Last week I was invited to the press day for Universal Studios Lunar New Year Celebration. Y'all know how much I hate getting up early and having to be in full-face first thing in the morning, but it's always worth it for a Universal Studios event.
They had all our favorite offerings from last year, including meet and greets with characters from Kung Fu Panda, Mr. Ping's Noodle House, Mandarin-speaking Megatron, and of course Hello Kitty!!
Mr. Ping's is probably my favorite part of the celebration. His meet and greet is awesome, and he has full conversations with you about whatever you want to talk about. We chatted about dumplings, dishes, and finding him a nice female goose to be Mrs. Ping. Not only that, but the food is really good! We ordered the pork ramen, Po's dumplings, the Oogway eggroll, and Asian sausage on a stick, and it was all great. The sausage was my favorite for sure, but the ramen was pretty high up there too.
The Po photo op is fun because you get to choose a kung-fu move and then Po and his handler teach it to you. After you've gone over it a few times, you do it again for the camera (total video or boomerang opportunity) and then you pose for the photo.
The whole area is super immersive, and even though you're in the middle of Universal Studios, it has a really calm and serene feeling to it. I could happily spend hours under the cherry blossom tree just hanging out.
Universal's Lunar New Year celebration runs from January 23rd -February 9th 2020.