Last weekend saw Disneyland Paris celebrate its 34th birthday. And as seems to be tradition now, the day was marked by a number of announcements of upcoming experiences at the resort! While no new attractions were announced, we did get more details of projects already in the works – and we’re breaking down all the announcements below.

Wilderness Explorer Sky Swings

The only attraction related announcement of the day was related to the Up attraction that had previously been announced as coming to Disney Adventure World. The announcement gave the attraction a name and an opening timeline!

The new attraction is a swing chair style attraction, that you can often see at fairs and that is also present at Disney’s California Adventure park as the Silly Symphony Swings. The attraction at Disney Adventure World will be called the Wilderness Explorers Sky Swings in a nod to the organisation that Russell is a member of in Up, with the principle of the ride being that you’re earning your Wilderness Explorer’s Aviation badge!

While the ride sounds simple enough, Disney have shared through both description and concept art that the ride will contain several nods to Up, including a queue divided into sections of the film, and Carl and Ellie’s House at the top of the building. The ride will also sit in gardens themed to Up. Anyone else hoping that Kevin might make some appearances here?

While an exact opening date was not announced, it was confirmed that the attraction will open at some point in 2027. Watch this space for more details!

Disney Princess Calvacade

Disney previously announced that a Disney Princess themed calvacade would be coming to Disney Adventure World. But we now have more details, including that there will be four floats themed to different Disney Princesses – two of which are Moana and Raya.

The calvacade overall will have a theme of belonging and serving your community – so Raya’s float pays tribute to Heart Palace and Moana’s the Isle of Montunui. Disney haven’t confirmed the other two princesses yet – I’d guess maybe Mulan and Merida? But we’ll need to wait and see. However we won’t need to wait long as this calvacade will kick off this summer!

Route wise the calvacade will run from the area around the coming Lion King land to the Regal View Restaurant and back again. On the way back there will be a show stop that will allow people to interact with the princesses and other float characters (given how popular the princesses are it’ll be interesting to see how Disney manages the crowds on this one!). There’s two new songs written for the calvacade – one for when the floats are travelling and one for the show stop. And the float designs pay tribute to both the princess films they’re inspired by, and the different cultures they represent.

Overall it sounds like a fun way to add more movement to Adventure Bay, and we look forward to seeing the calvacade when it debuts!

New shops and a restaurant and coming to Disney Village this year

Anyone who’s visited Disneyland Paris over recent years have probably noticed that the Disney Village seems to be going through its ‘hot mess’ era, with a lot of construction work going on – but we’ve got signs that some of that work is (hopefully!) approaching its end.

Pele Soccer was previously announced last year, but we now know it will be opening at the end of May. This shop will celebrate all things football (or soccer to our American friends!) with a wide range of merchandise, and will also celebrate the career of the footballer Pele (appropriately announced as it’s named after him). This shop will open its doors next to the Sports Bar, making this area of the Village a sporting hub for fans!

Also previously announced was Disney Wonders, the shop replacing the former Disney Store (RIP 90s era decor!). Disney Wonders will celebrate the main franchises offered in the park – Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars, with themed areas and merchandise. Disney have also noted that the shop will feature a rotating range of seasonal stock. Disney art pieces will also be incorporated in the shop design, from chandeliers featuring art work (I’m imagining this will be like the one at Art of Animation resort over in Walt Disney World in Florida), and pieces of Disney art around the tills. Thankfully we won’t have long to wait to see it as Disney Wonders should open this summer.

Finally we had confirmation that Casa Giulia, the large Italian restaurant that is taking over the site of the former Planet Hollywood, will open in late 2026. This restaurant will mostly feature classic Italian fare in a table service setting, but will also offer a fast food window and terrace to enjoy. (Not sure many people will be trying the terrace early on if this opens in November or December this year but we’ll see!)

Is this the end of the building work at Disney Village? Well no, as Annette’s Diner’s refurbishment is also ongoing and the old McDonald’s building will soon start being demolished. But these openings are a significant step forward in having the area less construction wall heavy!

Work is continuing at the refurbishment of Sequoia Lodge

Work begun on the refurbishment of the Sequoia Lodge hotel back in January. But we’ve now got a bit more detail and timelines for the work taking place.

The work that has already begun is focusing on the outside guest lodges at Sequoia Lodge. Here the rooms are being rethemed to celebrate the forest and the creatures living there. The rooms are going to be themed after 3 different Disney films – Bambi, Pocahontas and Brave. You can see above some of the Pocahontas themed elements coming to the rooms in the image above.

The first rooms with the new theming will be available to book from early 2027 – which means guests this year will have the old style rooms in the meantime. Disney also shared that it’ll be from this point that work will begin on the rest of the resort – so the rooms in the main building, and public areas like the restaurants, reception and more. The good news is that the hotel is staying open throughout. However this news implies that the time of the heaviest disruption at Sequoia Lodge will actually be in 2027 when the work on the main building takes place – something to note for folks planning to stay here!

Alice and the Queen of Hearts returns in spring 2027

In the home of the old Light, Motors, Action Stunt show (anyone else miss that?!) is now Alice and the Queen of Hearts. This show has been around for a couple of years now, featuring a song battle between Alice and the Queen of Hearts with a number of impressive stunts alongside it!

