While Universal Studios’ Epic Universe in Florida is getting a lot of attention these days, Disneyland’s 70th anniversary celebration will give families a reason to go the West Coast.
Decked out in splashes of colorful decorations, “The Happiest Place on Earth” is offering limited-time events, special additions and even a few deals at Disneyland, Disney’s California Adventure and the resort’s hotels. Keep reading on what the parks are offering as well as tips on making your next trip the best one yet.
Discount Tickets
If you are planning on visiting the parks this summer, now is the time to snag some tickets. Disney is offering two ticket specials available now through August 14, 2025:
- 4-day, 1 park per day ticket for $100 per day. ($400 total)
- 3-day, 1 park per day tickets for $120 per day. ($360 total)
Park reservations are required and subject to availability. This usually isn’t a problem, but attendance could max out this summer.
Disney Hotel Discounts
If your budget allows and you want to be treated like royalty, then a stay at a Disney Resort hotel is in order. It’s still pretty pricey, but Disney is offering up to 20% off on select rooms at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, Disneyland Hotel and The Villas at Disneyland Hotel. But there are a couple of catches. The offer is only good for stays Sunday through Thursday from now until August 14, 2025.
Ultimate Stays
If staying in one of the regular rooms at the Disneyland Resort isn’t enough, you’ll want to reserve one of the hotel’s Signature Suites. These are a unique collection of themed suites, such as the Mickey Mouse Penthouse, Pirates of the Caribbean Suite, Adventureland Suite and Big Thunder Suite. Trust me, they’re amazing.
Having opened in September 2023, The Villas at Disneyland Hotel is the newest Disney Vacation Club hotel. It features four themed towers including the Fantasy Tower, the Frontier Tower, the Adventure Tower and the Discovery Tower.
You can order an “In-Room Celebration” which are themed gift baskets that include treats, balloon bouquets, gift items and a fabric door banner. The Happiest Park Welcome Celebration basket features several festively logoed items and keepsakes.
The Key to Disneyland
This souvenir includes activities that you complete while at the park. You purchase a large “key” at one of the select shops within Disneyland or at the World of Disney store in Downtown Disney. Then, while you explore each of the nine lands within Disneyland, be on the lookout for 70th Celebration lock stations. When you find one, insert your key and you’ll be rewarded with some special effects and surprises. After you “unlock” each lock stations, find the Mickey Topiary Finale lock station which will reward you with one of nine commemorative trading pins.
The Key to Disneyland looks pretty cool and will no doubt be great fun for the kids, but it’s not cheap. Each key sells for $59.99. However, you only need one key for the whole family, and you can have the kids take turns at each lock to release the “magic” equally.
Special Events and Attractions at Disneyland:
Walt Disney – A Magical Life
Disneyland Park’s most ambitious attraction ever debuts on July 17th at the Main Street Opera House. A new show will feature a cinematic presentation of Walt Disney’s journey which then culminates with a visit with Walt in his office.
Walt will be brought to life through Audio-Animatronics storytelling which includes using Walt’s real voice from previous recordings. This has been a controversial subject and is a scary prospect for the Imagineers when you think about it. If they succeed, the new attraction will be pretty incredible. If they get it wrong, they will never live it down. (Just think of how people reacted to the live action version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs!)
The Main Street Opera House will also be home to an all-new gallery experience of art, artifacts and more documenting Disneyland from its very early stages to the icon it is today.
Paint the Night Parade
This nighttime parade is sort of the grandchild of the Main Street Electrical Parade featuring 850,000 points of light! It includes innovative floats with video presentations and lighting effects that are connected to the characters’ costumes and other incredible special effects.
The music mix for the parade includes a custom version of the song “When Can I See You Again” by Owl City, tunes from Disney and Pixar film scores, a nod to the theme from the original Main Street Electrical Parade, and the 70th anniversary theme song “Celebrate Happy.”
Tapestry of Happiness
Using the outside façade of It’s a Small World as its canvas; the Tapestry of Happiness celebrates some of the best things at Disneyland projected as animated mosaics in an art style inspired by Disney artist Mary Blair. (She designed most of the artwork shown in the scenes within It’s a Small World).
The Celebrate Happy Cavalcade Parade
Bright and cheery, this parade is a great way to see the most Disney characters at one time, many of which will be wearing their festive costumes for the anniversary. The parade will also include appearances of characters that are not often seen at the park like teddy bears Duffy and ShellieMay, Goofy’s son Max and others
Wondrous Journeys
This limited time presentation features projections on the buildings along Main Street, U.S.A., Sleeping Beauty Castle, the Rivers of America and the façade of It’s a Small World along with special effects and surprises. The program is a tribute to Walt Disney Animation Studios. It will weave 18 different Disney songs and moments from animated films.
This is sort of a big deal as the music was recorded by an 80-piece orchestra,16 lead vocalists and a 33-voice choir. On some nights, the show will include the iconic fireworks show too.
Special Events and Attractions at Disney’s California Adventure:
Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration
More than two dozen characters from Pixar Animation Studios films will fill the streets with colorful floats during the return of this high-energy daytime parade. Highlights include Red Panda Mei and her friends from Turning Red, Joe Gardner and 22 from Soul and best buddies Luca, Alberto and Giulia from Luca.
Disney Jr. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live!
This all-new live show is inspired by Disney Jr.’s Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and the upcoming Mickey Mouse Clubhouse+. The interactive show created for young children features upbeat original songs and character appearances.
