Niles: Disneyland celebrates its birthday, but bigger gifts are coming later

Disneyland is celebrating its 70th birthday this year. The year-plus celebration started this month, in May, but this birthday feels a bit like one that comes in mid-December. It’s tempting to overlook this celebration and look forward to all the other presents on the way.

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Disneyland last year got approval from the City of Anaheim for its DisneylandForward proposal to build new attractions and hotels at the resort. Disney followed up with announcements at last summer’s D23 event of multiple new attractions coming to the parks. Disney California Adventure will be getting two new rides in its Avengers Campus land, as well as new boat rides themed to Coco and Avatar. Company officials have promised that those are just the start of the resort’s transformation.

The Paint the Night Parade travels past It’s a Small World at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. Disneyland is celebrating its 70th anniversary from May 16, 2025 through summer 2026.(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

But none of these announced new projects will open until well after the end of the Disneyland Resort 70th Celebration, which is expected to continue through the summer of 2026. So fans will have to wait for those highly anticipated new rides, like kids waiting for Christmas morning.

In the meantime, Disney is offering new and returning entertainment as birthday presents for its fans. The 70th never was going to be a major anniversary milestone for Disneyland, with the 75th looming in five years. But the loss of the 65th due to the pandemic lockdown gives this birthday an extra emotional kick.

Disney has taken advantage of fans’ longing to celebrate the park’s history by bringing back the beloved Paint the Night parade, which debuted for the park’s 60th anniversary Diamond Celebration, 10 years ago. Paint the Night remains a joy, as does the returning “Wondrous Journeys” nighttime spectacular, which honored Disney Animation for the company’s 100th anniversary two years ago.

But I think a better celebration of the park’s history is the new Tapestry of Happiness projection show, which plays twice a night on the façade of It’s a Small World in Fantasyland. It’s a five-minute tribute to the music of Disneyland, portrayed with delightful original animation.

Tapestry of Happiness projection show on It’s a Small World ride at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. Disneyland is celebrating its 70th anniversary from May 16, 2025 through summer 2026.(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Another win for Disneyland is the clever new “safety spiel” video by The Muppets that plays in front of the new World of Color Happiness! show. The Muppets consistently deliver joy without falling into the sappiness that ensnares World of Color at times.

Disneyland does not need birthday specials to fill its theme parks. A world-class line-up of award-winning new attractions and classics does that. But the Disneyland Resort 70th Celebration’s entertainment, new food and merchandise experiences — such as the “Key to Disneyland” — help take some of the pressure off attraction queues by giving more options when they visit. Even as someone who cares more about rides than some of these extras, I appreciate that.

I also join many other Disneyland fans in looking forward to all the new rides — and more — that the company has promised in the years ahead. But that should not keep anyone from enjoying the party that Disneyland is throwing now.

A birthday of a beloved friend always is worth celebrating, no matter what else is on the way.