Sentosa celebrates Chinese New Year with giant dragon, hot air balloon and lantern displays

Looking for a magical place to usher in the Lunar New Year? You may want to consider Sentosa. 

The island resort's immersive event A Big, Big World, which began on Dec 9 last year, will shed its Christmas installations for larger-than-life displays to welcome Chinese New Year, including an 88m dragon, a hot air balloon and lanterns. 

These installations are split up across three zones — Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), Sentosa Sensoryscape and Palawan Beach — and the event will run from Jan 19 to Feb 16. 

Right before entering Sentosa, visitors arriving through Sentosa Gateway will also be greeted by an installation of a peach orange Wood Snake with golden yellow motifs, created by local artist JOOheng Tan. 

Starlit Dragon spectacle at RWS 

At RWS, visitors can enjoy a performance called Starlit Dragon Spectacular, which is a dragon dance performance featuring an 88-metre dragon. 

The lengthy beast will glide its way through RWS, past displays such as the Rising Abundance hot air balloon, before making its way to the Lake of Dreams.

There, the Starlit Dragon will be greeted by the deities God of Fortune and Fu Lu Shou, who will be handing out chocolate gold coins and sharing New Year blessings with guests. 

The Starlit Dragon Spectacular will be held on Jan 25 to 26, Jan 29 to 30, Feb 1 to 2, Feb 8 to 9, Feb 12 and Feb 14 to 16 at 7.30pm, with the exception of Jan 30, where the performance begins at 8.30pm. 

Visitors can also enjoy the daily The Dragon Rises show at the 10m-tall LED Pyramid of Prosperity, which brings zodiac characters to life. This will be available from Jan 25 to Feb 16, daily, from 11am to 9pm. 

On the first day of Chinese New Year (Jan 29), there will also be an eight-minute show called A Lunar Extravaganza: New Horizons at 7.30pm, featuring an erhu soloist, dragon poi performers, LED drummers, modern dancers and of course, the Starlit Dragon.

The festivities continue to the second day of Chinese New Year (Jan 30), where a lion dance performance called Roar of Fortune will be held at the Lake of Dreams at 11am. 

Pretty florals at Sentosa Sensoryscape 

Over at Sentosa Sensoryscape, visitors can enjoy cherry blossoms along the walkways around the Lookout Loop, which are meant to signify the arrival of spring. 

Sentosa Development Corporation has also set up an installation called 18 Blessings in Bloom, which feature auspicious greetings that are framed by organza flowers and real florals. This will be available for viewing from now till Feb 12. 

Want to know your zodiac forecast for 2025? These can be found printed on large lantern towers. 

Additionally, guests can pen their well wishes on red placards at the Wishing Tunnel, located at Palate Playground. 

Adding to the atmosphere are lion and dragon dance performances, as well as roving mascots of deities Fu, Lu, Shou and Xi. 

On top of that, Xinyao (Singaporean Chinese folk songs) pioneer, singer-composer and Chinese literature academic Dr Liang Wern Fook composed a bespoke four-line poem about the beauty of Sentosa just for the occasion. 

Visitors can appreciate this as they walk further into Sensoryscape.

Fly kites at Palawan Beach 

Visitors looking for a more hands-on activity can head over to Palawan Beach and participate in the Flight of Wishes kite fiesta. This will be held every Saturday and Sunday from Jan 25 to Feb 16 from 3pm to 6pm. 

There will be a kite-making workshop, with four kite templates featuring icons of the festive period such as a Chinese lantern, firecrackers and one for the Year of the Snake. Each workshop session lasts about 15-minutes and is capped at 15 pax per session. 

There will also be a massive Dragon Kite flown by expert kite flyers from the Singapore Kite Association.

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melissateo@asiaone.com