Full List of Reopening Attractions & Entertainment at Disneyland
Disney has announced the rides, shows, and entertainment that will return when Disneyland and California Adventure reopen, and what will return at a later date. In this post, we’ll run down what’ll be operational and closed, and the reasons for some of the more conspicuous closures.
First, a few added details as there’s been a barrage of news about Disneyland operations. It’s also worth noting that none of these attractions will offer FastPass or MaxPass, both of which are temporarily suspended. Ditto Magic Morning and Extra Magic Hour, which will not be available upon the reopening of the hotels and parks. Instead, both parks will have a consistent 9 am until 7 pm schedule at first.
Additionally, all entertainment that draws large groups–such as parades and nighttime spectaculars–will return at a later date. Character meet & greets will also be temporarily unavailable, replaced with surprise greetings and other physically distanced offerings.
That’s the bad news–the good news is that most attractions will be available at both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. For example, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will reopen at Disneyland, despite some question that its duration might be too long. (You might recall that the attraction was only open for a couple of months at Disneyland pre-closure, and required an infamously hard to score boarding passes.)
Here are the other Disneyland rides and shows that will be available upon the park’s reopening:
- Alice in Wonderland
- Astro Orbitor
- Autopia
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- Casey Jr. Circus Train
- Disneyland Railroad
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant
- Gadget’s Go Coaster
- Haunted Mansion
- Indiana Jones Adventure
- “it’s a small world”
- King Arthur Carrousel
- Mad Tea Party
- Main Street Vehicles
- Mark Twain Riverboat
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
- Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- Pinocchio’s Daring Journey
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
- Snow White’s Enchanted Wish
- Space Mountain
- Splash Mountain
- Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
- Surprise Character Sightings
- Tarzan’s Treehouse
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room
Over at Disney California Adventure, here are the rides and shows that will be available upon the park’s reopening:
- Goofy’s Sky School
- Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: BREAKOUT!
- Incredicoaster
- Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind
- Jessie’s Critter Carousel
- Jumpin’ Jellyfish
- Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters
- Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic
- Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!
- Pixar Pal-A-Round — Non-Swinging
- Pixar Pal-A-Round — Swinging
- Radiator Springs Racers
- Silly Symphony Swings
- Soarin’ Around the World
- Surprise Character Sightings
- The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure
- Toy Story Midway Mania!
- Turtle Talk with Crush
Here are the attractions that are NOT opening at Disneyland:
- Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters
- Chip ’n’ Dale Treehouse
- Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes
- Disneyland Monorail
- Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln
- Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
- Goofy’s Playhouse
- Jungle Cruise
- Matterhorn Bobsleds
- Mickey and the Magical Map (permanently ended)
- Mickey’s House
- Omnibus
- Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer Island
- Sailing Ship Columbia
- Sleeping Beauty Castle Walk-through
- Storybook Land Canal Boats
Here are the attractions that are NOT opening at Disney California Adventure:
- Animation Academy
- Disney Junior Dance Party
- Frozen – Live at the Hyperion (permanently ended)
- Golden Zephyr
- Grizzly River Run
- Red Car Trolley
- Redwood Creek Challenge Trail
The rationale for many of these remaining closed is relatively straightforward: indoor attractions are limited to 15 minutes under California’s theme park reopening rules. That eliminates things longer shows like Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, and is probably the basis for Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage not returning immediately. If not that, the total lack of ventilation would be another.
Then there are other attractions where physical distancing would be difficult, if not impossible. Pretty much any vehicular transportation falls into this category. Storybook Land Canal Boats is particularly noteworthy there, as it would likely end up being one party per boat. That would cause longer lines…and there’s already nowhere for that queue to go.
Then there are the more interesting ones, like Grizzly River Run, which is likely closed because there’s no way to adjust the soakage on that (no one wants a wet mask). Jungle Cruise is almost certainly due to the current reimagining of the attraction–it’s simply more convenient to do that all at once rather than making it a gradual, overnight process. Judging by recent aerial photos showing walls around it, Matterhorn is also down for unannounced refurbishment. Although it never opened previously, Avengers Campus and its Spider-Man ride are both completed–but won’t open until later in 2021 when more normalcy and higher capacity/attendance returns.
