I’m at the Disneyland Resort quite often, but not always for extended stays. With my recent trip coinciding with the first weekend of Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary Celebration, I wanted to do as much as I could with the time that I had. It quickly became a challenge to find out if I could experience all of Disneyland’s major 70th Anniversary offerings in a single day.
Spoiler alert: The short answer is “no.” However, that’s not because of how many hours the parks are open, but more a matter of showtimes for the nighttime spectaculars, which are intentionally meant to divide the crowds.
That said, I feel like I got a lot done and could have probably done a lot more if I had the budget and the inclination. Here’s how my day went:
I arrived just after the parks opened at 8:00 am on Saturday. Bag check was a breeze, as were the turnstiles at Disneyland Park. The new “scan yourself” turnstiles have a learning curve, but I figured it out fairly quickly.
I stopped in the Disney Showcase shop to check out the merchandise, but resisted the urge to make any purchases. As resellers and collectors were still working on their shopping lists, they were limiting capacity for this small shop, but that should die down quickly.
Since it just reopened, I wanted to experience the updated “it’s a small world” that now includes characters from Disney and Pixar’s Coco. I assumed there would be a decent line and was prepared to wait, but found that the ride was only running one loading area, yet was still a walk-on.
While the Disneyland community is still divided on the Disney animated characters being featured in the attraction, I enjoy how they are integrated and love to hear how they’ve included pieces of songs from those films. It felt like the sound balance was a bit off this time around and I had more difficulty catching the snippets of movie music. I’m sure they’ll iron that out.
The new figures of Miguel and Dante are super cute and fit perfectly in the Latin America area of the attraction.
I spent the rest of the morning experiencing classic Disney attractions, including some that I haven’t been on in a while, like Peter Pan’s Flight and Alice in Wonderland, which posted surprisingly low waits. Maybe everyone was shopping. I also took in Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, which was also a walk-on!
If you wanted to try the Key to Disneyland experience or some of the special MagicBand+ interactions instead of enjoying attractions, this would be a great time to do that. It might also be a good time to meet some of your favorite characters, either on Main Street, U.S.A. or wandering around Fantasyland.
Make sure to grab yourself a substantial lunch that’s going to give you energy, because you’re going to need that to make it through the rest of the day.
My first stop for the afternoon was the parade route for the Celebrate Happy Cavalcade at 1:30 pm, featuring Mickey and his pals, plus a certain pair of bears. Yes, this marks the return of Duffy and Shellie May to the Disneyland Resort.
This is a quick cavalcade, so I wouldn’t spend too much time trying to grab the perfect spot. The cavalcade also ran at 2:45 pm.
After the crowds cleared, I decided to cross the esplanade to Disney California Adventure. The music box sculpture in the center of the esplanade is beautiful, however, fans have not responded well to the new background music in the area. The loop is meant to mimic a music box, featuring familiar Disney songs. It falls very flat and brings no life to the area. Let’s hope they figure out a fitting compromise soon.
My first goal at California Adventure was to check out the fun new 70th Anniversary overlay on Toy Story Midway Mania. The toys have found some sheets of Celebrate Happy and 70th Anniversary stickers and have put them EVERYWHERE, including on some of the targets. It was fun to try to spot all of the stickers.
With Midway Mania, a 40-minute wait is typical, so anything under that and you should definitely hop in line to check out the update. My wait was only 20 minutes!
Depending on your wait, you may have some free time to meet a character or grab a snack before our next stop.
The parade route is long at California Adventure, however, the Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration! parade is popular, so you may want to find a spot early. I experienced a bit of pixie dust and found a bench in Hollywood Land about an hour before the 5:00 pm parade. This is a fun, energetic parade that Pixar fans will love. There is also an earlier parade at 2:30 pm.
Now would be the time to find an early dinner at either park. I chose to head back to Disneyland and grab a Cobb Salad and a slice of 70th Anniversary cake at the Plaza Inn. It’s all about balance.
I always love the fresh tossed salads and Disneyland, but as expected, the cake tried to do way too much. There were too many flavors going on (confetti cake, pound cake, lemon filling, cherry filling, white chocolate filling), and as is the case with my Disney desserts, it was overly sweet.
There are signs in Disneyland that advise guests not to start securing their spots for Paint the Night any earlier than 2 hours prior to the show. Many guests ignored that warning, with benches and curbs filled well ahead of the show. There was an announcement that viewing areas were full about an hour before the 8:45 pm start time. I ended up on the upper steps in the raised viewing area of Small World mall. Not the perfect location, but a good location to enjoy the parade.
As soon as the first notes of When Can I See You Again? were played, the crowd lit up, no pun intended. The energy of the fans and the love for this parade are amazing. I’m glad that it’s back at Disneyland Park, and I will definitely make an effort to catch it at least once a trip. If you miss the 8:45 pm parade, there’s another one at 10:45 pm.
After the parade, I let the crowds disperse for a moment, then grabbed a churro and headed to the viewing area in front of “it’s a small world” to wait for Wondrous Journeys. The show was scheduled to start at 9:30 pm, but ended up starting about 5 minutes late. This is the 2023 fireworks show that is a salute to the 100th Anniversary of The Walt Disney Company, focusing mostly on films. There is really no connection to the 70th Anniversary here, and I can think of several popular fireworks shows that would work as a suitable replacement. Still, Disneyland fireworks are always beautiful.
Following the fireworks, I stayed put. I had heard great things about Tapestry of Happiness, and I was not disappointed. The show is presented 4 times following the fireworks, with the first show at 9:50 pm. Because the fireworks started late, Tapestry of Happiness started a bit late as well. It was worth the wait.
The show is just under 5 minutes, but it hits all the marks in its salute to Disneyland’s 70th, with familiar music and classic attractions, plus animation in the style of Mary Blair. This show was magical and was the perfect “kiss goodnight” to my day at the Disneyland Resort.
While I wasn’t able to catch the new projection show on Carthay Circle Restaurant or World of Color Happiness…next trip…I think I was able to quite a bit done. I took my time throughout the day, and could’ve squeezed in a few more attractions and character interactions, but given the 9:00 pm and 10:15 pm start times of World of Color, I don’t think I could’ve pulled that off and still experienced the Disneyland nighttime shows….and as I said, that’s the way they intended it.
As always, there is so much to do at the Disneyland Resort that you can’t do it all in one trip, so now it’s time to plan my next visit to Anaheim.
