Disneyland Resort Update: Lunar New Year 2020 Festivities
Disney California Adventure, Anaheim, CA
A little tardier than intended, today, we’re taking a look at the returning Lunar New Year Celebration at Disney California Adventure! This celebration of Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean New Year has been a seasonal event at DCA for several years now, and it’s one of several cultural festivals that run at the park throughout the year. This year, Disney is celebrating the Year of the Mouse (or Rat), and back again are a selection of specialty food stands, exclusive merchandise, and shows.
We’re halfway through the run thusfar, but there are still two more weekends before the Lunar New Year celebration ends. Lets check out the scene this year!
Ambiance
The smallest of the seasonal food and culture festivals, the bulk of the Lunar New Year set-up is clustered around Paradise Park, stretching from the obelisk marking the dividing line to Pacific Wharf all the way to the Boardwalk restaurants area—with a few nearby restaurants participating in seasonal food items.
Past years’ guests will recognize the theming and ambiance, since the same set pieces get recycled each year, but it still makes for a festive and joyous atmosphere, with plenty of red for prosperity and gold for good fortune. Over by Goofy’s Sky School and the Boardwalk Restaurants dining area, several informative displays detail the background of the lunar celebration in Asian cultures and explain the members of the Chinese zodiac. In addition, there are also activity areas scattered along the Little Mermaid attraction, a merchandise booth, and four Lunar New Year Marketplace booths offering snack size tastings of gourmet dishes inspired by the holiday. Guest can also write down their wishes for the new year at the Lucky Wishing Wall, also in the Boardwalk Restaurants area.
Merchandise
Disney has perfected the art of producing limited edition, seasonal merchandise for guests to snap up, and the Lunar New Year Celebration has plenty of apparel, pins, home furnishings, and knickknacks for souvenirs. The Lunar New Year spirit jersey has been an especially popular sell this year, with plenty of guests sporting it around the parks. There’s also an adorable Chip ‘n’ Dale bobble figure, plus other shirts and hats and specialty ears and even Disney red envelopes for purchase!
Food
My favorite part of this event is checking out the different food options available. Similar to the Food & Wine Festival and even the Festival of Holidays, the Lunar New Year Celebration at DCA features several booths that offer a mix of savory and sweet small plates and beverages inspired by Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean cuisine. The scale is smaller than the flagship Food & Wine Festival, but elements such as the Sip & Savor Pass (6 tickets for $42—$39 for Annual Passholders) and ordering food from different locations at one location return. There’s also mobile order available for the first time, which definitely saves a wait when cashier’s lines get long!
There are four booths again this year—one situated next to Embarcadero Gifts, another centered in front of the main facade of The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, and a pair located in front of the Golden Zephyr. Each offers two savory dishes, a dessert item, and one or two drinks—including alcoholic drinks. We tried most of the dishes this year, and our favorites included the Firecracker Three Cup Chicken Wings and Shrimp and Ginger Dumplings at Red Dragon Spice Traders, plus the Shrimp Fried Rice at Lucky 8 Lantern. The Chicken Meatballs with Lo Mein Noodles at Longevity Noodle Co. were pretty tasty too, though less gourmet.
For those trying to optimize the Sip & Savor Pass, anything $7 and above is worth using (although the Sip & Savor doesn’t work for alcoholic beverages). This basically means the savory items, as usual. With 8 such items available and the ability to use the pass across multiple visits, it’s still a good value for those who economize!
We didn’t get a chance to try quite everything, but we sampled a fair amount of food and asked guests about others. Here’s a look at a good portion of this year’s Lunar New Year Marketplace offerings!
There is also specialty food being offered at the Paradise Garden Grill, the Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta, Lucky Fortune Cookery, and a handful of other locations, including some cart locations next to Goofy’s Sky School, in the Lucky Wishing Wall area.
Performances
Finally, there are a couple of live shows that take place across the daytime. In the Paradise Garden Bandstand, Melody of China brings traditional stringed music to the California Adventure stage.
The main attraction, however, is Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession, a mini parade and show featuring Chinese umbrella dancers, drummers, dragon dancers, and kung fu artists. It’s all hosted by Mulan and Mushu and features special guests Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Chip ‘n’ Dale, and Goofy. The performances are fantastic, and the cultural celebration is a wonderful way to expose Chinese heritage to Western audiences, especially when utilizing the popularity of the Mulan franchise. It’s truly an inspiring show and definitely recommended to catch!
World of Color is also back with its Lunar New Year tag, “Hurry Home.” The short feature highlights Little Lantern making haste to come home to celebrate the new year. Mulan and Mushu make appearances in this heart-warming celebration set to the grandeur of the World of Color backdrop! The tag occurs only on the first World of Color show of the evening.
And that wraps up our look at the Lunar New Year Celebration this year! The event runs through February 9th, so make sure to stop by and see it. And if you’re still hankering for food and culture, the Food & Wine Festival returns later next month, on February 28th! Indeed, there’s not really an off-season at the parks anymore, and that seems to also apply to seasonal events!
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
