Returning in 2024 is a reimagined Pixar Fest, with offerings that will span Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure. The latter will host a brand new daytime parade titled Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration!. Disney has staged a Pixar parade in the past, as the Pixar Play Parade once ran regularly in California Adventure. The latter was retired in 2018, the last time the resort held a Pixar Fest, which was done in conjunction with the opening of Pixar Pier in California Adventure.
As part of Pixar Fest, which is slated to run from April 26 through Aug. 4, Disney will resurrect the fireworks and projection show Together Forever — A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular for Disneyland Park. Disney is promising new scenes for the evening production. For character fans, Disney will be bringing Ember and Wade from this year’s “Elemental,” as well as the red panda Mei from “Turning Red,” into the parks.
Also on the docket for 2024, running from April 5 to June 2, will be the “Star Wars”-themed event Season of the Force, which will bring with it the debut of previously announced new scenes for Star Tours. While Disney has not offered many specifics about the added segments, at a fan event earlier this year in Florida it was revealed that the character of Ahsoka Tano would be included. An exact date for the premiere of the updated scenes has not yet been released, as a spokesperson says they will debut “during the celebration.”
Also as part of Season of the Force, Disneyland will cement Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge as a fireworks viewing destination with the debut of what it describes as “galactic music” during the evening illuminations. The audio of Galaxy’s Edge is largely peripheral — sounds designed to mimic a working, livable city. The fireworks soundtrack will give the land some more traditional theme park-like trappings. Finally, Season of the Force will also see Space Mountain remade into Hyperspace Mountain for the duration of the event.
(Disney)
The next year will be one of transformation for the parks and their surrounding Downtown Disney District. The highlight will be the makeover of Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which will transform the New Orleans Square and Critter Country areas of the park. Splash Mountain closed in May and construction is ongoing on the renovation. Disney, in releasing its 2024 calendar, did not set an opening date window for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, but it’s expected to be in the latter half of 2024.
Previously announced, the reimagining of the Paradise Pier Hotel into the Pixar Place Hotel will open on Jan. 30, and the popular Disneyland nighttime show Fantasmic! will return on May 24. The latter has been shuttered since a Maleficent dragon figure went up in flames this past spring, and Disney has teased a reimagined grand finale. New restaurants are coming to Downtown Disney, including dumpling palace Din Tai Fung and Mexican-focused Paseo and its companion outdoor bar/restaurant area Céntrico. Opening date windows for the eateries have not yet been set.
Concept art for a “Turning Red”-themed float for the new Pixar parade, Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration!, launching in 2024 at Disney California Adventure.
(Artist concept / Disneyland Resort)
The Disneyland Resort has also set dates for a number of returning fan festivals. Lunar New Year at Disney California Adventure Park will run Jan. 23-Feb. 18; the concert-focused Celebrate Gospel will be staged Feb. 17 and Feb. 24 at Disneyland; the Disney California Food & Wine Festival is set for March 1-April 22; the resort-wide Halloween Time begins even earlier next year, launching Aug. 23 and ending on Halloween; the Día de los Muertos celebration Plaza de la Familia at California Adventure is planned for Aug. 23-Nov. 2; and finally, holidays at the resort with begin on Nov. 15.
Disneyland is continuing a pair of specially ticketed nighttime events. Disneyland After Dark is set to return in early 2024, although the resort hasn’t unveiled themes for the events yet, and the popular Halloween event Oogie Boogie Bash, which typically sells out Disney California Adventure, is also coming back. No announcements were made regarding some fan-favorite shows that ran in 2023, including the Disneyland parade Magic Happens and the nighttime Disneyland show Wondrous Journeys. A spokesperson says details regarding a “return of Magic Happens” will be shared at “a later time.”
The announcements come after Disneyland increased prices in October — and also launched a number of money-saving promotions. In October, Disneyland raised single-day admission prices on its most popular days by nearly 9%, while parking fees rose nearly 17% and the cost of using the ride-jumping Genie+ service went up 20%. Parking at the Disneyland Resort starts at $35 per car.
The lowest-priced ticket for a single-day visit on low-demand days at Disneyland and California Adventure has remained at $104 since 2019. The daily ticket for days when demand is highest, which was $179, recently increased to $194, an 8.4% increase. Prices for other tiers rose between 3.9% and 8.9%. A park-hopper add-on is $65, pushing some single day, multipark tickets to as high as $259 on some days.
Concept art for how rooms may look after Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel is transformed into Pixar Place Hotel, set to fully open in January.
(Disneyland Resort)
Disneyland is also currently running a lower-priced ticket offer for Southern California locals. Each resident who pays $225 will receive three one-park-per-day tickets to be used on separate visits from Jan. 2 though June 2. This discount works out to $75 for each admission.
The three-ticket package, good for children or adults, means you can choose to visit Disneyland or Disney California Adventure each time. The $225 offer is valid Monday through Thursday, as those taking advantage of the promotion will be blocked out on Fridays and weekends. A Disneyland spokesperson has clarified that those who wish to visit the theme parks on a Friday or a weekend can do so for $275, or about $92 per day.
The deal cannot be combined with other promotions, but can be mixed and matched with other deals, as Disneyland continues to run its Kids’ Special Ticket Offer which allows children between the ages of 3 and 9 to visit for $50. The latter runs from Jan. 8 through March 10.