Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary celebration kicks off in 2025, and Disney has shared a sneak peek at the logo and teased what’s to come for the milestone. This post covers everything we know so far about the event, plus our wishlist for nighttime spectaculars, parades, fireworks, ride reimaginings–and what we do NOT want during Disneyland70.
The Disneyland 70th Anniversary news was announced during the “Horizons: Disney Experiences Showcase” or Parks Panel presentation during the 2024 D23 Expo at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro offered a sneak peek at concept art for the future in addition and teased what was to come in a few years.
This was actually one of the first announcements during the Parks Panel, with Full House star John Stamos sharing that Disneyland will be celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2025. Calling it an announcement wouldn’t quite be apt, since birthdays are more about the passage of time dictated by math or whatever. This year was the 69th anniversary, so we could sorta deduce that 70 would be next. Anyway…
The official logo for the Disneyland Resort 70th Anniversary was also revealed during the Parks Panel. It features a purple “70” with pink castle towers and a streak of stars. It’s definitely more on the playful side than we were expecting for the platinum anniversary, reminiscent of a Tokyo Disneyland style celebration than what we’ve seen in recent years from the domestic parks.
Aside from the logo, this was really just a tease that the Disneyland 70th Anniversary celebration is on the horizon in 2025. The company also indicated that “more details to be shared in the coming months about this exciting upcoming celebration.”
The only substantive announcement thus far for Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary is that a fitting tribute to Walt Disney will debut on Main Street USA. Walt Disney Imagineering is designing the first ever Walt Disney Audio-Animatronics as part of a new stage show, “Walt Disney — A Magical Life.”
The past, present and future are finally coming together for this brand-new stage show. When “Walt Disney – A Magical Life” debuts in 2025 on Main Street at Disneyland, visitors will have the chance to imagine what it would be like to stop by Walt’s office. Who knows what he might be dreaming up inside? Only time will tell with Walt.
“Walt Disney – A Magical Life” will debut inside the Main Street Opera House, and after its initial run, the attraction will play in rotation with “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.” A fitting acknowledgement of Walt’s significant advances with Audio-Animatronics about 60 years ago when he first introduced the groundbreaking technology.
Cast Members already kicked off anniversary preparations for the anniversary celebration with a “Road to the 70th” backstage party on July 17 — the park’s 69th anniversary–with backstage photo ops, contests, tours of Walt Disney’s fire station apartment, and other activities–all catered by Porto’s Bakery (which is still coming to Downtown Disney–supposedly next year, but I’ll believe it when I see it).
As for why Disneyland is using this visual style instead of platinum, my best guess would be that they just used platinum for Disney100. While I was personally taken aback by the more playful and colorful logo for Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary, that’s simply because it wasn’t what I was expecting.
After giving it some time, I’m actually relieved that Disneyland is using a more fun visual style for the 70th. The same metallic color and elegant style have been used for a few recent celebrations and, frankly, it’s beginning to feel tired and played out. Not only that, but the 75th Anniversary is right around the corner. That more significant milestone is probably the more proper occasion for the self-serious style and opulent look, so let’s roll with a “fun” vibe for the 70th.
As for when the Disneyland 70th Anniversary celebration will start, there are a couple of possibilities. The first would be a repeat of what happened with Disney100, which kicked off at the end of January last year. This did not coincide with the actual anniversary of the Walt Disney Company, but rather, revolved around the opening of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and the winter off-season at Disneyland.
The second possibility would be a timeframe similar to past milestone park anniversaries. Disneyland celebrated its 50th Anniversary from May 5, 2005 until September 30, 2006. This 18-month event was known as the “Happiest Homecoming on Earth” beginning a couple of months before the actual event and being celebrated around the world–including at Walt Disney World. Similarly, Disneyland’s 60th Anniversary Diamond Celebration began on May 22, 2015 and ended on September 5, 2016.
Personally, I think the latter scenario makes more sense. The winter has become busier than the summer, but despite that, the latter still has more potential as a time to draw more tourists since schools are out of session for a multi-month stretch. So kicking off in May 2025 and ending the event in late August 2026 offers a year-plus celebration that would span two full summers. (It’s unlikely to end in September since Disneyland has since moved the start of Halloween forward, and that’s a trend I don’t see reversing itself.)
