Disney California Adventure to bring back festivals, Soarin’ Over California ride in 2023
Disney California Adventure may be closing its doors in 2023, but its iconic Festival of the Lion King, the Soarin’ Over California boat ride, and the Festival of Fantasy Parade are expected to remain. To make sure the three attractions live on when the park becomes a Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris open, Walt Disney World announced today a partnership with Disney to bring attractions and events to Anaheim, Bakersfield and Disneyland in the state of California that will operate long after the parks close in 2023.
As part of this agreement, the three parks and three resorts — Disneyland (that was in the news today for closing its theme parks in May), Disney World, and Disneyland Paris — will have a unified theme based on the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts theme. This theme includes a new festival at Disneyland in California that will be centered on the Festival of the Lion King, and the new Disney California Adventure Fantasy Festival will be a showcase of music, food, and special performances from Disney theme parks around the world.
Disney is also bringing a Soarin’ Over California boat ride to the world’s first fully immersive open water rides, Soarin’ Over California. The 2023 boat ride is expected to be in its new location on a new waterpark attraction in the new Fantasyland at Disneyland, as well as the new Disney California Adventure.
Disney California Adventure, The Festival of the Lion King, and Soarin’ Over California are scheduled to open in 2023. In the meantime, Disney’s other two theme parks around the world will remain open in 2023: Disneyland Paris and Tokyo DisneySea.
I am a little disappointed with the 2023 closing date, but not as upset as I was that 2023 was set so close to Disneyland Paris opening. I would have wanted to see the FOTLK open up, so I can say I saw it when it opened, but as much as the park got a huge boost from opening, the theme park is going to change a lot before they reopen. The park had great energy for the first few years, but now it feels vacant with very few people in it, and when people do come into the park, they don’t