Finally, there are the ones that have, in my view, a bad or antiquated explanation for not reopening. Basically, anything that involves touching something–from Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters to all the play areas. Epidemiologists have been saying since spring of last year that touching things is not a significant source of spread. Now even the CDC is finally saying that the risk of infection via fomite transmission route is low, and generally less than 1 in 10,000. That should be the overdue all-clear to stop with so much of this hygiene theater.
All things considered–and how Disneyland also had to work within the parameters of California’s rules–it’s not too shabby of a list. Both parks have some high profile attractions missing, but nothing that will make or break the experience. (Certainly nothing like Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which is missing several shows that constitute several hours of the average guest’s visit.) The lack of atmospheric entertainment, parades, and nighttime spectaculars will be the bigger blows that negatively impact the guest experience. Hopefully some of those can start returning on or around June 15, 2021!
If you’re preparing for a Disneyland trip, check out our other planning posts, including how to save money on Disneyland tickets, our Disney packing tips, tips for booking a hotel (off-site or on-site), where to dine, and a number of other things, check out our comprehensive Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about the reopening ride and show lineup at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure? Are you eager to get back in the parks no matter what’s available, or will you wait until more returns? Any thoughts on how they can compensate for the lack of parades, fireworks, nighttime spectaculars, meet & greets, and more? Will you be attempting to visit Disneyland Resort this summer or fall, or are you waiting until 2022 when things (presumably) are totally normal? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? Any questions we can help you answer? 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!
Hi!
We are planning a family visit mid-september this year – do you think it’s a good call? (weather, crowds, rides)
Also, we were really expecting to go on the submarine from Finding Nemo – do you think it’s possible that they re-open the ride by september?
Thank you!
I was out in L.A. last week for work. Flew into Long Beach and stayed there near convention center. Drove up to the work site and back. I was pleasantly surprised at the more relaxed attitude than what I was expecting. Masks called for in public spaces indoors, but outdoors thankfully was open season. Unfortunately it seems many local businesses were/are closed, possibly for good. The chains were open, such as Hooters, Outback, Chili’s, Yard House. All were quite busy, with 30-60 minute waits. It was obvious that they are struggling with work flow using smaller staff, fewer tables, etc making it difficult to prep and serve food normally.
As an aside, it’s no joke about the container ships piling up in the waters outside the port! Hard to really count with the haze as we were flying in, but it had to be at least 50 of them out there. Drove back though the port on Thursday heading south, over the two big bridges, etc and there was a ton of activity but some berths were empty. I’ve heard the lame excuse about the cove and lack of longshoremen to do the unloading. So it’s once again the unions causing the backlog. Flight out went out over the water and could see the ships staged out there, but again cloud cover made counting them impossible.
Tom,
Did you take the header photo of Space Mountain during the opening morning of Rise of the Resistance? I seem to remember the sunrise being very similar to the one in the photo
I’m kind of surprised the Haunted Mansion is opening. In WDW, I know they turned the stretching room into part of the queue, keeping both doors open. Since the DL stretching room is actually an elevator, they can’t do that. With 6-foot spacing, I can’t see them getting too many guests into the room. Seems like a real bottleneck.
I’ll be interested to see how it works out.
My assumption with Buzz being closed is more about overflow queue for Star Tours and less about the high-touch thing. Star Tours has very little outdoor queue space, and Tomorrowland is too tight to have anywhere else for queues to go.
Thank you, Robert! You are correct, the distance hasn’t changed to the towers. However, there were a series of shops and entertainment options in the space where ESPN Zone/Rainforest are now, a sort of pre-Downtown Disney I guess, that were part of the Disneyland Hotel complex. Me and my one friend from high school who used to go with me to Disneyland until he found out it wouldn’t help his reputation with the ladies to be seen out in public with me used to take the monorail to this spot all the time for a candy store in that area. We liked candy. It might have been just a souvenir store, but it had one of those areas where they had candy in bins that you scooped out and paid for by weight. My one friend thought he was getting a terrific deal if he chose the lightest candy possible, more bang for the buck if you will, so he always got a bag full of circus peanuts, and that tells you way more about him than I’ve already outlined. In fact, I’ve actually talked myself into feeling much better about our dissolved friendship now, since his strategy would’ve been brilliant if circus peanuts were edible. If memory serves there was also a gigantic lake (?) in this area with an arcade that was somehow underwater (?) as well as a cowboy line-dancing bar called Neon Cactus (!) I believe (?). Although that part might’ve been where the pools are now, not sure. No matter, this summer you’ll find me doing an impromptu line dance in Earl of Sandwich for old times’ sake.
