With the countdown getting ever closer to Christmas, we wanted to check out one of Universal’s seasonal offerings, the Holiday Tour, to find out if it’s worth it or if you should skip putting it on your wish list.
Editor’s Note: TheTimTracker was hosted for this experience by Universal Orlando Resort.
When Is the Tour Available, and How Long Is It?
You can enjoy the Universal Holiday Tour from November 21, 2025 through January 3, 2026. Check-in for the tour takes place around 12 p.m. to 12:30 p.m., and the tour lasts until the evening performance of Universal’s Holiday Parade featuring Macy’s at 5:30 p.m.
As far as how many steps are involved, there is a lot of walking. We walked an average of about 12,000 steps during the multi-hour tour. If you’re not up for such a trek, you might want to think about that when booking.
How Much Does the Holiday Tour Cost?
The cost of the tour starts at $89.99 per person plus tax, with 12 people per tour group. It is a public tour, so you will be placed with other guests if your party is not the maximum number for a group. Separate park-to-park admission is required and not included in the cost of the tour.
What Is the Tour Experience Like?
The Red & Green Coconut Club
Your tour begins at the Red Coconut Club, which has been transformed into the Red & Green Coconut Club for the winter. Here, you’ll meet your tour guide and the rest of your tour group, while getting a moment or two to explore inside the “Mistletoe Pines Ski Lodge,” this year’s overall theme.
There are plenty of photo-ops inside, along with seating, two bars, occasional live entertainment (though we didn’t experience any in our short time before the tour), and potentially an encounter with Earl the Squirrel (though you can also find him meeting guests at Universal Studios Florida). You’ll also be given your commemorative tour lanyard here.
Tracker Tip: There are two drink menus to choose from at the Red & Green Coconut Club: one upstairs and one downstairs. Try both to find something you like!
Grinchmas Who-liday Spectacular
Once your tour group is all together, your Tour Guide will walk you through CityWalk toward your first stop: Universal Islands of Adventure, to experience the Grinchmas Who-liday Spectacular!
On our way through Seuss Landing to the theater, we ran into a few Whos on the loose and had a moment with one of them! You’ll want to keep your eye out for them and say hi as you pass by!
One of the perks of the Holiday Tour is prime viewing of Grinchmas. Once you make your way to the theater, you’ll be escorted to the reserved seating area by your tour guide; for us, this was toward the middle of the orchestra seating by stage left. Once you’re seated, you can enjoy the show!
Exclusive Meet and Greets with The Grinch and Max the Dog
After Grinchmas, you make your way over to the NBC Media Center in Universal Studios Florida to experience exclusive, no-wait meet and greets with The Grinch and his faithful dog, Max. The two meet in separate rooms, but you get a private experience with both with practically no wait.
Tracker Tip: This is a much better option if you and your family want to meet The Grinch but don’t want to wait in hours-long lines. At Islands of Adventure, the wait to meet The Grinch can get up to two hours or more due to his popularity. Outside of the tour, you cannot meet Max the Dog at all.
In between all of the experiences at Universal Studios Florida, your tour guide will also share fun facts about the decor that fills the park (and the defunct attraction references hidden within), which we really enjoyed!
A Quick Break for Light Bites and Treats
After the meet and greets, you’ll then enter the main area of the Media Center to enjoy some light bites before continuing on with the tour.
Tracker Tip: You have about 25 minutes to eat and relax in this space before moving on to the next part of the tour. This was more than enough time to get a plate, sit down and eat, and go back for another round!
For our tour, the menu included:
- Fresh fruit
- Caesar salad
- White Christmas Pasta: Penne pasta, white cheddar sauce, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese
- Turkey and Stuffing Casserole: Pulled turkey and vegetables with a savory sauce, topped with a baked stuffing crust
- Sausage en Croute (Pigs in a Blanket), served with Seasonal Chutney, yellow mustard, or ketchup
- Cold Hot Chocolate Mousse
- Vegan Cookie
- Raspberry Mini Cheesecake
- Mango Passionfruit Mini Cheesecake
- Chocolate Fudge Mini Cheesecake
- Salted Caramel Mini Cheesecake
- Cookies and Cream Mini Cheesecake
For us, this felt less like “light bites” and more like a full meal, which we appreciated! You do a lot of walking on these tours, so keeping your energy fueled is important.
