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Why You Should Plan Your 2025 Disneyland 70th Anniversary Trip in This Specific Window
Disneyland's 70th anniversary celebration is currently underway, and there are a ton of exciting new offerings available! Around every turn, you'll find colorful decor, an abundance of entertainment, special foods, and other magical details throughout the parks. The celebration runs from May 2025 to summer 2026, leaving a pretty big range of time to visit and enjoy the offerings. However, there is one specific window of time that you may want to consider as you're deciding when to visit, especially if you're a big Disneyland history buff!
There is a set of new 70th anniversary additions that are opening slightly later this summer, including a new attraction! There is a small window of time in 2025 when you can visit and experience new additions with the full 70th anniversary entertainment, decor, etc., before the seasonal celebrations begin. We'll break down everything you need to know…
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On Disneyland's actual anniversary date of July 17, 2025, there will be three offerings debuting at Disneyland Park. The most major of these will be a new show featuring the first-ever Walt Disney animatronic called "Walt Disney – A Magical Life' debuting at the Main Street Opera House. The show will tell the story of Walt Disney's life through remastered footage and audio recordings, and at the end, we will see the Audio-Animatronics figure of Walt Disney in his office. Mickey Visit founder Gavin recently visited Imagineering to learn more about this Audio-Animatronic Walt Disney figure and why they are choosing to create it now. Disney says that this will be their 'most lifelike audio-animatronic ever.'
This will be a super exciting new addition and a good reason to plan your trip after this date, so you can enjoy this and the rest of the 70th anniversary offerings before the seasonal celebrations begin (see more on this below, including the specific window!)
Also debuting on July 17 will be a new gallery experience in the Main Street Opera House, called "Evolution of a Dream," which will feature images, art, and artifacts that show Disneyland before, during, and after Walt's dream became a reality. There will be another special exhibit in the lobby highlighting Audio-Animatronics technology, including Walt's inspiration and how the technology has evolved over time. There will be certain items on loan from The Walt Disney Family Museum, including original items from Walt Disney's private apartment, that have never been publicly exhibited before at Disneyland Park.
And last but certainly not least, there will be a third verse added to 'it's a small world' in honor of Disney Legend Richard Sherman on July 17. This verse was Richard Sherman's final Disney contribution. You can read the lyrics of this third verse in our separate article here. This beautiful new verse and the debut of the Walt Disney Audio-Animatronics figure are doubtlessly going to have quite an emotional impact on Disneyland fans. These are all very fitting additions for Disneyland's actual 70th anniversary date.
If you want to visit with the full 70th anniversary atmosphere and offerings before the seasonal celebrations kick off at Disneyland, then you'll technically want to visit between July 17 and August 21 this year. We say 'technically' because you'll want to actually visit a few days sooner than August 21 if you want to experience all of the 70th anniversary decor in its full glory, as this is when they'll start putting the Halloween decor up in preparation for the celebration's start date on the 22nd. The 70th anniversary decor will return in full force after the seasonal celebrations end, but this won't be until the holiday celebration ends in January 2026. You can see our guides to Disneyland at Halloween and Disneyland at Christmas for an overview of the offerings and dates of these celebrations.
When the seasonal celebrations kick off, we are assuming that the majority of the 70th anniversary decor will be taken down and replaced by Halloween decor. We will likely see some of the 70th anniversary decor remain in places like the castle, esplanade sculpture, etc. For both celebrations, certain entertainment offerings will temporarily pause for seasonal entertainment. For example, Paint the Night will continue throughout the year, but Wondrous Journeys will need to pause for the Halloween and Christmas nighttime spectaculars. Meanwhile, the Disneyland 70th foods and other smaller offerings like the MagicBand+ interaction points and Key to Disneyland scavenger hunt will likely be unaffected by the seasonal celebrations. See our ranking of all of the Disneyland 70th anniversary offerings here. If you want to visit in 2025 with all of the 70th anniversary offerings, including the new show and 'it's a small world' verse, then this window from July 17 to August 21 is the time to do it!
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There are a few key things to consider for a visit in July! In our Mickey Visit Disneyland crowd calendar, we project that there will be average crowds throughout most of the month, with the exception of weekends. You can also enjoy longer days and expanded hours of operation during this month, which is key for fitting in all of the Disneyland 70th anniversary entertainment. Unfortunately, one downside is that the weather is going to be hot. There are some good ways to stay cool that you'll want to read about in our tips for navigating summer at Disneyland, but you'll definitely want to have a plan for beating the heat! See our monthly guide to visiting Disneyland in July for everything you need to know.
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