Disneyland 70: Yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy meet for the biggest birthday yet | Daily Hive

Disneyland 70: Where yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy meet for the biggest birthday yet

Disneyland Resort 70th Anniversary Celebration. (Kenneth Chan)

“If you could tell Mickey Mouse one thing today, what would it be?” I curiously asked Sonia Cassidy, age seven from Newcastle, England, waiting on the sidelines of Main Street U.S.A., behind the rope, during a media preview of the new Celebrate Happy Cavalcade at Disneyland Resort.

“I hope he has cake with sprinkles and a candle… [and] make sure Donald [Duck] is happy because he always looks cranky. I want him to invite me again,” she said, clutching a pair of Minnie Mouse ears with a bright red polka dot bow.

Moments later, the whistling tune of the Jonas Brothers’ new “Celebrate Happy” song spilled through the air along Main Street U.S.A., as Duffy and Shellie May pedalled in on cycle rickshaws to lead the energetic mini-parade. They were followed by a lineup of Disney princesses, then — to cheers and waves — Mickey and Minnie Mouse alongside Donald Duck and Pluto. Aladdin, Genie, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, and Mary Poppins brought the first-ever Celebrate Happy Cavalcade to a close.

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Disneyland Resort in California has been making magic for 70 years — and it is throwing itself a party big enough for the whole global kingdom.

And once again, everyone is invited.

This especially includes Canadians. Until the end of 2025, Canadians are being offered exclusive special discounts on three-, four-, and five-day theme park tickets at Disneyland Park and Disneyland California Adventure Park for as low as US$77 per day. But the 70th anniversary celebrations will continue well into 2026.

The resort is also home to three major hotels, offering a combined total of about 2,400 guest rooms: Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, with direct access to Disney California Adventure Park; the recently renovated Pixar Place Hotel; and the iconic Disneyland Hotel, which celebrates its own 70th anniversary this year, having opened just a few months after Disneyland Park in 1955.

Staying at one of these official resort hotels offers more than just a place to sleep — guests enjoy unmatched convenience with all three properties just steps from the gates of both theme parks and Downtown Disney’s hub of restaurants and shops, offering a fully immersive Disney experience around-the-clock, and exclusive perks such as early theme park entry and easier access to park reservations.

While there is no absolute need to rush to join the extra-magical fun, the celebration, of course, will not last forever.

The “Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration,” which began in May 2025, will run through Summer 2026 — giving fans plenty of time to plan a visit and be part of this extra-magical period at the Happiest Place on Earth.

Disneyland Resort 70th Anniversary Celebration. (Kenneth Chan)

While Disneyland Resort has hosted many high-profile anniversary celebrations over the years — most notably serving as the global hub for the “Disney100” festivities in 2023, marking The Walt Disney Company’s centennial and the resort’s triumphant return, with the magic roaring back after the pandemic — this milestone is unique. It is the first celebration in a decade dedicated solely to the world’s very first Disney park, where it all began with Walt Disney himself, following the “Disneyland Diamond Celebration” that marked Disneyland Park’s 60th anniversary.

“Happy is a celebration. It’s a party. It’s something that we want people to get excited about,” David Caranci, the creative development manager of Walt Disney Imagineering and the producer of the Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration, told media during an open session, explaining the thematic approach.

This year-long theme, he noted, is steeped in pure whimsicality — a lighthearted, imaginative spirit designed to capture the joy of a birthday party on a grand, Disney scale. It is about bright colours, playful details, and unexpected moments that make guests feel like they’ve stepped into a living storybook where every turn offers a reason to smile.

“Think about the 60th. That was very traditional. It was very kind of, well, it was a little bit different, like in the 100th, right? So, those were a little bit more sophisticated. We wanted this to be the best birthday party ever. And we want all of you to celebrate with us,” continued Caranci.

Fittingly, the 70th anniversary is also the stage for one of the most ambitious tributes to Walt yet: the debut of “Walt Disney — A Magical Life” at the Opera House theatre on Main Street U.S.A., which made its debut on July 17, 2025, the 70th birthday of Disneyland Park. Years in the making, the new show and attraction are the result of deep passion and planning by Walt Disney Imagineering, designed to remind guests of Walt’s story — told in his own words — through both film and the art form he pioneered, audio-animatronics.

Before the curtain even rises, the experience begins in the Opera House lobby, where new exhibits trace Disneyland’s design evolution — from its earliest master plans to the development of audio-animatronics. Fans can also view the awards and honours Walt received over the years, alongside a video presentation, “Memories of Walt,” featuring personal interviews with those who knew and worked alongside him.

