Beloved Disney/Pixar Characters Coming to Disneyland for Lunar New Year Celebration

Meilin and Ming Lee from 'Turning Red' will be at Disneyland starting this week!

By Michael Hein

Disneyland Resort just announced some new special guests coming this week – Meilin Lee and Ming Lee from Pixar's Turning Red. The two characters will make their debut at Disneyland California Adventure's Lunar New Year celebration from Tuesday, Jan. 23 through Wednesday, Feb. 28. Fans even have a chance for a meet and greet with these new additions to the Disney canon.

Meilin Lee – in her human form – and her mother will help celebrate the Lunar New Year at Disneyland this year, bringing the traditional Chinese holiday to the park. The park published some concept art on the event, showing the two characters in front of a thematic backdrop with a red panda symbol and two red panda figures. The company warned that visitors may see Meilin changing into her Red Panda form on the pathway between Grizzly Peak and Paradise Gardens Park.

Disney's Luna New Year celebration is meant to not only celebrate the holiday itself by the start of the Year of the Dragon in particular, with homages to Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean customs according to WDInfo. The celebrations will include Asian-inspired food and drinks, décor and events. Of course, those will revolve around Disney's Asian-inspired characters including the dragon Mushu, who will lead "Mulan's Lunar New Year Procession. Raya from Raya and the Last Dragon will be there as well, while Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse will be dressed in their new Lunar New Year outfits.

Turning Red was directed and co-written by Domee Shi along with co-writers Julia Cho and Sarah Streicher. It stars Rosalie Chiang, Sandra Oh, Ava Morse, Hyein Park, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Orion Lee, Wai Ching Ho, Tristan Allerick Chen and James Hong. The movie was originally slated for release in theaters, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it went straight to streaming on Disney+ instead. It was widely beloved by critics with 95 percent of reviews counted as positive by Rotten Tomatoes, and an average score of eight out of 10.

Turning Red may not be done making its mark on the Disney pantheon, either. Shi has expressed interest in creating a sequel, telling our sister site ComicBook.com: "We are open, but we haven't talked about it. But yeah, it's an invitation at the end for more stories." Chiang and Oh have both said that they would like to return for a sequel with Shi.

Turning Red is streaming now on Disney+. Fans can meet Meilin and Ming Lee at Disneyland in California from Tuesday, Jan. 23 through Wednesday, Feb. 28.

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