Disney California Adventure Park celebrates the holiday with food, entertainment and more.
Red and gold. The colors symbolize good luck, health and prosperity, and mark the Lunar New Year. Along with Asian fusion food, live entertainment and a park full of rides, it’s the latest seasonal holiday celebration at Disney California Adventure Park.
The limited-time event — now through Feb. 16 — is a tribute to Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese traditions, ringing in the Year of the Snake, with a Disney touch.
For the approximately seven million Americans of Chinese, Korean or Vietnamese ancestry, Lunar New Year marks the first new moon after the winter solstice, according to the lunar calendar. It’s a practice that dates as far back as two millennia in certain regions of East and Southeast Asia.
Traditionally, the holiday celebration is for being home and spending time with family. In Korea, it’s also about honoring ancestors. Celebrations include dragon dances, flower markets, firecrackers, games and food.
At California Adventure, along the main thoroughfare from Paradise Gardens Park to the edge of Buena Vista Street, the Lunar New Year is celebrated with food and entertainment, even getting a bit of help from San Fransokyo Square for some added ambiance — though it should be noted Japan has different traditions.
Like many of the seasonal celebrations at California Adventure, festivities are led by a selection of fusion-style offerings from various locations. The best deal for parents remains the Sip and Savor Pass, which gives guests six digital coupons, allowing them to get dishes or non-alcoholic drinks sold at the marketplaces.
Some of the best new dishes are the scallion pancake tostada (sold at Studio Catering Co.), a fried scallion pancake with bulgogi beef, kimchi aioli and spicy scallion salad. Another is the Legend of the Ten Spices flatbread (from Pym Test Kitchen), with kung pao beef, sesame spread, toasted bok choy and napa cabbage, served with onion-cilantro salad garnished with heirloom radish and chile threads. The pho dip (served at Wrapped with Love) is also new, with rice noodles, sliced beef, shaved jalapenos, pickled onions and pho broth. To wash it all down is the tropical coconut cooler (at Longevity Noodle Co.), a mix of coconut cream, coconut milk, house-made jackfruit syrup, dragon fruit syrup and lychee nectar and cherry juices, garnished with mango coconut foam and rainbow jellies.
“Every single year, we take feedback from guests, from different chefs and our business-employee research group, that help us make sure we stick to authenticity and tradition. We talk to our cast and try to hear their stories and try to tell those stories through the food offerings,” says Chef Daniel “Duke” Brown. “Here in Southern California, we are a big multi-cultural group of people, so a lot of our food is significant as well.”
Daily in the Paradise Gardens area, Disney characters appear for greetings and photos with park visitors. Characters you might meet could be Mulan and Mushu, Goofy, or Mickey and Minnie in all-new outfits representing traditional Korean attire. Along the pathway, you might also meet Meilin Lee and her mother, Ming Lee, from Pixar’s “Turning Red.”
Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession is lead by Mushu and features a cast of performers, marching and dancing their way through the park, celebrating family, friendship and hopes for a successful year. But in the evenings, nighttime festivities include a double feature of Hurry Home — A Lunar New Year Celebration as a short feature on the waters of Paradise Bay before World of Color — ONE.
“Families are saving up for this, whether they’ve been here a million times or this is their first and only visit, [Disney’s creative teams] want it to be spectacular every time,” says spokesperson Arielle Harris. “When guests are telling us, ‘We need more Lunar New Year-type food,’ they heard that feedback and grew this festival. A few more marketplaces each year, and the entertainment has gotten bigger and bigger. They want it to be the best day ever for your family.”
Other Lunar New Year Festivities
“Year of the Beast: A Lunar New Year Musical”
Students, from the Irvine Chinese Immersion Academy’s new Visual and Performing Arts Program, are presenting this original musical comedy that will be performed in English and Mandarin. Celebrating the transformative power of cultural empathy, the show tells a heartwarming story of Irvine’s encounter with the mythological Chinese beast of Lunar New Year. Performances are at 6 pm on February 7 and 8. Purchase tickets on their website.
O.C. Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival is a tradition that traces its history back some two thousand years and it’s typically done on the first full moon of the Lunar Calendar. This year, the Pacific Symphony presents its free, annual celebration on February 22 (11 am-4 pm) at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The festivities include music and dance performances by local community and professional groups and Pacific Symphony musicians along with lantern decorating, a dragon dance, riddles, food and much merriment.
SCBG’s Lunar New Year Celebration
South Coast Botanic Garden fills its February weekends with entertaining Lunar New Year attractions. Folks can enjoy storytelling and a wishing tree, as well as creating colorful kites and festive snake puppets at art-making stations around the garden. There will be an interactive plant walk too. Live performances, featuring lion dancers, martial artists, folk dancers and drummers, take place at 9:30 am, 12:30 pm and 3:30 pm (for a modest additional fee).
Article by Shawn Price & Compiled Events by Michael Berick
Author: Marketing and Event Coordinator
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