Inside the theatre, the show opens with a film adaptation of “One Man’s Dream,” narrated by Walt himself, chronicling his life from his earliest creative ventures to his boldest visions for the future, including his realized plan of turning orange groves in Anaheim into Disneyland Park.

The grand finale then raises the curtain on the first-ever audio-animatronics figure of Walt, set within a meticulous re-creation of his studio office. There, he “meets” fans, sharing stories and reflections on his career and philosophy. Decades of archival recordings were woven together to create this attraction, offering visitors an unprecedented opportunity to hear from Walt in a way never before possible at Disneyland Park.

Upon exiting the theatre, guests are just steps from the theme park entrance, where an iconic plaque bearing Walt Disney’s famous words reads, “Here you leave the world of today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy.” The new attraction and longtime inscription carries particular weight here, as this remains the only Disney theme park that Walt himself ever walked through.

Disneyland Resort 70th Anniversary Celebration. (Kenneth Chan)

Across the esplanade at Disney California Adventure Park, the 70th anniversary magic bursts to life over Paradise Bay with the debut of the all-new “World of Color Happiness!” show — a nighttime spectacular that transforms Walt’s opening day greeting into a kaleidoscope of light, music, and emotion.

This new nighttime spectacular begins with a playful pre-show, as the Muppets take the stage — in their own chaotic, comedic way — to celebrate the legacy of Disney Parks’ nighttime spectaculars while “preparing” Paradise Bay lagoon for the grand performance to come.

The main show opens with Walt’s iconic words from Disneyland’s opening day on July 17, 1955 — “To all who come to this happy place… welcome!” — setting the tone for a dazzling journey through “happy,” explored as a kaleidoscope of emotions.

Hosted by Joy and her fellow emotion friends from Pixar Animation’s Inside Out and Inside Out 2, the show brings audiences through musical and cinematic moments from across the Pixar and Disney Animation library. “Happy” comes to life in scenes from Turning Red and The Incredibles, woven together with beloved moments from A Goofy Movie, Tangled, Encanto, and many more fan favourites.

This is the fourth permanent all-season (non-holiday) “World of Color” production — and the seventh full show overall — since Paradise Bay and its 1,200-fountain World of Colour water theatre made its debut 15 years ago. In every iteration, the lagoon transforms into a vast canvas where signature fountains soar up to 20 storeys high, illuminated by dazzling lighting effects, sweeping lasers, and bursts of fire. The newest version, “World of Color Happiness!,” carries on that tradition with all the spectacle and emotion the show is known for.

“When we sat down to start the creative process, there was an immediate thought of what is happiness? How do we create happiness? How do we experience happiness? What does happiness mean to everyone?” Jennifer Magill, the executive director of Disney Live Entertainment, told media during the session.

“And as we started to do that deep dive, we realized very quickly that our friends at Pixar had created the perfect team to help tell that story and to help explain what happiness is. With the cast from Inside Out and Inside Out 2, we realized very quickly that you can’t have happiness without all of the emotion.”

Disneyland Resort 70th Anniversary Celebration. (Kenneth Chan)

The entertainment lineup for the 70th anniversary also includes the big return of the fan-favourite nighttime spectacular, “Wondrous Journeys” fireworks, at Disneyland Park. The fireworks occur on select nights, typically on weekends and holidays.

Originally created for the “Disney100” celebrations just a few years ago, “Wondrous Journeys” makes a fitting comeback for the park’s 70th anniversary, offering a poignant tribute to the rich legacy of Walt Disney Animation Studios. Through breathtaking fireworks, stirring music, and unexpected special effects, “Wondrous Journeys” celebrates decades of animated storytelling in a way that feels both nostalgic and fresh.

The fireworks are accompanied by an array of dazzling features — from flying characters (including Baymax, the loveable robot from Big Hero 6, soaring overhead with pyro-emitting rockets) to dramatic lighting and other special effects. Sleeping Beauty Castle serves as the centrepiece for stunning projection displays, making the area in front of the castle an obvious choice for prime viewing. But equally magical perspectives can be found elsewhere: along Main Street U.S.A., where building facades become projection screens that frame the fireworks over the castle, or at Rivers of America and It’s a Small World, which also feature their own immersive projections under the same “Wondrous Journeys” show.

