New at Disneyland in 2024: Red Panda Mei, Fantasmic changes, and much more
Disneyland has announced its 2024 lineup of special events and provided more details on its upcoming additions, from Pixar Fest to “Fantasmic!”
Disneyland’s Jam-Packed 2024
What’s new at Disneyland in 2024? Here are a few highlights announced today:
- Red Panda Mei and 4*Town from “Turning Red” will star in a new parade
- Wade and Ember from “Elemental” will make their Disneyland Resort debut
- “Fantasmic!” will reinstate the formerly removed “Peter Pan” scene
- Halloween Time will start earlier than ever in 2024
We’ll get into all of it below, plus take a look at previously announced projects like Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and Pixar Place Hotel. Along the way, we’ll embed our videos from previous years’ offerings to help you plan your visit and know what to expect (though some offerings may be different in 2024).
Disneyland After Dark: January through June (Select Nights)
Disneyland After Dark will return in 2024. These separately-ticketed events take place after hours at Disneyland Park. Activities include rides with short waits, rare characters, and special fireworks.
2024’s Disneyland After Dark parties will feature four different themes across select nights January through June. Disney will announce themes and dates later.
2023’s Disneyland After Dark themes were “Sweethearts’ Nite,” “Princess Nite,” “Throwback Nite,” “Star Wars Nite,” and Disneyland’s first-ever “Pride Nite.” Last year’s tickets were priced at $130 to $170, depending on the date.
Lunar New Year: Jan. 23 – Feb. 18, 2024
Disney California Adventure will celebrate Lunar New Year with traditions from China, Vietnam, and Korea. The festival will feature food and entertainment from Jan. 23 – Feb. 18, 2024.
“Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession” will return to the park’s streets, featuring Mulan and Mushu.
The park typically features a character greeting with a Disney star representing the year’s zodiac symbol. For example, during 2023’s festival, honoring the year of the rabbit, guests could meet Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Ortensia. 2024 is year of the dragon.
Celebrate Gospel: Feb. 17 & 24, 2024
Celebrate Gospel will bring Gospel musicians to Fantasyland Theatre at Disneyland Park. The returning event features recording artists, as well as choirs from the Southern California community.
Marvin Sapp will headline performances on Feb. 17, 2024. Tasha Cobbs Leonard will appear on Feb. 24, 2024.
Pixar Place Hotel: Opening Jan. 30, 2024
Over the past few months, Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel has gradually transformed into Pixar Place Hotel. As previously announced, the overhaul will be complete Jan. 30, 2024, at which time the hotel will officially be known by its new moniker.
Some new additions are already open, including a “Finding Nemo”-themed water play area.
The rooms across the hotel’s 15 floors sport a color palette inspired by the bouncy ball from Pixar’s “Luxo Jr.” short film. Wall décor features conceptual artwork that Pixar filmmakers created during pre-production of various films to inform the look of their movie.
Disney just released a new piece of concept art (below) depicting the hotel’s lobby. While mostly identical to previously released artwork, the new version shows Woody and Bo Peep greeting guests in person.
Anaheim Duck Days: Feb. 22-23, 2024
Disney California Adventure will again host Anaheim Duck Days on Feb. 22-23, 2024.
The park’s Hollywood Land area will be headquarters for a celebration of the Anaheim Ducks Hockey Club. Festivities will include a cavalcade, photo opportunities, and appearances by current and former athletes.
Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival: Mar. 1 – Apr. 22, 2024
Guests can enjoy specialty cuisine during the return of Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival from Mar. 1 – Apr. 22, 2024.
Exclusively during Food & Wine, the park’s Soarin’ Around the World attraction will revert to Soarin’ Over California, its original version.
Season of the Force: Apr. 5 – June 2, 2024
Season of the Force will celebrate all things “Star Wars” at Disneyland Park from Apr. 5 – June 2, 2024. The returning event will have new additions and familiar favorites this year.
Guests will fly to new locations onboard Star Tours – The Adventures Continue. Imagineers teased this news last spring, and revealed the new stories will involve Ahsoka in September.
