SATURDAY SIX: Our Most Wanted Christmas Gifts from the UNIVERSAL ORLANDO RESORT (Wizarding World, Minions, Earl the Squirrel and more!)

This week’s SATURDAY SIX takes a look at Christmas Gift ideas from the Universal Orlando Resort! Longtime readers of this fine blog series know how much we love theme park souvenirs. In fact, we look forward to the new releases as much as others enjoy looking ahead to upcoming rides and restaurants. Over the last couple years Universal has straight up been on fire with the amount of unique merchandise they are making across the board.  Today we’re going to look at some of our favorite pieces of merchandise at Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure, and CityWalk. We’d like to see each of these items under our tree on Christmas morning, starting with…

# 6 – Toothsome Coffee

The love I have for Toothsome Chocolate Emporium is well documented over the years in this fine blog series. They were Patient Zero at the theme parks when it came to concocting elaborate over-the-top desserts with their E-Ticket milkshake lineup. Now you can’t go anywhere without seeing next-level bonkers milkshakes, cookies, or donuts. The menu is Cheesecake Factory-esque in terms of offering something for everyone (what other restaurant at Universal or Disney has a Brunch Menu you can order from all day, every day?) I also love that for many it is a character meal (with Penelope Toothsome and her robot companion Jacque making the rounds) with no added upcharge. However, with all that said, the one area of the restaurant that rarely ever gets attention is the shockingly large gift shop/bakery.

One item worth searching out in the gift shop is bags of Jacques’ Coffee Concoctions. Available in several different flavors, not only does this coffee taste great, it makes for a great souvenir to bring coffee drinks back home.

Let’s check out some other great items you can get in the gift shop, including these chocolate bars.

We did an article on our favorite snacks at Universal and one item on the list was the character-themed candy bars (with options such as Jaws, Back to the Future, and Spider-Man.) Toothsome has its fair share of branded candy bars, including ones for Penelope, Jacques, and a cute octopus character.

If you have a sweet tooth when going to Universal, you’ll be satisfied as there are PLENTY of options…

…including many items drizzled or completely covered in chocolate (as they should be!)

There is also a WIDE variety of Toothsome branded products such as t-shirts, hats, coffee cups, and more.

# 5 – The Grinch

During the Christmas season, it is almost impossible to overstate how popular The Grinch is at Islands of Adventure. His daily meet and greet in Seuss Landing regularly draws lines that are four hours or longer (which makes the Breakfast with the Grinch option possibly the best value in all of Orlando, as you get to meet The Grinch with no wait time and get a ton of interaction with him.)

As you can imagine, everyone wants some Grinch merchandise, including his classic plush.

This year Universal released a new version of The Grinch plush, which features a super cute Max

There is a wide variety of Grinch-related product available.

There’s something about this Grinch shirt that makes it a classic piece of Universal merchandise for me, joining items like the “silhouette” Spider-Man t-shirt at Marvel Superhero Island.

# 4 – Minions

The opening of Minion Land this year firmly established the cute little guys as a true foundation of Universal Studios Florida. The Minions come from the time-honored tradition of secondary characters becoming more popular than the main characters in their form of entertainment (a phenomenon we see mostly on TV, such as the Fonz on Happy Days or Urkel on Family Matters.) The Minions have eclipsed the popularity of the Despicable Me franchise and now are essentially a brand unto themselves. Universal has rolled out a ton of great products for them, including a Christmas-themed popcorn bucket.

In fact, since last year’s next level “road trip” popcorn bucket, the popcorn bucket game for Minions has been on fire. Another recent example is this one featuring a Disco dancing Minion.

Build-A-Bear workshops are all across the nation, but only at Universal can you find Dress-A-Minion. Kids are going to love a Minion in their “tighty whities” and then being able to dress them up in various outfits, including a Santa suit.

One Minion plush that is eye-catching is this one featuring a Minion wearing a dragon’s head. This is for 2024 being the Year of the Dragon on the Chinese zodiac.

In fact, there is a full line of merchandise available just for this specific tie-in.

Earlier this year a store called UNIVRS opened at the front of Universal Studios Florida. It features many items geared towards a younger audience, including a collaboration with artists from across the globe (Jason Keam, Marylou Faure, and Sambypen) using Universal characters in their designs.

