It’s our last blog of 2025! Can you believe it?! As it’s the last blog of the year, and as realistically I expect a lot of our readers may be idly reading this while full of turkey and chocolate (good on you if that’s the case), we thought we’d celebrate by looking back at what happened in Disneyland Paris in 2025. Yes all eyes may now be on 2026 and the coming of Disney Adventure World, but 2025 isn’t to be overlooked. Let’s dive in, shall we?

Disney Tales of Magic makes its debut

Going way back to January, the new nighttime spectacular in the Disneyland Park made its triumphant debut – Disney Tales of Magic!

While the previous show, Disney Illuminations had been running for a long time (with a few updates along the way), for this show the drones were not part of the main performance – instead they were part of a pre-show, the Disney Electrical Sky Parade. (Which was pretty epic but still). Disney Tales of Magic however incorporates drones, water fountains, castle projections and fireworks all in one show to bring the story to life, and even includes projections on Main Street USA for the first time ever!

It’s safe to say that Disney Tales of Magic is a confirmed hit – it’s a wonderful show that’s also a pain in the butt to watch because of how popular it is. For more information check out our blog with advice on where to watch!

It’s a Small World dolls get an updated look

Back at the end of January the classic ride It’s a Small World closed for a brief period – to give some of the dolls a new look!

Imagineers took advantage of the closure to update the costuming on a number of the dolls, particularly during the ride’s finale scene, giving it a refreshed look.

La Foret Secrete debuts

In early March the dining options in the super deluxe Disneyland Hotel got expanded once again, with the debut of La Foret Secrete.

With a menu devised by celebrity chef Jean Imbert, this is a fine dining experience. The (expensive) prix fixe menus are all inspired by different Disney stories, and the dining room is designed to evoke an enchanted forest, a setting that feels straight out of a fairytale! This is probably added to by the views of Tales of Magic from the restaurant windows.

Reservations for this experience are very limited and need to be booked by phone, and the cancellation policy is stricter than for most of the Disneyland Paris hotels. But for fine dining fans, or folks looking to celebrate a special occasion, this spot is a welcome addition to the resort!

New stores open in Disney Village

Spring saw the opening of several new stores in Disney Village as part of the ongoing (and sometimes feeling unending…) works to improve the shopping district. Disney Style and Disney Glamour opened in March, followed by the new Lego Store and Deco by Disney in April.

The opening of these stores brought some welcome extra shopping options to the resort. Disney Glamour became a headquarters for Disney Pandora charms, as well as other luxury collaborations with designers including Dooney and Bourke, Kate Spade and the Dress Shop. Next door Disney Style offers clothing and accessories aimed at adults, including a vintage Disney clothing section and the option to personalise some souvenirs.

Following in April the new Lego store offered a larger space better designed to offer the ever popular toys as well as a great photo op outside. Deco by Disney is dedicated to housewares, and pieces like figurines and artworks.

Overall with the new offerings Disney Adults have a lot of enjoy in Disney Village now! The closure in early 2026 of the Disney Store to convert it to Disney Wonder should have the same impact for younger Disney fans (although they’re also well catered for in the World of Disney Store).

Overland Trail Cafe gets a new back story… and Doritos?!

A rather unassuming snack stand near Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Frontierland, Overland Trail Cafe got a refresh in March with a new back story and a new menu of nachos – featuring a partnership with Doritos!

The new back story ties in to the overall Thunder Mesa storyline for Frontierland, and feature a Stage Coach driver who discovers Doritos snacks on her travels and starts offering them in Thunder Mesa itself. While really just a chance to grab some yummy nachos, the big impact of Overland Trail Cafe is that it demonstrates Disney’s commitment to the overall story and theming of their lands. A full back story for nachos, featuring a girl boss stagecoach driver? We’re here for it!

Boardwalk Candy Palace opens after an extensive redo with a lot of M&Ms

In early April Boardwalk Candy Palace on Main Street USA, which had been closed for some months for extensive refurbishments, reopened with a striking colourful addition.

