This Disney California Adventure and Disneyland ride refurbishment calendar for 2025 lists temporary attraction closures so you know what won’t be open before planning your vacation. Additionally, info about reimagining projects underway to enhance experiences around the parks. (Updated April 25, 2025.)
While no one wants attraction closures during their visit, they are a necessary part of keeping Disneyland and Disney California Adventure in good condition, as routine maintenance, safety upgrades, and attraction improvements are all done during scheduled ride closures. Usually, there are only a handful of simultaneous closed rides, plus new attractions being built.
Having an idea of which attractions are closed at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure is important, but we recommend consulting our 2025 Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide for more comprehensive info. That covers everything from saving money on park tickets and hotels to where to eat, when to visit, and more.
In addition to scheduled attraction refurbs, unscheduled downtime can also occur during a visit. This usually only occurs for a few hours at a time, so if you find an attraction is closed during your visit to Disneyland Resort and it’s not listed below, it’s likely a temporary closure that will last a few hours. Check with nearby Cast Members to confirm.
Below is a schedule of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure refurbishments, when the closure starts, and when the refurbishment will conclude. To the extent that specific dates are not yet listed, those will be updated once Disneyland Resort provides precise start and/or end dates. The following day will be when the attraction is scheduled to reopen.
Here are the closure schedules for Disney California Adventure and Disneyland…
Disney California Adventure
- Anna & Elsa’s Royal Welcome – Closed April 28 through May 12, 2025
- Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration! – Returns on May 16, 2025
- Disney Jr. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live! – Debuts on May 16, 2025
- Red Car Trolley – Permanently Closed
- Sorcerer’s Workshop – Closed April 28 through May 12, 2025
- Soarin’ Around the World – Closed April 28 through May 1, 2025
- World of Color Happiness – Debuts on May 16, 2025
One wave of refurbishments just wrapped up prior to the heart of spring break season around Easter, and another will begin shortly after the peak weeks end on April 28, 2025. That explains the trio of brief closures that run until mid-May at the latest.
If you’re curious as to why there are so many debut or return dates of May 16, 2025 on both of the lists, see our Guide to Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary Celebration. Suffice to say, it’s the kick-off of that blockbuster year-plus event!
Next, let’s take a look at the 2025 Disneyland attraction closure calendar…
Disneyland
- Chip ‘n’ Dale’s GadgetCoaster – Closed starting May 19, 2025 (Reopening TBD)
- Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln – Reopening in the Future
- “it’s a small world” – Closed through May 8, 2025
- King Arthur Carrousel – Closed May 7-8, 2025
- Mad Tea Party – Closed May 5-6, 2025
- Magic Happens Parade – Not returning until 2026
- Matterhorn Bobsleds – Closed starting April 28, 2025 (Reopening TBD)
- Paint the Night Parade – Returns on May 16, 2025
- Walt Disney – A Magical Life – Opens on July 17, 2025
- Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room – Closed April 28, 2025 (Reopening TBD)
- Wondrous Journeys Fireworks – Returns on May 16, 2025
It’s a pretty similar story with the Disneyland list, albeit a couple more high-profile closures that are occurring during the spring break season. Discussing each of the major closures in turn, let’s start with the Matterhorn Bobsleds. The calendar currently goes through Memorial Day weekend, and the Matterhorn is still closed then, meaning it’ll miss the start of Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary.
Disney filed a couple of construction permits for the Matterhorn, suggesting this could be a larger-scale project. Those indicate lighting will be modified, electrical work will be done, new fall protections will be installed, and rockwork will be replaced. The duration of the project depends on the scale and scope of all that work–it could be a little rockwork repair and replacement…or a lot of it!
Next is the annual downtime of “it’s a small world” to add/remove its holiday overlay. This year, the closures are longer and also incorporate general maintenance and ride system maintenance. As a result, “it’s a small world” will reopen later in Spring 2025 than usual. Still worth it from our perspective, especially since there would be a multi-month closure for regular refurbishments, regardless.
Another ongoing closure is Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. This is a lengthy refurbishment–Disneyland filed building permits valued at $5 million with the City of Anaheim to replace show elements, lighting, audio and show systems in the Main Street Opera House.
Most notably, the construction permit indicates that a show platform will be replaced, and a new turntable will be installed. Disneyland already confirmed that the Lincoln Audio Animatronics isn’t going anywhere, and now we know that this is for the first ever Walt Disney Audio-Animatronics as part of a new stage show, “Walt Disney — A Magical Life.”
Disneyland has announced that “Walt Disney – A Magical Life” will debut on July 17, 2025. This is a 2-month delay, as it was originally supposed to open during the start of the Disneyland 70th Anniversary celebration on May 16, 2025. Now it debuts on the actual anniversary of Disneyland’s opening.
Disney has also announced that Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln will return to the rotation after the initial opening period of “Walt Disney – A Magical Life.” As such, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln could return as early as late Summer 2025 or as late as the following year when the Disneyland 70th Anniversary is over…or sometime in between.
Now, a few notes about the above refurbishments. Disneyland is notorious for changing its refurbishment schedules, adding or canceling planned downtimes weeks or days in advance. While this practice is still relatively uncommon in the grand scheme of things, it’s worth pointing out because it does happen.
