The Lunar New Year celebration has now kicked off at Disney California Adventure! This celebration takes place early each year, lasting just about a month. Across the park, you’ll find special offerings paying tribute to Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese cultures.
This year, there are a handful of notable new character offerings for the Year of the Horse. These rare characters will only be available for a very short time throughout the duration of the festival, so make sure to check them out while you can! At Mickey Visit, we report on the latest Disney news, including a new Disney California Adventure ride closure added to the refurb calendar and Disneyland’s fanciest restaurant reopening after a massive overhaul on this date.
Lunar New Year Character Changes in 2026
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The Lunar New Year celebration takes place at Disney California Adventure from January 23 through February 22, 2026, honoring Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean traditions with special foods, character outfits, and entertainment offerings.
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Many elements of the Lunar New Year celebration are kept the same from year to year. The festival always features special decor, appearances from Disney characters in outfits inspired by traditional cultural attire, Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession, a special pre-show for World of Color, and commemorative merchandise.
We see some variations in menu offerings and fresh merchandise each year. This year, there are some new foods and returning favorites (that we will detail in our Lunar New Year foods review coming soon). Just like during the Food & Wine Festival and Disney Festival of Holidays, there are several marketplaces across the parks. Disneyland always tries to shift around its marketplace menus each festival to bring back popular items and test the waters with new concepts. See all of the 2026 Lunar New Year foods now available here.
We were there on the first day of the Lunar New Year celebration as part of a media event hosted by Disney, and wanted to share details on some of the changes this year to note.
Experiencing the beautiful weather and low crowds that day reaffirmed why this is one of the best times of the year to visit Disneyland. The parks are not as crowded, and you can enjoy special offerings like this celebration in Disney California Adventure and the ongoing 70th anniversary celebration across the resort.
For the first time this year, Mei Lee from “Turning Red” is appearing in her full Red Panda form. We have only seen full Red Panda Mei in the Pixar Pals parade before, but not for a full meet and greet until now. She will be greeting guests at the Pixar Pier Band Shell during the celebration.
Over the past couple of years, Mei Lee has appeared in her partial Red Panda form with her mother, Ming Lee. See the previous meet-and-greet below.
For the Year of the Horse, Horace Horsecollar is making appearances! This rare character is appearing during the celebration at Performance Corridor on San Francisco Street, the area between the Little Mermaid ride and the water wheel at Grizzly River Run.
This featured character for each animal sign of the Chinese zodiac rotates each year. In the past, we’ve had Oswald and his girlfriend Ortensia appear for the Year of the Rabbit, Tigger for the Year of the Tiger, etc.
There are also some other fun Year of the Horse-inspired special offerings this year, including commemorative merchandise and a horse-shaped sourdough loaf sold at San Fransokyo Square.
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New this year, several Disney characters have debuted outfits with representations of Vietnamese and Chinese attire. Here is a look at Goofy and Clarabelle’s new outfits! They are appearing in the same meeting spot as Horace Horsecollar.
Over at Paradise Gardens Park, you’ll find Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse (in their returning Korean-inspired outfits), Mulan and Mushu, and Donald and Daisy in their new outfits in the
Paradise Gardens Gazebo.
For travel during the Lunar New Year celebration, guests can currently take advantage of the California resident ticket offer available for travel through May 21. This is one of the best offers we’ve seen in recent years and definitely one to take advantage of if you are eligible.
Beyond the Lunar New Year celebration, there are some more exciting events coming up in 2026. Disneyland revealed all of the 2026 special events and attraction openings recently, giving guests a look ahead at the year. We also recently got major news about changes coming to Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge.
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