The new shop, as well as evoking seaside candy shops in turn of the 20th Century USA in its decor, also is dedicated to the partnership between Disneyland Paris and Mars Wrigley, the well know confectionary firm. And part of this was a whole wall of M&Ms! You can now get different colours and types of M&Ms in bulk in the shop (although it’s not the cheapest…)

You can also buy a range of other food related items here, and there’s still a counter offering numerous sweet treats. Look out for cake pops, cookies, macarons and fudge among other options!

Rosalie in Disney Village debuts it’s little sibling…

Also in April in Disney Village, Petite Rosalie debuted. A sibling to the nearby Rosalie restaurant serving French cuisine, Petite Rosalie features an outdoor terrace on the waters of Lake Disney.

The new spot features a place to grab some drinks and a light bite while taking in the views of Lake Disney, and offers a chance to try the food of Rosalie without the full table service meal (although the grab and go window La Comptoir also does this to an extent). In the summer this spot was very popular with guests soaking up the sun and enjoying some eats!

A whole lot of announcements to mark the resort’s anniversary

The 12th April marks the anniversary of Disneyland Park and the Disneyland Paris resort (this year 33 years old). Disney often seizes this opportunity to make some news announcements, and this year was no different!

Unsurprisingly a lot of the announcements were focused on the transformation of the Walt Disney Studios Park to Disney Adventure World. We did a full blog breaking down the announcements you can read here, but in a nutshell:

• Opening date for World Premiere was announced as 15th May
• A swing chair ride based of Pixar’s Up is going to be added to Adventure World in Disney Adventure World
• Regal View restaurant and lounge is also coming to Disney Adventure World featuring princess dining
• Rehearsals were underway for the then unnamed nighttime show coming to the lagoon in Disney Adventure World
• Work was continuing on World of Frozen with a 2026 aimed for opening date
• New concept art for forthcoming Lion King ride at Disney Adventure World
• Update on Rivers of the Far West and Adventure Isle in the Disneyland Park – new ride scenes for the former, and a pirate themed scavenger hunt for the latter
• New stores in Disney Village (Lego Store and Deco by Disney) announced as 19th April – see above for more info!
• Sequoia Lodge is going into a major refurbishment in 2026 that will update both guest rooms and public areas, but will be staying open throughout the works
• New lodges are replacing old ones at Davy Crocket Ranch, with the new lodges available to book from late summer 2025

Disney Music Festival has us dancing in the streets

Also in April (boy was that a busy month!) the Disney Music Festival made its debut over in the Disneyland Park.

This festival featured musical acts scattered across the park, from Minnie and a Marching band and Goofy conduction fountains on Main Street USA, to Miguel leading a street fiesta over in Frontierland, Timon and Pumbaa getting toes tapping in Adventureland, Donald and Daisy with an accordionist in Fantasyland, and Chip n Dale trying their hands as DJs over in Discoveryland. And a whole lot more! All the musical acts came together in a grand finale once a day that also featured the world’s most coveted meet and greet (or so it felt) – Stitch dressed as Elvis!

The Music Festival also saw new snacks, merchandise, and decorations on Main Street. There was also an incredibly catchy theme song, ‘Viva la Musique!’ The festival ran until early September, when it ended to allow the park to prep for Halloween season. The Music Festival seemed to be very well received and extremely popular! It was debated if it’d return in 2026, but instead the Million Splashes of Colour show is returning from 2024. But look out for some of the musical acts appearing over in Disney Adventure World instead – it looks like this event may have been an entertainment try out of sorts!

If you’d like to relive the Music Festival, we have our blog on it, as well as a complete coverage video with snippets of all the acts!

A new (and controversial) way to meet characters debuted

The opening of the Music Festival also brought with it a new way to meet characters – the debut of the virtual queue system! Instead of waiting in often multi-hour long lines, instead for some meet and greets guests can try to claim virtual queue spots via the Disneyland Paris app.

The virtual queue system attracts a lot of love and hate. On the one hand for those grabbing a virtual queue spot it saves some very long and painful waits in line. On the other hand getting a virtual queue spot can be a gamble – a game of fastest finger first and sheer dumb luck if you get a spot or not! Love it or hate it though it’s likely that it’ll be sticking around, with the new Anna and Elsa meet and greet coming to World of Frozen already confirmed as being bookable for virtual queue.

