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Welcome to the disneygeek.com Geek Speaks section. In this section I will post my comments on trips to the parks or other Disney related events.

5/16/25 - Disneyland Resort - Disneyland 70th Opening Day

Hello everyone,

The 70th Anniversary celebration for Disneyland officially kicked off Friday. I decided to go even though I was still unsure about my jet lag after returning from Tokyo on Wednesday afternoon. The weather was pleasant topping out in the mid 70s and cooling to the lower 60s during my visit. With it being an opening day for a celebration the crowds were a bit different than usual. Most attraction wait times were moderate to light, with quite a few under 30 minutes most of the day. The longer lines tended to be for merchandise or special food offerings. Paint the Night was the big draw and guests were claiming spots well before the official 2 hour mark Disney had set. Most viewing was full well before sun down for the 8:45pm parade.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • My day started off with a mostly good parking experience. I hit a green light at Ball road, no wait and the tollbooth and minimal wait to be directed into a spot. Unfortunately that spot was in the second to last row near the end. So I was a good hike from the escalators. No wait at security, for the tram or to enter the park. So it was a quick arrival except for the long hike in the parking structure. (Not to mention the extra traffic making it nearly a two hour drive for the 70 miles to reach the park).
  • * My plan was to get to the park around noon to pick up a World of Color Happiness Virtual queue spot. I was about 15 minutes late but still had no problem getting a virtual queue spot for the first showing.
  • I started my visit off in Town Square catching the Disneyland Band, Dapper Dans and Characters march in and perform the 70th Anniversary theme song - Celebrate Happy. The characters are sporting their new 70th outfits for the march and performance too. It was my first time hearing the song (I was traveling and avoided most of the 70th previews so everything would be new to me). I was taking pictures and video so did not really concentrate on the song too much, but I did not find it that catchy or interesting to me.
  • There are decorations around the parks, hotels and Downtown Disney for the celebration.
    • There are photo backdrops which feature MagicBand+ interactions, banners, and other signage. Overall it seemed pretty generic to me and more general Disney than Disneyland specific. I would have really liked to have seen park characters or attractions featured as the graphics vs random characters that seemed to have nothing to do with the anniversary (Lion King, Stitch, Nemo, and Little Mermaid specifically jump to mind as to what the connection is). Sleeping Beauty Castle was fairly understated which I think works better than the more over the top things they have done.
    • Monorail Red has received a new wrap for the 70th and it too is understated and looks clean on the Monorail vs some of the others that came off more cluttered and overwhelming.
    • There is a large Music Box Sculpture in the Esplanade. It has turrets for each of the original lands and ride vehicles hanging from them. I do like that they are using the Esplanade for something and it does break up the space. I think it is ok and not as over the top as Pixar Fests. The background audio loop has been replaced with music box versions of classic Disney music. I found this to be extremely annoying. The pace is extremely slow and it just did not work for me. I could see this driving me mad if I was working the area and had to listen to it for a full shift. Walking through it from park to park was more than enough for me.
    • The Key to Disneyland Experience is a signature offering for the anniversary. The key costs $59.99 plus tax and is available at a number of locations around the park. Once you have your key you need to visit all nine lands then a redemption location and your key will reveal one of nine commemorative pins. There were long lines early in the day and guests were having a challenge in purchasing them. The keys themselves are rather large plastic toys that play audio and light up. When you put the key in an activation location it will trigger a response, usually audio, lights and bubbles. I found the keys to look like cheap toys not really collectable quality merchandise. I thought the large size and awkwardness of them made them less than ideal to lug around a themepark all day. I would venture to guess most of the demand was for the pins, not the key itself.
    • The Celebrate Happy Cavalcade makes its way through Disneyland twice a day during the celebration. It features the characters in their 70th outfits, Duffy and ShellieMay lead the way. There is a float with princesses, a couple sets of dancers and then an assortment of characters walking. The cavalcade is on par with other cavalcades and fits that bill perfectly. It is a rather disappointing offering to mark the parks' 70th anniversary though. I was surprised by how many people queued up for the first cavalcade, I was not expecting Main Street to be two to three people deep. For a major anniversary brining back two old parades and an old fireworks show does not seem to be enough. There is a new World of Color but it seems more Pixar Fest than 70th Anniversary to me (more on that in a few bullets).
