Disneyland Resort Update: Lunar New Year 2022 Festivities
Disney California Adventure, Anaheim, CA
Happy Monday! Today is Lunar New Year’s Eve for those cultures celebrating it, and as the Year of the Ox gives way to the Year of the Tiger, it seems appropriate to check out the Lunar New Year Celebration at Disney California Adventure, returning after last year’s Coronavirus closure absence. Disney has been celebrating this culturally significant holiday for Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese people for many years now, establishing a familiar format similar to its other festivals—gourmet food offerings, music and performing arts entertainment, and specialty merchandise. And this year is no different.
Guests can find this year’s Lunar New Year Celebration once again focused on the Paradise Park area of DCA, with some spill-over into Pacific Wharf and (new this year) Grizzly Peak. The focus, though, remains in the area between the entrance of the Little Mermaid attraction and Silly Symphony Swings.
A large, colorful archway marks the beginning of the festival area. Lucky red and gold hues emphasize the new year’s wishes for prosperity. Guests can learn about the history and meaning of the lunar new year, write down their wishes for a new year, receive a memento from Chinese calligraphers, and take in the sights and sounds of the holiday.
![Those born this [most of] year or multiples of 12 years ago are tigers!](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56b2203262cd9449d3d390ca/1643537865315-PXUGG2T5S5P85LXPM6GD/A-Ambiance-0011.jpg)
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Disney celebration without merchandise and souvenirs, and this year features a familiar assortment of memorabilia for guests to purchase. From clothing to toy figures to mugs and mementos, there are plenty of items to show off one’s appreciation for both Disney and the Lunar New Year.
Lunar New Year Meet-and-Greets
The gazebo located next to the Paradise Garden Grill and Goofy’s Sky School is once again home to a festive and beautifully themed meet-and-greet area where guests can find some of their favorite Disney characters clad in traditional new year garb. Characters rotate in and out about every half an hour, and we saw Mickey and Minne, Tigger (of course, given that it’s his year!), the Three Little Pigs, and Mulan and Mushu posing with guests.
There is still a separation between the characters and guests in accordance with current park COVID policies, but here, at least both parties are on the same level. The waits for the character photo ops didn’t seem too bad, especially compared to some of the lines for other attractions (we’ll get to that later).
The gazebo over by the Paradise Garden Grill is once again home to character photo ops—still socially distanced, of course. The backdrop looks great!
Since it’s the year of the tiger, having Tigger around makes all the sense in the world.
Mulan and Mushu are there, of course.
Mickey and Minnie too. And other characters too, including at least the Three Little Pigs, who I didn’t catch.
Raya and the Last Dragon Meet-and-Greet
New this year and over at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail is a second meet and greet, featuring Raya from the recent Disney animated motion picture, Raya and the Last Dragon. Although this part of Grizzly Creek is meant to simulate a California evergreen forest, a small nook of it has been transformed into a tropical jungle setting evoking Talon.
Dozens of beautiful and colorful lanterns hang from the trees, setting a lovely surrounding for those waiting in line. At the end of their wait, guests can encounter Raya at her jungle encampment. Raya is elevated, but she does take time to interact with each guest, coming to the edge of the photo op stage area to greet fans. Raya appears starting around 2:00 in the afternoon and runs to 8:00 or 9:00 in the evening (there were conflicting times noted by cast members), with approximately half hour shifts.
This is a pretty fantastic new feature for the Lunar New Year Celebration, and it’s great to see representation in the form of Disney’s first Southeast Asian princess!
A new photo op has appeared this year at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail in Grizzly Peak.
An exotic, colorful jungle setting has been carved out of the forest atmosphere of the trail.
Raya has made her debut as a Disney character in the parks.
And her photo op is pretty great! This is one of the later-running attractions as part of the Lunar New Year Celebration.
