The Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration began last May 16, 2025 and I was lucky enough to be there on opening day! I was able to experience everything the anniversary had to offer, from the Paint the Night Parade to the Celebrate Happy Cavalcade, everything about this anniversary celebration just feels so electric.
I’ve experienced my fair share of anniversary celebrations in the past. Starting with Hong Kong Disneyland’s (HKDL) 5th anniversary, I’ve also experienced HKDL’s 10th, Tokyo Disney Resort’s 30th, Disneyland Paris’ 25th, the Disney 100 Anniversary, and now the Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration! I’m also looking forward to experiencing HKDL’s 20th anniversary later this year. But how does Disneyland’s 70th anniversary stack up to the other Disney Park anniversaries I’ve experienced before? That’s what this post is going to cover!
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Klook.comOverview of the Anniversary
The Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration was first announced at D23 last year. Since then, information regarding the anniversary began to trickle in slowly, with Disney announcing incrementally the offerings that were to become part of the anniversary. The dates of the anniversary were announced first, followed by the entertainment lineup that would be part of it, as well as the new attractions that would debut with the anniversary,
It should be worth noting that, while a majority of the offerings for the anniversary debuted on May 16, there are still some offerings that have yet to debut. Specifically, the Walt Disney Animatronic show called “Walt Disney – a Magical Life” has yet to open at Disneyland’s Opera House. That show will open on July 17, 2025 which is the actual anniversary date of Disneyland. The Opera House will also debut two exhibits about the history of Disneyland and Audio Animatronics, which will open with the Walt Animatronic show on July 17. As a result, they will not be part of this review.
Everything else that was announced to debut as part of the Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration is already up and running. This includes Paint the Night, Wondrous Journeys, World of Color Happiness, the Better Together Pixar Parade, the Celebrate Happy Cavalcade, Tapestry of Happiness, the 70th overlay of Toy Story Midway Mania, as well as the decorations, merchandise, music, and food and beverage offerings. I’m going to go over each entertainment offering and give my thoughts on each of them, followed by my thoughts on the anniversary as a whole.
Paint the Night Parade
Arguably the one entertainment offering that most Disneyland fans were very excited for, the Paint the Night Parade previously debuted as part of Disneyland’s 60th Anniversary Celebration. It has remained popular ever since its debut, with fans clamoring for it to return since its last performance in California Adventure over 7 years ago.
I was able to catch Hong Kong Disneyland’s version of the parade way back in 2016, and I remember being completely dazzled by it. I had heard Disneyland’s version was even grander that HKDL’s version, with more floats and characters and performers. It’s safe to say that my expectations were sky high for this parade.
On May 16, I decided to watch the second showing of the parade because I didn’t feel like waiting for upwards of 4 hours for a spot. I also was able to get a virtual queue for World of Color Happiness at 9pm and I really wanted to see that too. This ended up being the right move as I only had to wait for a little close to an hour for the parade.
I have to say, the parade is as amazing as I remember. I’m a big fan of electrical parades. They’re my favorite non-ride attraction at any Disney Park (or maybe tied with Fantasmic and Momentous at Hong Kong Disneyland) and even with my high expectations, this show completely mesmerized me. This truly is an electrical parade for the 21st century.
Everything from the costumes to the floats were all so eye catching and innovative. You can tell they really tried to bring something new to the parade instead of just slapping lights on a float and calling it a day. Everything from the synchronization of the lights on the performer’s costumes to the impressive float design (especially the Cars, Toy Story, Beauty and the Beast, and Finale float), they really tried to push the envelope in terms of what a night parade can look like.
I have to talk about the music of the parade as well. It’s so energizing and fun to sing along too. I had multiple people in my viewing area dance to the music the entire show. The little musical nods to Baroque Hoedown, the theme of the Main Street Electrical Parade, also made me smile the biggest smile ever.
It’s not my favorite parade, as that distinction probably still goes to Dreamlights at Tokyo Disneyland, but it’s probably tied with the Main Street Electrical Parade as my second favorite Disney parade of all time. Its electric (pun intended) energy, catchy songs, cool floats, and lively performers make this THE number one entertainment offering you need to see as part of the Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration.
Wondrous Journeys
The 70th celebration also brought back what is probably the one offering I absolutely LOVED from the 100th anniversary (aside from Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway): Wondrous Journeys! In this firework and projection show, every single Walt Disney Animation studios film is represented in some way, with all these movies coming together to tell a thematic story of the Hero’s Journey accentuated by Disney songs.
The best Disney nighttime spectaculars follow a loose narrative thread that ties all the different moments together. Wondrous Journeys does this spectacularly, recreating the Hero’s Journey entirely through song. The “I Want” song section of this show is incredibly powerful, using songs like Go the Distance, How Far I’ll Go, and Out There in a way that will have you shedding a tear.
