New & reimagined rides, restaurants, lands, hotels, and more are coming soon to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure this year, as well as 2025 through 2030. This offers info on what’s new and next as part of Disney’s 5-year plan, opening dates, construction progress, and more. (Updated September 8, 2024.)
Disneyland Resort is currently celebrating Halloween, which began in late August and runs until the end of October. The highlight of Halloween is Oogie Boogie Bash at DCA, but there are also ride overlays, decorations, special entertainment & fireworks, food and other fun. For everything you need to know, see our Guide to Halloween Time at Disneyland.
A couple of weeks after Halloween ends, the holiday season begins. Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, the hotels, and Downtown Disney are all decked out for the holidays. Consult our Ultimate Guide to Christmas at Disneyland Resort for everything you need to know.
Once 2025 rolls around, so too will the next big celebration: Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary. While full details are not yet known, we’re expecting nostalgic nighttime spectaculars, returning parades, reimagined entertainment, and much more. One concrete detail that’s already been announced is “Walt Disney – A Magical Life” stage show on Main Street. Here’s Everything We Know About Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary (So Far).
Now let’s move on to what’s new and what’s next at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure…
What’s New at Disneyland
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – Located inside Toontown’s El CapiTOON Theater, this family-friendly experience transports you into the wacky and unpredictable cartoon world. Board a train engineered by Goofy and embark on a zany adventure with Mickey & Minnie Mouse, among other cartoon characters.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway now offers a standby line, and wait times aren’t nearly as bad as they were earlier this year due to its high capacity and the ‘new ride smell’ wearing off. Nevertheless, you can buy Individual Lightning Lane access, which is only available via the Disneyland app.
Mickey’s Toontown Reimagining – An ambitious reimagining of Mickey’s Toontown is now open. The beloved land has been transformed into a vibrant symphony of sights, sounds, and sensations. Focusing on today’s families with young children, Mickey’s Toontown features new play experiences, as well as open, grassy play spaces for everyone to unplug. The land has landscaping for both spontaneous family play and parental relaxation.
One of the new areas in Mickey’s Toontown is CenTOONial Park, the first space guests will see when they enter. This natural space is anchored by two interactive play experiences. At the center of CenTOONial Park is a fountain with water tables for playing and having a sensory experience. At night, the fountain is brought to life in a unique spectacle.
A nearby dreaming tree is supposedly inspired by the tree a young Walt Disney would daydream under in his hometown. Sculpted tree roots provide an opportunity for children to play, crawl and explore, and undulating topography offers rolling hills and a place to sit and dream.
Magic Happens Parade – The parade features an energetic score including music from Frozen 2 and other films, and a new theme song co-composed by singer-songwriter Todrick Hall. It’s an excellent daytime parade, and even looks great at night (during the times of year when the sun sets earlier).
Note: Magic Happens is not running during the Halloween or Christmas seasons, but is expected to return in early 2025.
World of Color – ONE – Then there’s the all-new nighttime spectacular at Disney California Adventure. World of Color – ONE supposedly celebrates the storytelling legacy started by Walt Disney, illustrating how a single action, like a drop of water, creates a ripple that can grow into a wave of change.
World of Color – ONE is the first nighttime spectacular at Disneyland Resort to feature characters, music and moments from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel, and Star Wars in the same production.
Note: World of Color – ONE is down for refurbishment and will then go on hiatus for the holiday season; it’s unknown whether it’ll return in 2025.
Lightning Lanes – Another recent change is the launch of the Genie system with paid-line skipping service that replaced free paper FastPass and paid MaxPass.
Everything you need to know, including ride priorities, where it’s NOT necessary to buy Lightning Lanes, and much more is covered in our Guide to Lightning Lane Multi-Pass at Disneyland and DCA.
Avengers Campus – This Marvel-themed land is the biggest recent addition at Disney California Adventure. Avengers Campus features WEB Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure, an interactive attraction featuring Spider-Man. The other highlight is Pym Test Kitchen, a restaurant with small and large food.
Beyond that, Avengers Campus showcases a variety of character meet & greets, including Black Widow, Ant-Man and The Wasp, Doctor Strange, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Super Heroes from Wakanda and Asgard, and Iron Man.
Avengers Campus also has new limited time meet & greets on a regular basis whenever Disney+ debuts a new Marvel series, which is often. We’ve seen Werewolf by Night, Jane Foster as Mighty Thor, Incredible Hulk in his Quantum Suit, and many more. Right now, the highlight of Avengers Campus is Story Time with Deadpool.
