Family Fun Weekends: Happy Lunar New Year Festival!

Happy Lunar New Year!

Happy Lunar New Year!

As anyone who's read our website over the past few weeks will no doubt know by now, The Park has been hosting "Family Fun Weekends" over the course of the past several weekends.  They're a unique opportunity for families to gather over in the Festival Arena in Big Thunder Ranch and participate in a different "themed" weekend each and every week.

For the past two weekends, the Arena has been decked out and participating in what was called "Happy Lunar New Year Festival".

The Park hits you up for a visit as soon as you enter

Happy Lunar New Year Festival is meant to give families a glimpse at how Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese families celebrate the Lunar New Year, and was done so in a variety of different ways.  First, like in weekends past (with the other "Family Fun Weekends") there were plenty of on-stage activities for people to watch and enjoy, including a "Celebration Party", Kung Fu demonstration, and Dance Impressions (which we saw). 

A listing of the day's activities

Dance Impressions

We also spent some time looking at all of the signage around the area.  One particular one which seemed to draw a lot of attention was the "What Year Are YOU?" sign, which gave a listing a birth years (accompanied by a picture of a cute Disney character meant to symbolize your year) so you could figure out which year you were.  As can be seen, this year is the "Year of the Rabbit" which also occurred in 1975, which is the year that Chad was born.  Good thing he actually likes Thumper.

It's the "Year of the Thumper"!

Once again, as in weekends past, the middle area of the Arena was really busy with activity.  There were once again children's activities they could participate in (we're going to assume more coloring activities and the like as in past weekends) and there were plenty of carts to wander around and see.  We were particularly impressed with the inclusion of a cart with assorted teas.  We're not really sure why we were (it makes perfect sense after all), but it was just another nice little touch that we thought brought the entire atmosphere and area together nicely.

Customized artwork was available for purchase...

...as was an assortment of Asian teas

And once again, as in each of the other three weekends before, "Character Meet and Greets" played a large part of the activity.  Of course, with it being "Happy Lunar New Year Festival", we were treated to some of our favorite Park characters with a bit more of an Asian flair than we normally see them with, which made it all the more fun for us.

In addition, some of the more rare characters did make an appearance, in the guise of Mulan and Mushu.  We did get a picture with them, which we'll be using as a KILT post in a Thursday in the near future, so stay tuned for that!

They made us to do this

Mickey and Minnie prepare to greet some guests Asian-style

All in all, it seemed as though everyone was enjoying themselves again this weekend.  There were plenty of families in the area (though not as many as for "Character Fan Days") and people were able to experience The Park in a way they might not have before.  It kind of makes us want to visit the China Pavilion at Epcot in Walt Disney World.

Next week The Park will begin the last of its "Family Fun Weekends" over in New Orleans Square with its "Mardi Gras" weekends, which will run over the course of the next three weekends.  If you haven't had a chance to make it out for any of the weekends yet, we urge you to do so.  They're a lot of fun and well worth a trip out.  The Park has really done a fantastic job with these, and you don't want to miss out!

Doing what we do best.  Now, if we could only figure out what that is...

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