Disneyland News: Sold Out 2021 Tickets, 2022 Festivals, Small World Repaired by…the World

It’s time for a Disneyland Resort report! In this roundup of recent news from the California parks, we’ll cover the latest on park ticket and reservation availability for December 2021 and early 2022, DCA festivals returning next year, the lack of Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, and more.

Let’s start with some good news: “it’s a small world” is expected to reopen next week! This seasonal ride overlay was supposed to debut with the start of Christmas on November 12, but during the process of refilling the boat ride’s flume with water, flooding occurred and impacted machinery. During our time in the parks the first two weeks of the holiday season, we saw maintenance workers at all hours of the day and night, and have heard non-stop pumping sounds around “it’s a small world.”

Once the water level drained from the flooded attraction, maintenance teams from 20 different Disneyland departments got to work embarking on a multi-month project in the span of only a few weeks. They started by using an industrial-grade dehumidifier to remove moisture from the maintenance room as fast as possible. After assessing the damage, crews figured out what could be salvaged and what needed to be replaced. Then the race was on to find replacement parts…

Fortunately, “it’s a small world” is one of Disney’s most iconic attractions and has been cloned in almost all of the international parks. In an interview with the OC Register, project manager Joelle Medina and ride systems manager Jason Tomlin said they started reaching out to other parks, inquiring “do you guys have this part and can you have it here by tomorrow?”

That worked. Thanks to a worldwide effort assisted by Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, and Walt Disney World–in a way, proving the attraction’s own thesis–parts were overnighted to Anaheim to get “it’s a small world” holiday up and running at Disneyland.

During the past three weeks, the project team has held daily meetings seven days a week at 7:30 a.m. to assess progress and plan the next steps. All told, more than 75 Disneyland employees worked on the Small World repair project, while contending with park guests during the day and filming of Thanksgiving and Christmas specials after hours.

“It literally takes a village and we’ve had to talk to almost everyone in that village in such a short amount of time.” Tomlin told the OC Register. “That’s the exclamation mark on all of this: The scale of what we’ve done in such a short amount of time that’s involved so many people.”

“Small World equals Christmas at Disneyland,” Tomlin said. “That theme really brought the team together towards the common goal.” Melina added that Small World is “just one of those attractions that it doesn’t feel quite like Christmas time if it’s not working and guests can’t enjoy it.”

Amidst a sea of stories suggesting that Disney doesn’t care as much about guest satisfaction, this is a breath of fresh air. It underscores that there are people working in the parks who really do care. When given the resources, these teams can come together with creative solutions to get things done. If only those in the c-suite “got out of the way” more to enable this type of on-the-ground action.

There’s still no official start date for “it’s a small world” holiday, but if Disneyland allowed that to be published, our guess is that the problems have already been fully fixed and it’s happening soon. Optimistically, “next week” might actually mean a “surprise” reopening this weekend.

Now here’s hoping that the end date gets extended–holidays is a fairly nebulous term, and there’s no reason it has to end in early January 2022!

If you’re hoping to see “it’s a small world” holiday and don’t already have park tickets or reservations, an extension might be your only chance.

Park tickets are now sold out for the rest of December 2021. This is for both the single park and hopper option.

It’s even worse if you’re a Magic Keyholder. On that side of the reservation calendar, there’s nothing at all until DCA opens up on January 10, 2022. The first available weekend at this point is February 19, 2022.

Obviously, this is not good–as covered in Another Magic Key Sells Out. Here’s hoping Disneyland is able to continue scaling up operations to get closer to 100% capacity so more reservations can be released.

Next, Disneyland has announced that Lunar New Year will return to Disney California Adventure from January 21 through February 13, 2022. This event celebrates traditions of Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese cultures. The festival is filled with multicultural performances, special activities, culinary delights, beautiful décor, celebratory merchandise, and more!

In 2022, we will be celebrating the Year of the Tiger. Naturally, that means Tigger will be highlighted during Lunar New Year Celebrations. Unfortunately, the U.S. parks still don’t have Chandu, so that’s the best we’re going to get!

Other characters who will appear during the event include Mulan and Mushu, Mickey and Minnie, the Three Little Pigs, and more–all donning their festive attire.

Raya from Walt Disney Animation Studios’ film, Raya and the Last Dragon will be appearing for the very first time at Disneyland Resort during the 2022 Lunar New Year celebration. You’ll be able to see Raya in a setting inspired by her native Kumandra, recreated in the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail.

“Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession” will also return during the 2022 Lunar New Year celebration. This bright and bold performance hosted by Mulan and Mushu will feature dozens of parade performers as they honor family, friendship, and the potential for a fortune-filled new year. Live musical entertainment will also be enjoyed at the Paradise Garden Bandstand, the Lucky Wishing Wall, craft activities, and other traditions will also be enjoyed at the 2022 Lunar New Year celebration.

