Disneyland's 70th anniversary celebration has kicked off, bringing several special offerings to the resort! While we really love the majority of the fun new additions and fan-favorite returning entertainment featured in the celebration, one element did not quite work for us.
However, we just learned that this one bad part of the celebration was already removed only a week after it debuted, and we're honestly kind of relieved by this decision! See the details below…
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Disneyland 70th Anniversary Element Removed
While there are several parts of the 70th anniversary celebration that really blew us away, there was unfortunately one “worst” element that really fell short—the music loop in the esplanade between the two parks. This music was designed to go with the new 70th anniversary esplanade sculpture inspired by Sleeping Beauty Castle. This was a very slow-paced, music-box-like loop that really dragged down the energy of the space. The esplanade music is supposed to really pump you up for a day in the parks, and this did not do that at all.
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In Mickey Visit founder Gavin's review of all the Disneyland 70th anniversary offerings at the resort, he rated this as the worst addition out of all of the 70th anniversary offerings. Other than this one element, however, there are plenty of things that are very successful about the celebration, including some smaller offerings that are surprisingly major highlights! The return of fan-favorite entertainment like Paint the Night and Wondrous Journeys is of course a highlight, but beyond this, we are really impressed by some of the new offerings including a new Mary Blair-inspired projection show at “it's a small world,” a fun “Key to Disneyland” scavenger hunt engaging with all nine lands of the park, and more.
The esplanade music loop was really the only thing that was sticking out, and now a new video by RyanTheme Park on X shows that it has been removed. The video shows “Grim Grinning Ghosts” playing, but we're not sure what the full music loop is, and if there will be any new updated loop for the 70th anniversary celebration.
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The previous esplanade loops have traditionally always been pretty upbeat, tapping into nostalgia and some of Disney's most iconic soundtracks. The recent Disney100 loop is a great example of what this music is supposed to accomplish. All of the music featured makes you excited for a day at the parks and is fun to listen to, whether you're walking through the esplanade or just listening from home. We're wondering if there will be a new loop like that here, as we had hoped there would be in the first place. The esplanade music is so crucial in establishing the tone heading into a day at the parks, so it is definitely something that deserves an appropriate amount of consideration.
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We were there last night and it’s still playing. Possibly it’s time based or just part of the rotation now, it was around 11 pm as we were leaving. We noticed it specifically because we were discussing how it was going to put us to sleep as we were about to be driving home.
Huh! That is good to know and actually what I had said in our initial article. If it is an end of day loop now, that’s perfect.
Good to know the music box loop has been removed, at least during the day. It was a cute idea, given the 70th display, but definitely not fully considered.