Non-alcoholic beverages (soda) and water are also available, with the soda options being Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, Diet Coke, and Sprite.
Tracker Tip: There are gluten-free options available upon request for the light bites menu, and you can also let a manager or chef know if you have special dietary needs that must be accommodated.
Exclusive Meet and Greet with Santa Claus, Available Only on the Tour
Once snack time was over, we headed over to Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon to travel via “portal” to the North Pole to visit the one and only Santa Claus.
The meet and greet is located on the upper floor of the 30 Rock show building. This meant that we got to go out onto the “Falcony,” as our tour guide called it, which overlooks the New York section of the park and the Universal Music Plaza Stage.
Tracker Tip: This is a great vantage point for seeing construction on the roller coaster that is replacing Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit! (Though, at this time, it’s mostly piles of dirt.)
You can only meet Santa Claus at Universal by going on the tour. We thought this was so special, and Santa really does take his time with each member of the tour group to say hi and learn what they want for Christmas… and explain how his reindeer can fly.
A Tour Through the Holiday Tribute Store
Our next stop — after a quick encounter with King Julian from Universal’s Holiday Parade, meeting in front of the park’s large Christmas Tree — brought us to the Holiday Tribute Store for a walk through all of its themed rooms.
There are six total rooms in the Tribute Store this year (you can read more about it here), with the experience’s backstory featuring a new wealthy stranger named Mr. Evergreen, who moves into the old logging cabin by Glistening Falls (which is represented inside the store).
As is the case with the Tribute Stores at Universal, this space is packed with references to various Universal IPs, attractions old and new, and previous Tribute Stores. There are also fun photo-ops you can take part in while you shop, like this one with a wall display of nutcrackers.
Cookie Decorating!
The cookie decorating activity is next, located in the VIP area in the Guest Services building at the front of the park.
The cookie options available are a Christmas tree, a winter hat, and a gingerbread man. You can only choose one cookie, but you’re welcome to get as many toppings as you want to complete your masterpiece. The toppings include white icing, pretzels, sprinkles in various shapes, and sour green apple Pop Rocks.
Tracker Tip: The best way to make the icing work on your cookie is to whip it up a bit, rather than just scooping it straight out of the cup it’s served in. For the Cookie Professionals!
Once you’re satisfied with your cookie decorating, you can eat it!
Priority Access to One Attraction
After cookie decorating, we were escorted to Villain-Con: Minion Blast and given priority access to enjoy the attraction! Our tour group was given the choice between that and E.T. Adventure, and the younger guests in our group opted for Minion Blast.
Tracker Tip: Keep in mind that the tour times determine which attraction or attraction options are available. In most cases, you do not get to decide; your tour guide determines that for you. Each tour group will get Priority Access to a different attraction.
Universal’s Holiday Parade featuring Macy’s
The final stop on the tour is Universal’s Holiday Parade. With the Holiday Tour, you get access to a reserved viewing area for the parade — located on the Music Plaza Stage lawn, across from Freeze Ray Pops and Minion Cafe.
While it’s not our favorite spot to view the parade (that would go to the area by Revenge of the Mummy, where Santa does a show stop to light the Christmas Tree), this is an incredible spot to watch the parade from. You get a much smaller crowd, the performers walk up to the barrier to say hi or tell a joke, and the balloons are just feet away from you. It’s definitely a unique vantage point if you’ve not seen the parade from this location before.
Our Overall Thoughts?
We have to say it… We really enjoyed the Holiday Tour! For about $90 per person, you get to meet Santa Claus and Max the Dog — which you cannot do at Universal outside of the tour — plus meet The Grinch with no wait, the food is included, experience an attraction with no wait, enjoy the cookie decorating activity, and get reserved viewing of Grinchmas and the parade. We think this is a great value for the money, especially if you and your family are big Grinch fans.
We also had a great experience with Bryce, our tour guide. He was super knowledgeable and shared many fun facts and Easter eggs we wouldn’t have known had he not shared them on the tour. That had to be our favorite part of the whole experience.
Have you tried the Holiday Tour this year? What did you think? Let us know on social media, and check out our vlog at the top of the page for more of our experience!
