Disney California Adventure’s Lunar New Celebration kicks off today, January 23, 2024, with a bounty of festive foods, merchandise, entertainment, and activities. The seasonal festival runs through February 18, 2024, and is a crowd-pleaser every year. Let’s get the party started with this guide to all the festival fun!
Some of the photos below are from previous years, but be sure to keep checking back for brand-new photos and our impressions.
Disney California Adventure’s Lunar New Year Celebration 2024 – The Year of the Dragon
There are several festivals held at DCA throughout the year, but none are quite as vivacious as the Lunar New Year Celebration. This multi-cultural event celebrates the Lunar New Year, an event that is shared across several Asian cultures, including Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and more. With 2024 being the Year of the Dragon, we can expect to see Mulan’s faithful dragon Mushu on merchandise, novelty items, and, of course, Mulan’s Lunar New Year Processional (but we will touch on all of that further down).
Magic Key Holder-Exclusive Photo Op!
Along the walkway underneath Silly Symphony Swings is a photo setup made just for Disneyland Magic Key Holders. Designed by artist Ann Shen, it includes a wooden standee in the foreground depicting Mushu and Cri-Kee amongst an array of fireworks, with a curtain of red lanterns as a backdrop.
DCA Lunar New Year Celebration 2024 Food
This year’s festival marketplace includes six food booths – the same as last year – and additional themed dishes found at various dining locations inside Disney California Adventure, Downtown Disney, and the Disneyland Resort Hotels. The cuisine draws influence from a variety of Asian flavors, and often in unexpected fusion combos!
We previously assembled a Lunar New Year food guide that details all the items available throughout the marketplaces and participating locations. Below, we’ve listed a few of the items we’re most excited to try:
Bamboo Blessings (Marketplace Booth)
- Taro Vietnamese-style Iced Coffee: Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Co. Vietnamese-style Coffee, cocoa powder, and condensed milk garnished with a taro chocolate sweet cream (Non-alcoholic beverage) (New)
Longevity Noodle Co. (Marketplace Booth)
- Shrimp Lo Mein Noodles: Pan-fried lo mein noodles with sautéed shrimp garnished with green onions (New)
Lucky 8 Lantern (Marketplace Booth)
- Mandarin Orange Mousse Cake: Layers of mandarin mousse with vanilla cake and clementine compote finished with white chocolate crunch balls and a tangerine glaze
Prosperity Bao & Buns (Marketplace Booth)
- BBQ Pork Bun with kimchi mayo and garlic chile crunch (New)
Red Dragon Spice Traders (Marketplace Booth)
- Spicy Fried Rice with tofu and crispy peas (New)
Wrapped with Love (Marketplace Booth)
- Fried Lemongrass Chicken Dumplings with plum sauce (New)
- Steamed Pork & Vegetable Dumplings with black garlic sauce (New)
Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta
- Bulgogi Pizza: Marinated beef and spicy corn, cheese sauce topped with green onion (Available by slice or whole pie) (New)
And don’t forget those collectible novelty items. The Mickey-shaped Macaron straw is a stroke of brilliance.
You can find the full listing of Lunar New Year Celebration food, including those offered beyond the marketplace booths, in the article below:
Disney California Adventure’s Lunar New Year 2024 Food Guide
Lunar New Year Celebration Sip & Savor Pass
The best way to save money while trying the most items for the food festival is by purchasing a Sip & Savor Pass. In previous years, you would get six tabs that are redeemable for food and non-alcoholic beverages at the festival marketplaces or participating locations throughout DCA. However, this year, the tabs are replaced by a scannable code on the back of your pass. The number of redemptions remains the same).
DCA Lunar New Year Celebration 2024 Entertainment and Activities
One of the things that we love about DCA’s Lunar New Year Celebration is its emphasis on entertainment. Throughout the duration of the festival, you can look forward to Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession (which is my personal favorite cavalcade of the whole year), live music at Paradise Garden, and an array of characters in colorful Lunar New Year outfits.
Mulan’s Lunar New Year Processional
Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession is an absolute must-watch for any DCA visitor. As Mulan and Mushu make their way along the parade route, there is an array of dancers, martial artists, and more that make this an amazing cultural display.
