Disneyland Paris anniversaries: every major milestone, in order

Disneyland Paris first welcomed guests on April 12, 1992, under the name Euro Disney. So every April 12 is the park’s birthday. Since then, it has held a major anniversary celebration every five years. Each edition brings a new parade, nighttime show, or cavalcade, and sometimes new rides.

My dad was a Cast Member when the park opened in 1992. I’ve lived through several of these anniversaries as a visitor. Here, I tell you what made each one stand out.

Disneyland Paris welcomed its first guests on April 12, 1992, back when it was still called Euro Disney. It was the first of the resort’s parks. The second, known at the time as Walt Disney Studios Park, followed ten years later, in 2002.

If you want the whole story of opening day, read the article on the 1992 opening of Disneyland Paris. On this page, I focus on the anniversaries.

To mark 15 years, the park debuted Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade, a brand-new daytime parade. The party began in spring 2007 and lasted more than a year.

Most importantly, 2007 saw two rides open on the studios side: Crush’s Coaster and Cars Quatre Roues Rallye, in June. Tower of Terror came shortly after, in early 2008. It’s unusual to get that many new additions around a single anniversary.

The 20th anniversary kicked off in early April 2012. Its centerpiece was the Disney Dreams! nighttime show, created just for the occasion. Video projected onto the castle, fountains, lasers, and fireworks made it a very complete end-of-night show for its time.

Disney Dreams! stayed on the schedule from 2012 to 2017, when the show created for the 25th anniversary took over.

The 25th anniversary ran from March 26, 2017, to September 7, 2018. It brought two major additions: the Disney Stars on Parade daytime parade and the Disney Illuminations nighttime show, which replaced Disney Dreams!.

Disney Illuminations also included a Star Wars segment. That same year, two rides reopened with a Star Wars theme: Star Tours and Hyperspace Mountain.

The 30th anniversary began on March 6, 2022. The daytime cavalcade was called Dream... and Shine Brighter!, and it performed on Central Plaza in front of the castle.

The highlight was Disney D-Light, a drone pre-show (about 200 drones from the French company Dronisos) right before the nighttime show, set to the song "Un monde qui s’illumine." It was named Best Live Show 2022 at the Park World Excellence Awards. Thanks to its success, the celebration was extended until September 30, 2023.

Disney 100 marks 100 years of the Disney company, founded on October 16, 1923. Walt Disney and his brother Roy started it as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, and it later became the Walt Disney Company. So it isn’t a park anniversary. The difference matters, because plenty of visitors mix them up.

The resort celebrated with a special day on October 16, 2023, featuring character meet-and-greets that are rarer than usual. A traveling exhibition, "Disney 100: L’Exposition," later came through Paris.

Going by past editions, the park should celebrate its 35th in spring 2027. As of now, no anniversary parade or nighttime show has been officially announced.

This 35th anniversary will come after the transformation into Disney Adventure World, as the second park reinvents itself. I’ll update this page as soon as Disney shares its plans. In the meantime, the nighttime shows currently running are Disney Tales of Magic at Disneyland Park and Disney Cascade of Lights at Disney Adventure World (one per park).

To dig deeper into the park’s history and behind-the-scenes stories, here are two companion reads: the transformation into Disney Adventure World and the secrets of Disneyland Paris.