Now, here’s a bit of our philosophy concerning refurbishments, with the specific example of the recent multi-year Disneyland Railroad refurbishment used to illustrate…
Thoughts on Refurbishments
Nobody likes a favorite attraction to be refurbished during their vacation. It means missing out and potentially not being able to experience the ride for another year or longer, depending upon the frequency of your visits to Disneyland. A couple of years ago, the Disneyland Railroad closed for an extended refurbishment due to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge construction.
At first, we were really disappointed. This might seem like an odd attraction to lament the closure of, but as Southern Californians with Disneyland Annual Passes, this was an absolute favorite of ours. We rode regularly when we wanted to rest our feet, or simply a break from the crowds. With the exception of maybe ‘it’s a small world’, we did Disneyland Railroad more than any other attraction.
However, that initial disappointment pretty quickly gave way to excitement. We began thinking about ways Disneyland Railroad could be plussed, improving the experience for years to come. Disney had already announced that some changes would be made (as the track needed to be re-routed), and we were excited for the prospect of new show scenes or other visuals.
From my perspective, investing in the long-term quality of an attraction is far more important than the temporary satisfaction I’ll get out of riding it on my next visit. This is why it always perplexes me when regulars contend that their vacation will be ruined because their favorite attraction will be closed.
If it’s your favorite attraction and you’re active in the Disney fan community, that means you’ve been to Disneyland before and probably will visit again. It would thus stand to reason that you would want something you love to get the TLC it deserves, and continue to improve.
Disneyland Railroad works as a good example here…in large part because it did receive significant changes and enhancements. (Arguably, the Rivers of America suffered due to being condensed, but that’s another topic for another day–we cover all aspects of this in our New-Look Grand Circle Tour of Disneyland post.)
The point extends to other attractions that have seen similar plussings, but also have more of a problem with effects breaking. Take Indiana Jones Adventure, for example. This is a ride that seems to get a refurbishment about every other year (sometimes more frequently) and we’d argue that it could probably use more regular maintenance than that.
If you are a long-term fan, would you rather experience Indiana Jones Adventure every single visit with 75% of the effects working, or every single visit minus one or two with 95% of the effects working? For me, the answer to that is easy. I’ll take a superior long term experience every time.
Beyond that, there’s the much more compelling justification for regular refurbishments: they are essential for the safety of attractions. While we may think of these attractions as all fun and games that offer a safe sense of exhilaration, that’s when they are properly maintained.
It’s unpleasant to think about, but there have been several preventable deaths in the history of Disney’s parks. During a dark era of Disneyland history, improper maintenance was the cause of death on Big Thunder Mountain. Likewise, years of neglect at Disneyland Paris have led to incidents of injury that could be attributed to a lack of maintenance. In both cases, this has been addressed, and maintenance has improved considerably.
This is not meant to scare anyone or provoke an emotional reaction. Disney’s worldwide safety record is sterling as compared to other park operators. It’s still important to remember that these fun, ‘magical’ places also exist in the real world and use a lot of potentially dangerous elements if safety is not viewed as key. (Or, in Disney’s case, one of the Four Keys.)
When it comes to maintenance that is not essential to the safe operation of an attraction, we are left to contemplate what amount of show quality should be accepted. If following a strict Nunis-ian interpretation of the Four Keys, show is an important consideration, and it should always be 100%. This is a nice goal to strive for, but the practical reality is that 100% show quality is an unworkably high threshold sometimes.
In my estimation, this is a good example of balancing guest interests with show quality. Get the effects working that are easily fixable, and find other ways to address effects that are frequently breaking. We’re not talking about safety here, just random effects. Indiana Jones Adventure has had a number of effects disabled or replaced over the years because they were unreliable.
Guests are understandably concerned when it appears an inordinate number of attractions are closing during their vacation, especially out of state visitors. Trips to California are not cheap and are often once in a lifetime experiences; first-timers certainly do not want to miss out on experiences about which they’ve read extensive hype.
With that said, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure ought to be publishing their routine refurbishment schedules several months in advance, allowing guests to plan around closures. Disney plans maintenance well in advance, and this info should be passed along to guests. For the most part, it is.
Obviously, unplanned maintenance can occur, which takes rides out of commission for hours or even days at the last minute. This is an unavoidable part of sophisticated theme park attractions, and there’s no real way to “plan around” this. It just is what it is.
However, the problem with a “not during my vacation” attitude like this is that it’s always going to be someone’s (or tens of thousands of someones) vacation. If Disneyland and Disney California Adventure attractions with show quality issues aren’t close for refurbishments for fear of some guests during a time-limited window missing out, all guests in perpetuity are going to have a lesser experience.
The end result of that thinking is a duct-tapped approach to attraction maintenance, with whatever work that can be done overnight accomplished, and two parks full of attractions with half their effects broken. First-timers would be left wondering why there was so much hype about Disneyland in the first place, as so many components of rides simply don’t work. If you’re reading this as a lifelong fan, well…maybe you wouldn’t have become a lifelong fan if this were actually Disneyland’s modus operandi.
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…
Any questions about the current refurbishments at Disneyland Resort? What do you think about refurbishments at the Disney Parks? Are you more concerned about an improved long-term experience, or do you think “not during my vacation!”? Any other factors you think are worth considering? As mentioned, we think this is a conversation, so please share your ‘refurbishment philosophy’, or any other thoughts or questions you have, in the comments!