@Darren, I think the “Downtown Disney” monrail station (the one that drops you off by the Lego store) actually WAS the old Disneyland Hotel station. They just “rebranded” it as the “Downtown Disney Station”. It does let you off by the Lego store and what used to be the Rainforest Cafe (now the Star Wars Trading Post) but I think its proximity to the hotel, or at least the three main towers where most of the guest rooms are, should be exactly the same as it was before. In other words, nor further away than it was before.
As far as WDW, I think the monorail re-opened when the parks reopened last July, with the exception of the EPCOT line, which made sense because park hopping wasn’t initially allowed.
Hi Tom, 2 questions:
Would you guess that by mid-June, when presumably they’ll open tickets up to non-Californians, park passes would still be available for mid-August?
Where were you when you took that cool shot of the Matterhorn and Monorail?
Thanks!
Tom, can you clarify whether or not Turtle Talk with Crush is OR is not open at California Adventure? It is listed on both. Since it’s an indoor entertainment, I’m thinking it will NOT be open?
Aside from that, I am curious to how much the rates at the Grand Californian Hotel will be hiked and how hard it will be to book once reservations open up. Can you start booking the hotel on April 15th as well when new park tickets/reservations open up?
Thanks!
Ashley
Those seem like decent lists given the governmental/optics constraints. Have you heard anything about when the hotels will start taking non-DVC reservations again?
Matterhorn is now on the listed refurbishments on the official Disneyland calendar, FYI. Stinks, but it’s official now lol.
Don’t know if you talked about this in another article, but any thoughts on the Pickle Corn Dog with a side of peanut butter at Downtown Disney??
The list mostly makes sense, (except Buzz) but includes several personal priorities for our next trip. (DH was bummed we didn’t do Storybook Land Canal Boats on his first trip, I still have never done Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln or the Mark Twain)
I will be keeping an eye on changes.
Turtle talk with crush is listed in both of the opening and closed sections of DCA. Which one is it is it open or closed?
That should be on the open list–sorry for the confusion!
Also, Zephyr being on the closed list is a troll, that thing is never open.
Given Toy Story Midway Mania is reopening, I’m confused about the decision to not open Buzz (assuming it is because it is a “high touch” attraction). Also disappointed to see the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail not reopen – Legoland has had their playgrounds open for months during their various festivals, and playgrounds are open at public parks statewide. Otherwise, about what I expected.
I didn’t even think about Toy Story Mania–good catch! I can’t reconcile that.
Playgrounds are still closed at WDW too, so no surprise there. Disappointing, though.
So glad to see Disneyland opening! As a side note, my two WDW park days last week only included one example of hygiene theatre, and it was glorious. The boat that unloaded in front of us in Living With the Land was speedily boarded by three cast members, eac armed with two damp cloths, who proceed to wipe the boat down as quickly and thoroughly as a pit crew services a race car. It was astonishing – the more so because we’d spent the whole day at Epcot without seeing anything at all being cleaned.
Thankfully, I think the cleaning has decreased *a lot* in the last several months. At this point, they’re just doing it on occasion to say they’re doing it.
Not only is it hygiene cleaning theater, I’m not convinced that what they’re doing has much of an impact on whatever Covid viruses are present.
Is the monorail closed at WDW? I might have missed that. I can get why it would be closed at DLR though, I mean, those things are stuffy as all heck, especially on hot days. I could be skipping happily toward anything and someone just has to whisper, “No A/C,” and all you’d see is a dust trail like in a cartoon after I booked it away from there. I really did like taking the monorail at night, out of the park though. It’s not park-to-hotel transportation at DLR, so I don’t know why other people would take it, but I always liked to end a good run that way. It USED to drop off at the Disneyland Hotel’s doorstep, but now it drops off at the Lego Store, and if that’s your destination, then great (and please buy me the Batmobile set please thank you please). If that’s NOT your destination, then it looks like, much like corn in the human digestive system, you were just in it for the pleasure of the trip.
Not shocked to see submarines on the no-go list either. Talk about stuffy. Yikes. Even in the days before there were invisible things in close quarters that could kill you, I always got a little claustrophobic on that. They should keep the observation deck open.
What! No Matterhorn, that SUCKS! Seriously, that’s one of the main things to do.