Now we have an opening date, at least for Disneyland’s version. Disney is also updating Star Tours – The Adventures Continue at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disneyland Paris, but has not announced an opening date for those park’s changes.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will receive new nighttime magic. Disneyland’s fireworks launch nearby, but typically Galaxy’s Edge doesn’t play the fireworks music (video below), so as to preserve its story integrity.
During Season of the Force, Galaxy’s Edge will feature “galactic music sweeping through the spires.” Disney’s language is careful not to outright call it a “Star Wars” nighttime spectacular. Presumably, guests watching from other park areas will experience programming as usual (which, beginning Apr. 26, 2024, will be Pixar-themed).
Disney’s press release phrased these new offerings as “debuting during the celebration.” This phrasing implies the new Star Tours missions and the fireworks music in Galaxy’s Edge could stick around after Season of the Force 2024 concludes.
Also as part of Season of the Force, Space Mountain will again transform into Hyperspace Mountain. The “Star Wars”-themed overlay adds classic characters and John Williams’ score into the Disneyland coaster.
Pixar Fest: Apr. 26 – Aug. 4, 2024
Just announced for 2024, Disneyland Resort will host Pixar Fest for the first time in six years. The previous Pixar Fest at the resort in 2018 celebrated the opening of Pixar Pier (an at-home version of Pixar Fest followed in 2020 and 2021).
This season’s festivities will extend to both Disneyland Resort theme parks and Downtown Disney with Pixar-themed food, merchandise, and entertainment.
Disney California Adventure will also debut “Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration!,” a new parade. Concept art shows a float with characters from “Turning Red”: Mei (in her red panda form); Mei’s friends Miriam, Priya, and Abby; and all five members of 4*Town (Mei’s favorite boy band).
Mei first appeared at Shanghai Disneyland earlier this year. “Better Together” will mark her first appearance in a U.S. Disney park, though 4*Town already performed stateside for runners during a runDisney race at Epcot.
“Better Together” replaces the former “Pixar Play Parade.” That production first debuted in 2008. A short-lived, updated version was a centerpiece of 2018’s Pixar Fest. Since then, Pixar’s filmography has expanded with “Toy Story 4,” “Onward,” “Soul,” “Luca,” “Turning Red,” “Lightyear,” and “Elemental.”
Concept art for another unit in the “Better Together” parade depicts the Luxo lamp Pixar mascot covered in stickers. Though the float itself is recycled from “Pixar Play Parade,” the stickers are new.
Zooming in, the stickers represent: A door from “Monsters, Inc.,” a unicorn from “Inside Out,” 4*Town from “Turning Red,” instruments from “Soul,” Carl’s house from “Up,” Giulia’s bicycle from “Luca,” the Piston Cup from “Cars,” Machiavelli the cat from “Luca,” cowboy/astronaut insignia from “Toy Story,” memory balls from “Inside Out,” a skull from “Coco,” and a superhero mask from “The Incredibles.” Two other stickers are more ambiguous: A pink swirl and a magenta heart.
Next door at Disneyland Park, “Together Forever — A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular” will return with new scenes for Pixar Fest 2024. Photos in Disney’s press release show the “Coco” and “Up” sequences remaining. The 2018 version also featured Buzz Lightyear flying over Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Disney said Pixar Fest 2024 will also provide guests with opportunities to “encounter” new characters: Mei from “Turning Red,” plus Ember and Wade from “Elemental.” Whether this indicates traditional meet & greets, distanced sightings, or something else remains unannounced.
Ember and Wade appeared as walk-around characters at the world premiere of “Elemental” in June 2023. They have yet to appear in a Disney park.
“Fantasmic!”: Returning May 24, 2024
“Fantasmic!” will again grace the Rivers of America at Disneyland Park beginning May 24, 2024, as revealed last month. The nighttime spectacular has been closed since April 2023, when the show’s Maleficent dragon caught fire during a performance. In July, Disney announced “Fantasmic!” would remain closed until next spring, at which time it will return, sans dragon.
Echoing similar language from July, today’s press release stated the updated “Fantasmic!” will feature “a thrilling new battle scene between Sorcerer Mickey and Maleficent.” The mistress of all evil, as Maleficent is known, appears in the film “Sleeping Beauty” as both a fairy and a dragon.
