Lifestyle

Everything you need to know about Disneyland's biggest event of the decade

Published

8 months ago

April 17, 2025

Everything you need to know about Disneyland's biggest event of the decade

The Disneyland Resort is turning 70 in July, and it has never missed an opportunity to throw a party — especially one rooted in nostalgia. For the year-long event, a number of fan favorites are making their return, in addition to some new shows and tweaks to favorite attractions.

The festivities officially launch May 16, although not all offerings will be available right away. Some will be rolled out to coincide with Disneyland’s official birthday on July 17. The celebration is planned to last through summer 2026.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Disneyland Resort 70th Celebration — including details on a ticket deal.

Disneyland Park

The return of a fan-favorite parade. Evening parade Paint the Night made its debut in Anaheim during Disneyland’s 60th anniversary a decade ago, and it’s back for the 70th. A sort of spiritual successor to the on-again/off-again Main Street Electrical Parade, Paint the Night has a fast-moving soundtrack, more than 1 million LED lights and glittering, shimmering floats that honor franchises such as “Toy Story,” “Frozen” and “Cars.” Paint the Night is a vibrant, high-energy show that intersperses dance, tech and the requisite amount of evening sparkle.

Anna and Elsa will rejoin the Paint the Night parade on the float inspired by “Frozen.”

(Paul Hiffmeyer / Disneyland Resort)

A legendary ride gets an update. It’s a Small World is so filled with details — playful dolls, adorable creatures, colorful vignettes, all of it designed in the style of artist Mary Blair — that it’s impossible to see all of it on one ride through. And when the attraction reopens on May 9, it will have even more characters, as Disney is adding Miguel and Dante from the film “Coco” to the ride’s Mexico section. That’s not the only tweak planned for this legendary ride. Coming in July will be an additional verse to its memorable song, this one written by original co-composer Richard Sherman shortly before his death in 2024. Sherman wrote the verse to celebrate the song’s 60th anniversary, as the attraction opened at the New York World’s Fair in 1964 before being installed at Disneyland in 1966.

Dolls in the Mexico section of ride It's a Small World.

A new projection show comes to It’s a Small World. The work and style of Blair also will be honored via a new projection experience that will unfold on the façade of It’s a Small World. Titled “Tapestry of Happiness,” this nighttime show, described by Disney as an “animated mosaic of Disneyland attractions, moments and memories,” will include many songs associated with the park as well as the new tune “Celebrate Happy.” Expect a projection show that digs into Disneyland history and is high on nostalgia, with no doubt a moment or two designed to bring longtime fans to tears.

An evening performance that celebrates animation. The fireworks show “Wondrous Journeys” will return for Disneyland’s 70th. Introduced for the 100th anniversary of the Walt Disney Co., “Wondrous Journeys” focuses on the history of the company’s animated works. Some fine print: Not every night of “Wondrous Journeys” will feature fireworks, but it remains one of Disney’s better-received evening shows, as it features snippets of more than 60 films as well as nods to many shorts that helped define the studio.

A drawing of an assortment of colorful characters parading down a theme park street.

Say hello to Duffy. First, the bad news: The terrific, contemporary dance-focused parade Magic Happens is currently not slated to run during Disneyland’s 70th anniversary. The consolation prize? Disneyland is introducing a new afternoon character cavalcade that will feature some 70th-anniversary attire and the arrival of rarely seen characters at Disneyland, such as Duffy and ShellieMay. The teddy bear characters are international Disney superstars, and cult favorites among American Disney fans.

Take a tour that honors Disneyland history. Disneyland will launch a new guided tour for its 70th anniversary, this one focused squarely on the history and development of the park. The two-hour experience, available for an additional charge, will be available for booking beginning April 24. Disney says the tour will place a special emphasis on the park’s opening-day attractions, as well as Walt Disney’s original vision for the park.

Concept art of Walt Disney leaning against a desk in an office.