There were a few updates to the processional last year. Namely, the procession is significantly longer, as it makes its way through the entirety of the parade route from near Guardians of the Galaxy and ends near Paradise Park. New dancers were also added to the procession. I love how vibrant they are!
The dragon dancers are always popular.
And, of course, it would not be “Mulan’s Lunar New Year Processional” without Mulan herself! Mushu joins her on the float, along with Dale (and Chip trailing behind).
Lunar New Year Live Music Performances
At the bandstand in Paradise Garden and at Sonoma Terrace, you can enjoy live music as you sit in a peaceful, shaded area throughout the day.
You can find more information about each performance group and their schedule for the day on their individual pages on the Disneyland website:
- Vocal Seoul at Sonoma Terrace
- New Tradition at Paradise Gardens Park
- Melody of China at Paradise Gardens Park
- Luna Lee at Paradise Gardens Park
Lucky Wishing Wall
While in Paradise Gardens, be sure to stop by the Lucky Wishing Wall and add a personal message to the wall of hanging wishes. It’s a beautifully shared sentiment as you add your wish for the year and see what other people are looking forward to. As the festival goes on, the wall becomes more and more decorated as the wishes get added daily.
Lunar New Year Characters
In Paradise Garden, you’ll find a handful of Lunar New Year themed characters waiting to spend some time with you.
New this year is the daughter and mother pair from Pixar’s “Turning Red,” Meilin Lee and Ming Lee, are located in front of a specially-themed backdrop at the side of the Little Mermaid attraction. The two love to experience Chinese cultural traditions together, and as you can see, the Lunar New Year Celebration has Meilin so excited that her red panda ears and tail have popped up! Their inclusion is a fun tie-in and a clever way to get guests excited for Pixar Place Hotel, which opens on January 30, and Pixar Fest, taking place later this year.
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In addition to the “Turning Red” characters, you’ll find Mulan and Mushu after their procession, Mickey and Minnie in themed attire, and a couple of other characters, too.
There is one other location you’ll find a special Lunar New Year character, and that’s deep in the heart of Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. There, you’ll find Raya from Raya and the Last Dragon. Her photo op was so popular last year that it stayed months after the Lunar New Year Celebration ended!
Hurry Home – Lunar New Year Celebration World of Color Pre-Show
To finish off your visit to DCA for Lunar New Year, be sure to stick around for the special add-on to World of Color. This delightful short pre-show follows Little Lantern on a journey to return home for the annual celebration of good luck and fortune with appearances by Mulan and Mushu.
The music for this 6-minute short is written by Academy Award-winning composer Tan Dun. This is the perfect treat way to end a day celebrating Lunar New Year at DCA. And since this plays at the start of the World of Color show, you have a whole other spectacular to watch after it concludes.
You can see this special pre-show in front of World of Color – One:
Lunar New Year Celebration 2024 Merchandise
This year’s Lunar New Year merchandise assortment is more limited than last year’s, containing a Spirit Jersey, Ear Headband, a Mickey plush, and a couple of pins. As you would expect, all are themed to the Year of the Dragon, with the Spirit Jersey being the most overt in its theming, actually spelling it out along the back of the garment.
You can find these items at the merchandise booth near The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure. Some items are also in the cart across from the entrance to Cars Land.
After returning on January 24, we noticed this booth had added Turning Red merchandise to its offerings. Clever move, Disney!
This red panda tail keychain was especially cute.
And if you are heading to Disney California Adventure on January 27, a new special edition Disney Munchling plush, Hot Dog Bun Mickey Mouse, will debut at Trolley Treats. At 9am that day, Executive Pastry Chef Jean-Marc Viallet, the inspiration for this Munchling, will be there for a special meet and greet.
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Even More Magic Coming Soon
To see the full calendar of events announced for the Disneyland Resort in 2024, check out our dedicated article:
Save the Dates: Disneyland’s Full Slate of Events for 2024 Revealed!
Let’s Hear from You
Are you planning on visiting Disney California Adventure during its Lunar New Year Celebration? What are you most excited to experience this year? Let us know in the comments below!
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