Universal Studios Orlando Florida

This is Emeril Lagasse's new restaurant at Universal Studios in Orlando. We tried to make reservations for dinner, but they were booked up six months in advance. So, instead we went for lunch. We had reservations, but if you arrive when it opens at 11:30am, you can probably be seated right away.

Every table is served shrimp crackers with a peanut dipping sauce. My husband had the sampler platter, which was very filling and included ribs, pork, and chicken. I had the salmon with vegetable chow mein (which seemed more like lo mein). For dessert we had an upside-down pineapple, ginger ice cream (which I loved), and the macadamia nut pie. There really isn't any reason to order appetizers (unless you see something you want to try), since they will refill your shrimp crackers (like rice crackers but pink and green colored).

We probably saved $6 or $7 by dining at lunch rather than dinner and, although the food was very good, the most enjoyable part was the element-inspired (fire, wind, water, & earth) interior. Also, by going for lunch, we were able to stay at Universal Studios until the concert let out at around 10pm (way too late for me to eat dinner).

Mythos Restaurant is a full service restaurant in the middle of Universal Studios Islands of Adventure.

The restaurant looks out over the Inland Sea and looks like a rock grotto inside. The food was top notch and moderately priced. They serve a wide variety of cuisines, from pizza to sushi.

A nice place to relax in air-conditioning during the heat of the day.

During March and April 2003, Universal Studios, Orlando has live concerts on Saturday nights. We attended the Hootie and the Blowfish concert on March 15th, 2003. It was awesome. At 8pm that evening, Universal had their Mardi Gras Parade, which consisted of floats and costumed stilt walkers, complete with free beads and coins being thrown to the crowd. When the parade finished, the concert began. They had an outdoor stage set up (luckily the rain held off). Food venders were selling beignets and Po'Boys. We positioned ourselves at the back of the crowd and had no trouble hearing or seeing the stage. Towards the end Hootie's friend John Daley (the golfer) came out and sang a song (who knew?). We had a great time--I hadn't been to a rock concert in ages. The crowd was very well behaved (probably tired out from spending all day in the park). I noticed that after 5pm on the night of the concert, tickets were available at a reduced rate, for those who can't do the all-day thing. Florida resident discounts are also available, just check their website for concert dates and ticket information.

http://themeparks.universalstudios.com/orlando/website/what_new.html