Mardi Gras / Carnival 2014

I would normally give Mardi Gras 5 stars as I love Mardi Gras but this Mardi Gras season was a little too cold and wet for my liking. The weather was great Saturday and Sunday and I was able to spend some time with some wonderful Unilocalers at Endymion.
Unfortunately the weather was not that great the rest of the days. It was really cold Monday night during Orpheus (my personal favorite parade) and cold and wet Mardi Gras Day. It was my first time ever missing out on the Mardi Gras Day festivities. This chump had to work on Fat Tuesday.
All in all I think Mardi Gras is still one of the best things about our city and state. As the hundreds of thousands of tourists can attest each Mardi Gras season NOLA is the best at staging extravagant parades. The bands, the floats, dance teams, etc. all are top-​notch each and every year!

Mardi Gras was okay this year, albeit a bit slow for me. I didn’t hit as many parades as I have in past years mainly because it was pretty cold out for a lot of them, and come February, I just can’t hang with the cold anymore.
All in all, it was a good time spent with awesome people. I am definitely going to make it a point to try and go to a ball next year, though. I have friends who went to both the Endymion Extravaganza and the Orpheuscapade and I heard nothing but good things about how fun and amazing both were. I should probably start saving for tickets now. Ha.
And of course, my plans for Mardi Gras day were completely ruined because of rain and cold. I ended up having a great day regardless, but I didn’t do anything Mardi Gras related. All in all, the season was a solid 3 stars for me.

There is nothing to complain about when you have a box seat at Gallier Hall to enjoy Mardi Gras Day… except for when you tie for COLDEST Mardi Gras ever on record. There was one warm room, and everyone was in it! We tried bouncing in and out, defrosting and refreezing in-​between, but the temp dropped after Zulu began at 8am. We ended up going back home to drink and watch hilarious parade coverage on a couple news channels, so it was still a fun day overall. Hope next year is warmer!

Mardi Gras is always a blast, and for this one, we even got to experience 3 out of the 4 seasons! It’s pretty spectacular that the temp was in the mid to high 70s on Saturday for Endymion and then a high of 39 on Fat Tuesday. That being said, it didn’t dampen too many spirits. Many people still braved the cold and rain to catch the good throws that people who chose warmth missed out on. I really enjoyed the Unilocal event on the neutral ground before Endymion. They had killer rum punch!
As mentioned in another review, I took off one star for the near freezing temps on Fat Tuesday. I’m pretty sure I can thank that day for currently having a monster of a cold, but it was still worth it! Hopefully the weather gods will reward those of us that are Mardi Gras faithfuls with a warmer Carnival day next year!!!

It’s actually carnival day since it’s after midnight. And the parades this season have been great, good bands, not too many breakdowns. Crowds by me were mostly fun and not too aggressive.
I got to spend beaucoup time with family & friends including taking 3 newbies to their st parades. (Yay, PDXyelpers Melvin & Merilou!)
Minus one star for torturing us with another 30 degree day today when my costume doesn’t really work at that temperature.
See you in 2015!