Disneyland will “never be completed.” Those were the words of Walt Disney himself, and they surely apply to Disney World too. Disney’s theme parks will continue growing “as long as there is imagination left in the world,” he once said.
The original park in Anaheim, California, is celebrating its 70th anniversary starting next month, and there’s a lot of new rides, experiences and shows on the horizon — both at Disneyland and at its 53-year-old counterpart Disney World in Florida.
From new rides and new lands to huge park expansions, here’s everything new coming to Disney Parks and the Disney Cruise Line in 2025 and beyond.
Disneyland’s 70th birthday celebration
Disneyland is kicking off its 70th anniversary celebration in May.
Kicking off next month is Disneyland’s 70th birthday celebration. The original Disney park opened on July 17, 1955, but the birthday celebration begins two months early, on May 16, and continues for more than a year, running through summer 2026.
“Celebrate happy” is the theme of the anniversary, and Disneyland will have an entirely new theme song surrounding this, performed by the Jonas Brothers.
New events will include a Mickey and Friends cavalcade (including Duffy and ShellieMay); a projection show at It’s a Small World called Tapestry of Happiness (as well as Miguel and Dante being added to the ride!) and a projection show at Carthay Circle; new outfits for Mickey and friends; and the World of Color Happiness show, with a new pre-show starring The Muppets. The new World of Color show will be hosted by Joy from Inside Out, with the other Emotions manifesting movie moments from Pixar and Disney films, including The Incredibles, Turning Red, A Goofy Movie, Encanto and Tangled.
The esplanade between Disneyland and California Adventure will get a 50-foot sculpture of Sleeping Beauty Castle, with more decorations sprinkled throughout Downtown Disney and Main Street USA, as well as inside Disney’s hotels. There will even be 70th anniversary decor included in the Toy Story Midway Mania ride.
Concept art of the overhauled version of Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, which will have two different colored lasers in each ride vehicle.
Over in Disney World’s Magic Kingdom park, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin will close in August for a total overhaul. Announced March 26, the Tomorrowland attraction will get new ride vehicles with video monitors.
It’s also getting a new scene at the start starring new character Buddy the friendly robot. Each star cruiser will have two handheld blasters with always-on lasers that come in two different colors so you can see which laser is yours. The static Z targets will also now “react and light up when hit.”
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin will reopen sometime in 2026.
Avengers Campus is getting two more rides
The new Cars rally race ride.
The Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom are being repurposed to add an area themed around Pixar’s Cars movies. This expansion of Frontierland, which currently encompasses Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, will get a Route 66 companion.
“To make way for this completely new frontier, the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island will be transformed into vast and rugged terrains for a rally race with some of the world’s most iconic racers,” Disney said in a blog post last year.
SXSW this month also saw Pixar Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter and Imagineer Michel Hundgen talk about the new ride vehicle being invested in for the Cars ride. You can watch a TikTok video of Disney Imagineers testing out off-road vehicles in the Arizona desert to create what the ride will feel like.
“These are all things Lightning McQueen and Mater haven’t experienced before, like racing over rocky terrain, ascending to mountain peaks, and dodging around geysers — how do you take these real-world elements and put a Cars spin on it?” Disney Parks says in a blog post. Docter added that each rally car will have its own personality, name and racing number.
Disney last year said there would be a second Cars-themed attraction, too. Cars Land, which was added to Disney’s California Adventure back in 2012, remains popular in the west, so it was only a matter of time before it was added to the east. Work is set to begin this year, though there’s no closing date yet for Tom Sawyer Island or the Liberty Square Riverboat.
Monsters Inc is coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Concept art for the new Coco ride.
Disney’s California Adventure is also getting more Pixar rides.
A Coco attraction will be built in a yet-to-be-announced area of the park, but it sounds like it’ll be a dark ride like Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, populated by Audio-Animatronics.
“The attraction will be filled with the characters — and music! — you know and love from the beloved movie, as you join Miguel on a trip to the land of the dead,” Disney says.
Work begins on the Coco ride in 2026, so its launch is still a while away.
Disney World and Disneyland: Bluey meet and greets
Meet and greets with Bluey and her family will be coming to Disneyland and Disney World, as well as to Disney cruises, starting at an unspecified time in 2025. Disney announced this news after revealing that a Bluey movie will hit screens in 2027.
“Bluey has become a household name for families around the world, and we are thrilled to bring her story to life in new ways,” said Disney Experiences Chair Josh D’Amaro. “We can’t wait to watch our youngest guests and their families make memories with Bluey in our parks and on our cruises.”
The hugely popular Australian TV series about a family of dogs is a worldwide hit, with Disney to release the movie in two years’ time. (In the meantime, you can watch Bluey episodes and minisodes on Disney Plus.)
Disneyland is getting an Avatar area
Disney World’s Magic Kingdom is getting a Villains Land.
Villains Land, which will celebrate all the classic baddies from Disney films, is coming to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World in Florida, and it will be “dark and thorny,” according to the Horizons Disney Experiences Showcase (part of Disney’s D23 expo in August) and info that Disney has released since.
Villains Land was first teased during D23 2022. It’ll be positioned on the other side of Big Thunder Mountain — aka, the top left edge of the current Magic Kingdom map — and will stretch around to where the Haunted Mansion is.
Two major attractions will be built in Villains Land, as well as dining and shopping “on an incredibly twisted grand scale.” The land is already being constructed, but no word yet on when it’ll open.
A chilling trailer for the chaotic land on Instagram hints at elements in the land representing Maleficent, Dr. Facilier, Ursula, Gaston, Yzma, Queen of Hearts, Hades, the Evil Queen, Lady Tremaine, Captain Hook, Jafar, Kaa, Madam Mim, Cruella, Scar, King Magnifico and Mother Gothel.
The Tropical Americas area will replace DinoLand USA and feature an Encanto ride, an Indiana Jones ride and a carousel.
Disney Cruise Line adding four more ships
In addition to the Disney Wish, which launched in July 2022, the Disney Treasure, which set sail in December 2024, and the Disney Destiny, which is set to embark later this year, Disney is adding four more cruise ships to its ocean vacation lineup.
The ship names and destinations have yet to be revealed, but the ships will set sail between 2027 and 2031.
