Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary kicks off in May 2025, and the huge celebration features a ton of new and returning entertainment. Disney has revealed new details about World of Color Happiness, Paint the Night parade, plus all-new ride enhancements and entertainment that’ll debut during the festivities. And we’ve gotta “warn” you: this is a bunch of stuff aimed squarely at Disney diehards that you’ll either love or have no interest in.
The Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration will start on May 16, 2025 and run through Summer 2026! The event will honor seven decades of happiness and many moments of joy in the making. You’ll get to “celebrate happy” (Disney’s words, not mine) with limited-time entertainment, colorful décor, themed food and beverages, collectible merchandise, and so much more!
Note that what’s covered here supplements the previous Guide to Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration. This is just what’s been newly-announced and additional details, but is not comprehensive. Wondrous Journeys, Walt Disney – A Magical Life, character costumes, and more are still slated to debut during the year-long celebration–this just covers everything new as of March 6, 2025–not what’s unchanged.
At Disneyland, the facade of “it’s a small world” will come to life each night through light, music and projection effects in a show called “Tapestry of Happiness.” This projection show will create an animated mosaic of Disneyland attractions, moments and memories brought to life in a unique style inspired by the work of legendary Disney artist Mary Blair. It will feature the original 70th celebration theme song “Celebrate Happy,” along with nods to recognizable Disneyland tunes from across the decades.
“Tapestry of Happiness” will be a visual love letter to Disneyland, bringing all of us together through memories of The Happiest Place on Earth. It will remind us that no matter how old we are or where we call home, we all come together in this magical place through the eyes of our inner child, finding happiness in a unique and personal way.
This sounds fantastic to me, like a spiritual successor to “Remember… Dreams Come True” but without the fireworks. While I’d obviously prefer a fully-fledged nighttime spectacular, there is something to be said for the comparative ease of viewing the projections on the facade of “it’s a small world.”
Moreover, Wondrous Journeys is really, really good–and more accessible for mainstream audiences. A ‘best of both worlds’ approach might be running “Tapestry of Happiness” during the nighttime spectacular as an ‘alternate’ fireworks show, similar to what’s done back in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. But I won’t complain about this–it sounds right up my alley, and I’m really excited for “Tapestry of Happiness.”
Speaking of things that are right up our alley, Disneyland will debut a new character cavalcade called “The Celebrate Happy Cavalcade.”
As it winds its way along the parade route, favorite characters will encourage you to dance and clap along in an energetic and contemporary celebration of seven decades of happiness. You may spot pals including Goofy and Max in their 70th attire, as well as friends not often seen at Disneyland, like Duffy and ShellieMay!
Before I sat down to write this up, I rushed downstairs to break the news to Sarah. And by “break the news,” I mean tell her that Duffy and ShellieMay are making their triumphant return to regular operations at Disneyland. Suffice to say, she’s over the moon. As mentioned elsewhere, Sarah has been lobbying for an article about why Duffy needs to return to Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Guess I can scratch out the “Disneyland” part of that.
Like her mother, Megatron is a big fan of bears, and that includes Duffy & Friends. Although her favorite characters of the crew are LinaBell and Gelatoni, but she should nevertheless be a big fan of “The Celebrate Happy Cavalcade.” Another big win for Disneyland’s 70th, especially since Magic Happens is on hiatus for 2025.
Over at Disney California Adventure, Disneyland has shared new details about “World of Color Happiness!”
In addition to featuring classic Disney songs and other iconic favorites, Boyz II Men will lend their legendary R&B vocals in a rendition of “Rainbow Connection,” and FITZ — frontman and namesake of multi-platinum hitmakers Fitz and the Tantrums — will debut a new original song just for “World of Color” titled “Makes Me Wanna Move.”
By journey’s end, you’ll discover that happiness is made up of many different emotional colors, and Disneyland Resort is the magical place at the end of the rainbow where all those colors come together.
But that’s not all … the fun starts even before “World of Color” begins with a special message from some familiar faces. With the guidance of Joe the Legal Weasel, more than a dozen of The Muppets will deliver their message through vivid projections and expressive fountains ahead of the show.
In previous commentary, we suggested a return of the TRON pre-show, which was one of the best tags ever for World of Color. It would’ve been cool to have that old TRON Legacy tag return to promote TRON: Ares! (Perhaps we’ll get elecTRONica instead? That would be a huge win.)
A Muppets pre-show is much, much better than a TRON tag. Something with humor and emotional resonance sounds fantastic, and the presence of Joe the Legal Weasel is giving me MuppetVision 3D pre-show vibes. Going to stop there, as I don’t want to get overhyped and then disappointed if it fails to live up to unrealistic expectations. Suffice to say, a Muppets pre-show to World of Color: Happiness sounds fantastic.
Back at Disneyland, there are also new details about Paint the Night Parade, which returns to lighting up Main Street, U.S.A., with stunning color and more than a million brilliant LED lights.
