Guide to Lunar New Year 2026 at California Adventure

Lunar New Year at Disney California Adventure is a celebration of Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese traditions that occurs in January and February. It’s the first big event of the year at Disneyland Resort, and this shares info, tips & tricks for visiting, plus photos from the annual event.

The 2026 Lunar New Year celebration at Disney California Adventure rings in the Year of the Horse in the Chinese zodiac calendar, with culinary delights, fun festivities and Disney Characters, from January 23 through February 22, 2026. The Chinese zodiac calendar plays a significant role in shaping the traditions, holidays, and foods enjoyed in Asian communities all over the globe.

Event highlights during the 2026 Lunar New Year at DCA include:

• Marketplace menus celebrating delicious Asian cuisine
• Asian-inspired decorations
• Special appearances by some popular and rare Disney characters in unique attire
• Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession, on select days
• Hurry Home – A Lunar New Year Celebration pre-show, in front of World of Color Happiness
• Kid-friendly crafts and activities
• Commemorative festive merchandise

Look for Characters in colorful outfits inspired by traditional cultural styles—including Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse in Korean-inspired outfits, Goofy and Clarabelle wearing Vietnamese-inspired aó dài outfits, and Donald and Daisy in Chinese-inspired hanfu styles. For 2026, you’ll also be able to meet Horace Horsecollar in his Chinese-inspired ensemble!

The big news for the 2026 Lunar New Year is that Red Panda Mei Lee from Turning Red will appear in meet & greet form for the first time ever!

Another upside of Lunar New Year at Disney California Adventure is that it should occur during one of the slower stretches of the year at Disney California Adventure. Once the initial rush for opening weekend, Disneyland tends to be fairly quiet until the Presidents’ Day or Ski Week crowds arrive in full force.

Even with the return of the 2026 Southern California Resident Disneyland Ticket Deal and the Disneyland Half Marathon during this timeframe, we’re still expecting most dates in late January through mid-February to be fairly uncrowded. To be sure, the parks won’t be empty, but they won’t be bonkers busy–as has been the case for many dates.

See Best & Worst Weeks to Visit Disneyland in 2026 & 2027 for recommendations and further discussion.

Lunar New Year celebrates the celestial journey of the sun and the moon on their voyage toward another year. Disneyland Resort’s special festival invites you to make memories with your family and friends while sharing wishes for good health, luck and prosperity throughout the year to come.

During this limited time event, you’ll be able to partake in a joyous cultural celebration with a touch of Disney magic, featuring Asian-inspired food and drinks, vibrant décor, keepsake merchandise, rare characters, exciting entertainment, and more.

Culturally, Lunar New Year is a multi-day annual tradition that is the customary time to reflect on the past and step into a new life of hope, prosperity, and happiness. Much like ¡Viva Navidad!, which is like an event straight out of circa-1982 EPCOT Center, Happy Lunar New Year also combines authentic culture with Disney fun.

Lunar New Year is a great little celebration, and really makes me wish that Disney went through with its plan for a series of “Small World Celebrations” that began several years ago with Opa! A Greek Celebration. Perhaps now that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is open, DCA will start offering some counter-programming to draw locals away from Disneyland.

The Lunar New Year entertainment is great. There’s an educational component that feels inspired by actual Lunar New Year celebrations. This provides guests an authentic slice of culture alongside the fun of the Mulan processional and special character meet and greets.

Thankfully, it’s not simply characters from Mulan and Mickey Mouse in traditional Lunar New Year garb–there’s actual substance to this.

For Lunar New Year, Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession is once again a cavalcade rather than a small processional with a show stop in front of Paradise Garden. The procession will be extended throughout all of Disney California Adventure along the parade route from Paradise Gardens through Hollywood Land.

Second, the culinary landscape will expand, with the addition of two new Lunar New Year marketplaces: Bamboo Blessings and Wrapped with Love. They will join the returning marketplaces, including Lucky 8 Lantern, Prosperity Bao & Buns, Red Spice Traders, and Longevity Noodle Co.

“Hurry Home – Lunar New Year Celebration” also returns, presented prior to “World of Color.”

This heartwarming nighttime water show tells the tale of a little lantern’s quest to reunite with family for the annual celebration of good luck and fortune. During the celebration, you can check the Disneyland app for showtimes.

Last year, Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession debuted a gorgeous new float with Mulan, Mushu, Goofy, and traditional Chinese drummers. Decorated in red and gold to symbolize good fortune and happiness, the float features bright bunches of red firecrackers with golden tassels, and delicate red and gold lanterns that come aglow for after-sunset performances.