Here is a Minions shirt designed by Buff Monster, a New York City street artist.

I want to show you this Minion-themed rubber ducky in part because it’s unique, but also to tell you it’s part of a larger line of cosplaying rubber duckies and we’ll see some more later in this article.

Our kiddos love this Sing ‘N Dance Otto. For those who aren’t familiar with the Minions: Rise of Gru film, Otto is the Minion who traded Gru’s zodiac stone for a pet rock.

The guy actually has two swappable accessories for Otto to hold: a pet rock and the zodiac stone.

Villain-Con: Minion Blast opened this year with a whole bunch of new merchandise items, but my favorite are the Minion plush with the Minions dressed like they are going to Villain-Con.

Can’t leave without showing one of the most popular items in all of Minion Land, the classic Unicorn plush.

The joy people get receiving one of these is just fantastic to see.

# 3 – Jurassic Park

Dinosaurs NEVER go out of style, and you’ll never go wrong picking up items in Jurassic Park for people on your shopping list.

Absolutely LOVE this Jurassic Park/Hello Kitty mashup tumbler!

When the Jurassic Park 30th Anniversary Tribute Store opened this summer, it had a whole bunch of merchandise available that looked like it came straight from Japan. Well, despite that version of the Tribute Store being closed, you can still get several of these items in Jurassic Park at Islands of Adventure.

Some of these are so bonkers, I just have to get them.

But there is something to be said about the ICONIC Jurassic Park logo itself. That T-Rex silhouette still slaps.

Throughout this article, you’ll see various versions of what I call “cute plush” that Universal has created. In the picture below you’ll see plush for the characters of Owen Grady from Jurassic World and John Hammond from Jurassic Park. Earlier in this article we saw similar cute plush for The Grinch and Max. Universal has a TON of characters in this style and what I love about it is that it reminds me of Disney’s Toybox line, which featured characters like Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain America, Han Solo, and Mr. Incredible (from The Incredibles) all done in the same art style.

One of the neatest items that Universal has released for coaster fans is this wooden model of a VeloiCoaster ride vehicle.

Here’s how it looks put together. As a fan of ride vehicle toys, this is pretty cool.

Then Universal took it up a notch, where you can put together an entire train of ride vehicles!

# 2 – Earl the Squirrel

Earl the Squirrel is Universal Orlando’s first breakout character created for the theme parks outside of Halloween Horror Nights. In 2021, this cute little squirrel started to be a focus of merchandise during the Christmas season and that trend continues with some terrific items, including a cute plush of Earl.

I imagine we are going to see more of this female squirrel in coming years. (Universal has confirmed that Earl’s female squirrel buddy is named Pearl.)

Both Earl and The Grinch currently have wax molds available as well.

2023 was another big year for Earl, as we got to see him pop up in the Halloween Horror Nights Tribute Store…

…and has his own ROOM in the Christmas-themed Tribute Store!

As always, keep your eyes open for Earl in the giant Christmas tree at USF (and to understand the backstory of that, be sure to read THIS ARTICLE at Orlando Park Stop.)

# 1 – Wizarding World of Harry Potter

The hottest item released in the Wizarding World was this cute snowy owl. Essentially the owl is a baby Hedwig, and not only is it adorable, but it can sit on your shoulder with sound and movement!

Here’s a video showing the owl in action. To say these are flying off the shelves is an understatement. Universal can not keep them in stock.

Another owl plush you can get is this two-pack featuring Hedwig and Pigwidgeon (Ron Weasley’s pet owl.)

I’ve done a previous article making my case that the Chocolate Frog from the Wizarding World is The Best Souvenir at Universal. For hardcore fans of Harry Potter, it’s one of the best items you can imagine because Universal keeps releasing new wizard cards every year featuring some truly insane deep dives into Potter lore. Here’s some examples from this year including Beatrix Bloxam…

..and Bowman Wright. This would be the equivalent of Disney doing a line of toy ride vehicles and releasing stuff for Horizons, Mike Fink Keel Boats, and the Flying Saucers from Disneyland. These cards are the ultimate fan service item.

One of the most photogenic items in Hogsmeade Village is the snowman, and this year Universal put out a ceramic Snowman that you can put cookies in.

