What’s New & Next in 2022 for Disneyland Paris 30th Anniversary

A lot is happening for the Disneyland Paris 30th Anniversary Celebration. If you’re planning a trip to Disney’s two theme parks in France, this update covers what’s new, coming soon, and next for 2022 and beyond in terms of new rides, shows, special events, and even hotels! (Updated November 20, 2021.)

Of course, the next big thing is the multi-year $2.5 Billion Disneyland Paris Expansion: Adding Star Wars, Frozen & Marvel Lands (a couple of updates on that are below, but you’ll mostly want to consult that post to see everything slated to happen). That expansion will mostly take place in Walt Disney Studios Park, reimagining that park and debuting in phases between 2022 and 2024, just in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.

Before we get started, it’s worth noting that this post only covers new and changing things at Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios Park. If you want something comprehensive, consult our 2022 Disneyland Paris Vacation Planning Guide. That’s over 6,000 words offering a crash course in the basics of trip prep, including everything from getting around Paris to food to touring strategy and so much more!

The point of this post isn’t really to answer the question of whether you should visit Disneyland Paris now or wait. Many of you reading this are Europeans who view DLP as your “home” resort or are already planning a trip to France and are debating whether to include Disneyland Paris. In all of those cases, go now.

If you’re a long-time Disney fan based outside of Europe who has Disneyland Paris on your bucket list and a very flexible time frame for visiting, we’d recommend waiting if this will be a once in a lifetime trip. Walt Disney Studios Park will be light years better in 2023-2024 than it is today. Even then, that advice is questionable, as a lot of what’s featured in the Walt Disney Studios Park overhaul will be clones of what exists (or will exist) at Walt Disney World and Disneyland.

During the Destination D23 event at Walt Disney World, Disney Parks Experiences and Products President Josh D’Amaro showed a first look at the Disneyland Paris 30th Anniversary celebration and unveiled news on the highly anticipated opening of Avengers Campus in Walt Disney Studios Park.

Here’s what’s new, next in 2022, and on the more distant horizon at Disneyland Paris…

Disneyland Paris 30th Anniversary

The celebrations for the 30th Anniversary of Disneyland Paris will begin on March 6, 2022. To mark this historic milestone and continue to inspire and delight guests, creative teams are hard at work to prepare for the festivities.

During the special presentation, Disney shared a first look at how Main Street, U.S.A. and the Disney characters will be decked out for the celebration. (Above is a sneak peek at Mickey Mouse’s anniversary outfit.)

Disneyland Paris’ newly refurbished Sleeping Beauty Castle will serve as an incredible backdrop for a new limited time show in the Hub.

In addition, Disneyland Paris will bring back some fan favorite classic shows and parades, such as “Disney Stars on Parade” and “Disney Illuminations,” just in time for the 30th anniversary festivities.

New Attractions & Lands at Walt Disney Studios Park

Avengers Campus – Walt Disney Studios Park will be home to a new Marvel-themed area called Avengers Campus, which will differ slightly from the versions also being built in Hong Kong and California. Avengers Campus will debut at Walt Disney Studios Park in Summer 2022.

This new Marvel Land will feature the reimagined Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, featuring Iron Man and Avengers. Alongside that, the Worldwide Engineering Brigade or WEB interactive Spider-Man attraction will debut in Summer 2022. Avengers Campus promises to immerse guests in action-packed adventures via attractions, heroic encounters, and new restaurants.

Frozen Land – The Frozen fun continues in the coming years with a new themed area dedicated to this beloved story, which is part of the multi-year expansion of the Walt Disney Studios Park. An opening date has not yet been announced for this Frozen Land, but we’re expecting it to debut in 2023 or 2024.

As part of the fully immersive land and seen in the new concept art above, guests will see the snow-capped mountain of Arendelle in the distance opposite a large lake, with a boat ride that will transport them to Arendelle. The area will also include character encounters, a new restaurant, and a shop.

Reimagined Resorts

Disneyland Hotel – The iconic Disneyland Hotel is currently closed for an ambitious transformation at Disneyland Paris, as it will celebrate a royal theme inspired by Disney princesses. In addition to the room reimagining, the layout of the hotel’s public spaces and equipment in the rooms will also be enhanced. Guests will benefit from a larger pool area, an expanded spa, and updated restaurants & lounges. The totality of which is aimed at earning Disneyland Hotel a five-star rating.

This complete refurbishment is the next step in an ambitious renovation plan for all Disneyland Paris hotels spanning years and more than 5,700 rooms. The ambitious transformation plan demonstrates Disneyland Paris’s ongoing commitment to continually invest in the guest experience and improving the resort ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Disney’s Hotel New York – The Art of Marvel – This reimagined hotel is now open at Disneyland Paris. Disney’s Hotel New York – The Art of Marvel celebrates 80 years of Marvel storytelling in a typical New York setting, with a contemporary Art Deco style.

