Photos: Lunar New Year Celebration Starts at Disney California Adventure

Disney California Adventure‘s annual Lunar New Year celebration is back. The event features Disney characters in Lunar New Year outfits, special food, exclusive merchandise, arts and crafts, and performances by local community groups, musicians, and other performers in several different shows. You can experience the Lunar Near Year at DCA until February 18, 2024. Lets take a look at how Disney is celebrating the Year of the Dragon:

Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession

Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession is a parade celebrating the Lunar New Year, it features songs and characters from the movie Mulan, as well as acrobats, a Chinese Dragon Dance, drummers, and dancers. Chip & Dale join Mulan and Mushu are also a part of the parade. There’s nothing new for the parade this year, instead they’ve removed the drummers that appeared with Mulan and friends on the parade float.

The show takes place along Disney California Adventure’s entire parade route. The procession will start near Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! and then make its way to Paradise Park, ending near Silly Symphony Swings.

Character Meet and Greets

You can meet Mulan and & Mushu, and Mickey & Minnie (in Lunar New Year outfits). The characters rotate every 30 minutes. The character meet and greet spot is located in the gazebo next door to Paradise Garden Grill.

Meilin Lee and Ming Lee from Pixar’s Turning Red make their debut as meet-and-greet characters during this year’s Lunar New Year Celebration. They meet in the walkway that connects The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure to Grizzly Peak.

Disney Lunar New Year Merchandise

Lunar New Year merchandise is available in the booth near The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure and shops on Buena Vista Street. Here’s the Year of the Dragon spirit jersey.

And the back.

Lunar New Year plush Mickey Mouse.

Mouse ear headband.

Red envelopes.

Lunar New Year Food

You can see all of the Festival food lineup here: 2024 Lunar New Year Festival Menus at Disneyland. Let’s take a spin through some of the great items we tried below.

You can purchase food and beverages from Food & Wine Festival-style booths featuring cuisine from China, Korea, and Vietnam.The most popular item each year is the Mickey Mouse-shaped Hot Dog Bun. As you can see it’s very photogenic.

Here’s the Quesabirra Eggroll and Mandarin Orange Mousse Cake from the Lucky 8 Lantern booth. The eggroll is delicious but it’s priced high at $9.

A Sip and Savor Pass is available which gets you six tasting-size items from the festival food booths and select quick-service restaurants in DCA. The 2024 Sip and Savor Pass costs $46 for regular park guests and $43 for Magic Key holders.

Full-size entrees are also available at Paradise Garden Grill, including my personal favorite, the Whole Fish. The skin is crispy and the fish is nice and flaky.

Be sure to take a picture with your fish!

Lunar New Year Decorations

Like DCA’s other seasonal celebrations, Disney did a great job with the Lunar New Year’s decorations. Here’s some seen around the park:

Crafts for kids of all ages are also available as part of the celebration. Near Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta you can find this station with crayons for coloring.

If you’re in Disney California Adventure from now until February 18, you should absolutely check out the Lunar New Year offerings. The food is good, Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession is a great little parade, and the meet and greets are fun and unique. Let us know what you think in the comments below.