Starting in May also provides a bit more breathing room ahead of Halloween and Christmas, allowing the 70th Anniversary festivities to more or less go on hiatus during the busiest time of the year at Disneyland, before returning in full force for a ‘second wave’ in January 2026.
Of course, I could be totally wrong–and this could start in January 2025 and end in late August 2026, similar to Disney100. I’m skeptical and hope that’s not the case. For reasons beyond me, Disney100 was an afterthought on both coasts (especially Walt Disney World, where it lasted only a few months at EPCOT). I’d hope that Disneyland’s 70th is a proper celebration with enough substance to justify a year-plus duration.
Speaking of which, here’s what we’re hoping happens–and doesn’t–during the Disneyland 70th Anniversary celebration…
No Star Wars, Pixar or Marvel – Look, I’m not one of those fans who claims that Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel are not “real” Disney because they were acquisitions. That’s just silly. Walt had exactly the same involvement with Wish as he did Guardians of the Galaxy, so what’s the difference? If anything, I’d like to see Disney really embrace the Fox acquisition and feature Planet of the Apes, Alien, Shogun, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia in the parks. (Okay, not the last one–that wouldn’t be appropriate.) But that’s not the point.
Rather, it’s that Disney has gone really hard on Star Wars, Pixar, and Marvel over the last several years and I’ve had my fill. My fear is that what we’ll get will be a return of Pixar Fest or (heaven forbid) Summer of Heroes as a tie-in with all the other Marvel stuff on the horizon at DCA. Please no.
This is a milestone anniversary of Disneyland, Walt Disney’s original magic kingdom. Make it focused on the parks themselves and, to the extent that non-parks intellectual property is part of the festivities, make it movies and characters that are classics. Ideally, Walt-era. As far as the newer stuff goes, Pixar can fit in fine with that, but Marvel and Star Wars often feels more forced.
Something Different – There’s a certain blueprint that has emerged for milestone anniversaries in the domestic parks, with new or returning parades, and nighttime spectaculars. This is doubly true in years when there’s no big new attraction opening to anchor the celebration as the marketable mainstream draw.
From that, we could safely expect a new fireworks show at Disneyland, fresh World of Color at DCA, and return of one of the night parades at either park. That’s not a bad slate of entertainment, and I certainly wouldn’t mind if that’s what Disneyland offers. But I really hope they do something different. Whether that means an all-new stage show in the Hyperion or Fantasyland Theatre, or other unprecedented entertainment, I don’t know. It’d just be nice to be surprised by something completely unexpected.
Paint the Night Parade – So right after the first two entries plead for nothing Pixar-centric and something unexpected, the third entry is asking for a return of what is, basically, Disney’s Pixarified night parade. Yes, I see the irony in that.
While I’d love a brand new night parade fueled by nostalgia, that just seems unlikely. Failing that, this is really more about getting Paint the Night Parade back for the first time in 7 years as opposed to rolling out the ancient Main Street Electrical Parade yet again. Even though that’s the more sentimental and anniversary-appropriate parade, it’s just played out at this point.
Give us Paint the Night with a new float or two. The obvious candidate is Inside Out after its smash summer at the box office, but I’d love to see something new balanced out with Disney digging deeper into the archives. They did a great job of this with Magic Happens.
Fan-Favorite Fireworks – Disneyland has at least three fireworks shows that could fit the bill here: Remember… Dreams Come True from the 50th, Disneyland Forever from the 60th, and Wondrous Journeys from Disney100.
Personally, I’d love to see redux of Remember…Dreams Come True, modernized and enhanced for Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary. But I’d be fine with the other options, or something brand-new. Disney Live Entertainment has been on a roll with fireworks, and even the returning Pixar Fest nighttime spectacular was pretty good thanks to the enhancements. Twenty years later, they could do a good job with a proper spiritual successor to RDCT.
World of Color: Wondrous Journeys Edition – If Disneyland gets fireworks that are a love letter to the parks themselves–and it should, that’s the more sensible location for such a show–then DCA should get a nighttime spectacular that’s a love letter to Walt Disney Animation Studios. Basically, Wondrous Journeys but via World of Color.