You can put other items in it too.

A new line of products themed to Christmas at Hogwarts made its debut this year, and everything looks fantastic.

We got a new Butterbeer stein this year, complete with snowflakes on it.

Love this Weasley brothers shirt.

Can’t go wrong with individual house merchandise for the Potter fan in your life.

This year the Wizarding World also offered a brand new line of items themed to the spells you can cast in the land.

Honorable Mention: Some of our other favorites…

I love that Universal still pays respect to its past, and you can find items based on brands such as Jaws.

Years from now, we will look back at the Hello Kitty store in Universal Studios Florida and remember how we were so blessed to have this unicorn in our lives. There is no Hello Kitty attraction at Universal. There is no Hello Kitty restaurant. However we do have a rather large Hello Kitty gift shop and not only does it include a full line of regular Hello Kitty products, but it also has a Next Level Awesome line of Hello Kitty Mashup items that mix the Hello Kitty characters with Universal properties such as Jaws, Jurassic Park, and even PSYCHO. My favorite? Hello Kitty mixed with Jaws.

During Halloween Horror Night season, the store even featured a mashup of Hello Kitty and Chucky. This has been available in Japan for years but was new to us in America.

Remember the rubber duckies we mentioned earlier? Here’s two more featuring Marty McFly and Doc Brown from Back to the Future.

An underrated gift shop at USF is Spongebob Storepants, Not only is the entire store wonderfully themed, but you’ll find some great items like this hat for The Krusty Krab.

Springfield USA is loaded with great stuff, but you can’t go wrong with anything Bort-related.

One of the new items in Springfield for this year that made its debut during HHN season was this couch gag t-shirt. Rumors and Innuendo suggest we should be embracing Springfield as hard as we can right now, because in a couple years…well, you know.

One of the all-time greatest pieces of merchandise at any theme park is this E.T. in a bike basket plush.

Straight up E-Ticket!

The amount of great Revenge of the Mummy merchandise put out over the last 15 years can be counted on one hand, but this T-shirt is pretty dang cool.

Also cool? The insane amount of Frank the Pug items you can get at the MIB: Alien Attack gift shop.

This might be my favorite Plant-Based shirt ever. World-class use of the term right there.

For the naughty Universal fan, in lieu of coal may we suggest…

Any item from the Fast & Furious – Supercharged gift shop.

HOW DOES THIS ATTRACTION STILL EXIST?!!!

So there you have it: See you next weekend for the latest installment of the SATURDAY SIX, where we’ll look at something fun from the world of Disney and Universal. If you enjoyed yourself, be sure to check out the THEME PARK ENJOYMENT INDEX, giving a monthly recap of all the theme park news you need to know (and a lot more you don’t need to know, but we’re gonna tell you anyway). You can also follow Your Humble Author on Twitter (@derekburgan).

If you enjoyed this article, you will surely like the following: 

The SATURDAY SIX Celebrates Ten Years with TouringPlans

SATURDAY SIX Presents: The Disney Merchandise Hall of Shame

SATURDAY SIX Presents: The Disney Signage Hall of Shame

SATURDAY SIX Presents: The Disney Food Hall of Shame

SATURDAY SIX: Tribute to Josh easyWDW

SATURDAY SIX: Tribute to Ian Barritt

Special Thanks to The Elite Brandon Glover, Digital Maestro Scott Walker, the bio-est of all reconstructs @bioreconstruct, Captain Cruiseline Scott Sanders of the world-famous Disney Cruise Line Blog, my personal protege Hunter “Elvey” Underwood, artist @SonderQuest, the mighty maven of merchandise Hedgehog’s Corner, the SAT SIX Fun Squad of Parkscope Joe and “the Dadalorian” Nick, hot shot Michael Carelli, charter member of the Universal Four @Nitro230, the permit princess Alicia Stella, master cartographer Tommy Hawkins, and Hermione Granger’s tutor Megan Stump for their invaluable assistance with this article. Absolutely no help was added by SeaWorld Influencer @SuperWeenieHtJr. The SAT SIX is inspired each week by goofballs Aengus Mackenzie and LitemAndHyde and you Potterheads will enjoy Meg’s other blog work over at the Central Florida Slug Club.