It’s the Year of the Rooster and Disneyland Resort is welcoming the Lunar New Year with a very magical celebration at Disney California Adventure Park. Through February 5, Guests can celebrate this joyous occasion as part of a 17-day celebration which includes live performances and entertainment, a special opening addition of ‘Hurry Home” to “World of Color“, beautiful, festive decor, Disney characters dressed in their own Lunar New Year costumes, special cultural activities, and exquisite Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese food offerings.
I was invited to attend a very special preview of the Lunar New Year Celebration at Disney California Adventure Park and was absolutely amazed at this bigger-than-ever celebration planned for the Year of the Rooster. Lunar New Year is traditionally celebrated within Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese cultures and commemorates the moment when both the sun and the moon begin their journey for another year.
In Disney California Adventure Park you’ll find such beautiful, festive decorations in honor of the “Year of the Rooster”, including whimsical red and gold ornamental lanterns and the 12 zodiac animals, with a Disney twist, of course. 
Paradise Gardens has been completely transformed into a magical setting for the Lunar New Year Celebration this year and you’ll find banners wishing guests a “Happy Lunar New Year” in English, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.
During the Lunar New Year Celebration, there are artisans that will teach children to make paper lanterns they can take home. Chinese artisans are also on hand doing calligraphy demonstrations for guests, as well as free face painting.
There are also special character appearances in Disney California Adventure Park. You can find Mulan and Mushu, Chip n’ Dale, and Mickey and Minnie Mouse, all dressed up in their Lunar New Year attire. There’s also a beautiful photo location for guests to take photos with the characters.
You’ll want to make sure to save time for a visit to see the Lucky Wishing Wall. Guests may add their own wishes to the wall for a wonderful future. It’s a beautiful display to admire and contribute towards. 
Special Entertainment
The entertainment that Disney has arranged this year for the Lunar New Year Celebration is spectacular. Here are some of the highlights:
- The Acrobats of China – Watch this award-winning troupe from China perform an exciting mix of traditional and classic Chinese dance with human performance art including riveting feats of strength, grace, and balance. This cultural art form has been thrilling audiences for more than 2,500 years!
- Live musical performances – Disney has arranged an array of authentic performers for the Lunar New Year Celebration including Chinese concert musician Jie Ma, who performs on the traditional pipa string instrument, and Dat Nguyen, a Vietnamese concert guitarist, composer, and teacher.
- “Hurry Home – Lunar New Year Celebration” – Each night, prior to the regular “World of Color”, there’s a new feature called “Hurry Home – Lunar New Year Celebration” that is a very special 6-minute feature that’s presented in sequences. Using projected animation along with lighting, special effects, and powerful fountains of “World of Color”, the story unfolds and takes guests on a journey of a Little Lantern who encounters 3 dream sequences. Viewers can expect to see appearances by Mulan and Mushu in the performance. The story is scored with music created for the opening ceremony of Shanghai Disney Resort. It’s a beautiful addition to the already breathtaking “World of Color” and should not be missed during it’s limited engagement at Disney California Adventure Park.
- “Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession” – Mulan and everyone’s favorite dragon, Mushu, welcome “The Year of the Rooster” in this beautiful, colorful procession of Chinese umbrella dancers and a variety of other delightful performers who arrive to music from Disney’s beloved animated film “Mulan”.
Lunar New Year Celebration Special Food Offerings
There are so many wonderful and special food offerings available for guests to try during the Lunar New Year Celebration, which are inspired by the cultures of China, Korea, and Vietnam. 
Guests will find a variety of authentic dishes at three locations within the Lunar New Year Marketplace from:
- China – Pork Soup Dumplings and Turnip Cakes with Spicy Sausage
- Korea – Kimchi Fried Rice and Steamed Vegetable Dumplings
- Vietnam – Sticky Rice Cake with Pork and Sugar Cane Shrimp Skewer
Additional Lunar New Year menu items are available at Paradise Garden Grill including Vegetable Japchae, Kalbi Beef Short Ribs with Steamed Rice, Whole Crispy Tilapia with Citrus Chile Vinaigrette, Beef Pho Noodle Soup, Mango Pudding, and Cassava Coconut Cake. 
Lunar New Year merchandise is also available in the park during the celebration. There’s a specially designed t-shirt, a collectable pin, a decorative trinket box, and traditional red envelopes for gift giving.
There are so many highlights to this year’s Lunar New Year Celebration at Disneyland Resort for Guests to experience during their visit to the Park. Have you been yet? Don’t forget to take advantage of the SoCal Residents Discount Ticket offer, too.
Although the “Paint the Night” parade is also a big fan favorite at Disneyland, there are so many Disney lovers that deeply cherish the Main Street Electrical Parade and have longed for it to return since it “glowed away” from Disneyland on November 25, 1996. 
The older generations of Disney fans remember this classic nighttime parade because we saw it during its originally run down Main Street, U.S.A. inside Disneyland, in its original “home”. Others have either seen in another Disney Park or have possibly just been told about it from their parents. Whatever the case, the little kid in me comes out as soon as I hear the first synthesized tune of “Baroque Hoedown” start to play the theme song for Main Street Electrical Parade. When I watched the TV spot for its return, my eyes immediately welled up with happy tears. Watch it here:
It was a magical night and for some reason, the Southern California rain, which had been pouring for a couple of days, suddenly halted for a few hours so that the 9 p.m. parade could take place. I had a case of the giggles as I sat on the curb in Town Square on Main Street, U.S.A., with some of my friends, waiting for it to start. 
Before long, the parade lights lit up nice and brightly, and we could see the front of the Main Street Electrical Parade making its way towards us in Town Square on Main Street, U.S.A.. (It began all the way down by “It’s a Small World“.)