Other notable virtual queues for characters include the Princesses, meet Mickey in Disneyland Park, Star Wars characters encounter in Discoveryland (normally Darth Vader but it may not be), and the Super Hero encounter in Avengers Campus. Queue spots typically drop on the app at 9.45am and 2pm daily, although this can move with park opening hours.

Guests could blast off at Lounge Lightspeed

May saw the opening of something rather unusual in Disneyland Park – Lounge Lightspeed! This Star Wars based spot was somewhere to grab some drinks and biscuits, perched on top of the Starport character meet and greet in Discoveryland.

Guests at Lounge Lightspeed also got a chance to interact with some Star Wars characters including the adorable BDX droids.

Was it an interesting concept? Yep. A good opportunity for Star Wars fans? Also yes. Featuring some questionable and definitely overpriced drinks? Most certainly! Our views on it were… mixed. Because a lot of the seating was outdoors the Lounge closed again in September, watch this space to see if it returns in 2026…

World Premiere… premiered!

Since spring 2024 the former Studio 1, the entranceway to the Walt Disney Studios Park, had been closed for some major refurbishment. In May 2025 the space finally reopened as World Premiere!

Inside World Premiere you’re invited to enter the park via an evening Hollywood Premiere. At one end of the room the Disney Studios building dominates with window silhouettes featuring hints of the animator’s work, while at the park end an illuminated marquee invites you to step through the doors and live your Adventure. On either side of the room you have Mickey’s of Hollywood, a large shop, and Hollywood Gardens, a counter service restaurant serving a range of burgers. A small kiosk, Searchlight, opened slightly later offering themed donuts.

Considering the old Studio 1 had a quick service restaurant and a large shop, the offerings in the space at their heart haven’t really changed. But the new World Premiere certainly offers a more elegant and sophisticated space on the offerings as opposed to the sea of cheesy neon that was in Studio 1.

The works weren’t just inside the building – outside in the park the Partners statue found a new place with a colourful mural, and repaving and other works converted the old Toon Studio and Production courtyard areas into one World Premiere Plaza.

if you’d like to learn more about the new space check out our video!

More space to eat hot dogs

In early June a long-running construction project ended, with the opening of a covered outdoor terrace for Casey’s Corner.

Anyone who’s ever eaten at Casey’s knows that covered seating is always at a premium at this popular spot, so it’s great that Disney listened to guest feedback to create this covered terrace. It’s just a shame that it took months (and I mean MONTHS) to construct!

We happened to be in Disneyland Paris when the new terrace opened to guests so were one of the first to grab a hot dog under the new cover, and it’s a very welcome new addition to this spot. And it has some great views of the Castle too.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad returns from a big refurbishment…

For the majority of the early part of the year the popular Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was closed for a long term refurbishment, which refreshed parts of the ride and the queue. It reopened in June.

While not changing anything in the ride experience itself, the refurbishment did bring some much needed TLC to the attraction as a whole, and should mean that it stands up better to the demands of being outside in Paris’ weather year round! Prior to this the ride frequently had to have refurbishments so hopefully they’ll be less of a thing in the future.

…And Buzz Lightyear went into one!

While Big Thunder reopened at the end of June, in early July another ride went down for a multi-month closure.

This time it was Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast that went into refurbishment, with promised improvements to the ride’s facade, sets and ride vehicles. While it was a shame for the ride to be closed for so long, it reopened in mid-December for Space Cadets to battle the evil Emperor Zurg once again!

The parking lot also had some TLC!

Also in July, the parking lot also debuted some updates including new entrance paving featuring 23 stars.

The parking lot also now has upgraded electric car charging and solar panels that can generate 17% of the resort’s annual energy consumption. While not a major addition to the guests experience, it’s little touches like this that keep the resort improving.

New lodges open at Davy Crockett ranch

In September, guests could stay for the first time in the new lodges at Disney’s Davy Crockett Ranch.

The new lodges feature details of Donald and Daisy Duck, and the Junior Woodchucks, in a suitable outdoors theme for this woodland based resort!

