My daughter and I recently returned from a short trip to Disneyland Resort. We spent two and a half days in the parks and at Downtown Disney. We stayed off property and did not rent a car. We attended Oogie Boogie Bash for the fourth year in a row. That was the primary reason for our trip, but there’s a lot more going on right now at Disneyland. After all, they are celebrating 70 years of magic! Here are a few experiences that are either new, or new to us from our vacation, as well as a couple of other thoughts.
Walt Disney – A Magical Life is the best way to celebrate 70 years of magic. There’s a gallery to explore while you’re waiting to sit for the show. It’s filled with pictures and objects that will help you to take a closer look inside the life of this amazing man. The actual show for Walt Disney – A Magical Life is similar to Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream inside Walt Disney Presents at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It’s narrated by Bob Iger instead of Julie Andrews, but many of the clips are the same. The best part is when the curtain opens and Walt Disney is standing in front of you. While it’s true that the audio-animatronic doesn’t look much like a lot of the pictures that we’ve seen of Walt, it’s still exciting. I’m now looking forward to the Walt Disney audio-animatronic that’s coming to the Magic Kingdom even more.
Paint the Night is back for the Disneyland Resort 70th Celebration. This nighttime parade dates back to 2014, but hasn’t run for the past several years. I had never seen it before. I’m a diehard Main Street Electrical Parade fanatic, but Disney Starlight reminded me that other nighttime parades can still be awesome. Paint the Night blew me away! The energy is off the charts, the performers all seem to be having the time of their lives. The mixture of Owl City’s When Can I See You Again and Main Street Electrical Parade’s Baroque Hoedown sounds strange on paper, but it works! I’m an Owl City fan to begin with, and I’ve been humming the song ever since. Paint the Night currently runs twice each evening. The second parade is much less crowded. I hope that Paint the Night is still running the next time we’re at Disneyland. It’s really good.
There are two different events that take place in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge that we experienced for the first time. As far as I know, neither of these are only for the Disneyland Resort 70th Celebration. Both left me asking why we can’t have something similar at Walt Disney World.
The first is Shadows of Memory: A Skywalker Saga. It’s a retelling of episodes I-VI, with the main focus on Anakin and Luke. While the final trilogy is hinted at, the story keeps within the timeline for Galaxy’s Edge. Shadows of Memory: A Skywalker Saga is a projections and lighting show that takes place on the spires behind the Millennium Falcon. The projections aren’t movie clips, they’re more like drawings. The music adds to the experience. The narration is corny and overly dramatic, but fun. I really enjoyed Shadows of Memory.
The second Galaxy’s Edge experience is something that I’ve longed for ever since my first trip to Batuu. Fire of the Rising Moons is a fireworks display that is held on select nights. It fits perfectly, because how does Return of the Jedi end? With fireworks, of course. What’s brilliant about Fire of the Rising Moons is that it uses whatever fireworks display is currently running at Disneyland Park and makes it Star Wars themed. People in the front of the park were watching Halloween Screams, but we saw the same explosions in a whole different way. John Williams’ iconic scores fill the air, and the spires are lit to match the music. Whoever came up with this idea deserves a raise, it’s so well done.
We didn’t try any of the Disneyland Resort 70th Celebration foods. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed in the food this time. They got rid of my favorite Disney meal ever, which I knew about before we arrived. RIP, Breakfast Shawarma. I’m vegetarian and I have an odd allergy. Some of the new vegetarian options that looked interesting are premade and contain the one thing that I can’t eat. It’s a good thing that Vegan Pizza in Garden Grove delivers!
We did purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass one day this time. It still wasn’t as good as the Genie+ days (or better yet, MaxPass) but I did feel like we got our money’s worth this time. Even with Lightning Lane we had to wait longer than expected for Indiana Jones Adventure, but that ride seems to break down a lot.
I loved the decor for the Disneyland Resort 70th Celebration. It was classy without being overdone. There were also plenty of Halloween decorations. No one does Halloween quite like Disney on either coast!
The Disneyland Resort 70th Celebration continues into next summer. As far as I know, the official end date has not yet been announced. With D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event taking place August 14-16, 2026, I expect that the celebration will continue at least that long. But who knows, they might take down the decor when they put up the decorations for next Halloween.
