Every year, California Adventure celebrates the Lunar New Year which celebrates Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese cultures and this year, the festivities will be running from January 23 to February 22, 2026 is the year of the snake and during this celebration, there will be rare characters to meet, activities, food booths, and more! So let’s take a quick look at what you need to know about the Lunar New Year celebration.
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How to experience it
The Lunar New Year celebration is included in your theme park admission and is not a separate cost, but you do need to make your theme park reservations for California Adventure, or you can also experience it with a park hopper ticket.
What does it include
Lunar New Year Marketplace
Like many with many other festivals like the Festival of Holidays or the DCA Food and Wine Festival, the Lunar New Year Celebration brings a number of food booths to the marketplace that guests can enjoy. These booths are located throughout California Adventure and each food booth can be enjoyed at guests own leisure but going up and ordering directly from the individual food booth, or there is also the option to purchase a Sip and Savor Pass.
If you are not familiar with the Sip and Savor passes, this is an optional purchase that is one bulk amount up front for six “tabs” to use at the food booths. Guests will take their scannable sip and savor pass to the booth they would like to redeem for select bites and non alcoholic beverages at participating locations like the Lunar New Year food booths and select dining locations around the park.
Lunar New Year Marketplaces
• Bamboo Blessings
• Longevity Noodle Co.
• Lucky 8 Lantern
• Prosperity Bao & Buns
• Red Dragon Spice Traders
• Wrapped with Love
Lunar New Year Dining Locations
• Aunt Cass Cafe
• Award Wieners
• Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta
• Churro Cart in Hollywood Land
• Cozy Cone
• Hollywood Lounge
• Lucky Fortune Cookery
• Paradise Garden Grill
• Smokejumpers Grill
• Studio Catering Truck
• Select outdoor vending carts
All six tabs do not have to be used at once and can be used throughout the duration of the Lunar New Year celebration which ends February 22, 2026. You can even order all of your sip and savor items at one food booth and then just take your receipt to the participating food booth to pick up you food without needing to wait in line to order! This is a great way to try lots of different items from the food booths, and this year they are doing limited time designs celebrating Chinese, Korean, or Vietnamese cultures and feature some popular Disney characters in the respective culturally inspired outfits. When you purchase your sip and savor pass, just let the cast member helping you know which design you would like. You can purchase sip and savor passes at the following locations:
Lunar New Year Sip and Savor Pass Locations
• Elias & Co.
• Festival Gifts
• Festive Food Marketplace booths
• Julius Katz & Sons
• Seaside Souveniers
•Sip and Savor Cart
Now that we’ve covered how to enjoy the food booths at the Lunar New Year Marketplace, let’s get into all the yummy options that you can enjoy! You can find special food offerings at all 6 of the marketplace food booths as well as several dining locations throughout DCA. And to make it easier to keep track of them all, I have created a FREE printable foodie guide that you can print off and take with you to keep track of everything the festival has to offer as well as what items you have tried! Find that printable list below:
Lunar New Year Entertainment
Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession
On select dates, this procession will make it’s way from Hollywood Land down to the Paradise Gardens area. Beautifully costumed performers including warriors, dancers, and drummers will join this procession as well as Mulan, Mushu, and other characters, along with a beautiful Chinese dragon puppet. This is similar to a quick cavalcade you would see in Disneyland, so there is no need to line up early, and this is a quick procession that will only take a few minutes so you can catch it as you pass by the area. The best spot to see this is down in the Paradise Gardens area by Goofy’s Sky School and Jumpin’ Jellyfish because that’s where it will spend the most time at the end of the route. Make sure you check the Disneyland app to see if this procession is being offered that day as well as what times you can expect it, because it is only available sometimes.
Hurry Home- A Lunar New Year Celebration
This is a short pre-show that you can see just before each showing of World of Color. It happens in the exact same spot so you don’t have to go anywhere special to find it. It follows the story of a little lantern as it journey’s home for the annual celebration and is a beautiful tribute to friends and family. You’ll also catch some other characters like Mulan.
Character Meet and Greets
Lunar New Year is a great time to meet some rare characters like Mulan, Mushu, Mei and Ming from Turning Red, Mickey and Minnie in their festive outfits, and more! You’ll want to head down to the Paradise Gardens area right past Goofy’s Sky School to find the meet and greet locations.
Crafts and Activities
Just like with many other festivals, there will be a place in the Paradise Gardens area for kids to enjoy fun arts and crafts activities. These are all free and included with your theme park admission. You can also find the Lucky Wishing Wall where you are given a mickey to write your wish on and hang it up with all the other wishes which is a beautiful thing to see and do!
Book your trip today!
If you are wanting to experience the Lunar New Year Celebration for yourself, make sure you book your trip between January 23 through February 22, 2026! You can click here to book your trip with my travel partners Get Away Today and make sure you use code RAMBLING10 to receive a discount off of your 2+ ticket/2+ night hotel stay package or if you aren’t sure where to start, give them a call at 855-GET-AWAY and tell them The Rambling Introvert sent you to receive the best deals and receive the help of an expert travel agent to book your trip!
