The 2024 Holiday Tribute Store at Universal Studios Florida features rooms inspired by “Harry Potter,” “How The Grinch Stole Christmas,” and Earl the Squirrel.
Holiday Tribute Store Full Tour
Entrance
The Holiday Tribute Store is in the New York area, next to Revenge of the Mummy and across from Gramercy Park. The façades are decorated for Christmas but the Tribute Store also has a unique façade.
This year’s store has a storybook theme. The façade is made up of larger-than-life books. The open book on top of the stack features a “Tribute Store” pop-up design. The book below that advertises “Holiday POP UP Stories.” The other books include “The Universal Holiday Guide,” “A Visit From Santa,” and “The Nutcracker March.”
When guests enter the store, they step through the pages of a book that features a holiday scene.
Once upon a time, along the bustling holiday streets of New York, was a fascinating bookshop.
Normally, it was no ordinary store. But during the holiday season, it became so much more…
The front “doors” are green with fake wreaths printed on them. The entryway has green-striped walls with printed garlands.
Flat decorations pinned to the wall include a snowman, a Christmas tree, and candy canes. A Santa Claus face is on the opposite wall. Similar décor is also in the foyer.
Foyer
The small foyer has a Christmas tree and another giant storybook.
The true delight of the tales came to be. Guests were part of the adventures in reality. Too fantastic to be surreal. It’s more than magic…
It’s real!
The storybook features instructions for interacting with the store — like you would with a real sensory or pop-up book. A red square represents touch, a purple hexagon represents listen, a green circle represents smell, a blue triangle represents play, and a yellow star represents taste.
Here is an example of a “smell” circle. To us, these all smelled like plywood.
Another Christmas tree is in the corner to the right. More flat decorations are on the white walls around it.
The foyer also has a table of storybooks, including “Harry Potter,” “How The Grinch Stole Christmas,” and the new “Earl the Squirrel” book.
Hogsmeade For Christmas
Each room takes guests into a pop-up book inspired by a different IP. First up is “Harry Potter.” The storybook says, “Spending Christmas at Hogwarts? Come Visit Hogsmeade.”
There is artwork of Hogwarts Castle against a pink sky with snowflakes.
The Hogsmeade page advertises “A shop for every witch and wizard’s needs,” with images of an owl and a chocolate frog.
In the room is a pop-up depiction of Hogsmeade with layers of flat images and Hogwarts in the background. It resembles a postcard, with “Hogsmeade for Christmas” at the top. All the buildings except Hogwarts are green and red.
Paper snowflakes hang from the ceiling and falling snow is projected on the walls above the merchandise displays.
Against one wall is a giant Hogsmeade for Christmas countdown calendar.
The Baby Niffler shoulder plush is available in the store. They are displayed with gold bars, which are not for sale but also aren’t secured to the table.
These are debossed with the Gringotts logo and other symbols. Press were given souvenir gold bars at the media event. We expect the gold bars on display won’t remain there much longer.
Flat garlands are hung from the ceiling. Remember, everything is supposed to be from a pop-up book, so looks like it’s made of paper.
Some of the “ornaments” feature a simple version of the Hogwarts crest.
The merchandise displays are red, green, and pink. They feature different “Harry Potter” imagery, like owls.
One display features a screen in a snowglobe advertising Butterbeer.
One poster display advertises owl post, Pygmy Puffs, and broomsticks at “Hogsmeade Village Gifts.”
Guests are encouraged to touch a patch of fluffy Pygmy Puff fur in a red square.
A Honeydukes display features different unique confections: peppermint toads, fudge flies, Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans, and Fizzing Whizzbees.
They are depicted in a holiday colorway.
More holiday imagery on displays includes a Quidditch ornament and a mug of Butterbeer.
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
The next room retells the entirety of “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” by Dr. Seuss. red circular ornaments throughout the room feature lines from the book. The ornaments are numbered so you can easily follow the story.
The artwork of the room is mostly black-and-white, with the Grinch in green and other elements highlighted in red.
The displays use artwork straight out of the book.
Some of the art is on giant pages but other pieces are turned into flat props filling the space.
A red “Merry Merry” banner is across the ceiling.
Connecting a pair of pages is a line of Whos carrying dishes.
One of the sensory spots is where the Grinch is stealing stockings. A red square features a patch of the Grinch’s green fur.
The smaller displays resemble stacks of gift boxes.
This room also uses projections to show the Grinch’s sleigh sliding down the mountain.
A rooftop over the walkway features the Grinch tip-toeing into a chimney.
Here is a closer look at the story as told by ornaments:
The ornaments are placed next to their corresponding art pieces.
The story ends with the Grinch carving the roast beast.
