Celebrating Lunar New Year at Universal Studios Hollywood

Tomorrow marks the 2018 Lunar New Year and millions will be celebrating the year of the dog. Here in SoCal the celebration’s already started and last weekend I was lucky enough to be invited to Universal Studios Hollywood to partake in their celebratory activities (I received free admission and food).

Universal Studios Hollywood observes Lunar New Year in a big way with an entire area set aside for the celebration.

Inside you’ll find an array of activities featuring beloved characters from Kung Fu Panda, Despicable Me and Transformers. When I arrived I was completely overwhelmed and couldn’t decide where to start. Should I put a wish on the wishing tree? Meet Mandarin-speaking Megatron? Get my face painted? Okay, that last one would be highly unlikely but it is an option.

Luckily, a drawing class was about to start and I decided to try my hand at recreating a character from Kung Fu Panda.

Our friendly instructor, Jeff, ably demonstrated the steps to recreate Master Monkey.

I think I nailed it.

After mastering the art of drawing I checked out some of the entertainment options.

There was story-time complete with an appearance from Po (who you could afterwards meet).

There were fascinating martial arts demonstrations from local schools.

And even the opportunity to meet a Minion.

Stewart could have been a bit more enthusiastic to see me.

After all the activity it was time to eat so I stopped by Mr. Ping’s Noodle Shop.

One one side you can meet the goose himself and on the other you can order an array of Chinese dishes.

I decided to sample a trio of pork buns, egg roll and beef noodles.

They were all pretty darn tasty and definitely filling (my eyes may have been bigger than my stomach).

This was my first Lunar New Year celebration and I had a grand time. The celebration at Universal Studios Hollywood lasts until February 25 and is included in park admission.