The lodges are actually still in the process of being replaced, so if you’d like to stay in one of the new cabins on your next visit to the resort be sure to request it from Disney when you book or during your online check in.

Hyperspace Mountain gets a new lighting package

For a lot of the year there were construction walls around the popular Hyperspace Mountain rollercoaster in Discoveryland. For the most part the ride remained open throughout, as the works were on the exterior – including refreshed paint, and new lighting!

In September the new lighting packaged debuted, featuring refreshed patterns to tie in to the coaster’s ‘launch’ – adding new colour and movement to Discoveryland at night!

New offerings as part of Halloween season

In October, Halloween season returned. Always a popular part of the Disneyland Paris year, this year Halloween had some new offerings!

Notably this included the debut of the Unlucky Nugget, an overlay of the Lucky Nugget Saloon in Frontierland. This gave the restaurant a new story tying it in to the nearby Phantom Manor, and a new themed menu to boot! While the food was… interesting the theme was incredible and it was great to see this type of seasonal storytelling coming to Disneyland Paris.

Also debuting this year were nightly projections on Main Street USA bring alive extra spooky vibes, and the Mysterious Doors Scavenger Hunt sponsored by M&Ms. It’s great to see Disney continually tweak and improve these annual events!

Ratatouille closes for a major refurbishment

Joining Big Thunder and Buzz on the major 2025 refurbishments in October was Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.

This ever popular trackless dark ride is getting fully updated projectors, that will also place the ride permanently in 2D mode. (The 3D hadn’t been available on the ride for some time at this point anyway!). It’s also getting refreshed props and a new ride scene in the queue, as well as some general TLC.

As I write Ratatouille is still down for work, and there’s no reopening date – although it’s due to reopen in Spring 2026. I’d expect it to reopen close to the Disney Adventure World opening in 29th March 2026, but we’ll of course share once the date is announced!

Christmas season returned with new offerings

In early November the popular Christmas season returned. While some popular offerings made their return like the Shine a Light parade (okay that’s not its name but everyone knows it from that song!), there were some new offerings too.

Notable among this was, like at Halloween, new nighttime projections appeared on Main Street USA, this time bringing festive instead of spooky vibes! Also Mrs Claus made her debut at the resort, offering a ‘sweet surprise’.

The Sports Bar reopened with a fresh new look and menu

On 22nd November the popular Sports Bar reopened in Disney Village following a multi-month refurbishment.

The works brought an expanded space as the bar also occupied the space of the former New York Style Sandwiches, as well as a new look that ties in better with the other updates around Disney Village. It has also brought a refreshed menu – no more Mickey shaped pizzas (sob) but other bites and meals fitting the sporty setting.

It was also confirmed around this time that Annette’s Diner and the Disney Store are closing in early January – Annette’s for a refurbishment that will see it reopen later in 2026, and the Disney Store for conversion to Disney Wonders.

We finally got an opening date for World of Frozen…

After months of speculation, 24th November brought a press event that finally confirmed that World of Frozen with be opening on 29th March 2026 – and that this date will finally see the Walt Disney Studios Park assuming its new identity as Disney Adventure World.

Also opening in March is the Raiponce Tangled Spin attraction, the Regal View Restaurant and Lounge princess dining location, and Disney Cascade of Lights, the new nighttime spectacular. Mickey and Minnie will also get a new look for a meet and greet, new gardens will open on Adventure Way, and there’ll be 14 new food places to enjoy. Wow!

You can get the full summary of the announcements and what’s coming up in our blog on the subject here!

There it is… a summary of 2025. A lot happened, and we’ve not covered some of the recurring events or a few other minor happenings, such as the reopening of the Starbuck Coffee’s at two of the hotels.

What also happened in 2025 is that Magically Different Mouse came to YouTube! If you’ve not visited our YouTube channel yet please do, and we’d love it if you would subscribe. It acts as a companion to our blog here.

And with all our hearts, thank you for your support throughout 2025. It has meant the world to us! If you’d like to subscribe to our blog you can do so below, and doing so will get you a free copy of our Magically Different Guide to Disneyland Paris Attractions (typically £3). And if you’d like to support our work into 2026, you can do so by leaving us a tip. Thank you!