Disneyland releases new details and $100-per-day ticket deal for its 70th anniversary celebration

This summer ushers in an important anniversary for the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. Founded on July 17, 1955, the resort will soon observe seven decades as the Happiest Place on Earth.

Disney never misses a chance to celebrate, and the company previously announced that it plans to mark this 70-year Disneyland milestone with a major anniversary celebration starting in mid-2025. Scheduled to debut on May 16, 2025, the anniversary will continue for more than a full year until the summer of 2026.

Disneyland just announced further details and surprises for the big event, including a discounted ticket offer during peak summer vacation season that will make experiencing the celebration more affordable for many Disneyland fans.

Ways to save on Disneyland visits in 2025

Disney vacations rarely come cheap, but Disney has released a greater number of special offers and sales recently to help guests find more budget-friendly sweet spots on the calendar.

To celebrate its 70th anniversary, Disneyland will offer three-day tickets for as low as $360 ($120 per day) and four-day tickets starting at $400 ($100 per day). This represents a savings of $55 and $74 per adult off the regular prices for three- and four-day tickets, respectively. The 70th anniversary ticket deal will be offered for visits from May 16 to Aug. 14, 2025, with tickets being released for sale to the public on March 11.

While many special ticket discounts have historically been reserved only for Southern California residents, this new 70th anniversary offer has no residency restrictions. Additionally, guests can use the tickets to visit on nonconsecutive days any time within the deal’s validity period (normally, multiday tickets expire 13 days after first use). Ticket upgrades such as Park Hopper and Lightning Lane Multi Pass will be offered as well.

Just remember that Disneyland (unlike Walt Disney World) still requires daily theme park reservations for all guests to control capacity, so select your travel dates and make park reservations early if you plan to travel during a peak period.

Other Disneyland discounts this year include a kids ticket deal, where children ages 3-9 can visit for as little as $50 per day (ending March 20, 2025), and a three-day ticket deal starting at $67 per day for Southern California residents (ending May 15, 2025).

Disneyland also has regular sales for stays at its three on-property hotels. An early booking discount of up to 30% is currently available for 70th anniversary stays until May 15, 2025. This offer is valid on select stays of four nights or longer at the Disneyland Resort hotels from May 16 to Sept. 26, 2025. Further hotel discounts will be released on March 11, when the discount tickets go on sale.

Always check Disneyland’s special offers page for the most current deals, as they change regularly.

Booking link: Save on stays at Disneyland by renting Disney Vacation Club points via TPG’s partner, David’s Vacation Club Rentals

70th anniversary celebration

What can guests expect to experience if they plan to visit during the 70th anniversary celebration to take advantage of these deals? If you are a fan of franchises like the Muppets or Duffy and Friends, Disney’s latest additions to the anniversary offerings will be right up your alley.

The theme of the 70th anniversary party will be “Celebrate Happy,” and it will feature a song of the same name played for the event. The parks will have new looks for Mickey and other characters, exclusive food and merchandise, lots of entertainment, special anniversary decor and a few new magical additions to rides like “It’s a small world” and Toy Story Mania.

The entertainment lineup, in particular, is sure to please the Disneyland faithful. For much of the anniversary celebration, the resort is bringing back two extremely popular fan favorites to its nighttime entertainment offerings in Disneyland Park.

The first is the long-awaited and frequently teased return of “Paint the Night.” This nighttime parade in Disneyland features floats and performers illuminated by over a million LED lights. “Paint the Night” debuted at Disneyland’s 60th anniversary celebration and hasn’t run in Anaheim since 2018. The parade’s revival will once again include the “Frozen”-themed float from its original debut (the float was too tall to be used when the parade moved over to Disney California Adventure park).

The second nighttime offering making a return for the anniversary is “Wondrous Journeys.”

This nighttime spectacular debuted in early 2023 for the Disney100 celebration, and it has had such a limited run ever since that even many regular guests may have missed seeing it. “Wondrous Journeys” includes projections from each and every Walt Disney Animation Studios film set to music on several facades in Disneyland Park. It also includes fireworks over Sleeping Beauty Castle for select performances.

Over at Disney California Adventure Park, the daytime parade, “Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration!” — which debuted during 2024’s Pixar Fest — will return.