My favorite viewing spot–and where I shot these photos–is near Prosperity Bao & Buns, with Mickey’s Fun Wheel (or whatever they’re calling it now) in the background.

The costumes are stunning in the processions. If you can go to a late afternoon show, do that, as the light hitting the performers makes for some really nice photos.

There are a ton of performers in the Mulan procession–probably about 20-30.

We’d also recommend catching the last procession of the day, as it occurs after dark and the lanterns on the floats are illuminated.

Given this and the high quality of the performances, I’m surprised Disney doesn’t try to extend the Lunar New Year celebration a bit longer. It’s a really nice draw, probably not that expensive to put on, and is really popular with guests.

Additionally, the Paradise Garden Bandstand presents daily live performances featuring enchanting traditional musical instruments, along with Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese folk dancers. The San Francisco-based musical group Melody of China performs a fusion of Chinese folk, classical and contemporary instrumentals.

Sonoma Terrace presents exciting live entertainment during Lunar New Year. Featured are Chinese music ensemble Melody of China, Korean-American a cappella group Vocal Seoul, and a variety of community performing groups.

Of course, character meet & greets are part of the event, which is a nice touch for families. Enjoy special appearances by Disney characters at the Paradise Gardens Gazebo, where you can meet a rotating assortment of characters.

On top of that, the titular character from Walt Disney Animation Studios’ film Raya and the Last Dragon, returns to Disneyland Resort during the Lunar New Year celebration. Under a forest canopy deep in the heart of Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, you may encounter the heroic Raya.

While in Paradise Gardens, head over to the Lucky Wishes Wall to share your own special wishes of hope, health and happiness.

There’s also complimentary arts and crafts, including dragon’s pearl coloring craft and Chinese calligraphy with local artisans. Plus, new face painting opportunities have been added to the celebration, available for purchase.

The best part about Lunar New Year at DCA is that it doesn’t feel like it’s simply a ruse to sell some expensive event merchandise and overpriced menu items to locals (although that’s part of the equation). There’s a genuine effort to make this an enriching and entertaining experience for guests, and this is exactly the kind of thing that belongs in EPCOT.

There are lots of cool decorations up around Paradise Garden.

It may not seem like it from the photos here, but there’s a lot to see outside of the procession.

In addition to this, there’s other live entertainment on the band stand stage that you can enjoy while eating, plus stations where guests can get their faces painted, art stations for kids, and several spots set up with educational info about Lunar New Year in the various cultures that celebrate it.

Even though it’s the winter “off-season” at Disneyland Resort, Lunar New Year will still draw crowds. Expect that to hold true for the duration of the event. The food booths are especially busy, as are the meet & greets, which routinely have hour-plus lines.

On the plus side, you can grab a last minute spot for the cavalcade and have a great view. Same goes for the entertainment in Paradise Garden, which is a relatively uncrowded area of Disney California Adventure.

Now, let’s take a closer look at the food being served up at DCA’s Lunar New Year festivities…

Lunar New Year Food Menus

One of the highlights of Lunar New Year at Disney California Adventure is the marketplaces, serving a variety of Asian-inspired dishes prepared with a Disney twist.

These food booths are the same stands used for DCA’s Food & Wine Festival and its Festival of Holidays. While Lunar New Year’s culinary component is not as fleshed out as those events, it’s starting to expand and come into its own. We’ve already tried several dishes from the last two incarnations of the event, and have generally liked what we’ve tried.

Note that due to there being so few food booths, the lines can get long. We recommend rope dropping the marketplaces, ordering as close to 10:30 am as possible. From what we’ve seen, Longevity Noodle Co. has the longest lines, with guests stretching back through the World of Color seating area throughout the day for this marketplace. Prioritize this one.

Alternatively, you can place orders at a single marketplace, and then go to the pickup lines at other booths from there. Those return lines can still be lengthy, but you’ll save a good amount of time this way (assuming Disney doesn’t “disable” the multi-booth ordering, which does happen from time to time).

For the best value in your epicurean adventure, we recommend buying the Sip & Savor Pass. This provides six vouchers, redeemable for food and nonalcoholic beverages at Lunar New Year Marketplace kiosks and other select dining locations.

We usually make a pass of the marketplaces before redeeming any vouchers, making note of the items that are most expensive out of pocket, and thus offer the best bang for buck with the Sip & Savor Pass. A good rule of thumb is paying for the desserts out of pocket and using the Sip & Savor Pass on the more ambitious savory snacks.

For a complete rundown of all special menu items available this year, see the 2026 Foodie Guide to Lunar New Year at Disneyland Resort.