Next year ushers in an important anniversary for the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. Founded in 1955, the resort will observe seven decades as the Happiest Place on Earth.
Disney never misses a chance to celebrate, and the company just announced that it plans to mark this 70-year Disneyland milestone with a major anniversary celebration starting in mid-2025.
But Disneyland also has a number of new and returning offerings in store, and it is making it easy to plan by sharing many dates and events well in advance.
70th anniversary celebration
The year’s headliner is undoubtedly the 70th anniversary celebration itself. Scheduled to debut May 16, 2025, the anniversary will continue for more than a full year until summer 2026. So, there are lots of opportunities to experience it.
The theme of the 70th anniversary party will be “Celebrate Happy,” and it will feature a song of the same name played for the event. The parks will have special anniversary decor, new looks for Mickey and other characters, exclusive food and merchandise, and lots of entertainment.
The entertainment lineup, in particular, is sure to please the Disneyland faithful. For much of the anniversary celebration, the resort is bringing back two extremely popular fan favorites to its nighttime entertainment offerings in Disneyland Park.
The first is the long-awaited and frequently teased return of “Paint the Night.” This nighttime parade in Disneyland features floats and performers illuminated by over a million LED lights. “Paint the Night” debuted at Disneyland’s 60th anniversary celebration and hasn’t run in Anaheim since 2018.
The second nighttime offering making a return for the anniversary is “Wondrous Journeys.”
This nighttime spectacular debuted in early 2023 for the Disney100 celebration, and it has had such a limited run ever since that even many regular guests may have missed seeing it. “Wondrous Journeys” includes projections from each and every Walt Disney Animation Studios film set to music on several facades in Disneyland Park. It also includes fireworks over Sleeping Beauty Castle for select performances.
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Over at Disney California Adventure Park, the daytime parade, “Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration!” — which debuted during 2024’s Pixar Fest — will return.
Disney will also debut a brand-new “World of Color” nighttime show over the park’s waters for the anniversary. “World of Color Happiness” is inspired by Walt Disney’s 1955 opening-day remarks, which are now memorialized on a plaque by the park’s entrance: “To all who come to this happy place … welcome!”
Speaking of Walt Disney, the 70th anniversary also brings a much-talked-about new show to the Main Street Opera House. “Walt Disney — A Magical Life” will feature an Audio-Animatronics likeness of Walt himself.
Disneyland spring events and food festivals
If your travels take you to Anaheim before the 70th anniversary celebration launches, however, there is no shortage of special events before that time. Disneyland traditionally has two food festivals in Disney California Adventure Park early in the year, and both will be returning in 2025.
The resort will observe Lunar New Year and the Year of the Snake with a food festival from Jan. 17 to Feb. 16, 2025, in California Adventure Park. A few weeks after that closes, the largest of the park’s food festivals, the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival, will return. It will run from Feb. 28 to April 21, 2025.
Season of the Force, a celebration featuring all things “Star Wars,” will occur just before the 70th anniversary starts and overlap with the Food & Wine Festival. Space Mountain will get its usual overlay and become Hyperspace Mountain for the weeks the event is taking place (March 28 to May 11, 2025).
Mixed in with all of these festivals will be a variety of Disney after-hours events known as Disneyland After Dark. These specially ticketed events are essentially themed parties, with additional food and beverages, unique entertainment including rare characters, and short waits to ride most of Disneyland’s attractions.
After-hours events that will take place before the 70th anniversary include Sweethearts’ Nite (eight dates in late January and early February approaching Valentine’s Day), 90’s Nite (March 4 and 6), and Star Wars Nite (eight dates during Season of the Force).
Another Disneyland After Dark event, Pride Nite, will happen June 16 and 18 after the 70th anniversary celebration starts.
Disneyland Halloween Time and Disneyland Holidays
Later in the year, Disneyland again plans to celebrate the Halloween and winter holiday seasons as it has done for many years — and this time in conjunction with the 70th anniversary celebration.
Halloween Time will debut Aug. 22, 2025, which is earlier than has traditionally been the practice at Disneyland (but not at Walt Disney World, where Halloween starts in early August). There will also be a record-high 31 dates beginning Aug. 17, 2025, for the popular Oogie Boogie Bash, its separately ticketed after-hours Halloween party held in Disney California Adventure Park. (It always sells out many months in advance.)
Similar to the schedule in 2024 (and in contrast to the extended Halloween calendar), the holiday season will again be a bit contracted in 2025, and it’ll kick off a few days later than usual. Starting after the Veterans Day holiday weekend, Disneyland Holidays will run from Nov. 14, 2025, to Jan. 7, 2026. The event includes popular ride overlays like “It’s a small world” Holiday and Haunted Mansion Holiday as well as a winter food festival in Disney California Adventure Park called Festival of Holidays.
Note, however, that a few of the 70th anniversary offerings (“Wondrous Journeys” and “Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration!” in particular) will be on pause during the Halloween and winter holiday celebrations; they will be temporarily replaced with seasonal entertainment.
Ways to save on Disneyland visits in 2025
Disney vacations rarely come cheap, but Disney has been releasing a greater number of special offers and sales recently to help guests find more budget-friendly sweet spots on the calendar. There are quite a few new discounts available for 2025, likely with more to come.
Disneyland previously announced a ticket offer for early 2025 where kids can visit for as little as $50 per day. Earlier this week, it also announced a special three-day ticket deal starting at $67 per day for Southern California residents visiting from Jan. 7 to May 15, 2025.
Neither of these offerings is valid for the 70th anniversary celebration, but both span a number of other special events and festivals earlier in the year.
Just remember that Disneyland (unlike Walt Disney World) still requires daily theme park reservations for all guests to control capacity, so select your travel dates and make park reservations before they sell out.
Disneyland also has regular sales for stays at its three on-property hotels; it already has an offer for as much as 25% off for visits in early 2025. It will also offer a discount of up to 30% on select stays of four nights or longer at the hotels of the Disneyland Resort from May 16 to Sept. 26, 2025. Always check Disneyland’s special offers page for the most current deals, as they change regularly.
Booking link: Save on stays at Disneyland by renting Disney Vacation Club points via TPG’s partner, David’s Vacation Club Rentals
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