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

[Disney Irish]

So any one have a guess as to when they may start the 70th celebrations? May like the 50th?

Don't most celebrations kick off in May at Disneyland? That would be my guess then, May 2025.

 

[AdventureHasAName]

Even though I mostly lived on the opposite coast, I was lucky enough to be at both Disneyland's 30th and 50th anniversary celebrations. The 50th anniversary was the best any Disney park has ever looked at any time in its history. The original Remember Dreams Come True fireworks is the best night time show Disney has ever put together. The golden ride vehicles for photo ops were inspired. The park was immaculate - everything was clean and everything was working.

Disney will have a very hard time living up to 2005.

 

[Emmanuel]

Don't most celebrations kick off in May at Disneyland? That would be my guess then, May 2025.

May usually is the normal kick off for events though Pixar Fest this year started in April.

And if its like the 50th and 60th celebrations, it'll end in September the following year

 

[brb1006]

Even though I mostly lived on the opposite coast, I was lucky enough to be at both Disneyland's 30th and 50th anniversary celebrations. The 50th anniversary was the best any Disney park has ever looked at any time in its history. The original Remember Dreams Come True fireworks is the best night time show Disney has ever put together. The golden ride vehicles for photo ops were inspired. The park was immaculate - everything was clean and everything was working.

Disney will have a very hard time living up to 2005.

Don't forget Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams which ran during the day and evening hours.

The parade also had a "show stop" section which I remember being a big deal for the Disney Parks. Previously Walt Disney World's "25 Years of Magic Parade" and "Share A Dream Come True Parade" both had a show stop element which neither Disneyland or Walt Disney World hadn't done for 19 years. Tokyo Disneyland is the only Disney Park where show stops were common for their parades.



Disneyland's 50th Anniversary Celebration was the last time the US Disney Parks actually created an anniversary parade. Tokyo Disneyland/OLC is the only Disney Park that still does Anniversary Parades (and Paris to a lesser extent).

Note: Forgot to include The Lion King Celevration and Light Magic.

 

[smooch]

Even though I mostly lived on the opposite coast, I was lucky enough to be at both Disneyland's 30th and 50th anniversary celebrations. The 50th anniversary was the best any Disney park has ever looked at any time in its history. The original Remember Dreams Come True fireworks is the best night time show Disney has ever put together. The golden ride vehicles for photo ops were inspired. The park was immaculate - everything was clean and everything was working.

Disney will have a very hard time living up to 2005.

I'm so glad to have experienced the 50th anniversary, I think seeing the parks in that state while so young made everything feel so magical. I remember getting the Dreampass Fastpass thing that was a lanyard with like 7 or 8 fastpasses for rides from each park. The VMK quest kiosk too while I played at home online. Dreams Come True is what I think of for fireworks at Disneyland, honestly. I don't know if / when we will see the parks in such a cared for and celebratory state again.

 

[brb1006]

I'm so glad to have experienced the 50th anniversary, I think seeing the parks in that state while so young made everything feel so magical. I remember getting the Dreampass Fastpass thing that was a lanyard with like 7 or 8 fastpasses for rides from each park. The VMK quest kiosk too while I played at home online. Dreams Come True is what I think of for fireworks at Disneyland, honestly. I don't know if / when we will see the parks in such a cared for and celebratory state again.

I still remember the official Disney Parks Website had a special sub-page dedicated to Disneyland's 50th Anniversary during the celebration. The page included different variations of "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes" for each decade which detailed the entire history of the Disney Parks.

 

[AdventureHasAName]

Don't forget Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams which ran during the day and evening hours.

The parade also had a "show stop" section which I remember being a big deal for the Disney Parks. Previously Walt Disney World's "25 Years of Magic Parade" and "Share A Dream Come True Parade" both had a show stop element which neither Disneyland or Walt Disney World hadn't done for 19 years. Tokyo Disneyland is the only Disney Park where show stops were common for their parades.



Disneyland's 50th Anniversary Celebration was the last time the US Disney Parks actually created an anniversary parade. Tokyo Disneyland/OLC is the only Disney Park that still does Anniversary Parades (and Paris to a lesser extent).

They even moved the Main Street Electrical Parade to DCA at this time, so you could still hop over to that park and watch that one, too. It was a great time to be a Disneyland fan.

 

[FerretAfros]

The parade also had a "show stop" section which I remember being a big deal for the Disney Parks. Previously Walt Disney World's "25 Years of Magic Parade" and "Share A Dream Come True Parade" both had a show stop element which neither Disneyland or Walt Disney World hadn't done for 19 years. Tokyo Disneyland is the only Disney Park where show stops were common for their parades.

That’s not entirely true. The Lion King Celebration in the mid-90s featured show stops and was generally well received. The floats from that eventually shipped off to WDW to be used in the Festival of the Lion King at DAK, where they remain in use to this day.