    • Even though I do not know what to call it, nor did anyone else, but the Original Attraction Quest / MagicBand+ Activations / or Souvenir Printout hunt was actually fun. Four of the five locations were working, seemed a fitting tribute that Tomorrowland was not ready. When you tapped your Magic Band to activate a location it would trigger audio and lights on the tap point and MagicBand. Then in three of the locations a piece of paper commemorating an opening day attraction was distributed. You are able to get one piece of paper per activation point per day. You can re-tap to hear the audio again. The Fantasyland one triggered some animation/movement and no print outs. I really enjoyed these and the queues were healthy most of the day at the locations. The only downside I saw to this was the naming was confusing to non-existent.
  • Jumping over to Disney California Adventure Toy Story Midway Mania is celebrating the 70th with 70 stickers on a number of targets increasing their value. There are also other signs for the anniversary in the queue and the games. I thought this was a fun overlay. I would have really liked to have seen a new game in the rotation though. Thanks to the moderate wait times I managed to time it and spent only 20 minutes in the stand by queue (it was posted at 35).
  • Flo's V-8 Cafe has had some menu changes since my last time eating there. The steak fries are out and shoestring fries are in. The adult chicken strips are removed. Pastrami replaced Turkey and the large pickle on the side was replaced with slices on the burger. Kind of annoying there was no option to say you did not want them. You would think if you checked off you want none of the other toppings you would most likely not want those and putting them on the side would be better. Hopefully the app updates with the option to take them off soon.
  • The Better Together: Pixar Pals Celebration! Parade returned to the parade route and is running twice daily. I noticed no substantial changes to the parade from its run during Pixar Fest. It is great to see a day time parade back in the park, but again not really a 70th anniversary event and not my favorite parade to begin with.
  • In Avengers Campus I ran into the Red Guardian from the Thunderbolts. It was my first time seeing him in the park due to my travels and timing. He had only a few guests in line and was spending a good amount of time chatting with each.
  • it's a small world has Miguel and Dante from Coco added since its renovation. In July the new verse will be added to the sound track. It seemed that new lights or lighting schemes were installed in a number of locations. The new ones seemed a much brighter white than everything else and made some pictures a bit more challenging.
  • I walked through Downtown Disney and the projects are slowly moving forward. There was visible progress on the big three since my last visit in April. I was expecting all of Tortilla Jos to be gone but the far wall was still standing. Earl of Sandwich is slowly being framed in. ESPN Zone's conversion is slowly moving forward, I was surprised not to see the building closed in yet. Most of the other exterior work looks to be wrapping up.
  • The Disneyland Hotel has some decorations and photo ops for the 70th. I thought the entrance decorations were a tad awkward and having plants in front of the new mural seemed odd. Also having a Spike the Bee photo op seemed out place. It works for spring but seemed to me it should have been tied to the 70th.
  • In New Orleans Square Port Royal Curios and Curiosities that sold Haunted Mansion merchandise has been converted into seating for Royal Street Veranda. The space is small but it adds a nice sheltered place to eat. It will be interesting to see how long this survives. Seems that space may be slated to become queue space for Pirates at some point.
  • If you go see World of Color Happiness! be sure to arrive early and be prepared a few minutes before show time. The Muppets attempt to present the safety spiel and it is classic Muppets. If you are a fan you will really enjoy the event. This is a great addition and a highlight of the offerings to me. I look forward to watching it again. Hopefully it sticks around for other versions of World of Color in the future.
  • As for World of Color Happiness! it seems to me it would have worked better as a Pixar Fest version than Disneyland 70th anniversary. If it debuted last year I would have said it was a solid version of World of Color and about the middle of the pack in my rankings of the shows. But as a 70th Anniversary of Disneyland version it fell way short. Just as they did for the 65th they shoehorned some Disneyland at the beginning and end of the show but the majority of the show had nothing to do with the park at all. Even less so than World of Color One did. I was really disappointed with this. From a visual perspective the fountains and effects continue to evolve and looked good. Friday the video was not crisp most of the time due to the wind direction/speed.
  • The Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration is really an incomplete at this point. There are a few elements coming in July and I was not able to see some of the offerings this visit and will in the coming visits. From what I did see I was disappointed. The highlight was the Original Attraction Quest (MagicBand+ Activations). This was well done and engaging as well as historical. The rest was lacking on Disneyland or underwhelming at best.

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