Taipei City Government

Since August 2018, Disney's superstar Mickey Mouse has popped up on painted MRT train carriages and in the flesh at his Mickey Mouse Birthday Party on Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Xinyi plaza in the Xinyi district as part of his “Mickey Has Fun around Taipei” Tour. The Department of Information and Tourism (TPEDOIT) is inviting superstars to join Taiwan’s young and young at heart to join the 2019 Taipei Lantern Festival celebrations and see Mickey walk around on the square -- and in classic cartoons on super-size silver screens!
 
The year 2018 marked Mickey's 90th anniversary, and TPEDOIT and Walt Disney (Taiwan) Ltd. staged a number of commemorative events that proved highly popular with Taiwanese day tourists and international travelers alike. To give Mickey fans another chance to meet Mickey for real, the famous mascot will visit Taipei again during the upcoming Taipei Lantern Festival and a large Mickey-themed lantern of 6 meters accompanying a screening of classic Mickey animations and surprise performances in the streets of Ximending that will light up many happy faces!
 
TPEDOIT Commissioner Liu Yi-Ting said that the Taipei Lantern Festival has become a staple event that Taiwanese people have come to expect after Chinese New Year. In line with the city’s goal of international integration, its collaboration with the Disney brand aims to attract more people to Taipei and help improve the city’s international visibility. Liu also pointed out that this year's lantern festival once again challenges people’s assumptions of the occasion as being traditional and slightly dull affairs. With the help of many artists, the festival will showcase creative lanterns that have been inspired by tradition; it will do so using a variety of elements, including music and technology, and fuse tradition with innovation. Over the years, the Taipei Lantern Festival has become an international large-scale carnival celebrated and enjoyed by people of all ages hailing from the island and foreign shores alike.
 
The 2019 Taipei Lantern Festival, to be held from Saturday 16 February through Sunday 24 February, will be larger than the previous two years’ events. The venue will stretch from the plaza in front of the Ximen Red House along Section 1 of Zhonghua Road, Zhongxiao West Road, and all the way to North Gate and Taipei Travel Plaza beside the Taipei Main Station. Local residents and foreign friends are all invited to come join in the fun of this happy event!