The moments when the Blue Fairy and Baymax fly above the castle are also spectacular, as is the Encanto “Dos Oruguitas” finale that has all the buildings on Main Street change colors like in the movie. The theme song of Wondrous Journeys is also one of the best theme songs for any Disney nighttime spectacular ever.
Wondrous Journeys is tied with Momentous at HKDL as my favorite fireworks show at a Disney park ever, although I haven’t seen Disney Dreams at Disneyland Paris and Happily Ever After at Magic Kingdom. This is probably the second best entertainment offering of the Disneyland 70th anniversary and I highly recommend everyone see it on their visit.
World of Color Happiness
World of Color Happiness is the one major entertainment offering for the Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration that was created specifically for the anniversary. All the other major entertainment offerings (Paint the Night, Wondrous Journeys, and Better Together) all debuted as part of other celebrations at Disneyland.
I wrote an entire separate review of World of Color Happiness. I go into a summary of the show, as well as my thoughts on it and what my highlights and points of improvement were. In short, I liked it, but it isn’t the most impressive World of Color show.
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Klook.comBetter Together Parade
Debuting as part of Pixar Fest in 2024, the Better Together Pixar Parade is a high energy parade featuring floats inspired by multiple Pixar films. I had the chance to see this parade multiple times last year during Pixar Fest, and am glad it made a return for the Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration.
Some of the floats in this parade were recycled from the Pixar Play Parade that ran at the Disneyland Resort in the 2010s. Most notably, the Pixar Lamp, Up, and Inside Out floats were directly taken from the old parade, albeit with a few minor adjustments.
The highlights of this parade, however, are the three brand new floats representing three of Pixar’s most recent acclaimed movie releases: Soul, Luca, and Turning Red. All three of them are amazing floats that you can tell were designed with care to be as representative of their respective movies as possible. My personal favorite is the Turning Red float, with the Luca float following close behind.
But more than the floats, the real highlight of the parade is the incredible soundtrack and theme song. It’s catchy, high energy, and just oozing with joy. The theme song in particular is incredibly well done, and how it connects to each float’s individual songs is done in such a seamless way. If you haven’t heard the theme song yet, search for “Better Together” on all major streaming platforms to know what I’m talking about.
This is a welcome addition to the Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration. While I still prefer Magic Happens and wish that parade had been part of the celebration instead, I still quite enjoy this parade and I can’t wait to see it again.
Celebrate Happy Cavalcade
Because the Disneyland Resort already has two parades running for the 70th anniversary, Disneyland is offering a cavalcade in place of an actual parade. The Celebrate Happy Cavalcade runs twice a day and is an energetic and bubbly mini-parade! While it doesn’t replace a real parade, it’s probably the best cavalcade ever made for Disneyland.
The highlights of the cavalcade are the appearances by Duffy and ShellieMay, two Disney characters who are very popular over at the Asian Disney parks and who, along with their 5 other friends, have gained a cult following amongst Disney fans. Seeing ShellieMay finally debut at an American Disney theme park made me smile from ear to ear.
The costumes used for the parade are also top notch and fit the theme of the celebration perfectly. I was actually surprised that they didn’t just make generic costumes for this cavalcade and decided to go all out instead. The cavalcade also featured so many other different Disney characters including Max, Disney Princesses, Mickey and Friends, and an assortment of other characters bringing up the rear of the cavalcade.
The music of the cavalcade is the theme song for the anniversary, also titled “Celebrate Happy”. It’s a groovy, euphoric earworm that is sure to get stuck in your head after you’ve seen the cavalcade. Another good point of the cavalcade is that it’s actually longer than the normal Disneyland cavalcade, which was to be expected since it’s the park’s 70th anniversary.
All in all, this is a stellar cavalcade, and is the best one Disneyland has ever done. Duffy and ShellieMay are the stars, but the fact that it’s so elaborate for such a simple mini-parade is what earns it a lot of points in my book. Don’t expect to be blown away the way Paint the Night blows you away, but it’s really good for what it is.
Tapestry of Happiness
Projecting onto the It’s a Small World facade, Tapestry of Happiness is a audio-visual show that pays tribute to Disneyland’s legacy by honoring its past and present. It uses the Celebrate Happy theme song similar to the cavalcade but incorporates music and sound effects from different Disneyland rides and attractions.
Attractions included in the show include the Tiki Room, Pirates of the Caribbean, Rise of the Resistance, Big Thunder Mountain, and Haunted Mansion, among others. There’s even a tribute in the show for all the rides and attractions that have since gone away. My favorite segment was the Electrical Parade segment, with the Haunted Mansion one coming in close second.
I’m glad Disney was able to honor the legacy of the park through this show. I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I saw it for the first time, and I was honestly a little disappointed before I saw this show that there wasn’t any entertainment offering that honored the park. So this show was a nice surprise and was a great way to end my day.