San Fransokyo Square from Big Hero 6 – Pacific Wharf has been reimagined into San Fransokyo from “Big Hero 6,” where East meets West, and technology meets tradition. This project features a new look for the area, plus reimagined restaurants with fresh menus, new shops, and a place to meet Baymax.
Although San Fransokyo Square opened at the end of the summer, finishing thematic touches continue on the new area, and it’ll likely continue to evolve into early 2024.
Adventureland Treehouse – This reimagining of Tarzan’s Treehouse takes inspiration from the past, paying tribute to the original treehouse that Walt Disney and his Imagineers built in 1962 for Swiss Family Robinson. The Adventureland Treehouse inspired by Walt Disney’s Swiss Family Robinson is now open.
The Adventureland Treehouse showcases wonderous new environments created amongst the branches of a giant tree on the shores of the Jungle River, where guests can once again enter by the giant waterwheel and follow the wood rope stairways up, up, up into the boughs. There are a lot of Easter Eggs, including nods to the Society of Explorers and Adventurers.
Tiana’s Palace Restaurant – This reimagined restaurant is located in New Orleans Square, replacing the former French Market on Orleans Street. Tiana’s Palace Restaurant is not a character dining experience–it’s a quick-service dining option.
Tiana’s Palace Restaurant is open now, ahead of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (coming in late 2024, see below). It’s currently the most popular counter service restaurant in all of Disneyland, and by a wide margin. Soak in the lively culture of New Orleans through new menu items inspired by the flavors of the Crescent City––including Southern comfort dishes and plates with a Cajun and Creole twist.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Enhancements – At Disneyland, characters from Star Wars shows Disney+ were incorporated into Batuu with bounty hunter Boba Fett and mercenary Fennec Shand. More recently, Ahsoka began appearing as a promotional tie-in with the Disney+ series. It’s not expected that her appearances will be permanent.
With that said, the highlights are Din Djarin (also known as the Mandalorian) and Grogu (also known as “Baby Yoda”). This duo has journeyed to Batuu and is appearing in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland. In case you’ve been under a rock the last few years, the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda can be seen in the first two seasons of “The Mandalorian” on Disney Plus.
In addition to these new characters, there’s also the new Batuu Bounty Hunters game. This gives guests missions, promising credits in reward for catching criminals of a galaxy far, far away. It works in tandem with physical park infrastructure, the Play Disney Parks app, and MagicBand Plus. Speaking of which…
MagicBand+ – Disney’s next generation wearable, the MagicBand+, recently made its debut at Disneyland Resort. The new iteration features interactive elements that guests can use all around the Disneyland Resort. Here’s everything we know about MagicBand+ at Disneyland Resort, including firsthand thoughts from our experience using MagicBand Plus.
After years of being available at Walt Disney World, this marks the first time the popular MagicBands are available at Disneyland Resort. The MagicBand+ offers hands-free convenience and interactive elements that engage with nighttime spectaculars and other park features in fun new ways.
Disneyland Hotel DVC – Disneyland Resort has added a 350-room Disney Vacation Club tower as part of Disneyland Hotel, which is now open. The new 12-story Disneyland Hotel DVC tower is located between Goofy’s Kitchen and the Frontierland Tower.
We’ve already stayed in the new tower and share a look in Photos & Video of the New Rooms at the Villas at Disneyland Hotel.
Pixar Place Hotel – This reimagined resort officially opened way back in January, but it’s actually not totally finished–work remains ongoing in converting guest rooms to the new style (common areas are finished and have been all year).
Pixar Place Hotel weaves the artistry of Pixar into its contemporary setting, including areas for everyone to enjoy, like the Finding Nemo-themed splash pad area. Pixar Place Hotel has also welcomed the team from Southern California local favorite Great Maple, which operates food & beverage locations throughout Pixar Place Hotel.
We’ve stayed at Pixar Place Hotel a couple of times already. See our full Pixar Place Hotel Review for everything you need to know.
What’s Coming to Disneyland in the Next 5 Years
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure – Disney has announced this reimagined ride will open on November 15, 2024 for the start of the holiday season.
I’m mostly nervous about this. I like Tiana’s Bayou Adventure even though it’s a “warts and all” attraction. However, that’s also with one big caveat: when it’s working. That hasn’t been the case–at least not consistently–since it opened at Walt Disney World.
Mandalorian Mission in Millennium Falcon – Mando and Grogu have a new adventure on the horizon coming to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Join the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda on brand-new adventures coming to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run in celebration of the new Star Wars film “The Mandalorian and Grogu” coming to theaters in 2026. This new mission will likely open shorly before the film debuts.