I’d also accept a return of the OG World of Color, but with updated scenes to reflect fan-favorite new movies in the last 15 years. Speaking of things I’d love to see return, how about the TRON pre-show? I know that was for TRON Legacy and this new movie has Jared Leto in it for some reason, but that’s still the best-ever World of Color tag. (Alternatively, I’d accept a return of elecTRONica.)
Reimagined Rides – This is, once again, pulling from the Diamond Celebration playbook. For that milestone anniversary, Imagineering updated the Alice in Wonderland dark ride and Peter Pan’s Flight. There were rumors of similar such “plussings” for the other Fantasyland classics, but nothing else was updated until Snow White’s Enchanted Wish several years later.
It would make sense to give the same treatment to Pinocchio’s Daring Journey and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. I’m especially eager (albeit cautiously so) to see what Imagineering could do with the latter, as there are ways to use modern technology to really make Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride pop. The worry is that irreverence and zaniness is essential to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, and I fear it could lose some of its edge in the process. Disney would never build something like that today, but hopefully Imagineering has the sense not to ruin it. The very things that make that attraction so special are its oddities; it’s an oddball attraction, great precisely because of that.
There are also other attractions that could be enhanced, such as Storybook Land Canal Boats, 3D movies that could be brought back, and even extinct attractions that could be revived. Obviously, I speak for everyone when I say that Superstar Limo should be brought back for a limited engagement before they bulldoze that whole area for Avatar. It’s what Walt would want.
Nostalgic After Dark – As I’ve written repeatedly, I’d be willing to overpay for tickets to a Disneyland After Dark: 90s Nite that leans heavily into nostalgia for the Disney Afternoon and offers substantive entertainment from that era. The same is true of other eras, too.
What’d be really cool, I think, is to do Disneyland After Dark by the decades, startings with 50s Nite (classic Walt-era Disneyland) and ending with the 2000s (pun-riffic DCA 1.0). That last one might need to be workshopped a bit since it wasn’t popular the first time around, but I’d still buy a ticket.
Fantasmic Update – Like Murphy the Dragon, Disneyland got roasted by fans with the return of Fantasmic after the nighttime spectacular’s year-plus hiatus. Frankly, I don’t know what fans were expecting. We warned everyone for months that Fantasmic’s return was being delayed not to rebuild the dragon, but as a cost-savings measure. We further advised that the show would basically be in b-mode and not actually “enhanced” or “reimagined.”
Regardless, I’m pleased that Disney didn’t get away with declining to present the nighttime spectacular for a year and passing a downgraded version off as something special. Hopefully, Disneyland management realizes this, and there are plans to actually reimagine and improve Fantasmic. A new dragon would be a good start, but more could be done for the scenes in between. Just look at the Disney’s Hollywood Studios version–after years of being inferior, that’s currently the #1 version of Fantasmic. Disneyland should be embarrassed by that.
Ultimately, nothing on my wish list is all that profound. If you asked the average Disneyland fan what they’d like for the 70th, beyond the usual pleas for price decreases or the end of reservations for Annual Passholders, this is probably the approximate list you’d get–or a variation of it. This is in part because there’s a decent amount of consensus about what fans want from the event, but also because Disney has stuck to the same familiar formula for the last few anniversaries in the domestic parks.
The good news is that Disney employs people far more creative than us fans, so hopefully they can deliver on much/most of the above, while also surprising us with things we didn’t know we’d want. Both the logo and the Walt Disney Audio Animatronics stage show fall into this category. The former is a nice change of pace, different from the expected but played out metallic color schemes, and perhaps more in line with Tokyo’s celebrations. The latter promises to be a first-of-its-kind substantive tribute to Walt–a love letter to the man who made all of the magic possible. Regardless of what’s announced, we’ll keep you posted on all of the news in the months to come!
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Your Thoughts
Are you looking forward to the Disneyland 70th Anniversary celebration? What entertainment do you hope is offered during the event? Anything new or returning that’s on your wish list? Hopeful it’s more than just a rehash of the 60th, or would Paint the Night + fireworks + World of Color be good enough for you? Excited to finally see Walt Disney honored with a show and first-ever Audio Animatronics figure? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
