Disneyland Resort’s 70th Anniversary Celebration
“To all who come to this happy place: WELCOME. Disneyland is your land.” Those are the words Walt Disney spoke to invite guests into Disneyland park when it opened on July 17, 1955. This means that Disneyland Resort is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2025! It’s 70 YEARS of The Happiest Place on Earth!
Over the past few years, we’ve celebrated quite a few special occasions, from Disney World’s 50th Anniversary to The Walt Disney Company’s 100th Anniversary, and now we’ve got a new offering coming to the calendar. In 2025, it’ll be time to celebrate Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary!
Disneyland Resort has announced some big celebrations for its 70th, including special entertainment offerings. The Anniversary celebration kicks off on May 16th, 2025, and will run through the summer of 2026. Let’s dive into the list of offerings!
Disneyland Park
The fan-favorite Paint the Night Parade will be returning in 2025! It’ll travel down Main Street, U.S.A., lighting up the park with more than a million lights. The parade features a variety of hit movies and characters, including Monsters, Inc., Cars, Toy Story, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and more.
Also at Disneyland, we’ll be getting the return of Wondrous Journeys, the nighttime spectacular from the Disney100 celebration. This show “celebrates the legacy of Walt Disney Animation Studios classics” and features projection effects on Main Street, U.S.A., Sleeping Beauty Castle, “it’s a small world,” and the Rivers of America. The show will have fireworks on select nights.
Inside the Main Street Cinema, a new short film will be showing celebrating Disney’s most famous songwriting duo, the Sherman brothers, focusing on the iconic “it’s a small world” song. The film will feature a NEW verse of the song written by Richard M. Sherman as his final contribution to Disney.
The new verse goes like this (grab the tissues):
“Mother earth unites us in heart and mind
And the love we give makes us humankind
Through our vast wondrous land
When we stand hand in hand
It’s a small world after all.”
Here’s a video featuring “The Last Verse.”
Disney also announced that you’ll be able to hear the new verse on the ride in Disneyland as of July 17th!
“it’s a small world” at Disneyland will be updated to add a few more of our favorite characters! Miguel and Dante from Pixar’s Coco will join the party, represented in Mexico.
They’re even adding a marigold bridge, just like in the movie! You can see these new updates when it opens on April 25th.
The Opera House will feature a brand new gallery experience showing the evolution of Walt Disney’s dream of Disneyland. Disneyland also collaborated with The Walt Disney Family Museum to bring 30 artifacts to the lobby of the Opera House, including items from Walt’s private apartment on Main Street, U.S.A. This includes an original rocking chair, lamp, and table — none of which have been displayed at Disneyland before. The Walt Disney Family Museum is also loaning some of Walt’s humanitarian awards for display, too.
Another exhibit will walk you through the history of Audio-Animatronics, starting from Walt’s time developing animatronics for Disneyland to the animatronics used in attractions today. Of course, these exhibits will lead up to the first EVER Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic with Walt Disney – A Magical Life. You’ll be able to view these exhibits and see the new show as of July 17th.
And of course, it wouldn’t be a special occasion without some decorations! Sleeping Beauty Castle will be getting a little makeover with a 70th Anniversary medallion and banners out front.
If you want to meet Mickey Mouse and friends in Town Square at Disneyland Park, you’ll find them in some special anniversary outfits! In addition, Disneyland Park will debut a brand-new character cavalcade called “Mickey and Friends Celebrate Happy!” with music and dancing.
At night, Carthay Circle Restaurant at California Adventure will “invite everyone to “celebrate happy” during a special moment filled with music, lights, and projection effects.” Also, the facade of “it’s a small world” in Disneyland Park will get a new projection show.
Disney California Adventure Park
First of all, a new show called “World of Color Happiness!” will debut at California Adventure. It’s inspired by the iconic Walt Disney quote from Disneyland’s opening day — “To all who come to this happy place… welcome!” The show will be hosted by Joy and the other Inside Out emotions, and it will include characters and moments from a number of popular Disney films, including The Lion King, Turning Red, Tangled, A Goofy Movie, and more.
During the daytime you’ll be able to catch the “Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration!” parade. This parade was shown in 2024 as part of Pixar Fest, but it looks like it’ll be returning on its own! It has nearly 30 characters from different Pixar movies, many featured on floats inspired by their films.
Wondrous Journeys and Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration! parade will temporarily pause in 2025 to make way for Halloween and holiday season offerings, then return to finish out the 70th Anniversary celebration.
Toy Story Midway Mania! is also getting a new update! There will be a 70th anniversary version of the game, and from the concept art, it looks like some of the targets will get a new look!
A new theme song called “Celebrate Happy” will play throughout many of these entertainment offerings.
Finally, it wouldn’t be a celebration without some new merchandise! Disney released a sneak peek at what some of the items will look like, and we’ll make sure to update you as we learn more about where to shop for this collection.
That’s a wrap on the Disneyland Resort 70th Anniversary announcements! We’ll keep you in the loop with more news as it’s announced.
Click Here to Learn More About Events Coming to Disneyland in 2025!