Disney shared in the updates that the show will return in Spring 2027 – so fans of the show can look forward to that! What this does imply though is that it’s not opening at all this year. Why? Who knows! It might be due to crowd control as they expect the park to be very busy with the crowds piling into the new Adventure Way and World of Frozen. Thankfully this park now isn’t short of things to see while Alice remains shuttered for the year.

As for the long term of this show… Disney’s not said anything and this announcement implies it’s going to be around for at least next year! But in all the concept art and advertising posters for Disney Adventure World this show isn’t depicted once. Maybe because they knew it wouldn’t be there this year, but also maybe because it’s not going to be around for the long term? It sits on a big chunk of land that could be used for something else, maybe an expansion of Avengers Campus? This is just me guessing here – Alice might stick around for decades for all I know! But I do wonder. Personally I’d prefer if there was something here that could be performed for most of the year, not just the summer months as it is with Alice, but I doubt Disney are too worried about my opinion!

More details on the refurbishment of Plaza Gardens Restaurant

Earlier this month the Plaza Gardens restaurant, that sits at the top of Main Street USA, closed for a lengthy refurbishment lasting until early 2027. This weekend, Disney shared a look at the plans from the refurbishment.

With such a long time closed it seems that the work will be working on all aspects of the restaurant – the exterior look, the interior decor, the kitchens and the buffet itself. Disney have mentioned adding a new lower section to the buffet, which I’m sure will be popular with folks with younger children and those in wheelchairs as they’ll find it easier to access some of the buffet offerings. They are also going to redesign how the seating is laid out to improve it for guests (and I’m sure the characters that usually call this place home!).

The refurbishment work does also look like it will see a new colour palette in different shades of green, echoing the gardens that sit just outside. And Disney have also confirmed they’re paying attention to all the details to ensure that the restaurant remains true to its Victorian theming, which is good as a modern restaurant would be weird at the top of Main Street!

While it sounds like Plaza Gardens was overdue for this refurbishment, it does mean that Disneyland Paris are currently lacking any character dining offerings that aren’t Princess based, with the exception of Royal Banquet which offers Mickey, Minnie and other members of the fab five, but all with suitably royal themed outfits! Inside the parks guests can visit either Auberge de Cendrillon, which is princesses with the addition of Mickey Mouse while the Plaza restaurant works are ongoing, or Regal View Restaurant in Disney Adventure World which is also Princess focussed. Hopefully once the Plaza reopens it’ll bring back non-Princess or Royal themed character dining to the resort. I love the Princesses but recognise they’re not for everybody!

Summer events happening at Disneyland Paris

Finally, Disneyland Paris did confirm the return of some of their themed offerings this coming summer for guests.

Star Wars fans can rejoice because the May the Fourth offerings are back, some running until May 24th. This includes the return of the loveable BDX droids and meet and greets with a range of Star Wars characters. Expect there also to be some events celebrating the Mandalorian and Grogu as their film is released on 22nd May!

Stitch day (26th June) was celebrated for the first time at Disneyland Paris in 2025 and was so popular that it’s making its return in 2026, but this time as Stitch week! (Well, Stitch 5 days). From 24th to 28th June look out for Stitch and Angel as they greet guests in the morning from the Main Street train station, as well as them both appearing in A Million Splashes of Colour. I expect there’ll be meet and greets with both too although Disney didn’t explicitly say this – you can currently meet Stitch in the mornings next to Casey’s Corner where he gets some LONG queues. Don’t be surprised to see some themed snacks either!

Throughout the summer in Disney Adventure World, look out for the themed Pizza Planet trucks! Several trucks designed by Disney Imagineers and themed to the different areas of the park will be hidden throughout for guests to discover as they explore. And there’s going to be themed Toy Story snacks in the park too!

Finally, from 16th to 22nd August 2026 World Princess Week returns to Disneyland Paris. Expect special encounters and meet and greets with different Disney Princesses throughout the week. If previous years are anything to go by these will be both magical and VERY busy!

What wasn’t announced…

While the 12th April announcements covered a lot of updates – they certainly didn’t cover everything!

One thing not mentioned in any way was a new attraction. To be fair to Disney, they only opened the massive park expansions at Disney Adventure World a couple of weeks before so have probably been focusing on that! It’s also possible that they might wait to any sort of major announcement like this until the D23 event this August, which typically has a Disney Parks panel packed full of news.

There were also no updates on some projects we already know are in the works. We didn’t get any timelines or timescales for the Lion King area coming to Disney Adventure World, although it might be simply too early to say anything definite here. Realistically I think we’ll be looking at 2028 at the very earliest for the opening, and possibly later! They also didn’t mention the previously announced updates to scenes for the Thunder Mesa Riverboat in Disneyland Park. This was previously shared as taking place by the end of Summer 2026 – hopefully work is just ongoing on this and we’ll see them soon. Annette’s Diner’s refurbishment also didn’t get a mention, presumably because it’s ongoing.

Overall that’s a lot of announcements – nothing too major but a lot of things that will hopefully improve the visitor experience to Disneyland Paris! What are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments, and while you’re down there please subscribe to this blog! You’ll not only get our blogs in your inbox but also a free copy of our Magically Different Guide to Disneyland Paris attraction accessibility (typically £3). Please do come and visit us on our YouTube channel too. And if you’d like to support our work do please consider leaving us a tip. Thank you!