Just announced, upon its 2024 debut, “Fantasmic!” will reinstate the formerly removed “Peter Pan” scene. The action sequence between Peter Pan and Captain Hook took place on the park’s Sailing Ship Columbia vessel and was part of the original 1992 version of the show. When Disney updated “Fantasmic!” in 2017, Pan and Hook were replaced with a “Pirates of the Caribbean” scene that employed similarly swashbuckling stunts.
It’s worth noting that these changes apply to “Fantasmic!” at Disneyland, not Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Disney updated the latter with Elsa, Moana, and more characters in 2022. The Florida version, which never featured a full-size dragon figure to begin with, is not expected to receive additional changes as Disneyland’s undergoes its refurbishment.
Halloween Time: Aug. 23 – Oct. 31, 2024
Disneyland Resort will get spooky earlier than ever in 2024. Halloween Time will kick off Aug. 23, 2024, a full week prior to when 2023’s season began. The tricks and treats will continue through Oct. 31, 2024.
Oogie Boogie Bash — A Disney Halloween Party will also return to Disney California Adventure in 2024. The after-hours event features exclusive appearances by rare villains. Disney has not yet announced Oogie Boogie Bash 2024 dates or next year’s villain line-up.
Though more details will be announced later, photos attached in Disney’s press release seemingly confirmed the return of both Haul-O-Ween in Cars Land, as well as the Halloween Screams nighttime show at Disneyland Park.
Plaza de la Familia: Aug. 31 – Nov. 2, 2024
Disney California Adventure will again celebrate Dia de Muertos from Aug. 31 – Nov. 2, 2024. During the festivities, DCA’s Paradise Gardens Park area will transform into Plaza de la Familia. There, guests can experience cuisine, crafts, and entertainment inspired by “Coco.”
Holidays at Disneyland Resort: Beginning Nov. 15, 2024
The holiday season will commence at Disneyland Resort starting Nov. 15, 2024. Disney did not announce an end date.
Short of specifically confirming Haunted Mansion Holiday or “it’s a small world holiday,” Disney said 2024’s holiday season will again feature “seasonal overlays on beloved attractions.”
Disney Festival of Holidays will return to Disney California Adventure in 2024. The event introduces guests to holiday traditions and cuisine from around the world.
Photos in Disney’s press release also show the return of icicle lights on Sleeping Beauty Castle (a casualty suffered in recent years by Walt Disney World’s Cinderella Castle), as well as the “Mickey’s Happy Holidays” cavalcade at Disney California Adventure.
More details about Disneyland Resort’s holiday season 2024 will be announced later.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure: Opening in 2024 (Date TBD)
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will open at Disneyland Park sometime in 2024. Disney has not specified an exact opening date or season. The ride, which replaces Splash Mountain, will take guests on a journey with familiar friends like Tiana and Louis, as well as new characters.
Taking place after the events of “The Princess and the Frog,” the ride’s story involves guests making their way to a Mardi Gras party. The attraction will feature new Audio-Animatronics figures and new music.
Downtown Disney Re-Imagining Continues in 2024
Downtown Disney District continues its multi-phase re-imagining. In summer 2023, it welcomed three new dining locations: Jazz Kitchen Coastal Grill & Patio, Beignets Expressed, and Clyde’s Hot Chicken.
A new entertainment space known as Downtown Disney Live! opened last month featuring a tower designed by artist Nikkolas Smith and inspired by the work of iconic Black architects. Smith previously created Downtown Disney’s “King Chad” mural honoring the late Chadwick Boseman.
In October, Disney revealed more eateries in Downtown Disney’s future: Seoul Sister, Sip & Sonder, and GG’s Chicken Shop. They’ll be part of a new structure called Parkside Market. The previously announced Porto’s Bakery and Café is also on the way.
Today, Disney confirmed a 2024 opening year for two upcoming Downtown Disney restaurants. Paseo and Céntrico (below left) will serve Mexican dishes from Chef Carlos Gaytán. Din Tai Fung (below right) will serve Chinese dishes like soup dumplings and noodles.
