We spent our last day in New Orleans at Mardi Gras World and then spending time with friends that live uptown!
Alabama to New Orleans Road Trip
Part 1: Birmingham {Grand Bohemian Hotel & Habitat Feed and Social}
Part 2: Demopolis {Gaineswood Plantation}
Part 3: Point Clear & Fairhope {The Grand Hotel & Mardi Gras}
Part 4: New Orleans {Mother’s Restaurant, Airboat Tour, Mr. B’s Bistro, Voodoo Bonelady Tour}
Part 5: New Orleans {St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, Central Grocery, Cafe du Monde, Preservation Hall & The Grill Room}
Part 6: New Orleans {New Orleans School of Cooking, National WWII Museum, Commander’s Palace}
Part 7: New Orleans {Mardi Gras World, Superior Seafood, Uptown Acorn}
Part 8: New Orleans {Windsor Court Hotel}
Mardi Gras World
Our last day in New Orleans started with yet another fun, informative experience – Mardi Gras World! This tour of Blaine Kern’s workshop and warehouse is such a fun part of the Mardi Gras story.
Mardi Gras World
1380 Port of New Orleans Place New Orleans, LA 70130
Advance tickets not needed
Since 1947, our artists and craftsmen have designed and built the oldest and biggest parade floats and attractions for each Mardi Gras season, with over 500 floats built and decorated each year. When you begin your Mardi Gras World tour, you’ll get an overview of the history of Mardi Gras in New Orleans before our guides take you through our float den, where our artists work year-round to build spectacular floats and props. You never get this close to the floats while they’re rolling in Mardi Gras parades, and this is certainly the only place to see how these amazing pieces come to life each year. When you’re sightseeing in New Orleans or looking for fascinating tours in New Orleans, this is something you just can’t miss. Come see where the Mardi Gras magic is made!
Your hour long tour starts with a 15 minute video about the history and importance of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. At first I wasn’t jazzed about the idea but it was very well done and entertaining. Afterwards we each sampled a piece of king cake.
Next we moved into the workshop part of the tour. This is a working office and we saw a few artists at their craft. Our guide explained how the props for the parade floats are created – from inception by the krewe to the finished product.
construction starts with styrofoam! 
then paper mache 
followed by sculpting 
a combination of spray paint and airspray 
to have these iconic float props!
We learned how molds are created for some popular items – one of which being people. Would you believe the man mold on the left created Darth Maul??
The studio owns the props, while the krewes lease them for their parades. They always repurpose what they can to cut down on cost and waste. For example, Drew Brees below was originally Tom Cruise!
One last tidbit – while Mardi Gras props are a huge part of the studio’s business, they also do other corporate work. For example, this is where the fiberglass Chick-fil-A cows are made!
Since we were visiting on a major parade day, the floats that are usually in the bays were all out. However, there were still TONS of props to see (and they were selling discounted tickets). Overall, this was a great experience and I’d definitely recommend it.
Superior Seafood
After Mardi Gras World, Honey and the boys headed back to relax at the hotel while I spent the afternoon with Ron and Jeff!! For those that have been around a while, you will know that Ron, The Uptown Acorn, is one of my dearest friends. We met during their stint in Atlanta and Sister, Ron and I had some memorable adventures over the years. We started a walk from his home to lunch at Superior Seafood. It was one of his favorites that I haven’t been to and it was delicious!
Superior Seafood
4338 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana 70115
Reservations on Open Table
Hazelnut
We planned to spend the afternoon shopping Magazine Street but the weather was awful. We popped in Hazelnut, a shop he introduced me to years ago, and then headed back to his house. (Hi Katy!!)
Hazelnut New Orleans
5525 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70115
Uptown Parades
We headed back to Acorn Cottage to visit and start getting ready for Ron and Jeff’s annual open house for Knights of Babylon, Knights of Chaos, and Krewe of Muses. Well, just as we were expecting guests to arrive, the parades were all cancelled for weather.
The party still went on, and Honey and the boys still joined us for the evening. Ron and Jeff dug through their best beads to find the perfect ones for us so that we could feel more festive. :-)
Getting to spend time with these two was hands down the highlight of the trip for me!!
We left New Orleans tired but full of love for this fun, unique and welcoming city!!!
Laissez les bon temps rouler!
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