Speaking of Walt … Opening July 17 will be a show in the Main Street Opera House that will celebrate the life and legacy of the park’s patriarch. “Walt Disney — A Magical Life” will for the 70th anniversary displace the show centered on Abraham Lincoln, and will feature the first-ever audio-animatronic of Disney, which the company has teased is its most lifelike figure to date. The figure, images of which the company is currently keeping under wraps, will be brought to life via audio recordings and will be situated in a setting designed to evoke Walt’s office. After the show’s initial run during the 70th, it will play in tandem with “Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln.” The exit hall for the attraction will feature concept art for Disneyland attractions in the works.

Explore Disney tech at a historical art exhibit. Guests likely will want to arrive early for “Walt Disney — A Magical Life” once the show launches, as the gallery in the Opera House will be filled with a new exhibit developed by the company’s archives department in collaboration with San Francisco’s Walt Disney Family Museum as well as Walt Disney Imagineering, the secretive arm of the company devoted to theme park experiences. First, explore a selection of photographs and artifacts from before and during the Walt era that helps tell the Disneyland development story. Many items, including never-before-shown artifacts from Disney’s private Disneyland apartment, are on loan from the Walt Disney Family Museum. A final section will be dedicated to the development of audio-animatronic figures, looking at Walt’s passion for the creations and how they have evolved over the decades.

Disney California Adventure

A brand-new “World of Color” show that you can vote on. “World of Color Happiness!” is a new lagoon-based show for the 70th anniversary, this one inspired by Walt Disney’s original dedication for the park. “To all who come to this happy place, welcome,” Disney said in July 1955. “Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America.” Although here’s betting the World of Color show — sure to feature impressive fountains, projections and pyrotechnics — doesn’t delve too heavily into any “hard facts.”

A host of Disney characters, led by those from "Inside Out."

Some of the animated works featured in the performance include “Turning Red,” “A Goofy Movie,” “Tangled” and “The Lion King,” and it will be hosted by the blue-haired character of Joy from the “Inside Out” films. Arrive early and vote via the Disneyland app to see various “Inside Out” characters — Sadness, Anger, Disgust or Envy — given greater prominence during the show. A new song from Fitz of Fitz and the Tantrums fame will be featured in the production, and Boyz II Men have recorded a rendition of “Rainbow Connection” for it.

Carthay Circle will spring to life each night. The façade of the park’s upscale restaurant, Carthay Circle, will morph into a performance space. While Disney hasn’t detailed too heavily what audiences may expect to see on the building, expect a projection-based show with inventive lighting and music. The projections and lighting will be set to the 70th-anniversary theme song, “Celebrate Happy,” which is to be recorded by the Jonas Brothers.

Concept art of a ride vehicle with passengers firing a toy blaster at a screen.

New surprises adorn Toy Story Midway Mania! While not the first video game-inspired ride, Toy Story Midway Mania! was quite possibly the first successful implementation of one. The ride works well with what is now known as Pixar Pier, a land full of carnival rides and games. It still holds up thanks to its simplicity. Of course, a unique ride vehicle — a carnival car with a spring-action launcher — doesn’t hurt. Now, the 2008 attraction will receive an ever-so-slight makeover for the 70th. Look for new animations that nod to the festivities peppered throughout the ride’s digital games.

A Pixar-focused daytime parade makes a comeback. Last year California Adventure unveiled a new daytime parade, “Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration,” and it’s returning for the 70th. Colorful floats that nod to recent films like “Luca” and “Turning Red,” the latter complete with a larger-than-life red panda Mei, are contrasted with smaller, more playful units that touch on “Toy Story” and “Monsters, Inc.” Throughout, there’s an underlying theme of friendship.

Dining, merchandise and more

A barbecue buffet, with a side of duck. Duck isn’t on the menu, but a certain waterfowl is the star of this dinner at the Grand Californian’s Storytellers Cafe. Donald’s Tales of Adventure Dinner Buffet launches May 16 and features what’s described a a campfire-style barbecue. Expect spareribs, fried chicken, prime rib and more, and look for the likes of Donald, Daisy, Clarabelle, Goofy and Pluto in new adventure-inspired outfits. Reservations are recommended and the meal starts at $62 for adults and $36 for children.

