Disneyland 70th Anniversary Thread - Wishlist, Rumors, Speculation, Announcements

[TP2000]

It was reported in the news, all over the place.

LIVE FEED: DISNEY CEO BOB IGER TO RING NYSE OPENING BELL FROM DISNEYLAND RESORT

NEW YORK, July 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- On Thursday morning, the New York Stock Exchange will provide a live broadcast of Disney CEO Bob Iger ringing the NYSE Opening Bell from Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, in celebration of Disneyland's 70th anniversary. NYSE President Lynn Martin...

ktla.com

I'm sure there was a press release somewhere, but it must have been buried by The Great Concert Kiss Cam Scandal of '25.

 

[Disney Irish]

I'm sure there was a press release somewhere, but it must have been buried by The Great Concert Kiss Cam Scandal of '25.

I’m sure if it was the scandal that you thought it was you would have seen it. But since it’s just normal boring corporate business news you missed like the 30 different articles on it.

 

[DCBaker]

That's the NYSE bell? Well, that's clever then! Bravo to whomever thought that gimmick up. Sad I didn't see it reported in the news, but still.... very clever.

It was said during the event the bell he rang was from the Ward Kimball locomotive.

 

[PiratesMansion]

Just finished up a few days at the parks and ultimately, barring things I've previously expressed (that they should have doing this all anyway), I think they pretty much nailed it, especially the little things (Tapestry of Happiness, the Magicband stations, The Last Verse in the Main Street Cinema, etc). The colors work much better in person, and it's nice to have PTN and Wondrous Journeys back.

Barring the stretching room wallpaper and the piranhas (which they have possibly decided to just not use anymore?), everything seemed to be in great shape.

I did not get to see the new WOC because I was prioritizing WJ, but that will likely be fixed later this year.

 

[mickEblu]

Just finished up a few days at the parks and ultimately, barring things I've previously expressed (that they should have doing this all anyway), I think they pretty much nailed it, especially the little things (Tapestry of Happiness, the Magicband stations, The Last Verse in the Main Street Cinema, etc). The colors work much better in person, and it's nice to have PTN and Wondrous Journeys back.

Barring the stretching room wallpaper and the piranhas (which they have possibly decided to just not use anymore?), everything seemed to be in great shape.

I did not get to see the new WOC because I was prioritizing WJ, but that will likely be fixed later this year.

Did you ride Tiana this time?

 

[PiratesMansion]

Did you ride Tiana this time?

Yes I did.

Good: I didn't get very wet because I got put in the back, and I liked the use of color throughout the ride. So far as I can tell, I didn't experience any broken AAs. There isn't a comment of smug dismissal towards fans who preferred the original attraction in a way there is in Guardians or Incredicoaster at any point of the experience.

But I don't really understand how anyone working on the ride could have thought the finished product would live up to Splash Mountain on any level. I don't think every idea in the attraction is bad, but they don't all cohere together super well. It feels like a "too many cooks" attraction. If this was a new build, or was built in, say, Shanghai, I don't think people would have had near the problems with it as they do now that it has replaced 2/3 of the Splash Mountains in the world.

The main bit of good news from all this is that I think (hope?) based on some of their more recent statements, they are finally learning that they can't just monkey with the classics and expect it to be gold each time. I think the success of the Guardians changeover gave them a lot of false confidence in their abilities, and the way they are talking about it now suggests that hopefully they've learned a thing or two about what changes they should and shouldn't make going forward. Sucks what we had to lose for them to get there, though.

 

[mickEblu]

Yes I did.

Good: I didn't get very wet because I got put in the back, and I liked the use of color throughout the ride. So far as I can tell, I didn't experience any broken AAs. There isn't a comment of smug dismissal towards fans who preferred the original attraction in a way there is in Guardians or Incredicoaster at any point of the experience.

But I don't really understand how anyone working on the ride could have thought the finished product would live up to Splash Mountain on any level. I don't think every idea in the attraction is bad, but they don't all cohere together super well. It feels like a "too many cooks" attraction. If this was a new build, or was built in, say, Shanghai, I don't think people would have had near the problems with it as they do now that it has replaced 2/3 of the Splash Mountains in the world.

The main bit of good news from all this is that I think (hope?) based on some of their more recent statements, they are finally learning that they can't just monkey with the classics and expect it to be gold each time. I think the success of the Guardians changeover gave them a lot of false confidence in their abilities, and the way they are talking about it now suggests that hopefully they've learned a thing or two about what changes they should and shouldn't make going forward. Sucks what we had to lose for them to get there, though.

I think the talent just wasn’t there on this team. Or at least a strong creative leader to tie it all together. Obviously some bad decisions were made. At the very least not enough talent to replace a 80s/90’s WDI classic like Splash Mountain which we always knew was a tall task. Just never predicted they would come up as short as they did. I did start to worry though with every piece of info, rumor or parks blog that it was going nowhere good. Was also worried about them not doing PatF any justice and I don’t think they did. I think it can be salvaged with the right team. It won’t be Splash Mountain but it can be a lot better.

 

[TP2000]

It was said during the event the bell he rang was from the Ward Kimball locomotive.

Oh, that's fantastic! A fun way to mark the 70th, that's for sure.

And knowing how fond Walt was of American Free Enterprise, I imagine he got a kick out of that NYSE gimmick as well!