I have consistently and repeatedly been advocating for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to have a soft reboot. I’m not going to rehash all of that here, but the bottom line is that I’d like to see Batuu break the sacred timeline and use the setting of the land as a jumping off point for new adventures. (See Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Needs to Break the Rules for my take on all of that.)
Avengers Infinity Defense – Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure will be expanding with a third attraction, Avengers Infinity Defense, featuring a brand-new story that will bring guests into battle alongside their favorite Marvel super heroes. In this new epic family adventure attraction, where you’ll get to team up with more of the Avengers and their allies to battle King Thanos.
The new King Thanos Marvel Multiverse attraction is expected to use the same ride system as Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure at Tokyo DisneySea. Construction will start in early 2025, and will likely take a few years. The show building for the previous attraction was never built–all that exists below the Quinjet is a facade.
My guess is that this opens between Christmas 2027 and Summer 2028. Here’s hoping that’s wrong, and Disney finds a way to condense its construction timeline. Maybe in a different multiverse, Disney builds faster than Universal!
Stark Flight Lab – Ready to save the world and galaxy? Well, suit up, because another new Avengers experiences are coming. Avengers Campus will double in size with the addition of two new attractions: the aforementioned Avengers Infinity Defense plus the newly-announced Stark Flight Lab. If Stark Flight Lab has decent capacity, this will be a big and much needed win for DCA.
This is a simpler attraction than Avengers Infinity Defense and it could, in theory, open as soon as 2026 if Disneyland so desires. We suspect that they do not. Disney has likely learned the hard way that bifurcated land openings pack less of a punch, so we suspect the doubling of Avengers Campus will open all at once in 2027 or 2028.
Coco Boat Ride – Travel to the Land of the Dead with Miguel and his skeletal family from Pixar’s “Coco” in this all-new attraction coming to Disney California Adventure. Construction begins in 2026 and will likely take a few years.
Walt Disney Imagineering will draw inspiration for the attraction from beloved classics, like Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. “We’re bringing our skeletal cast of characters to life in a big way through the latest Audio-Animatronics technology,” Josh told the D23 crowd. “These figures will appear in ways you’ll have to see to believe.”
Pandora – World of Avatar – Travel to a whole new corner of Pandora, inspired by “Avatar: The Way of Water” and future Avatar films at Disney California Adventure. No timeline has been given for construction or the opening of this expansion, but we’re expecting the Avatar area to debut in 2030.
This new and thrilling excursion will bring all the action, excitement, and wonder of Avatar, taking guests all the way to the wide-open seas of Pandora. This is going to be a dynamic, intense and emotional experience on a grand scale that we know our guests will love. The excursion will take guests in search of majestic natural wonders that can only be found on Pandora, discovering dense forests, and more along the way.
The innovative attraction is rumored to use the same ride system as Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure at Shanghai Disneyland. That’s an excellent ride, arguably top 10 in the entire world. From a technological perspective, there aren’t many attractions that approach Shanghai Pirates–probably Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, but that’s about it. It’s actually the perfect ride system for combining the vibe of Na’vi River Journey and Avatar Flight of Passage!
Downtown Disney Revitalization – Downtown Disney District continues its evolution as a premiere venue for innovative shopping, dining and entertainment experiences. A slew of new restaurants and retail have opened in the last few years. Standouts include Din Tai Fung, Salt & Straw (the best ice cream at Disneyland Resort) and Black Tap Craft Burgers & Shakes.
Continuing the momentum, this multi-year project will transform the former AMC Theatres site and adjacent area into a stunning new lifestyle space. Drawing inspiration from Southern California mid-century modern architecture, the area will be a beautiful blend of vibrant color palettes, multicultural design elements and patterns, an open lawn for relaxation and future events, and an even broader collection of dining and shopping.
DisneylandForward – The last project to showcase is DisneylandForward. Actually, “project” is a misnomer here, as there are no concrete details to this. DisneylandForward was approved by Anaheim and now will result in a decade of development between 2025 and 2035.
The possibilities of DisneylandForward are really exciting. However, it’s really all about paving the way for future developments of an uncertain nature by giving Disney more autonomy over land use by relaxing the DRSP. Disney is essentially saying, “give us authority to build whatever we want, then we’ll tell you what, if anything, we’re going to build.” In all likelihood, Disney won’t build anything (aside from a parking structure) on the land that encompasses DisneylandForward until the 2030s.
Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and tons of other places!
Your Thoughts
Which additions at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure in 2024, 2025 and beyond are you most excited to experience? Are you delaying your next trip to maximize seeing ‘new stuff’ or moving it forward to see these new attractions, lands, and restaurants? Anything you’re not looking forward to? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? 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!