The hotel is inspired by a New York art gallery, paying tribute to the city that is home to many iconic Marvel characters and the artists who created them. When Disney’s Hotel New York – The Art of Marvel reopens next summer, it will be the first hotel dedicated entirely to the celebration of Marvel art, with one of the largest publicly viewable collections of Marvel artwork in the world.

Disneyland Paris collaborated with over 50 artists from Marvel Comics and Studios to create 300+ pieces of artwork, including comic book covers, posters, illustrations from films, storyboards, original sketches and more for Disney’s Hotel New York – The Art of Marvel.

As you might know, Hotel New York has been completely closed during this reimagining, which will introduced entirely redesigned guest rooms with a contemporary vibe, featuring Marvel artwork in each room and a subtle nod to the legendary Iron Man in all Empire State Club rooms. Suites will be themed to specific characters, like Avengers and Spider-Man.

Disney’s Hotel New York – The Art of Marvel is the first hotel where guests can have heroic encounters with iconic Marvel super heroes in a special location called Super Hero Station. In addition to morning meet & greets, guests can there will be unique Marvel photo locations such as the Collector’s Collection from the Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor’s hammer, and more.

While this isn’t our preferred route for the resort’s reimagining, the underlying Art Deco style looks nice, and the artwork appears tastefully integrated into the design. Plus, the previous “Big Apple” incarnation of Hotel New York was woefully dated and tired, and it desperately needed something.

Another new-ish development includes the reimagined Newport Bay Club Hotel, which we recently stayed at and reviewed.

New and expanded seasonal events have also been big, as these have acted as a stop-gap prior to the opening of the new expansions.

Recently Added

Mickey’s Dazzling Christmas Parade – Disneyland Paris teams secretly developed this new parade over the past several years and have debuted it for Christmas 2021! Mickey’s Dazzling Christmas Parade is composed of five gigantic floats, featuring Mickey & Friends, Disney Princesses, Santa Claus & Tinker Bell, and more characters.

Each of these floats in Mickey’s Dazzling Christmas Parade represents an idyllic Christmas scene with traditional decorations and parade performers will be dressed in luminous costumes specially designed for the occasion. (If you miss it this year, expect to see Mickey’s Dazzling Christmas Parade in 2022 and 2023, too.)

Frozen: A Musical Invitation – This new interactive adventure transports guests to the Kingdom of Arendelle within the Animation Celebration in Walt Disney Studios Park.

During Frozen: A Musical Invitation, guests interact with their favorite characters over multiple stages. In the first room, guests sing and learn to dance with Anna, Kristoff, and Sven. In the second room, guests will step into the ice palace and sing in unison the key song Let It Go with Elsa.

Studio D  – Another addition to Walt Disney Studios Park is Studio D. Here, children and their families are welcomed at a brand-new interactive show in the company of Mickey, Minnie and their friends from Disney Junior.

Studio D is a small-scale production–like a dance party for small children, who will have the chance to sing and dance alongside their favorite Disney characters.

Over at Disneyland Paris, the latest undertaking is Project Sparkle, which was a resort-wide enhancement project meant to bring the parks back to Disney standards.

This occurred a few years ago alongside the Walt Disney Company’s purchase of all outstanding shares in Disneyland Paris, making the company full owners and operators. The latter is one of the big impetuses behind the aforementioned $2.5 billion investment.

Project Sparkle brought about extended refurbishments and enhancements to Phantom Manor, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Star Tours, Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain, ‘it’s a small world’, and more.

Overall, there’s a lot on the horizon for Walt Disney Studios Park and Disneyland Paris. In the near future, there’s a slew of seasonal events intended to tide guests over until the big things start debuting between 2022 and 2024. As noted above, (parts of) Avengers Campus will be first to debut, and that’s expected to be followed by the Frozen Land, and finally, a version of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. It’ll be interesting to watch Disney’s resort complex in France continue to grow and evolve, and we’re excited about its future!

For the basics of planning a visit to Disneyland Paris, check out our Disneyland Paris Trip Planning Guide. Want to see more photos or read about Disneyland Paris in agonizing detail? Check out our Disneyland Paris 20th Anniversary Trip Report or our Disneyland Paris 25th Anniversary Trip Recap!

YOUR THOUGHTS

Excited for the upcoming additions and seasonal events at Disneyland Paris in 2022? What are your thoughts on this huge Disneyland Paris expansion? Are you looking forward to visiting Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios Park once this is finished, or would you rather stick to other Disney Parks? Anything with which you disagree in this post? Any questions? Hearing your feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts or questions below in the comments!