And of course there was the infamous Light Magic in 1997, which essentially only performed during the show stops, to the point that they advertised it as a “streetacular” rather than a parade. This was the one that scared them away from show stops for a while, partly due to the poor guest reactions and partly due to the bad crowd flow associated with the long show stops during the busiest hours of the park’s daily operations. After the failure of LM, including show stops in Parade of Dreams was seen as a risky decision.

Parade of Dreams used much shorter show stops (similar to the Lion King parade), which helped with crowd flow issues. It was also performed in the afternoon and early evening hours, when it was easier to navigate the park and blocking access to the park entrance/exit was less of a concern. After POD was retired, Celebrate! A Street Party resurrected the “streetactular” format to reasonable success with its afternoon/early evening schedule as well, though it was certainly a hassle trying to move along Main Street during the long show stop there.

While Light Magic was an infamous failure, much of the park infrastructure associated with it remains in use to this day. I can’t help but think that lessons-learned from it and C!ASP led to the creation of the Main Street bypass the same year that Paint the Night debuted at DL.

They even moved the Main Street Electrical Parade to DCA at this time, so you could still hop over to that park and watch that one, too. It was a great time to be a Disneyland fan.

While the Electrical Parade was running in DCA (seasonally) during the 50th, it had actually been running (seasonally) since summer 2001, when it was hastily brought in to help draw people to the struggling park, when it was advertised/justified as “a California tradition.”

For the 50th, DCA got the mostly-forgotten Block Party Bash, which featured Pixar characters and stunt performers, with a format more in line with a “streetacular” but still mostly advertised like a parade. However, with DCA’s massive (and blandly named) Performance Corridor, low crowd levels, and daytime schedule, crowd flow wasn’t really much of a concern. After BPB was replaced by the Pixar Play Parade, its floats were sent to WDW, where they were used in the Studios park for several years in a handful of iterations of their daytime parades under various names (first with much shorter show stops, and later with no stops at all)

 

[brb1006]

That’s not entirely true. The Lion King Celebration in the mid-90s featured show stops and was generally well received. The floats from that eventually shipped off to WDW to be used in the Festival of the Lion King at DAK, where they remain in use to this day.

And of course there was the infamous Light Magic in 1997, which essentially only performed during the show stops, to the point that they advertised it as a “streetacular” rather than a parade. This was the one that scared them away from show stops for a while, partly due to the poor guest reactions and partly due to the bad crowd flow associated with the long show stops during the busiest hours of the park’s daily operations. After the failure of LM, including show stops in Parade of Dreams was seen as a risky decision.

Parade of Dreams used much shorter show stops (similar to the Lion King parade), which helped with crowd flow issues. It was also performed in the afternoon and early evening hours, when it was easier to navigate the park and blocking access to the park entrance/exit was less of a concern. After POD was retired, Celebrate! A Street Party resurrected the “streetactular” format to reasonable success with its afternoon/early evening schedule as well, though it was certainly a hassle trying to move along Main Street during the long show stop there.

While Light Magic was an infamous failure, much of the park infrastructure associated with it remains in use to this day. I can’t help but think that lessons-learned from it and C!ASP led to the creation of the Main Street bypass the same year that Paint the Night debuted at DL.

While the Electrical Parade was running in DCA (seasonally) during the 50th, it had actually been running (seasonally) since summer 2001, when it was hastily brought in to help draw people to the struggling park, when it was advertised/justified as “a California tradition.”

For the 50th, DCA got the mostly-forgotten Block Party Bash, which featured Pixar characters and stunt performers, with a format more in line with a “streetacular” but still mostly advertised like a parade. However, with DCA’s massive (and blandly named) Performance Corridor, low crowd levels, and daytime schedule, crowd flow wasn’t really much of a concern. After BPB was replaced by the Pixar Play Parade, its floats were sent to WDW, where they were used in the Studios park for several years in a handful of iterations of their daytime parades under various names (first with much shorter show stops, and later with no stops at all)

Light Magic barerly even counts as an actual parade. So I didn't feel like including in my list of Disney's few parades that had show stops elements although Share A Dream Come True Parade only has the show stops sections until 2004.

And Pixar Play Parade had it during it first few years.

My favorite way Tokyo used the show stop elements is the former Santa Village Parade. During its first two between 2011 and 2012, the parade encouraged the audience participation where they became Christmas carolers by singing "Ah, Merry Christmas" while the characters are singing "Around The World Christmas".


Since 2012, this alongside Disney's Easter Wonderland contained a pre-show announcement that notified that both parades will include audience participation.


This recording for Tokyo's Easter Parade showed enthusiastic cast members showing guests how to move during specific moments for the parade's show stop. Something you don't see the American Disney Parks ever getting this dedicated.