Happy Thanksgiving! For those that celebrate, we hope your day and weekend are filled with people you love and warmth. Love and warmth isn’t how I’d describe the world at large in 2025 and, while this is just a blog about theme parks and travel, I can get bogged down in the negativity too. What better time than now to reflect on some of the best parts of the last year. In this post, I’ll list 10 Disney Parks related things I’m thankful for in 2025.

Is this just a convenient excuse for me to recap some favorite additions in the Disney Park universe? Perhaps. But who doesn’t want a mushy, heartwarming article to read while munching on your fourth piece of pie? May your stretchy pants be extra stretchy! I’ve included a few 2025 specific additions as well as things I’ve been thankful for over the last few months while visiting the parks. Let’s get to it!

A Nighttime Parade in Magic Kingdom

One of those 2025 highlights was watching the debut of Disney Starlight at Magic Kingdom. From the people we waited with to the parade itself, we were glowing right along with the parade in July. Or was that us just glistening from all of the sweat? Either way, the return of a nighttime parade to Main Street at Magic Kingdom is a time we’ll look back on fondly.

But it’s not just about the memories Melissa and I have, however great they are. Getting a nighttime parade back on both coasts was a big deal and made Magic Kingdom and Disneyland significantly better. Years of no electrical parade down Main Street made the park feel less intimate. Even with a few flaws that Starlight has, Disney World’s castle park has more character and excitement once the sun sets now. Hopefully it stays that way for a long time to come.

The Cube Trees at Disneyland Paris

2025 marked my first ever trip to Disneyland Paris. There were new rides to experience, restaurants to dine at and 2 new parks to explore. But if you asked me before we went what I was most excited about, it was definitely that hillside filled with perfectly manicured trees, leading up to a gorgeous castle.

They did not disappoint! In fact, the first time walking down Main Street at Disneyland Paris is one of my favorite memories from this year and one I’m endlessly thankful for. It’s hard to be focused on what attraction to rope drop when you have cube trees to look at!

Disneyland Resort’s Very Happy 70th Anniversary

I spent some amount of (alright, it was quite a few) words joking about the Disneyland Resort’s 70th anniversary catchphrase ‘Celebrate Happy’. I’ll probably spend a few more words joking about it in the future. This isn’t me admitting defeat but Disneyland may have had the last laugh because of just how fun the 70th anniversary celebration was and is. While it wasn’t as extravagant as other anniversaries, this one featured a lighthearted and joyous outlook that included bringing back old favorites and some fun new additions. It was a perfect remedy to everything else that 2025 was. Celebrate Happy, indeed.

Cast Members

This entry belongs in any ‘thankful for’ list that has ever been written about Disney Parks. Cast Members make the place what it is. They suffer through ridiculous guest behaviors and are generally smiling through it all. Whether in Paris, Tokyo, Orlando or Anaheim, we had incredible interactions with Cast Members all over the world. If you happen to be one and are reading this, we so appreciate you and hope the good interactions with guests outweigh the bad.

Tokyo DisneySea is Easier to Navigate Now

We did it! 2025 marked the end of Fantasy Springs being extremely difficult to get into. Yes, the standby lines are absurdly long at Frozen Journey and Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival but that sure beats not getting to experience the park’s newest port at all. I’ll have more on this in the coming weeks but DisneySea took a nice step forward in 2025. The park is more accessible to all guests now, not just to the ones who checked the app often.

Food!

No holiday makes people say they’re thankful for food quite like American Thanksgiving! We don’t need to get into one of my hottest takes – Thanksgiving food really isn’t that good. We’ll just skirt passed that and stick to the amazing Disney Parks meals we’ve had this year. A few of my favorites were:

• Jiko (Animal Kingdom Lodge)
• Citricos (Grand Floridian)
• Restaurant Sakura (Tokyo DisneySea)
• Wailulu Bar & Grill (Polynesian)
• Paseo (Downtown Disney)
• Walt’s (Disneyland Paris)

The list could go on… You’ll really start to worry about me next year at Thanksgiving when I just write 10 Disney Restaurants I’m Thankful for in 2026.

Construction!

For as frustrating as construction walls can be, we’ll keep the bigger picture in mind. The parks are evolving and work is nearing completion on some very interesting projects. Disney Adventure World is almost here! A new Space Mountain at Tokyo Disneyland is just over a year away. Animal Kingdom is going to be adding attractions soon! Massive ride additions are underway at California Adventure. We don’t have to mention specifics about Magic Kingdom because we’re less thankful for those walls. All this to say, the next 5 years should see some fantastic additions at Disney Parks.

The Sun Setting While Riding the Riverboat

This is a personal one. I’ve seen quite a few sunsets in Disney Parks this year and they have reminded me to slow down and take it all in. This was summed up nicely on a recent day at Tokyo Disneyland. I boarded the Riverboat right before sunset and was treated to one of the most beautiful sunsets I could imagine. Life has been busy but an old steamboat and colors strewn across the sky have a way of making me stop in my tracks.

Epcot Improving What’s Already There

Much has been made about Epcot’s lackluster spine renovation. In short, it wasn’t great! But we’re not here to rehash that. We’ll keep it positive! That came in 2024 and 2025 saw the park take meaningful steps in improving what’s already there. Test Track 3.0 debuted and has been a pleasant surprise, both in popularity and quality. Following in that existing attraction’s lead, updates have been announced for Frozen Ever After and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. No, these aren’t new rides but they are going to improve the current lineup and make it lasting. That’s something Disney World hasn’t always been the best at and I’m happy to see Epcot get some attention.

A Memorable Year

Finally, I just want to say that Melissa and I are thankful for all of you. We dreamed of years like this when we first got married but never thought they’d come true. Traveling to several different countries, taking people to Japan, exploring theme parks and seeing some of the world’s greatest sights has been the greatest joy. It wouldn’t have been possible without people who were interested in this website. We don’t take that for granted and it makes us work all the harder to continue to grow Wandering in Disney. It’s nearly been 11 years of this site and it began with me being blown away that even a few people would read what I had to say and look at the photos I took. I like to think the writing and the pictures have improved quite a bit but I’m still deeply honored that anyone takes time out of their day to come to our site. Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving!

What are you thankful for at the Disney Parks this year? Let us know in the comments! Planning a Disney trip? Check out our Travel Guides to help get you there! Here’s a link to discount tickets at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. If you enjoy what you’re reading here on Wandering in Disney please subscribe to the blog via email or WordPress and like our social media pages. You can find all of those things on the right side of this page. Thank you very much for reading, we appreciate it!