The Sip and Savor Pass will also be back, allowing you to taste your way through the four Lunar New Year marketplaces, all featuring Asian cuisine. Additionally, there will be special Lunar New Year-inspired food and beverage offerings at select dining locations throughout the park.

Following that, the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival will return March 4 to April 26, 2022. At the DCA Food & Wine Festival, guests will be able to explore California regions and neighborhoods in a number of ways, including food, fun entertainment, event merchandise, and more.

During the 2022 DCA Food & Wine Festival, there will be a dozen marketplaces that offer an assortment of bites and beverages for every palate. As with every other event, there will also be the option to purchase a Sip and Savor Pass to enjoy the unique marketplace offerings.

Complimentary culinary demonstrations with local, celebrity, and Disneyland Resort chefs will return for the whole family to enjoy on Saturdays and Sundays during the 2022 Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival. For those looking to enhance their festival experience, special signature events will also be available to book and purchase, including the Carthay Circle Winemaker Receptions, plus Wine, Beer and Mixology Education & Tasting Seminars.

Entertainment will fill the festival’s stages, with live musical performances at the Palisades Stage and Paradise Gardens Bandstand, visits with Chef Goofy and friends, and craft activities.

We are once again way beyond on Disneyland content with Genie+ and everything happening at Walt Disney World, but it’s worth noting that we did do DCA’s Festival of the Holidays. At this point, there’s absolutely no chance I’ll get food reviews from that done this year, so I’ll just defer to Guy Selga over at TouringPlans. We did the event with him and agree on 100% of those takes.

One thing I’ll add is that the lines were usually excruciating–first to pay and then to pick up the food–to the point that I wouldn’t buy a Sip & Savor pass again until Disneyland gets its act together with dining efficiency. This is still a worse problem at Disneyland than Walt Disney World, although one we’ve managed to mostly work around. Staying at a nearby hotel with a robust breakfast spread definitely helps, as you can then eat at off hours.

Pacific Wharf Cafe and Paradise Garden Grill continue to serve up the highlights of the event. If not doing this “for the sake of research,” I’d just get the Hot Cocoa Marshmallow Macaron from the booths and the rest of my meal from those restaurants and be done with it.

Eating at Paradise Garden Grill offers the added upside of being in the Viva Navidad area of Disney California Adventure. That continues to be one of the best and most underrated things any Disney park is doing to celebrate the holidays–it has big EPCOT Center energy, and is a true gem. It’s really too bad Disneyland Resort hasn’t done more of the “Small World Celebrations” that were promised (anyone else remember “Opa! A Celebration of Greece”? Also awesome.)

Finally, readers keep asking when Genie+ will launch at Disneyland Resort. The simple and straightforward answer is that we don’t know. The last credible rumor I heard put its launch date in the past, so obviously that turned out to be wrong. Throughout this on both coasts, it has been my understanding that the timelines have been an internal struggle, with some wanting to push the product until 2022 because it wasn’t ready. Last week, we saw the “why” of that at Walt Disney World–but even previously, there had been a ton of glitches, errors, and bugs.

My hope is that Disneyland is learning from what’s happening at Walt Disney World, and will do the responsible thing and push the release of Genie+ into January 2022. While attendance will still be high due to Magic Key bookings, the number of tourists will be lower since it’s California’s off-season for travel. That means less demand for Genie+ and in turn, less strain on the system. Much lower stakes of an environment, which will make the test and adjust process better for everyone.

My fear is that Disney will want that sweet, sweet holiday travel season revenue and will push the release of a still-flawed product on Disneyland and it’ll launch like the week before Christmas. Based on reader comments, it would seem this is exactly the outcome many of you traveling to California for Christmas would like, but…are you sure about that?! (We doubt it’ll be as much of a trainwreck as Genie+ at WDW during Thanksgiving week, mostly because Disneyland has more attractions and had MaxPass before. But still.)

Regardless of when it launches, we’ll be testing Genie+ and Lightning Lanes at Disneyland in January 2022. With Christmas approaching, that’s the earliest we can realistically get out to California again and we want to experience Lunar New Year again, so there’s that, too. Assuming the revenue monster prevails and Genie+ is released this month, we’ll track distribution data and return times to come up with hypothetical itineraries and priorities before then. So stay tuned!

Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and tons of other places!

Your Thoughts

What do you think of the ‘sold out’ park tickets and reservations between now and early January 2022? Excited that “it’s a small world” holiday will be fixed in time for Christmas? Hope its run gets extended deeper into the new year? Thoughts on the upcoming DCA festivals? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Thoughts on any other DLR news covered here? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!