Bluey and Bingo are coming to downtown Minneapolis. Bluey’s Big Play lands at the Orpheum Theatre for four performances over one weekend — Saturday, December 12 and Sunday, December 13, 2026, at 11 AM and 2 PM both days — and if you’re planning a family trip around it, the historic mansion two blocks from Loring Park is worth booking before the good dates disappear.
What is Bluey’s Big Play?
Created by Bluey series creator Joe Brumm, the stage show follows Bluey and her sister Bingo trying every trick they know to get Dad off the bean bag chair — told with life-size puppets and the same warmth that made the show a hit with preschoolers and their parents alike. It runs about 50 minutes with no intermission, which makes it an easy first live show for a young kid. Tickets are capped at eight per order, infants under 12 months sit free on a lap, and VIP packages add premium seats and a post-show photo. Full showtimes and ticket links are on the Hennepin Theatre Trust event page.
Family shows at the Orpheum sell out their best sections early, and downtown hotel rooms follow the same pattern the weekend of a big kids’ matinee. December is still more than two months out — booking now means first pick of rooms rather than whatever is left in early December.
Why stay at 300 Clifton for the weekend
300 Clifton is the Eugene J. Carpenter Mansion, a National Register Georgian Revival estate tucked into Loring Park — an easy walk or a short rideshare from the Orpheum on Hennepin Avenue. It’s the only mansion in Minneapolis you can tour and actually sleep in, and every room is different: Estate Rooms, the Crystal Mansion, the Grand Edwardian and more, each with its own period furnishings.
The mansion dates to a 1906 remodel by architect Edwin H. Hewitt, with interiors by John S. Bradstreet — the kind of house Eugene J. Carpenter, who chaired the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts (the organization that grew into the Minneapolis Institute of Art) from 1911 to 1922, built to entertain in style. That history is part of the fun for older kids and grandparents alike; ask at check-in about the mansion’s own story.
With kids in tow, the formal English gardens give everyone room to burn off energy between the matinee and dinner, and the four-season hot tub is a good way to end a long day of theater and walking downtown. If it’s a rare parents’ night out instead, the movie room is downstairs.
Make a weekend of it
Loring Park itself is worth a slow morning walk before the show — the pond, the sculpture and the perennial garden are all a few steps from the mansion’s front door, and Minneapolis Parks’ own page for the park has current hours and the walking loop. For the trip downtown to the Orpheum, Metro Transit’s trip planner will route you from Loring Park in a few minutes, so parking downtown for the show isn’t necessary.
A stay here doubles as its own kind of theater — carved fireplaces, hand-painted murals and a chandelier-lit dining room most guests didn’t expect from a “hotel.” If your family has done the Orpheum before, our Guthrie weekend guide and our New Year’s Orpheum guide cover two more downtown theater weekends worth planning around this winter.
Good to know before you book
- Bluey’s Big Play: Saturday Dec 12 & Sunday Dec 13, 2026, 11 AM and 2 PM both days, Orpheum Theatre, downtown Minneapolis.
- Run time is about 50 minutes with no intermission — a friendly length for a young kid’s first live show.
- The State Theatre box office (805 Hennepin Ave, weekdays noon–5) handles Hennepin Theatre Trust ticketing questions in person.
- December weekends downtown fill fast between the Orpheum’s holiday lineup and the season’s other shows, so book your room as soon as your tickets are set.
Book your stay at 300 Clifton for Bluey’s Big Play weekend, or give us a call with questions about traveling with kids — we’re happy to help plan the whole weekend, not just the room.
Keep reading: Where to Stay for a Back-to-Back Minnesota Wild Weekend in Minneapolis.