In fact, there’s one viewing location at the rear of Disneyland Park that offers a “fresh” thematic twist on the “Wondrous Journeys” fireworks. On select nights in the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge land, the exact same pyrotechnic display — exploding high behind the Millennium Falcon and the Batuu planet’s cliff landscape — is paired with an entirely different soundtrack, transforming it into a Star Wars–themed experience called “Fire of the Rising Moons.” Only fans within Galaxy’s Edge hear this alternate score featuring John Williams’ iconic galactic themes, while the rest of the park enjoys “Wondrous Journeys” in its original form.

First appearing at Disneyland Park in 2024 on select nights, previous iterations of Fire of the Rising Moons” have also been adapted from other fireworks spectaculars at the park, a clear demonstration of the creativity of Disney Imagineers. Through a kind of reverse-engineering process, they craft an entirely new show on top of an existing one — reimagining its music through considerations of timing and emotional beats, all without altering the original experience for spectators elsewhere in the park.

Another major highlight of the 70th anniversary entertainment lineup is the much-anticipated return of the “Paint the Night” parade. And this is no ordinary parade — it is a full-scale, full-length nighttime spectacular, with thousands of dazzling lights illuminating not only the elaborate floats but also the costumes of the many energetic performers who bring the procession to life.

Set to an upbeat, high-energy soundtrack, “Paint the Night” transforms the parade route into a moving light show, blending cutting-edge technology. Each float is a glowing work of art, from towering character figures to shimmering scenes inspired by beloved films such as Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story, Monsters Inc., and Frozen.

Every performer is adorned with illuminated costumes that ripple and change colours in sync with the upbeat music, creating a seamless river of light that flows down the pathway. A few tweaks have been made to this parade for the 70th anniversary, including a revised finale featuring the Jonas Brothers’ “Celebrate Happy” theme song.

“One of the things that I think is really special about the 70th is that we have a lot of new, exciting offerings, but we also have listened to the fans and we are bringing back those classics that not only our guests but our cast members truly, truly love, and ‘Paint the Night’ fits that bill perfectly,” continued Magill.

“I have to say, it looks just as good as it did on opening day. But this is the 70th. We never rest on where we were, so we’ve added a few extra little bits of pixie dust to it… We’ve got a few little extra nods and things that make it unique to the 70th celebration, but it is a classic that remains really special.”

Disneyland Resort 70th Anniversary Celebration. (Kenneth Chan)

“Paint the Night” was first conceived for Hong Kong Disneyland Park in 2014, with an expanded replica later debuting at Disneyland Park in California the following year as part of the Diamond Celebration. Among fans, there has been tremendous pent-up demand for the dazzling nighttime parade’s return; at the California resort, it was last seen briefly in 2018 at Disney California Adventure Park. Hong Kong Disneyland Resort’s version has yet to return following its sudden disappearance in January 2020 due to COVID-19.

When I visited Disneyland Park in 2016 for the Diamond Anniversary and saw “Paint the Night” for the very first time, I was completely spellbound. The sheer glow of the floats, the music that seemed to flow through the crowd, and the way every performer shimmered with light pulled me straight into the magic.

By the time the last float — an awe-inspiring tribute to The Sorcerer’s Apprentice from Fantasia, with Mickey Mouse taking centre stage in his iconic red robe and blue, star-studded hat, perched atop a spinning, shimmering kinetic LED sculpture — disappeared from view, I knew I’d been transformed from a casual visitor into a lifelong Disney Parks fan. That same feeling washed over me all over again when I experienced “Paint the Night” a second time at Hong Kong Disneyland Park in 2018, and again most recently for the 70th anniversary of the original Disneyland Park.

There is also a brand-new nighttime parade lighting up another corner of the Disney-sphere — “Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away” at Magic Kingdom Park in Walt Disney World Resort, Florida. Debuting in July 2025, the parade builds on the proven success and crowd-pleasing energy of “Paint the Night,” transforming the entire procession into a dazzling, moving light spectacle. While it shares that same illuminated magic, it introduces an entirely different theme, along with all-new floats, costumes, show elements, and music unique to Magic Kingdom Park.

Both the “Paint the Night” and “Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away” parades build on the legacy of the “Main Street Electrical Parade,” which first premiered at Disneyland Park in 1972. The vintage nighttime parade is still found today at Tokyo Disneyland Park.

Currently, Disneyland Resort in California is not the only Disney destination marking an anniversary milestone. Early this summer, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort kicked off its 20th anniversary celebration, featuring new and enhanced magical programming and theming. The festivities in Hong Kong will continue through May 2026, offering fans a full year to join in the park’s unique, extra magical celebration.

Disneyland Resort 70th Anniversary Celebration. (Kenneth Chan)

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