Donald and Daisy Duck, with friends such as Clarabelle and Goofy, in a restaurant.

Specialty merchandise abounds. Disneyland is launching multiple merchandising lines for its 70th anniversary, some of which have already started to infiltrate the parks. The so-called “celebration collection” features brash colors and new collaborations with Loungefly and Dooney & Bourke. The “castle collection” is just that, featuring regal wear and jewelry inspired by Sleeping Beauty Castle, while the “vault collection” is where all those seeking Disneyland nostalgia will want to head. The vault collection will be released in waves throughout the year, the first rendition looking at Disneyland maps. The “Disneyland Resort 70th Anniversary Walt Disney Nostalgia Collection” is said to boast vintage-style accessories and attire outfitted in some of Walt’s famous quotes. There’s plenty more, including pocket watches and charms, and a giant interactive key that will light up and play music as guests explore the park.

A young man and woman model Disneyland clothes at the park.

And you can see it all for a (slight) discount. Disneyland fans willing to commit to more than a day in the park can take part in a limited-time ticket offer. An anniversary ticket is on sale now, good for visits from May 16 to Aug. 14. It’s a three-day, one-park-per-day ticket that sells for $360, which works out to $120 per day. That’s a slight savings, as peak spring and summer tickets typically can’t be found for less than $142 per day and can run as high as $206. Those who opt in for a four-day $400 ticket will be able to access the parks for $100 per day. The tickets do not have to be used on consecutive days.

Mickey, Minnie and a host of Disney characters in Fantasyland.

Lifestyle

Cheddar bay biscuits, cheap margs and memories: Readers share their nostalgia for chain restaurants

Published

4 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Press Room

Cheddar bay biscuits, cheap margs and memories: Readers share their nostalgia for chain restaurants

Affordable, familiar and reassuring are the features that make American chain restaurants a near-ubiquitous presence throughout the country; it is almost as if they are baked into our roadside culture.

Despite well-documented financial struggles, a tough economy and shifting diet trends, these restaurants withstand time.

This series explores why these places have such strong staying power and how they stay afloat at a time of rapid change.

Read our first three pieces in this series, including how these restaurants leverage nostalgia to attract diners, how they attempt to keep costs affordable, and how social media has changed the advertising game – and become a vital key to restaurants’ success.

America’s chain restaurants are not the most glamorous places to eat. And yet, as we’ve reported, they hold a special place in many Americans’ hearts.

We asked readers what comes to mind when they think of restaurants like Olive Garden, Applebee’s or Texas Roadhouse — and you shared plenty of stories.

Not all of the respondees waxed poetic about the merit of these restaurants. David Horton, 62, from New York, for example, said: “The food is mostly frozen and only has flavor from the incredible amounts of sodium they use.”

But overwhelmingly, responses described vivid childhood memories shared in booths looking excitedly over laminated menus and the type of adolescent rites of passage that seem right at home in the parking lot of a suburban chain restaurant.

There’s a science behind why these sorts of memories have such a hold on us.

A server delivers food to a table at the world's largest Applebee's in New York City's Times Square.

The feeling of nostalgia is linked closely to food and smell, and these restaurant chains are often where core memories – like graduation celebrations or first dates – are made.

Chelsea Reid is an associate professor at the College of Charleston who studies nostalgia. And she’s no more immune to nostalgic feelings than anyone else even though she has a better understanding of the chemistry behind the feeling.

“Even just saying Red Lobster, I can kind of picture the table and the things that we would do and the things we’d order, and my mom getting extra biscuits to take home,” she said.

A Red Lobster restaurant is seen in Fairview Heights, Ill., in 2005.

