Mardi Gras World is an interactive museum that let’s visitors experience Mardi Gras in a whole new way! Our tour guide, Susie, started us off in the costume shop. We had five minutes to try on costumes and snap a few photos.

The warehouse was founded by Blaine Kern in 1947 after he began building floats for the Krewe of Alla. Since then, their work has expanded to float building for other parades, casinos, mini golf courses, and even the Chic Fil A billboards.

After the video, we enjoyed a slice of King Cake and then set off on a tour of the actual warehouse. Over 50 full-time artists work at Mardi Gras world. They work with the Krewe Captains to translate concepts to drawings. Then they build a frame constructed of 2x4s to support the props. They layer sheets of styrofoam together and then sculpt the prop. It’s given a coat of paper mâché before it is attached to the actual float. Each float costs upwards of $50,000 to construct and is only seen once during the actual parade. Once the parade is over they come back to the warehouse to be deconstructed so that all of the props can be stored and recycled for another parade.

Among my favorites? I loved Queen Kong, the wife of King Kong and one of the two tallest props ever created.

The musical instruments were fun…

And the cut outs…

Sharlene liked the Preying Mantis…

And the Hamster from the Kia Soul commercial.

Renee liked the sports props…

And Marion Barry…

We learned a lot about floats and how they’re made. If you ever get a chance to visit, do it! You can thank me later!