Disney will also debut a brand-new “World of Color” nighttime show over the park’s waters for the anniversary. “World of Color Happiness!” is inspired by Walt Disney’s 1955 opening-day remarks, which are now memorialized on a plaque by the park’s entrance: “To all who come to this happy place … welcome!”

Disney just announced that this show will feature a special rendition of “Rainbow Connection,” performed by Boyz II Men, along with a new original song performed by Fitz from Fitz and the Tantrums called “Makes Me Wanna Move.” The Muppets will be featured in a special preshow as well.

Closing out the entertainment lineup in Disneyland is “The Celebrate Happy Cavalcade.” Although cavalcades are usually smaller offerings in Disney parks, this one will feature both Duffy and ShellieMay, characters that were made popular at the Tokyo Disney Resort years ago. They have become truly beloved at Disney parks all over Asia and are only very rarely spotted stateside.

The 70th anniversary also brings a much-talked-about new show to the Main Street Opera House. “Walt Disney — A Magical Life” will feature an Audio-Animatronics likeness of Walt himself.

The show will debut on July 17, the anniversary of Disneyland’s opening day. The lobby of the Main Street Opera House will feature exhibits on the history of Audio-Animatronics technology, artifacts showcasing Walt Disney’s life and accomplishments and a peek into Disneyland’s future.

Disneyland spring events and food festivals

If your travels take you to Anaheim before the 70th anniversary celebration launches, however, there is no shortage of special events before that time. Disneyland traditionally has two food festivals in Disney California Adventure Park early in the year. One of them, Lunar New Year, has already closed up shop (it ran from Jan. 17 to Feb. 16). But the largest of Disneyland’s food festivals, the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival, just opened on Feb. 28 and will run through April 21.

Season of the Force, a celebration featuring all things “Star Wars,” will occur just before the 70th anniversary starts and overlap with the Food & Wine Festival. Space Mountain will get its usual overlay and become Hyperspace Mountain for the weeks the event is taking place (March 28 to May 11). Disneyland will also debut a brand-new nighttime show visible in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge called “Shadows of Memory: A Skywalker Saga,” in addition to bringing Luke Skywalker to the land for a limited time.

Mixed in with these festivals is a variety of Disney after-hours events known as Disneyland After Dark. These specially ticketed events are essentially themed parties, with additional food and beverages, unique entertainment including rare characters and short waits to ride most of Disneyland’s attractions. Remaining on the After Dark calendar for 2025 are Star Wars Nite (eight dates during Season of the Force) and Pride Nite (held June 16 and 18 after the 70th anniversary celebration starts).

Disneyland Halloween Time and Disneyland Holidays

Later in the year, Disneyland again plans to celebrate the Halloween and winter holiday seasons as it has done for many years — and this time in conjunction with the 70th anniversary celebration.

Halloween Time will debut Aug. 22, 2025, which is earlier than has traditionally been the practice at Disneyland (but not at Walt Disney World, where Halloween starts in early August). There will also be a record-high 31 dates beginning Aug. 17, 2025, for the popular Oogie Boogie Bash, its separately ticketed after-hours Halloween party held in Disney California Adventure Park that always sells out many months in advance.

Similar to the schedule in 2024 (and in contrast to the extended Halloween calendar), the holiday season will again be a bit contracted in 2025, and it’ll kick off a few days later than usual. Starting after the Veterans Day holiday weekend, Disneyland Holidays will run from Nov. 14, 2025, to Jan. 7, 2026. The event includes popular ride overlays like “It’s a small world” Holiday and Haunted Mansion Holiday as well as a winter food festival in Disney California Adventure Park called Festival of Holidays.

Note, however, that a few of the 70th anniversary offerings (“Wondrous Journeys” and “Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration!” in particular) will be on pause during the Halloween and winter holiday celebrations; they will be temporarily replaced with seasonal entertainment.

Related reading:

• Tips for visiting Disneyland: 17 ways to save money and have more fun
• Every new land and attraction coming to Disneyland and Disney World in 2025 and beyond
• The best restaurants at Disneyland
• The best hotels near Disneyland: Where to stay on- and off-property
• Everything you need to know about visiting Disneyland
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