 

[jrhwdw]

No PTN for the Holidays, Sigh!!!!

 

[Touchdown]

PTN however is continuing after Labor Day, the schedule got released this week for September and it’s shown twice nightly every day Sept 2-7. WOC Happiness will run every night w/o an OBB. That’s the great news, in not so good news, Halloween Screams will run w/o fireworks Sept 2-4 and only have fireworks Fri-Sun.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

in not so good news

Also…. No holiday world of color correct?

That’s very sad news for me!

 

[dlr74]

No PTN for the Holidays, Sigh!!!!

Anyone know exactly when it will end?
Holidays technically begin November 14th, and I have some friends vacationing through November 11th who were excited to see PTN.

I hope they don't go dark right after Halloween and leave those first two weeks of November with nothing.

 

[AJFireman]

Also…. No holiday world of color correct?

That’s very sad news for me!

No per the website.

 

[SweetDuffy101]

This is the funniest thing in Japan right now. They are promoting Disneyland 70th album through Universal music.

TikTok - Make Your Day

 

[chadwpalm]

This is the funniest thing in Japan right now. They are promoting Disneyland 70th album through Universal music.

TikTok - Make Your Day

Because Universal Music Group is the distributor of Disney's music.

There are two major arms in the music industry. Publication and distribution. Disney publishes their own music, but they've never had their own distribution network. They license out other companies to distribute their music for them. Up until 2005 it was Sony Music Entertainment. After 2005 it is Universal Music Group.

Disney Music Group - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

So there's really nothing funny about it since that's how it's always been. It's not some kind of "Universal is promoting Disney's music" kind of gotcha or anything.

 

[CaptinEO]

Because Universal Music Group is the distributor of Disney's music.

There are two major arms in the music industry. Publication and distribution. Disney publishes their own music, but they've never had their own distribution network. They license out other companies to distribute their music for them. Up until 2005 it was Sony Music Entertainment. After 2005 it is Universal Music Group.

Disney Music Group - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

So there's really nothing funny about it since that's how it's always been. It's not some kind of "Universal is promoting Disney's music" kind of gotcha or anything.

Disney and Universal also rent film sets and soundstages on eachother's lots. A lot of "rival" companies actually are in business with each other in different ways.

 

[CaptinEO]

Also…. No holiday world of color correct?

That’s very sad news for me!

Wow! That's really disappointing. This is one of our favorites.

 

[PiratesMansion]

Wow! That's really disappointing. This is one of our favorites.

Scott Gustin was saying this as early as May, but it wasn't until this past week that seemingly everyone else caught up and Disney put on their site that it just wasn't going to be performed this year.

I guess they feel like *something* from their advertised 70th entertainment lineup needs to be performed for the holidays, but no one is making them stop PTN or continue to run their weakest and cheapest fireworks show instead of WJ, so....

Here's a free thought for anyone at Disneyland entertainment who might be reading this and looking to save a buck: you want to drop something for Christmas? Drop Fantasmic. It is neither holiday themed nor a featured entertainment offering of the 70th, and by the accounts of those who feel a compulsion to watch the show every night, it's not in great shape. Refurb that, then use the money you would have spent on Fantasmic on one of those other offerings you're discontinuing for no good reason instead. But nooooooo, heaven forbid we do that.......

Sorry to rant, but the way they choose to handle entertainment is the one thing that drives me crazy about modern-day DLR. I feel like I would probably be *just fine* with the state of the parks for the most part if they weren't constantly trying to gaslight us that it's "too hard" or "too expensive" to run as much entertainment as they used to on a regular basis, and they often make the most ludicrous decisions (IMO) about what to run and what to cut, over and over again.

 

[dlr74]

Scott Gustin was saying this as early as May, but it wasn't until this past week that seemingly everyone else caught up and Disney put on their site that it just wasn't going to be performed this year.

I guess they feel like *something* from their advertised 70th entertainment lineup needs to be performed for the holidays, but no one is making them stop PTN or continue to run their weakest and cheapest fireworks show instead of WJ, so....

Here's a free thought for anyone at Disneyland entertainment who might be reading this and looking to save a buck: you want to drop something for Christmas? Drop Fantasmic. It is neither holiday themed nor a featured entertainment offering of the 70th, and by the accounts of those who feel a compulsion to watch the show every night, it's not in great shape. Refurb that, then use the money you would have spent on Fantasmic on one of those other offerings you're discontinuing for no good reason instead. But nooooooo, heaven forbid we do that.......

Sorry to rant, but the way they choose to handle entertainment is the one thing that drives me crazy about modern-day DLR. I feel like I would probably be *just fine* with the state of the parks for the most part if they weren't constantly trying to gaslight us that it's "too hard" or "too expensive" to run as much entertainment as they used to on a regular basis, and they often make the most ludicrous decisions (IMO) about what to run and what to cut, over and over again.

Agreed. I would much rather they keep PTN running through the holidays instead of Fantasmic.

They were able to keep PTN going during the 60th. Why not now?

 

[Phroobar]

Agreed. I would much rather they keep PTN running through the holidays instead of Fantasmic.

They were able to keep PTN going during the 60th. Why not now?

Watch them bring back the Main Street Electrical Parade for one final final final final final season.