Every year, Disneyland Resort celebrates the Lunar New Year at Disney California Adventure Park. This year, Lunar New Year will take place from January 20 through February 15. There will be new food offerings (a small food festival), special merchandise, a fun character cavalcade, and two very special characters! This Lunar New Year will celebrate both the Year of the Rabbit and the Year of the Cat, so Disneyland Resort Guests who visit DCA will have the chance to meet not only Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, but also his girlfriend, Ortensia the Cat!
Both Oswald and Ortensia will be available for meet and greets over at the Paradise Garden Gazebo. Here’s more information on the special meet and greet, via The Orange County Register.
Ortensia and Oswald will make meet-and-greet appearances dressed in Lunar New Year attire in DCA’s Paradise Gardens gazebo — taking turns posing separately for photos and signing autographs during the month-long festival.
Ortensia and Oswald are the faces of the Lunar New Year festival at Disney California Adventure that celebrates the Year of the Cat in Vietnam and the Year of the Rabbit in China and South Korea.
Oswald will wear custom embroidered shorts in rich golds with an ocean wave motif and a matching hat. Ortensia will wear a golden skirt with lotus, apricot and peach flowers inspired by the traditional Vietnamese ao dai gown and a matching Vietnamese khan dong headpiece embroidered in reds, pinks and golds.
Ortensia was first introduced into the Disney World all the way back in 1927 — where she was Oswald’s girlfriend. Unfortunately, Disney lost the rights to Oswald for many year (only recently gotten back by Bob Iger), and both Oswald and Ortensia faded into the background as they were replaced with Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
In addition to meeting Oswald and Ortensia in the Paradise Gardens area, Guests can venture under the sea with all of their favorite characters from The Little Mermaid in Ariel’s Undersea Adventure. They can also ride jellyfish on Jumpin’ Jellyfish (a nod to Sebastian), take in the sites on Silly Symphony Swings, and take a zany ride with Goofy on Goofy’s Sky School.
Disney has not said if they plan to keep Ortensia at Disney California Adventure after the Lunar New Year celebration ends in February. While Oswald is a rare character, Guests have been able to meet him in DCA in the past. If this meet and greet proves popular, Disney may decide that Oswald and his girlfriend should both remain a part of the theme park.
You can read more about Disneyland’s Lunar New Year celebration by clicking here.