Top 5 Things We’re Looking Forward to at Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary Celebration

Disneyland’s 70th anniversary celebration is kicking off soon this spring, bringing a variety of special experiences to the resort! From special decor and the return of fan-favorite entertainment to a brand new attraction, there is so much for visitors to enjoy.

These are the top 5 things we’re most looking forward to during Disneyland’s 70th anniversary celebration!

1) A major highlight of the Disneyland 70th anniversary celebration is the new attraction with first-ever Walt Disney animatronic that will be debuting. The show was originally going to debut at the start of the celebration, but the opening was pushed back to this summer. The new experience, called “Walt Disney – A Magical Life," invites guests to experience the story of Walt’s life through remastered footage and audio recordings, culminating in the audio-animatronics figure of Walt in his office sharing “some heartfelt stories and words of wisdom." This new experience aims to make guests feel like they’re in the presence of Walt himself, and this is bound to be very emotionally impactful.

When this project was first announced at D23, Josh D’Amaro shared that they had been waiting for the “right technology" to create this project and what a major responsibility it is to get this right. We expect the technology here to be pretty groundbreaking, and the experience will doubtlessly be immensely popular during its initial run.

2) We are also really looking forward to the return of two fan-favorite entertainment offerings during the celebration, the Paint the Night parade and the fireworks show Wondrous Journeys.

Fans had long been hoping for the return of the Paint the Night parade, which features over a million LED lights, special effects, and several characters from various Disney and Pixar stories! When the parade returns to Disneyland Park, it will feature the return of the Frozen ice castle float for the first time since the parade’s initial run.

We’re also very excited about the return of Wondrous Journeys, which is one of our favorite fireworks shows Disneyland has done! The show honors over 100 years of Walt Disney Animation storytelling from several favorite stories, featuring the original song “It’s Wondrous," amazing projections on the castle and Main Street, and flyovers from Baymax and the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio.

3) The new World of Color Happiness! show debuts in Disney California Adventure as part of the 70th anniversary celebration. The new nighttime spectacular will be hosted by Joy and the other emotions from Inside Out and Inside Out 2, exploring the different emotions that make up happiness while featuring music and moments from several favorite Disney and Pixar stories like Turning Red, The Incredibles, A Goofy Movie, Tangled, and Encanto. The show will include an opening message from the Muppets, a new original song by FITZ, and a a rendition of “Rainbow Connection" by Boyz II Men. Disneyland also recently shared that guests will have the ability to vote on the Disneyland app for one of four Inside Out emotions to be featured in special scenes throughout the night’s showings.

The show is inspired by the words from Walt Disney’s opening day speech, “To all who come to this happy place… welcome!" We’re curious to see how Disney will connect this concept to the newer characters and stories the show is centered around.

4) A new 70th anniversary character cavalcade, called “The Celebrate Happy Cavalcade," will debut during the celebration. We’re especially excited for this new cavalcade as it will feature rare Duffy and Friends characters, Duffy and ShellieMay! You’ll also see Goofy and Max in the cavalcade, as well as other Disney princesses and heroes. We’re looking forward to this entertainment offering and the energy it will bring to the park during the daytime!

5) Disneyland announced an interactive 70th anniversary experience called “Key to Disneyland" that will be a unique spin on a scavenger hunt. Once guests “unlock the magic" in each of Disneyland’s lands using a special key, they can unlock 1 of 9 commemorative trading pins. This Key to Disneyland experience looks like it will be a lot of fun! There will also be several merchandise collections available for the 70th anniversary, including the Celebration Collection, Castle Collection, and Vault Collection. We expect the Castle Collection in particular will be extremely popular!

You can see our full guide to the Disneyland 70th anniversary celebration for a description of all of the offerings that have been announced.

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