Anna and Elsa will rejoin the parade on the fan-favorite float inspired by Disney Animation’s “Frozen” when it makes its return to Main Street, U.S.A., for the first time since its initial run. When the parade moved over to DCA, this float was too tall to clear the Red Car Trolley cables (not a problem going forward), so it was replaced by a then-new float for The Incredibles 2.
No word yet on whether the Incredibles float will return. It was a good float and Paint the Night could stand to be a little longer, so I hope so. We shall see, though. I probably wouldn’t expect both floats.
Disneyland is even adding special touches to some attractions throughout Disneyland Resort in time for the 70th celebration!
In sunny Mexico in “it’s a small world” at Disneyland, Miguel and his trusted alebrije, Dante, from the Pixar film “Coco” will join the other children in song. Silhouetted by a stunning marigold bridge, you’ll be able to spot this new addition when the “it’s a small world” reopens April 25, 2025.
This April 25, 2025 reopening date for “it’s a small world” is also news–it hadn’t been previously announced. (It’s later than we’d like and means another attraction is down during spring break, but hopefully means IASW is getting TLC!)
Note that Disney previously announced that Disneyland will be premiering a third and final verse in the “it’s a small world” attraction at Disneyland, beginning on July 17, 2025.
We cannot wait to experience “it’s a small world” again, especially if it gets the same kind of love as Haunted Mansion. (Setting aside the new bride and other changes, that ride is looking better than it has in ages. The refurbishment was a huge success purely from a maintenance perspective.)
On Toy Story Midway Mania! in Disney California Adventure, look for nods to the 70th anniversary as you compete for the highest score on carnival-inspired games.
You’ll notice in the background of the concept art that there are also new 70th anniversary details on the static props in addition to changes on the screens. It’s unclear whether this is an artistic liberty or an actual change within the attraction. It’ll be interesting to see whether Toy Story Midway Mania goes down for a refurbishment to accomplish this overlay, or if it’s done overnight.
My hope is that Toy Story Midway Mania receives a gameplay update. Even if it’s only the 70th targets unlocking more 70th targets or new point target trees, that would be a huge change for locals and Annual Passholders who have played this game hundreds of times and have developed a rhythm. (It would be a meaningless one for first-timers or infrequent tourists.)
In the esplanade between Disneyland and California Adventure, you won’t be able to miss the contemporary 50-foot sculpture inspired by Sleeping Beauty Castle with colorful glass panels and golden charms representing the five original lands.
This reminds me of the The Tower of the Four Winds from the 1964 New York World’s Fair near the original “it’s a small world” designed by legendary Imagineer Rolly Crump.
When you step through the gates of Disneyland, floral Mickey will welcome you to the celebration with a display of vibrant flowers, and multi-colored banners and bunting will decorate Main Street, U.S.A. In the heart of Town Square, you’ll spot an installation featuring Mickey and Minnie created just for the anniversary.
Carthay Circle Restaurant at Disney California Adventure will also be decked out in 70th colors. In the evenings, the exterior of the restaurant will invite everyone to “celebrate happy” during a special moment filled with music, lights and projection effects. Set to the tune of “Celebrate Happy,” this interlude further illuminates Carthay Circle and Buena Vista Street with twinkling lights, dynamic projections and bursts of color.
70th décor will also extend into the Downtown Disney District and the Hotels of the Disneyland Resort. Here’s more concept art of the decorations:
Ultimately, this all sounds pretty good to me! This checks off most the boxes on my Disneyland 70th Anniversary Wish List from a few months back. The return of fan-favorites like Wondrous Journeys and Paint the Night Parade will be fantastic, the new World of Color: Happiness has a lot of potential, and even Better Together is a solid piece of programming.
Honestly, I would’ve been pretty satisfied with the original slate of announcements, but this puts things over the top for me. Now I have a new excuse to beat Guy Selga again in Toy Story Miday Mania. “Tapestry of Happiness” sounds like the spiritual successor to “Remember… Dreams Come True” that I’ve wanted for literally the last decade.
Duffy and ShellieMay are making their triumphant return to Disneyland. World of Color is inexplicably getting a Muppets pre-show…and it sounds like it’ll have humor and heart?! Seriously, did the entertainment team at Disneyland read this blog and try to come up with ideas that would target my family, specifically? It’s a very eclectic set of announcements…that are uniquely appealing to our tastes.
We absolutely cannot wait. Somehow, this has us even more excited for Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary, and will be spending a ton of time at the parks once it begins on May 16, 2025. Regardless of what else is announced, it sounds like it’s going to be a great event. 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 are you looking forward to seeing during the event? Is this new set of announcements uniquely appealing to your tastes, too? Is Paint the Night + Wondrous Journeys fireworks + World of Color: Happiness good enough for you? 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!