The Tale of Earl the Squirrel (Part 1)
The final two rooms tell the Tale of Earl the Squirrel. the first few pages are in the hallway in the middle of the store, which has blue walls and green tree flats.
Earl is Universal Orlando Resort’s holiday mascot, based on a supposedly real squirrel discovered chewing on lights in the Universal Studios Florida Christmas tree. The story starts at Mistletoe Pines.
Earl the Squirrel was no ordinary woodland creature. Unlike his tree-dwelling counterparts, Earl found solace amidst the low-lying branches of the local tree farm.
The storybook pages have Christmas light borders.
The story follows Earl trying to get his favorite Christmas tree.
The Tale of Earl the Squirrel (Part 2)
The final room has Christmas tree-shaped merchandise displays and decorations.
When he awoke, Earl found himself in a completely different world. The tree was now upright and adorned with festive trimmings.
Earl was transported to a wondrous new world — Universal Orlando Resort, where the holiday spirit was in full swing!
Earl explores the Christmas tree, spending hours enjoying the decorations.
Earl becomes entranced by the Christmas lights. Red, green, orange, and blue spotlights shine on this page, representing the lights that Earl is staring at.
There are several artistic depictions of Earl biting Christmas lights throughout the room. Giant fake lights connect the different storybook pages.
Earl activates the lights on the Universal Studios Florida Christmas tree and receives thunderous applause.
A projection of Earl appears in one of the tree flats.
One of the last pages reads, “If the winter season could change him in such a fantastic way, what could the other seasons and holidays provide?”
A thought bubble projection above Earl shows different holiday icons, including a Halloween jack-o’-lantern and a Mardi Gras mask.
The decoration above the exit door of this room resembles the Universal Studios Florida archway with the parade medallion.
Snack Room
The final room has three-dimensional Christmas trees and garlands as guests step out of the storybook. This room is where guests can purchase their merchandise and themed treats.
The trees are covered in twinkling lights. Wrapped gifts are around them.
This room includes various holiday items that aren’t related to “Harry Potter,” the Grinch, or Earl.
One display features merchandise for Universal’s Holiday Parade Featuring Macy’s. The artwork depicts some of the parade’s balloons and holiday iconography, including Earl in Santa’s sleigh.
The Jack in the box looks suspiciously like Halloween Horror Nights’s Jack the Clown.
There are also some vintage Coca-Cola decorations featuring the company’s famous depiction of Santa Claus.
A large magazine cover features Santa Claus and a touch-and-feel square of his red velvet suit.
The magazine features the articles “Holiday Squirrel: A Corny Tail” and “Llamas, A Memoir.”
There are displays for Hello Kitty and Minions holiday merchandise. In addition to trees and garlands, the room has giant flat nutcracker decorations.
Though the room and store are mostly Christmas-based, there are banners representing other winter holidays. These include Kwanzaa, Three Kings Day, Year of the Snake, Diwalki, and Hanukkah.
A confectionary case in one corner features all of this year’s themed treats.
The menu includes:
- Vanilla lightbulb cookie dough ball
- Chocolate lightbulb cookie dough ball
- Peppermint lightbulb cookie dough ball
- Gingerbread macaron
- Peppermint macaron
- Eggnog macaron
- Wreath breppermint mocha trifle cake
- Coquito Trifle cakeookie
- Grinch onion cheesecake tart (hazelnut)
- Christmas tree cupcake
- Gingerbread cookie sandwich
- Max cookie
Exit
The exit hallway features a mural of Mistletoe Pines, advertising appearances by Earl the Squirrel. It’s the same artwork from Earl’s book but without the story text.
Earl ostensibly meets in the exit space for his book signing. There are some colorful Christmas trees.
A cardboard cutout of Earl says, “Follow along in the festive adventures of Earl the Squirrel in this soon to be holiday classic!” A banner advertising Earl’s book hangs from a table.
There’s a sign for his celebrity book signing with reviews like “5 out of 5 acorns,” “If there are no other books to read, this will do,” “Better than the DMV,” and “Very wordy. Good usage of coniferous.”
There are themed bumper stickers all over a cooler.
Some of Earl’s other books, including those from the Halloween Horror Nights 32 comic book-themed Tribute Store, are on the table.
Some signed photos of Earl are ready for distribution. Someone has already taken one of Earl’s business cards which were, unlike the gold bars, glued down.
A light-up holiday llama figure is behind the table.
Video Tour
Watch our video tour of the 2024 Holiday Tribute Store below.
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The post FULL TOUR of Universal’s 2024 Holiday Tribute Store Featuring Harry Potter, Grinch, and Earl the Squirrel appeared first on WDW News Today.