It’s that awkward time of year when I come to you from another realm, another place in space and time, on the other side of the New Year! Okay, fine, it’s just the time difference between Australia and the USA, but at this particular moment, it’s a little extra trippy as I am already firmly cemented in the year 2025, which totally counts as the future. It seems as though every year, I now seem to start with a sense of trepidation. Since the bit balls up of 2020, that whole pandemic shemozzle messing up all of our new decade travel plans; I’m recently a little less confident in what’s to come. Nevertheless, something about 2025 feels different. Perhaps it’s looking back at everything we accomplished in the year that was, or maybe there is just so much to look forward to, and those COVID years have provided a bit of perspective on how each of us chooses to prioritize the elements in our lives. In any case, I wanted to share with you that there seems to be a touch of Pixie Dust in the air on this side of the new year, and it has me feeling all excited.
What a year we had. 2024 brought all sorts of delight to our world of Disney fandom. From the launch of new monthly merchandise to the opening of long-awaited attraction refurbishments, it felt like 12 months of non-stop action. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure finally opened in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Though the new technology and scenes came with rave reviews, guests had mixed feelings about the initial experience as both attractions were plagued with malfunctions and temporary closures. Delightfully, the kinks seem to have now been ironed out, with the attraction proving to be a blue skies and sunshine hit.
D23 was an event and a half this year, and I don’t think anyone on our team has ever typed so fast to share all of that news with you. Not only was the event full of new details on upcoming entertainment projects, but it also included what felt like a record number of Disney Parks updates. In a departure from the highly criticized Blue Sky approach from earlier years, Disney stuck to the facts, revealing so many new projects that it was hard to keep up! Park news for Disneyland included a Walt Disney attraction, a new Coco ride, Avengers Campus expansion, and a new Avatar-themed land for California Adventure.
Walt Disney World was where the biggest news was released. After years of feeling neglected in favor of expanding the international parks, fans of the Orlando-based Disney homeland were rewarded with some of the biggest news of the year. A Villain’s Land is finally on the way; a Car’s Land area is moving into Magic Kingdom, and Monsters, Inc. is making a new home in Hollywood Studios. And just in case that wasn’t enough, we finally learned more about the fate of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, where a reinvention of the DinoLand USA area will become a Tropical Americas expansion, making way for stories from Encanto and Indiana Jones.
Though some of those projects are still a few years in the making, there is some exciting news that guests will be enjoying much sooner! Disneyland will be celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2025, and we were able to share all of the initial details with you earlier in December. I will be visiting with my family to celebrate my mother, who shares a birthday year with the Disneyland Resort and will be watching out for all details that emerge in the coming months. We will be visiting both Disneyland and Walt Disney World in 2025, which means my favorite Dreams Unlimited Travel agent is about to get a long email, and I know she is going to have everything sorted for me, just like she usually does – I think I am in love!
There is so much to look forward to in the Disney verse, and while many of you are still wrapping up those last hours of 2024, I am keeping an eye on things from the flip side. Before I go, I have a few thank yous to make. To the team here at The DIS, who I adore, they work so hard to bring you all this wonderful content, and seeing it from both sides is truly an honor. To those in the DIS community who share their thoughts and stories with us every day, I love hearing about your experiences and appreciate that you share them with me. To the Cast Members who work tirelessly to make our experience a memorable one, both on the front lines and behind the scenes, I am so lucky to have called many of you friends. Of course, you know who you are: my Dreams Unlimited Travel agent who makes all my Disney dreams come true. Thank you for another wonderful year connecting over this beautiful thing that we are all so passionate about. Have a safe and wonderful New Year’s Eve.
2025 is going to be incredible; I’ll see you when you get here.
Feature Image: Photo by Michael Ali on Unsplash
