Smile! Say Cheese! And prepare to be on display for all to see for a whole holly jolly month! The Christmas Tribute Store is now open, and with it comes a new slew of photo ops for guests to make their mark on Universal’s most beloved holiday tradition!
The Tribute Store Booksellers will be offering custom photo-frame ornaments this year for those interested in the photo package. As with all of Universal’s Tribute Store Photo Packages, the use of these ornaments has not been disclosed – though we’re sure to find them hanging from some bough or another within the store!
While it’s Tribute tradition to offer a variety of different styles within the theme for the photo package, this year’s custom ornaments shake up the season with not only Christmas ornaments, but Mardi Gras, Summer Movie, and Halloween ornaments as well!
Each photo package purchase comes with entitlement to one of these four stellar ornaments – guests provide their own photos, so stage it however you like! It can be anything and include anyone, as long as you keep it respectable. Universal Orlando Resort provides the instructions on how to get your photos submitted, but it has to be done within 48 hours of purchasing the photo package, so make sure you’ve got it ready and chosen before hand!
Each ornament costs 84.14 to purchase; Theme Park Shark was unable to determine the materials the ornaments are made of, however, so whether these ornaments are made of metal with enamel fill or printed acrylic is currently unconfirmed. Bear this in mind when choosing to purchase your ornament! If the final product doesn’t matter as much as the experience of being a part of the Tribute Store this season, that might be a gamble you’re willing to take! Either way, Universal Orlando Resort will be shipping your ornament to your home address once the Tribute Store closes, so you’ll have a forever keepsake regardless!
This experience can be purchased at the Five and Dime at Universal Studios Florida – for those unfamiliar with the Five and Dime despite its recent activity as a center point for UAOP goodies and other exceptional experiences, consider it the gift shop of the Bourne Stuntacular!
And speaking of things available at the Five and Dime, guests can also purchase this year’s Holiday Scavenger Hunt Map!
“The nutcrackers have come to town, and Earl has hidden a puzzle among them. Use the map to locate each one and find their festive holiday couplet. Use the first letter in each rhyme to solve Earl’s puzzle! Happy hunting!”
For 14.91 (no annual pass discounts apply), guests can walk away with a map of the park and a little scorecard pencil to explore every inch of Universal Orlando Resort and hunt down sixteen nutcrackers across Universal Studios Florida, Universal’s Islands of Adventure, and Universal’s CityWalk. Each nutcracker corresponds to a letter, which will help you and your adventuring party uncover the secret message left by Earl the Squirrel!
In previous years, guests were required to complete the scavenger hunt to be rewarded with an exclusive holiday ornament, turning this fun game of exploration into a thrilling hunt with a purpose and a clear, defined goal that everyone participating desired to achieve.
This year, the ornament is give to guests at the counter when the map is purchased, which kind of sucked the fun out. The game was over before it had even started, literally! But there’s still sixteen awesome nutcrackers to find, and holiday displays to be found across all of Universal Orlando Resort!
Earl’s March of the Nutcracker is a fun time, regardless – Universal Creatives put a lot of time and effort into the game, as well as into the nutcracker displays themselves, so getting to appreciate those is just as much a reward as the ornament at the end!
But these are just the beginning of the holiday festivities on offer at Universal Orlando Resort! From scavenger hunts to holiday parades and more, Universal is the place to be for the holiday season; stay tuned for more coverage on all the holly and jolly that Universal is offering this year!
