DCA Lunar New Year Celebration Review from a Disney Family.

January 31, 2023

Dear Disney,

Lunar New Year at Disney California Adventure was a very special experience for me. It was only celebrated and decorated at DCA. I saw lots of women wearing traditional Cheongsam or qipao dresses in bright and beautiful red. Several fellow Disney fans were in red too and it was delightful to see. I wore my Turning Red ears and a pastel hoodie with ‘4Town 4Ever’ embroidered on the front. I was ready to celebrate!

During Mulan’s New Year Procession, we stood next to a baby girl wearing a crocheted version of Mulan’s outfit. She was absolutely adorable and Mulan smiled and waved at her when she noticed her dress. I recorded the entire parade and I teared up a little when I saw that all the performers were Asian. To be able to see people that look like me proudly representing a holiday of their culture as a Disney cast member is indescribable. The flower dancer’s dresses flowed during their choreography so smoothly and exquisitely, the dragon and lion costumes were crisp, bold, and bright. The handlers of the faces made the creatures come alive and play with happy parade watchers. I can only say, thank you to every single person at Disney involved with the creative planning process and execution for cultural celebrations at the parks. It is so, so appreciated by many Disney fans like myself.

Traditional Dragon Dancers at Disney's Mulan's Lunar New Year Procession

We, of course, got the two Lunar New Year celebration pins featuring Walt Disney’s original character Oswald, who also made an appearance during the Lunar New Year parade. I’ve known this from our honeymoon trip to Disney World years ago, but Jim Dear has finally come to the realization that he has a Disney pin addiction. Lady actively encourages his newfound fervor and they both went wild with pin buying on this trip. We are currently searching for a nice pin display board so we can see all the pins we’ve collected over the years. The one thing I regret not being able to experience were the many food carts lined up in the main thoroughfare. The food looked amazing, but the lines were long and the area super crowded. Jim Jr. and Lady were more interested in riding as many attractions as possible. Waiting in line was not the top priority for them.