James A. Finley/AP

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James A. Finley/AP

Her nearest Red Lobster closed down, but a local farmers’ market sells a scone reminiscent of Red Lobster’s famed Cheddar Bay Biscuits – a scent she says immediately transports her back to those childhood family outings to the seafood chain.

“I can see my mom wrapping these up in a napkin and putting them in her purse for when we would be like, ‘hey, we’re hungry,’ and she pulls out a purse biscuit.”

Full disclosure: Your intrepid reporters are not without sentimentality. Before launching this project, when it was just a kernel of an idea, we talked frequently about the role these restaurants played in our own lives.

Jaclyn: I distinctly remember cramming into a booth at my local Chili’s in my hometown, Cromwell, Ct., for most birthday dinners until the age of 13 or so.

I’d be surrounded by my mom, dad and brother, and I got to pick whatever I wanted. Except I always chose the same thing: Chicken crispers with a side of fries, topping the night off with the molten lava chocolate cake we’d share as a family.

I can picture it so clearly, down to the booth we’d sit in. Now, my family is spread out. But my love for Chili’s runs deep, and I still get warm and fuzzy when I think about it.

These days, I’m in my 30s, and I need to worry about my health and getting in 10,000 steps a day. So, no, I don’t regularly go to Chili’s now.

But when I do? Those chicken crispers I had as a kid are still on the menu, and yes, I’m likely to order them today (even if on my adult tastebuds, the salt content quickly turns my mouth into the Sahara Desert).

And it’s not to celebrate my birthday. It’s because one of my best friends is telling me she’s getting a divorce over cheap, and sugary, margaritas.

Alana: When the pandemic struck in 2020 and much of the country went into lockdown, there I was mostly alone in my one bedroom apartment, staring at the walls.

After what seemed like a lifetime, I was finally able to expand my tiny COVID bubble.

One of my first “dining out” experiences during that time was in the parking lot of the Hyattsville, Md., Olive Garden where my friend and I sat in absolute glee to be reunited – not just with one another, but also the chain’s staple soup (zuppa toscana for me, please), salad and breadsticks (you can have all the breadsticks if I can have your share of the salad tomatoes).

Since then, that friend and many others have moved away – too far to meet up for a sit-down over a (mostly) hot meal at a reasonably priced restaurant in a city not famed for being cheap.

I recently revisited the Hyattsville Olive Garden for this story. And even though my life is now different, my friends have moved away, and the world has shifted, there it was, exactly the same.

And I liked it.

Many readers said that these restaurants were the type of place a family who could rarely afford to eat outside a home could treat themselves on rare occasions.

Like Julie Philip, 51, from Dunlap, Ill., who wrote: “Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s, Red Lobster was an Easter tradition. We would dress up, go to church, then drive close to an hour to Red Lobster.”

Tomatillos are among the fresh produce in refrigerated warehouses at the Sysco food distribution center in Houston.

She continued, “It was one of only a few days a year that we could afford to eat at a ‘fancy restaurant.’ I remember my parents remarking that they had to spend $35 for our family of four. I no longer consider Red Lobster a ‘fancy restaurant,’ but as an adult, my family and I often still eat there at Easter. I remind my kids that we are keeping up a family tradition and I tell them stories of my childhood while eating.”

The original Applebee’s restaurant was called T.J. Applebee’s Rx for Edibles & Elixirs and it opened in Decatur, Ga., in 1980.

Applebee’s

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Applebee’s

For Sarah Duggan, an Applebee’s parking lot evokes a key memory from young adulthood.

Duggan, 32, from North Tonawanda, N.Y., wrote that every time she sees an Applebee’s, she remembers the time her friend, in an act of teenage rebellion, got her belly button pierced in the parking lot of a Long Island Applebee’s — inside the trunk of the piercer’s “salvage-title PT Cruiser.”

Duggan held the flashlight.

She wrote, “I can’t picture those sorts of college kid shenanigans happening in the parking lot of a regular Long Island diner or other independent restaurant, but it seems right that it was at Applebee’s.”