The iconic floats illuminated the parade route and were led by the train that Goofy’s driving. Minnie and Mickey Mouse are also aboard this train greeting guests, all along the parade route. The train is pulling the drum which has a lit up text that says “Disneyland Presents Main Street Electrical Parade”. 
It gave me all the feels to see it say “Disneyland” again, as the last time I had the pleasure of watching this parade, it was at Walt Disney World.
The Main Street Electrical Parade includes 22 floats in all, which is 10 more than the original parade which only included 12. You’ll find characters in the parade from 7 different Disney films including “Alice in Wonderland”, “Cinderella”, “Peter Pan”, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, “Pinocchio”, “Dumbo”, and “Pete’s Dragon”.
In addition to the floats, there are about 80 parade performers, some of which are adorned in lighted costumes. There are also 27 beloved Disney characters that perform as part of this parade including Mickey & Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Cinderella, Tinker Bell, Peter Pan, Captain Hook, and more!
The Main Street Electrical Parade’s stay at Disneyland is only for a limited time so be sure to get there to see it (at least once) before June 18th! Do you have childhood memories of this special parade? Share with me in the comments. I hope to see you in the Parks!
Eighty-seven years ago, in the quaint seaside town of Clydebank, Scotland, construction on the Queen Mary began. Exemplifying the finest craftsmanship of the country, the Queen Mary’s legacy is undeniable and today the ship’s heritage is celebrated through the two-day ScotsFestival honoring Scottish culture.
ScotsFestival honors nearly fifty Scottish clans & vendors throughout the weekend with professional and amateur competitions in drumming, massed bands, darts, piping, Highland dancing, and Highland athletics. The Scottish Highland Games, a pre-cursor to today’s Olympic Games, were designed to test the strength, skill and technique of ancient warriors by face offs.
The official opening ceremonies for the Queen Mary’s ScotsFestival begin with the traditional Grand Parade of Clans & Bands with an Address to the Haggis on the Parade Platform. Daily festivities include:
The Queen Mary’s ScotsFestival hosts World Champion Scottish Highland Dancers and many internationally acclaimed athletes competing for titles in stones, hammer throw, weights for distance, weight over bar, sheaf and the famed caber toss.
Tickets to ScotsFestival are now on sale and start at $10 online for ages 4-11 and $19 online for guests 12 and over. VIP tickets, upgrades, ticket add-ons, two-day festival passes and hotel packages will also be available. For more information or to purchase your tickets online, go
This is such a great offer and just in time to enjoy the upcoming 
Here are some of the important details relating to the 3-Day SoCal Resident Promotional Ticket with Magic Morning offer:
Babychella™ focuses on expectant mothers to be, babies and children of all ages are welcome. The goal of the event is to give existing parents and parents to be access to educational speakers, popular baby brands and other resources to help make the journey of parenthood more fun by celebrating family life. Several activities will be offered at the outdoor event including:
For the second-straight year, multiple winter resorts across the U.S. and Canada, including Mountain High, will attempt to set industry and Guinness World Records for teaching people how to ski and snowboard. Southern California is home to millions of potential skiers and snowboarders and, with January being Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month, this is a really cool way for many people to learn how to shred on the mountain
Children will be able to get in the spirit with crafts including DIY noise makers and party hats and a kiddie dance party, in addition to enjoying all of the regular fun at Pretend City Children’s Museum.
Join in all the family friendly fun at Pretend City this New Year’s Eve! Hope to see you there!
During SeaWorld’s Christmas Celebration, in addition to all of the regular shows and attractions, ther are two additional areas exclusive to the event, that you won’t want to miss…Santa’s Christmas Village and the all-new Rudolph’s Christmastown.
As soon as we arrived at the park, we began our celebration by heading straight over to Rudolph’s Christmastown. I grew up watching all of the classic Christmas specials on TV featuring Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer™ so I was on a mission to find Rudolph and all of his friends at SeaWorld!
As you walk through Rudolph’s Christmastown you’ll find so many adorable areas to take photos over there, as well as fun games that are all Rudolph-themed. We also found Rudolph, himself, and he was ready to take pictures. you have the option to take pictures with Rudolph and a couple of his friends. (Characters available may vary.) 
SeaWorld offers PhotoKey™ services to guests, so you have the option to have their professional photographers photograph your family at designated spots throughout the park and then purchase the photos for sharing online and printing out to create keepsakes of your day! We utilized the service at this location for our photos with Rudolph.
We were also pleasantly surprised when Bumble the Snow Monster walked in! He is one of my all-time favorites from the series and we had a lot of fun posing with him. (especially my husband)
There are some very special savory and sweet holiday food offerings in Rudolph’s Christmastown such as gourmet pizzas, a variety of Mac & Cheese, Holiday Crepes, and Waffles on a stick! Warm coffee drinks and hot cocoa are also available!
SeaWorld really spoiled us that night and we ate everything I mentioned above. Their culinary team is amazing!
Right near the Arctic Wild, in Rudolph’s Christmastown, you’ll find the 40′ Happiest Dancing Christmas Tree. We enjoyed a fun tree lighting ceremony with singing elves and Rudolph. The tree is beautiful and changes colors and light patterns as the music changes. Here’s a very short video of the countdown to the tree lighting up:
Next, we headed over to Santa’s Christmas Village to find Santa and Mrs. Claus. There are many different activities and things to explore in Santa’s Christmas Village including:
Wait times to see Santa may vary so please plan your day accordingly. You also have the option to reserve your visit to see Santa by visiting 
We had so much fun at the media review of SeaWorld San Diego’s Christmas Celebration and look forward to going back during the daytime to experience even more fun. Have you been to SeaWorld’s Christmas Celebration before?
For more information about Christmas at SeaWorld San Diego, visit