This show takes place a few times nightly. I would check the Disneyland app for showtimes. This is a must-see show especially for fans of the park or Disney parks in general. I’d highly recommend checking it out if you have the time!
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Klook.comToy Story Midway Mania New Graphics
Toy Story Midway Mania debuted new graphics as part of the Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration! 70th decals and stickers are seen throughout the ride now, and some targets in the game now have 70th stickers on them, allowing you to get 700 or 7000 points.
While the new graphics didn’t blow me away, I really enjoyed the leveled up game play that the 70th additions brought with it. It makes the game way more competitive, which is always a good thing. My only comment is that they could’ve added more to the visuals. It almost felt like an afterthought in some scenes, with the 70th logo being slapped in front of targets. It wasn’t billed as a major offering, however, so I can’t be too disappointed with it.
Merchandise
The Disneyland merch team really went all out with the merch this year. The apparel pieces especially are just so cute and really tie into the celebration. I couldn’t resist some of the merch, so I ended up buying some for myself. The merch also included things like plushies, notebooks, pins, and bags, all of which were so well-designed that I wanted to buy all of them (I didn’t of course)
My one comment about the merch is that I think the Key to Disneyland was a bad idea. For those of you who are unfamiliar, the Key to Disneyland is a large plastic key that you need to insert in special locks that are located in each of the 9 lands of Disneyland and, at the end, you’re given a special pin.
Sure it’s a cute scavenger hunt around the park, but it wastes so much plastic as people who are in it for the pins will have to buy 9 keys minimum to get all of them. Most of these keys will probably end up in a landfill somewhere. They also cost way too much, which is a major downside for the other Disneyland 70th anniversary merch in general.
All in all, however, the merch is cute and should satisfy most Disney fans. I just wish it was cheaper overall and was more environmentally friendly.
Decor
The decor for the Disneyland 70th anniversary is a lot better than the decor for the 100th anniversary of Disney two years ago. I was skeptical about the color scheme at first, but it really works in person. From the huge castle they’ve set up in the Esplanade, to the buntings on all the buildings and the medallion in front of the actual castle, the decor is very tastefully done and brings a certain energy to Disneyland that makes it more fun and appealing.
My Thoughts
Overall, I think this might be my favorite Disney Park anniversary that I’ve ever experienced. I have yet to see Hong Kong Disneyland’s 20th anniversary, which I will see in July, but this anniversary was just chock full of amazing offerings. Sure, some of them aren’t the best Disney entertainment offerings I’ve ever seen, but they’re still amazing in their own right.
At a time when Disneyland is slowly getting rid of all of their entertainment offerings, I’m glad that the Disneyland 70th anniversary was full of so much amazing entertainment. I know people have been criticizing the 70th anniversary because a lot of the entertainment being offered consists of old entertainment that was brought over from other celebrations, but I personally like to look at it as a summary of the entertainment legacy of the resort since the 60th anniversary. Bringing back all the old entertainment is like looking at a time capsule of how the park has grown and changed over the last 10 years.
The only thing missing from the entertainment offerings is the return of Magic Happens. That would have solidified this anniversary as the best Disney Park anniversary since Disneyland’s 50th (or maybe tied with Disneyland Paris’ 30th). But I can’t complain because Paint the Night and Better Together are such good parades too.
To think that this anniversary isn’t even complete as Walt Disney – A Magical Life has yet to premier. I think that show, if it’s as good as Disney promises, will take this anniversary to a whole other level.
Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary Celebration is a great reminder of the legacy and impact of Disneyland. I feel like this anniversary truly celebrates the park’s contribution to pop culture and the way its innovative storytelling and immersive attractions have impacted millions around the world.
Disneyland isn’t just a park, it’s an escape. While the outside world can be cruel and unforgiving, Disneyland, along with the 11 other Disney theme parks around the world, have become safe spaces where guests can come as they are and be who they want to be. It is a place where they can fly over Neverland or go on the wildest ride in the wilderness or enter the hallowed halls of a haunted mansion. For a couple of hours, they can leave their troubles at the door and enter a world full of magic. I know that term gets thrown around a lot, but it’s true. There’s magic at Disney. Just ask the millions of people who walk through the gates every year.
These parks mean the world to millions around the world, including myself. As we look to the future of Disney Parks, there is a lot to be excited for. But let’s not forget where it all started, in an orange grove in the middle of nowhere in Southern California. And let’s not forget the man who made this dream of his a reality, because without his courage, there would be no Disneyland. And because of his courage, the world really changed for the better.
Conclusion
In short, Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary is worth experiencing and I can’t wait to see how the Disney parks evolve over the next few decades. It’s going to be interesting seeing how it all comes together. But for now, I’m glad I get to enjoy Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary Celebration! I can’t wait to see what the future holds, for Disneyland and every other Disney park.
9/10
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