Celebrating Lunar New Year At Universal Studios Hollywood

Universal Studios Hollywood celebrates Lunar New Year by inviting guests into the Universal Plaza, adorned with red lanterns and plum blossom Wishing Trees. This year marks the Year of the Rat, the first animal of the Chinese Zodiac. As guests enter through the Universal Plaza archway, they will see panorama photos on each side displaying the 12 animals of the Zodiac, in the order they finished The Great Race in. There are also banners displayed throughout the plaza featuring each Zodiac animal and their symbolic attributes. To learn more about the story of the Chinese Zodiac and The Great Race, check out this page from Wikipedia

Things To Do

One of the first thing guests will see inside Universal Plaza are the Plum Blossom Wishing Trees. They are front and center, and very vibrant. There are red cards set up right next to the Wishing Trees for guests to write down their own wishes and add it to the trees. You can learn how to draw Po from “Kung Fu Panda” with guided instructions and take home your drawing as a keepsake.
Thoughout the day, you can meet Po and Tigress for a quick lesson in kung fu poses, meet the minions and Hello Kitty dressed in their finest New Year attire.
Mr. Ping also appears during the celebration, right next to his Noodle Shop for an interactive meet-and-greet.

Megatron from the Transformers franchise can be found throughout the day near the entrance of the plaza for photos. He will engage in real-time conversation in Mandarin with the guests. If you speak Mandarin, stick around for this as Megatron’s quips and comments are always hilarious.

On select days, you can catch traditional Lion Dances and martial arts performances. On the day I visited, I saw the Camarillo Kung Fu’s dancing lions - a personal favorite of mine. I grew up seeing dancing lions and dragons perform during Lunar New Year so it was a treat to see it at Universal Studios and how much the guests enjoyed the performance.
Throughout the celebration, you can find these groups performing:

Tyun Yee Tong (January 23, February 2, 8-9)
Camarillo Kung Fu (January 25-26)
UCLA Wushu (February 1)
Ane Thanh Lion (February 8)

The Food Of Lunar New Year

Mr. Ping’s Noodle Shop is a pop-up restaurant available only during the Lunar New Year celebration, right inside Universal Plaza. The menu include:

Beef Pho
Pork Ramen
Secret Ingredient Noodle Soup
Glass Noddle Salad
Po’s Dumpling
Oogway Eggroll
Asian Sausages On A Stick
Sesame Balls
Cherry Cheesecake

I tried the Beef Pho, Pork Ramen, Oogway Eggroll, and Sesame Balls. The Beef Pho was really good. The beef was tender and flavorful. The Pork Ramen’s flavor was okay, but the pork was too tough for my preference. I also recommend the Sesame Balls. You get crispy sesame the outside, and filled with red bean paste on the inside. I love getting that initial bit of crisp as you bite down, and immediately followed by the soft and chewy-ness of the glutonous rice flour and red bean paste. It’s got just the right amount of sweetness.
An order of Sesame Balls comes with three. Unfortunately, I only ate 2 of mine because the third one was rock hard all around… so please know this if you’ve never tried this pastry before - it’s not supposed to be hard all around.
A “Year Of The Rat” sugar cookie and a cashew cookie is also available at the food stands near Universal Plaza.

Merchandise

I expected collection of Lunar New Year merchandise, maybe a commemorative shirt or two, but this wasn’t the case. There were displays set up in stores but the only Lunar New Year item was the Hello Kitty pin with the year 2020 written on it. I feel like this was a missed opportunity as I feel guests would love to take home event specific merchandise.

The Lunar New Year celebration at Universal Studios Hollywood is fun for the whole family. While it’s mainly staged at the Universal Plaza, there’s still plenty to do. Lunar New Year is included in the price of admission to the theme park and runs from January 23 through February 9. Visit www.UniversalStudiosHollywood.com for more information.