She continued, “It makes me think about how nobody, from riotous camp counselors to your spouse’s grandparents, looks or feels out of place at a chain restaurant.”

Grocery prices in November were up 1.9% from a year ago, according to a report from the Labor Department Thursday. Overall inflation dipped to 2.7%, from 3% in September.

Lifestyle

New Video Shows Plane Carrying NASCAR’s Greg Biffle Exploding

Published

5 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Press Room

New Video Shows Plane Carrying NASCAR’s Greg Biffle Exploding

NASCAR’s Gregg Biffle
Jet Turns Into Ball Of Flames …
Shocking Video Shows

Published
December 19, 2025
5:49 AM PST

Brevin Renwick

Horrifying new video shows the precise moment a plane carrying NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his family crashed and exploded in flames Thursday, killing everyone on board.

Security footage captured the corporate jet turning into a ball of fire as it crash-landed near a runway at Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina. The aircraft was scheduled to fly to Florida, but not long after takeoff, it turned back to the airport before crashing.

As you can see from the clip, the plane was reduced to what looks like a burning oil slick with black smoke rising into the sky. All seven people on the plane died, including Biffle, his wife, Cristina and two children — Emma, 14, and Ryder, 5.

PEOPLE reported minutes before impact, Cristina sent her mom a chilling text, stating, “We’re in trouble.”

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the cause of the crash.

Lifestyle

President Trump to add his own name to the Kennedy Center

Published

17 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

President Trump to add his own name to the Kennedy Center

President Donald Trump stands in the presidential box as he visits the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C, on March 17, 2025.

Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

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Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will now have a new name — the “Trump-Kennedy Center.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the news on social media Thursday, saying that the board of the center voted unanimously for the change, “Because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building.”

Shortly after the announcement, Ohio Democrat Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex-officio member of the board, refuted the claim that it was a unanimous vote. “Each time I tried to speak, I was muted,” she said in a video posted to social media. “Participants were not allowed to voice their concern.”

When asked about the call, Roma Daravi, vice president of public relations at the Kennedy Center, sent a statement reiterating the vote was unanimous: “The new Trump Kennedy Center reflects the unequivocal bipartisan support for America’s cultural center for generations to come.”

Other Democrats in Congress who are ex-officio members of the Kennedy Center Board, including Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries issued a statement stating that the president is renaming the institution “without legal authority.”

“Federal law established the Center as a memorial to President Kennedy and prohibits changing its name without Congressional action,” the statement reads.

Leadership of the Kennedy Center is being investigated by Democrats.

From left, Shannon Tweed Simmons, 2025 Kennedy Center Honoree and member of rock band KISS Gene Simmons, Gigi Criss, 2025 Kennedy Center Honoree and member of rock band KISS Peter Criss, Erin Stanley and 2025 Kennedy Center Honoree and member of rock band KISS Paul Stanley pose on the red carpet for the 48th Kennedy Center Honors at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Earlier this year, Trump installed himself as the chairman of the center, firing former president Deborah Rutter and ousting the previous board chair David Rubenstein, along with board members appointed by President Biden. He then appointed a new board, including second lady Usha Vance, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Fox News host Laura Ingraham and more.

The Kennedy Center in a photo taken along the Potomac River in an undated photo.

Trump hinted at the name change earlier this month, when he took questions before becoming the first president to host the Kennedy Center Honors. He deferred to the board when asked directly about changing the name but said “we are saving the Kennedy Center.”

President Donald Trump talks to the media in the Hall of Nations during a tour at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after leading a board meeting on March 17, 2025.

The president was mostly hands off with the Kennedy Center during his first term, as most presidents have been. But he’s taking a special interest in it in his second term, touring the center and promising to weed out programming he doesn’t approve of. His “One Big Beautiful Bill” included $257 million for the building’s repairs and maintenance.

Originally, it was called The National Cultural Center. In 1964, two months after President Kennedy was assassinated, President Lyndon Johnson signed legislation authorizing funds to build what would become the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.