Universal Orlando hosted the NBC Sports crew for their Premier League broadcast. In conjunction with that, a fan festival known as Premier League Mornings Live fan fest happened on Jan. 21 & 22, 2023.
The two-day fan event occurred at Universal CityWalk, Universal Orlando Resort’s entertainment complex. The event featured live action from Premier League matches presented across The NBCUniversal networks. NBC Sports Studio Team of Rebecca Lowe, Robbie Earle, Robbie Mustoe & Tim Howard also broadcasted on location for Premier League Mornings Live fan fest in Orlando.
The event cost nothing, but participants needed to register in advance. In an earlier report, we reported on some of the events on Saturday of this event. Sunday, day two, looked very similar but with fewer Premier League matches being broadcast compared to Sunday.
Since this fan fest event spread out into the main area of CityWalk, some interesting operations procedures needed to happen. If a participant wanted to move to the area with the Nike Arena once the CityWalk area opened to the public, some crowd control occurred involving Universal Orlando team members.
Also, if you needed a restroom break from the lower area on Saturday, participants could receive a restroom pass. If that reminds some of you of your time in school, this is similar. However, fans only needed to show their Premier League fan fest wristband on Sunday.
The lower area allowed Premier League Mornings Live fan fest participants to sit in the seating near the lagoon to watch matches on the big screen there. Like Saturday, screens were available to watch all Premier League matches this weekend. On Sunday, this area reached near capacity for fans. The viewing of the Arsenal-Manchester United match drew a large crowd and incredible enthusiasm.
On Sunday, I saw more of the Premier League team mascots. As you would expect, they interacted with the fans. They took photos with guests very willingly.
Fans that attended on Sunday received a few surprises for the day. Two of them connect to Universal Orlando in some way. One, Wizarding World fans got to see Matthew Lewis, a big fan of the Premier League.
Two, several Mardi gras performers made appearances toward the end of the day. They danced and threw some beads to promote the upcoming Mardi Gras celebration at Universal Orlando.
A specialty milkshake themed for this event started being sold at Toothsome Chocolate Factory and Savory Feast Kitchen. The Premier Shake was only available for the weekend. Like most milkshakes at Toothsome Chocolate Factory and Savory Feast Kitchen, it costs $16. The milkshake consists of ube ice cream, buttercream frosting, soccer ball sprinkles, six-lets, and a Premier League logo chocolate piece. The premier logo piece was the same as the one on the Premier doughnut by Voodoo Doughnut shown in the day one article.
Though this event could have been better, Universal Orlando hosted a fantastic event for Premier League fans. This event achieved the goal of being fun for Premier League fans. We will see if the next two weekends of significant events, Rock the Universe, and the opening weekend of Mardi Gras, go just as well.
Did you attend Premier League Mornings Live? Will you be visiting Universal Orlando for any weekend events soon? Let us know in the comments below, please.
Pirates & Princesses (PNP) is an independent, opinionated fan-powered news blog that covers Disney and Universal Theme Parks, Themed Entertainment and related Pop Culture from a consumer's point of view. Opinions expressed by our contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of PNP, its editors, affiliates, sponsors or advertisers. PNP is an unofficial news source and has no connection to The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal or any other company that we may cover.