Magic Key Opportunities
Similar to special offerings for Annual Passholders before the pandemic, the Lunar New Year Celebration offers special experiences for Magic Key Holders over by Silly Symphony Swings. A special Lunar New Year pin designed by artist Anne Shen is available for Magic Key Holders (while supplies last) until 7:00pm. In addition, there’s an exclusive Magic Key photo op that guests can enjoy with complimentary Photo Pass downloads. Of course, that does mean waiting for it during the day, but just FYI for those interested in this sort of thing.
Lunar New Year Festival Entertainment
Beyond the ambiance and photo ops, there are also a few live shows and performances that occur throughout the day, starting from early afternoon through early evening. They’re centered around the parade corridor in the Paradise Park area and the Paradise Gardens Bandstand, and while they’re less in quantity compared to the Food & Wine Festival and the Festival of Holidays, they still are enjoyable to witness!
Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession
Returning once again this year is Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession, though its format is a little curtailed from past years. Rather than a mini-parade that transitions into a show centered in the performance area of Paradise Park, this year’s version is mostly an out-and-back parade that starts near Silly Symphony Swings, makes its way along the parade corridor toward the obelisk that marks the border of Paradise Park and Pacific Wharf, then turns around and retraces its steps.
This year’s Lunar New Year Procession has been retooled a little bit from past years to function more like an out-and-back mini-parade than a procession leading to an actual show in the Paradise Park performance area.
Tigger leads the way, but Chip and Dale are with him!
Dragon dancers lead the way in a rhythmic and serpentine line.
There’s great fanfare with the procession, which sees some familiar Disney characters mixed with dancers, martial artist, drummers, and cultural fanfare. In addition, Mulan and Musho have received a brand new float this year that looks stunning. Though modest in size as far as parade floats go, it’s still beautifully furnished, and it features drummers and Goofy in the back.
Colorful ribbon twirlers follow suit.
New this year is a beautiful float for Mulan and Mushu.
It also features ceremonial drummers.
And Goofy is on the back of the float to greet guests too!
It’s also worth noting that when the food lines to the four Festival Marketplace kiosks shut down shortly before each Procession, in order to minimize cross traffic of guests darting through the route to get in line. For those who happen to be waiting (and for the food lines, there has been a lot of that), it’s a nice distraction from the queuing.
Martial artists follow the float, demonstrating their sword or staff mastery.
And fan and umbrella dancers form the end of the procession.
Paradise Garden Grandstand Performances
The Paradise Garden Grandstand also plays host to musical and performing arts guests multiple times a day. The signage around the Lunar New Year Celebration promotes Melody of China, a three-part traditional Chinese instrumental group. However, the photos below from last Sunday actually feature a troupe demonstrating traditional dances. Regardless, this culturally rich performance provides great, appreciated entertainment that helps reinforce the customs and celebrations of the Lunar New Year.
Though the Paradise Garden Bandstand was supposed to feature the musical act, Melody of China, according to advertising signage, opening Sunday featured a cultural performance instead. Their exhibition began with a fan dance.
Next up, handkerchief spinners.
This umbrella dance featured flexible contortions.
Highlighting the multi-cultural aspect was this vibrant Seungmu dance practice in Korean Buddhist culture.
It finished up with this folk drum display that combined percussion and dance.
It was a marvelous showcase of East Asian cultures and lunar new year festivities!
Lion Dance Shows
Rounding out the entertainment, there are also traditional Chinese lion dances taking place in front of the entrance to Goofy’s Sky School. These aren’t on any overt schedule, and it’s best to ask a cast member about them. When they occur, they seem to happen almost organically, with a crowd gathering around the entrance to the Boardwalk restaurants and enjoying the athletic performances that harken prosperity and good tidings for the new year. On this visit, the lion dances were put on by the UCLA Association of Chinese Americans, and even though I’m a USC Trojan, I can certainly applaud the great show and celebration of Chinese customs that the performers put on.
UCLA’s Association of Chinese Americans put on a lion dance performance.
This is a traditional dance meant to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck and fortune.
It combines coordination, dance, and athleticism to perform.
