The Tribute Store is back in business at Universal Studios theme park and organizers have gone nutty for nutcrackers.
The highly themed, seasonal merchandise stop known as the Holiday Market begins in a woodwork shop, travels through a wintery Harry Potter scene then past color-coordinated garland (pink for Hello Kitty goods, green for Grinch, etc.) in a town center scene and then, boom, it’s nutcracker mania.
There are hundreds of figures, large and small, all manner of colors and designs, tucked away in the store section dubbed Earl & Gerg’s Nutcracker Lodge and Emporium & Museum & Car Wash. Phil Daley, project supervisor of the visual merchandise department, walked us through the nuttiness.
A Universal Studios visitor checks out the hundreds of nutcrackers featured inside the Tribute Holiday Market, a seasonal merchandise store at the theme park. (Dewayne Bevil/Orlando Sentinel)
Collecting nutcrackers
In the store’s backstory, Daley says, “Earl the Squirrel and Gerg the Llama, our holiday characters for Universal, have pretty much gone around the world and collected all of these nutcrackers and collected them together in a roadside attraction.”
In real life, Universal had large nutcrackers sprinkled amongst attractions as part of a scavenger hunt last year.
“This year, we took all of those and just rammed them into this small space and added a copious amount of normal nutcrackers as well,” Daley says. “For that, we went shopping everywhere — the stores down the street, the antique shops downtown, online.”
Visitors can spy framed photos of Earl gathering the figures from multiple places, including some fictional and forgotten locales.
Dark corners
One snapshot captures Earl in darkened Dark Universe — the monster-centric area of Epic Universe theme park — which debuted in May. It can be seen next to a green, 6-foot-tall Frankenstein nutcracker near the Tribute Store exit.
There’s another, smaller shout-out to Epic incorporated into the store’s primary photo op. Among the figures — at least 100 there — is one for Ygor, a character seen walking around Dark Universe and in its signature ride Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment. It stands in the upper-right corner of the wall with the designation of “delightful freak.”
Epic Universe’s Ygor gets a nutcracker-style nod in the current Tribute Store at Universal Studios theme park. (Dewayne Bevil/Orlando Sentinel)
Small world
Among Earl the Squirrel’s attractions is an encased, miniscule figure touted as “the world’s smallest (non-functional) nutcracker.” There’s a built-in magnifying glass for viewing it.
“It’s kind of a callback to your normal roadside attraction,” Daley says. “I mean, you always have the biggest of something, and we wanted the world’s smallest.”
It’s the size of your pinky fingernail, maybe.
“We actually have a calligrapher on the team that used to be a part of the Christmas calligraphy department, so we gave her just a small, tiny piece of electrical wire, and said, ‘Can you make this into a nutcracker?’” Daley says. “She succeeded. It’s wild.”
Spin city
Among Daley’s favorite ‘crackers in the shop is a distinctive two-sided one that’s traditional on one side and a clown on the opposite side. Universal has it on a rotating disc on a fireplace mantle.
“That’s the thing that you only find when you’re, like, antique shopping,” he said.
The mantle is built into a fireplace that’s an enormous nutcracker head. Its mouth holds the flame, which is really an old RCA television playing a VHS tape of a fire.
“The fireplace was actually constructed by our team, designed and constructed in-house and painted,” Daley says.
Flanking the two-faced nutcracker are several figures in gold, purple, beige and a headless aqua one. Another is decked out as Uncle Sam standing next to a drumming one. All are mustachioed, naturally.
The photo op wall (aka Earl & Gerg’s Epically Curated Collection of Nutcrackers) across the room gets creative with figures that look like a snowman, a snow princess, a pirate, bears, mice, a sheriff (or hillbilly?) and a cow. That wall leaves space for people to stand amid the figures for photos.
Universal Orlando recycled a Hello Kitty Statue for the new Tribute Store at Universal Studios theme park. (Dewayne Bevil/Orlando Sentinel)
Hello, reborn Kitty
The bulk of the market’s merchandise has seasonal theming, but it’s not totally about the nutcrackers. Other characters have moments there, including Hello Kitty, who appears as a a glittery white snow sculpture.
“This specific statue is actually the original one that was used in front of the Hello Kitty store,” says Daley, referring to the area now dedicated to the “Wicked” films and merchandise.
“She was posed to look like she had just pushed her hands into the concrete. Now it looks like she’s playing in the snow,” Daley says. (There’s also a snowy-effect Grinch that once stood at neighboring Islands of Adventure.)
“The best part about our job and us working on this team, is that we really get to bring out our goofy side. There really is a lot of fun ahead in making new spaces,” Daley says.
The Holiday Market remains open through Jan. 4. Previous Tribute Stores have been tied to the park’s Mardi Gras celebration (which starts Feb. 7), Halloween and summer movies.
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