going to head back up and actually linger around the Christmas tree because they're going to actually do the cinematic spectacular and we're thinking maybe the crowds will basically just disappear there. So everyone over there is waiting for the cinematic spectacular and like I said we were going to see if we can just kind of get a less crowded Christmas area over here and it looks a little better. Still crowded though. Oh but I like it. But now we can actually focus on all the theming lights. So for instance like you notice the Italian lights above Luz restaurant and then the different lights for Ben and Jerry's and then the Starbucks lights and then the green lights for the Irish imports. Don't you like how they theme them? Like to the shops? Very cool. The Macy's store right here. I like it that you're not feeling so rushed and you can pay attention to more detail over here. Hey friends! Hey! Thank you! Decided to sit over here and see if we can see the fireworks that shoot up from the cinematic spectacular kind of over the tree. I think that would be a little pretty so we're just going to wait it out you know? Don't you agree? I agree!