World of Color Happiness
This nighttime water show is inspired by Walt Disney’s words from the opening day dedication of Disneyland: “To all who come to this happy place… welcome!” It features a rendition of The Muppets’ “Rainbow Connection” performed by R&B group Boyz II Men, plus an original song “Makes Me Wanna Move,” performed by FITZ – frontman and namesake of multi-platinum hitmakers Fitz and the Tantrums.
Select shows, performances, and experiences, including parades and nighttime spectaculars, will temporarily pause to make way for seasonal entertainment offerings, then resume at later dates. Check Disneyland.com for entertainment schedules.
Ways of Saving a Few Bucks
Sadly, any trip to Disneyland is going to cost a large chunk of cash, but the memories you take with you will make it all worthwhile. With that said, you don’t have to take out a second mortgage to do it.
When to Go
Disneyland’s 70th anniversary is on July 17, 2025, but they will be milking out this celebration until at least next summer (no final date has been set so far), so unless you have to be there on the actual anniversary, choose another time of year to go if you can. The parks are generally a lot less crowded when school starts back up in September, the first two weeks in December, late January and February and the end of April.
Flights
You can also get a better deal on flights if you plan a later date but purchase your tickets now. Do some research. Find out which airlines fly to L.A. and check out which ones are offering the best deals. It also matters which airport you fly to. You might immediately think of flying to Los Angeles International Airport, but LAX is 40 miles away from the parks. John Wayne Airport is the closest (about 14 miles away and Long Beach Airport comes second (about 19 miles away).
Transportation
If your trip includes seeing sights other than Disney parks, then renting a car might suit you well. But if your trip centers mostly on the parks, then consider taking an Uber or local transportation to your hotel from the airport. If you rent a car, you will most likely have to pay for parking at your hotel and at Disneyland, which currently ranges from $35 to $55 per day. And if you aren’t renting a car, you won’t have to deal with all the hassle it takes to pick up your car and bring it back when you leave.
Lodging
Disney knows how to make your stay a good one at their hotels, but most of us can’t afford such an extravagance. And if you’re planning on spending most of your days and nights at the parks then it probably doesn’t really matter where you lay your head at night. Your kids will be just as happy staying at a Motel 6.
The Disneyland Resort is surrounded by motels and hotels, many of which have been there for almost as long as the park itself. However, don’t let that deter you from choosing one since most have been renovated and quite nice.
On a recent trip, we stayed at an older Best Western, but the rooms were very nice, and our stay included a free breakfast at Denny’s next door. On the day we arrived, we enjoyed the outdoor pool, but other than that, we weren’t on the premises much. The hotel is considered a “Good Neighbor Hotel” that Disney recommends. You can find them here. Disneyland was about a mile away from our hotel, so we did have to walk a distance to get to the parks.
Souvenirs
Everybody likes to bring back a little Disney home with them, but like everything else, souvenirs are pretty spendy at the parks. However, there is no rule that says you can’t buy them before you go. Disney Store offers clearance Disneyland T-shirts for a fraction of the price of what it would cost you in the park. Yes, they will be last year’s designs, but does that really matter? As long at it doesn’t have the date printed on it, who cares? You might even get matching T-shirts for the whole family that they can wear when you arrive. Surprise them by packing the new shirts in their luggage.
Tips to Make the Most of Your Trip
Get the Lay of the Land
Even if you’ve been to Disneyland before it’s still good to do your research ahead of time. Read up on what is new in the parks and where to find any new attractions.
Scope out the different restaurants and menu items rather than waiting until you’re famished. If you want that fancy meal at the Blue Bayou Restaurant – get your reservation in early – like a couple of months ahead of time if you can. If you choose to go on a more informal route, see which restaurants offer mobile order service. If the wait time is long, you can order ahead and keep exploring for a while nearby until your order is ready.
And if you’ve got little ones, get a general idea on where the bathrooms are throughout the park.
Plan Out Your Day
Some people think that planning ahead takes away some of the magic. It doesn’t. What takes the magic out is trying to get everyone in your group to decide which ride to go on next.
If you’re going to the parks during a busy time of year, you just might want to splurge on the Lightning Lane with your tickets. It’s basically the old Fast Pass, which was free, but for a hefty surcharge. However, you’ll be able to see more of the park this way and stand in line less.
If you’re, willing, arrive at the parks before the “rope drop” and plan to see the most popular rides first when the lines will be the shortest.
Download the Disneyland app. It will let you know how long the wait times are for all of the attractions. It will also let you know where and when you can find your favorite characters.
If you can, schedule some time back at the hotel in the afternoon to swim or nap before heading back for the evening. Your feet and nerves will thank you for it.
Really Appreciate the Park
One of the best things about going to Disneyland is knowing that this was the original park that Walt Disney was a part of. Many things have come on gone over the years, but there are still many things there that have a rich legacy.
For the 70th anniversary, take some time after you’ve ridden the “must do” rides to revisit some of the attractions that were in the park when it first opened. These include the Main Street Cinema, Main Street Vehicles, the Disneyland Railroad, the Mark Twain Riverboat, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Peter Pan’s Flight, Snow White’s Enchanted Wish, Storybook Land Canal Boats, Autopia, Casey Jr. Circus Train, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Mad Tea Party and King Arthur Carrousel.
While waiting in line, avoid looking at your phone. Instead, look for the little details that others miss in the queue. Many little treasures can be found there.
Pay attention to the music and notice how the light poles change when you enter a new land. Appreciate your surroundings. Slow down, get a coffee and watch the people on Main Street.
Be a Kid Again
On a final note, try to experience the parks as if you were a child. Don’t look for things to complain about. Stop trying to figure out “how they did that” and just enjoy the experience.
Main Image: Disneyland Resort
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