Lunar New Year Food
As always, there are specialty food items that are available for the Lunar New Year Celebration. There are four total food stands for the Lunar New Year Celebration—one in front of the old Embarcadero Store at the edge of Pacific Wharf, one in front of the middle of the Little Mermaid ride building, and two in front of the Golden Zephyr. Each one has two savory dishes, a dessert item, and a couple of drink offerings.
This year, guests can again purchase a Sip and Savor Pass, which costs $43 for six food tickets ($40 for Magic Key holders). The Sip and Savor Pass is not valid for alcoholic beverages but is valid for everything else, plus select items at snack stands and miniature versions at participating quick serve restaurants. In addition, it can be reused on subsequent visits through the end of the Lunar New Year Celebration on Sunday, February 13th.
Note that while there is no mobile ordering available for the Festival Marketplace food kiosks, guests can’t order food from other kiosks at the kiosk they are in. Strategically, this means it’s best to find the kiosk with the shortest ordering line and then wait through the pickup lines as they are.
The menu this year features a mix of returning items and a few new ones, though the new items seem fewer than in the past. We did not try anything this year due to the lengthy lines (again, more on that to come), other than the Gochujang Chicken Wings at the snack cart next to Goofy’s Sky School (they were delicious). But from past years’ experience and reports from friends, winners include the Spicy Pork Dandan Noodles from Longevity Noodle Co., the Shrimp Fried Rice and Beef Bulgogi Short Rib from Lucky 8 Lantern, and the Spicy Three-Cup Chicken and Impossible™ Lion’s Head Meatballs from Red Dragon Spice Traders.
Paradise Garden Grill also has a seasonal menu with full size offerings. The Whole Fried Fish is pretty good from prior years’ visits, and the Korean-style BBQ Chicken is pretty tasty too. The Banh Mi sandwich has also received good marks, but I cannot in good conscious recommend it when one can go to Westminster or San Gabriel and get authentic Banh Mi’s for literally a quarter of the price or less.
Here’s where things get ugly. The lines for this year’s Lunar New Year Celebration have been ridiculous, even by Disney standards. Though crowds at the parks have honestly been pretty manageable since the parks reopened, the Festival area has been extremely crowded the first two weekends of this event, and this has been particularly felt in the food lines, which have been lengthy almost from the start of operations at 11:30 and don’t die down even at the end of the evening.
For whatever reason, Disney has split the food stand lines into two for this event, requiring guests to wait to order and then wait in a separate line to pick up. As noted above, this does mean that savvy guests can order all of their food at one kiosk and then wait in the pickup lines for the rest—saving them from having to wait in other ordering lines. But the ordering and pickup queues have each stretched as long as 20 to 45 minutes, meaning guests have had to wait over an hour just to pick up food. This is absolutely unacceptable, and it wasn’t anywhere near this bad even just last month at the Festival of Holidays.
When I visited on opening weekend, this pattern persisted both on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon. Things haven’t seemed to improve this past second weekend. There doesn’t seem to be a great explanation for why the food lines have suddenly become horrendous this year, other than maybe it’s finally time to expand the number of kiosks at this event to match that of the Festival of Holidays or maybe even the Food & Wine Festival. An increase in food kiosk capacity would certainly help, even if that just means increasing the number of stalls.
That does it for this update from the Disneyland Resort. The Lunar New Year Festival continues its run daily through Sunday, February 13th. This year is the longest run yet for this event, stretching four weekends, and the crowds have proven that this limited time event has definitely hit new highs in popularity. Unfortunately, with that success has come a reduction in guest experience, and hopefully, next year’s iteration can learn on the lesson’s from this year’s (and hopefully, these E-Ticket-long waits don’t repeat themselves at the Food & Wine Festival in just over a month!).
In any case, if you do visit the next couple of weeks, bring a lot of patience and hit the Lunar New Year Celebration as early as possible if you’re looking to partake in food. It’s a great event nonetheless, and I personally appreciate having something at the parks that celebrates and represents my culture. Happy Year of the Tiger, and may we all have a healthy and prosperous year—especially after the last two!
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
