This 2022 Disney California Adventure and Disneyland ride refurbishment calendar lists temporary attraction closures so you know what won’t be operating before planning your vacation. Additionally, we offer info about reimagining projects that are underway to enhance experiences around the resort. (Updated July 15, 2022.)
While no one wants attraction closures during their visit, they are a necessary part of keeping Disneyland and Disney California Adventure in good condition, as routine maintenance, safety upgrades, and attraction improvements are all done during scheduled ride closures. Usually, there are only a handful of simultaneous closed rides, plus new attractions being built.
Having an idea of which attractions are closed at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure is important, but we recommend consulting our 2022 Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide for more comprehensive info. That covers everything from saving money on park tickets and hotels to where to eat, when to visit, and more…
In addition to scheduled attraction refurbs, unscheduled downtime can also occur during a visit. This usually only occurs for a few hours at a time, so if you find an attraction is closed during your visit to Disneyland Resort and it’s not listed below, it’s likely a temporary closure that will last a few hours. Check with nearby Cast Members to confirm.
Below is a schedule of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure refurbishments, when the closure starts, and when the refurbishment will conclude. To the extent that specific dates are not yet listed, those will be updated once Disneyland Resort provides precise start and/or end dates. The following day will be when the attraction is scheduled to reopen.
Here are the closure schedules for Disney California Adventure and Disneyland…
Disney California Adventure
- Frozen: Live at the Hyperion – Return Date Unknown
- Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! – Closes August 15, 2022 (Return Date TBD)
- Paint the Night Parade – Return Date Unknown
- Red Car Trolley – Returns Summer 2022
While Frozen: Live at the Hyperion and Paint the Night Parade are listed above, there’s no indication either are returning anytime soon–if ever. The former will likely be replaced by something else entirely, and the parade could pop-up next at Walt Disney World.
In more exciting news, Disneyland announced the triumphant return of Red Car Trolley, which has been closed for years due to the construction of Avengers Campus.
Honestly, we thought Red Car Trolley would never return, and we’re over the moon to be wrong about that. Leisurely transportation attractions are tremendously underrated, and a great way of soaking up atmosphere while also going for a pleasant ride.
Next, let’s take a look at the 2022 Disneyland attraction closures…
Disneyland
- Chip ’n’ Dale Treehouse – Permanently Closed
- Disneyland Forever – Ends September 1, 2022
- Donald’s Boat – Closed through 2023
- Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage – Reopens July 25, 2022
- Gadget’s Go Coaster – Closed through 2023
- Goofy’s Playhouse – Closed through 2023
- Haunted Mansion – Closed August 15, 2022 through September 1, 2022
- Magic Happens Parade – Return Date Unknown
- Main Street Electrical Parade – Ends September 1, 2022
- Mickey’s House – Closed through 2023
- Minnie’s House – Closed through 2023
- Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin – Closed through 2023
Tarzan’sTreehouse – Return Date Unknown
As with the projects at Disney California Adventure, several pieces of major entertainment do not yet have return dates. The good news is that, unlike the DCA counterparts, most of these will likely return.
Essentially, everything with a specified date of return is simply routine maintenance or the removal of a seasonal overlay. Nothing particularly noteworthy there. Beyond that, let’s cover some specific closures.
Disneyland has announced that the Main Street Electrical Parade and Disneyland Forever fireworks will be ending their limited-time runs on September 1, 2022. Until then, you can continue to catch fireworks and parade nightly this summer and early fall.
In addition to the end of the fireworks and Main Street Electrical Parade, the specialty food and beverage items offered in their honor will end then. (Merchandise will likely remain available until it sells out.)
This has led to Disneyland fans speculating that Main Street Electrical Parade ending means the Magic Happens daytime parade will return. While possible, we doubt it. More likely is that Disney still doesn’t have enough performers for multiple simultaneous parades, and the MSEP team will be shifted over to the Frightfully Fun Parade during Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party. After that, the same performers will likely appear in “A Christmas Fantasy” Parade during the holiday season.
Once that ends…who knows. Maybe Main Street Electrical Parade will make its 63rd farewell run in early 2023, perhaps Paint the Night will make a surprise return to DCA, or it’s possible that Magic Happens will finally enter its third week of performances. All of that remains to be seen.
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage still hasn’t reopened following the closure of Disneyland, but that’ll change next month. Imagineers have spent some time (not the entire closure) revitalizing the attraction with more coral, new paint, fresh kelp and seaweed, as well as enhanced special effects and lighting. Plus, there’s a new friend from Pixar’s “Finding Dory,” everyone’s favorite septopus, Hank!
In the video above, you can hear from several Cast Members and Imagineers as they share more about what they’ve been working on inside the attraction, and be sure to visit Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage once again beginning July 25, 2022.
Haunted Mansion normally closes for a few weeks each August to install the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay for Halloween and Christmas. This attraction, inspired by Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, runs every year September through the beginning of January and is what happens when two holidays collide.
It’ll close again in mid-January for an equal length of time to remove the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay. Once every few years, that closure is longer to truly restore and refurbish the interior and exterior–not just remove the additions. Installing all of the seasonal decorations is hard on the attraction, and the longer refurbishment is meant to rectify that.
The other big closures right now are mostly in Toontown, which is closed to be reimagined, and will reopen in 2023. This is occurring for the debut of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and will involve the removal of some features and addition of others.
When all is said and done, every ‘attraction’ in Toontown should return, with the likely exception of Chip ‘n’ Dale Treehouse. That’s expected to be removed and replaced by a path that connects Toontown to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
At an unscheduled date sometime on the horizon is the Princess and the Frog reimagining of Splash Mountain. Recently, Disney announced that this attraction will be called Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and will open in Late 2024.
In order to make that opening timeline, it’s likely that the current incarnation of Splash Mountain will close no later than early 2023. The winter closure date would give Disneyland the headliner during the holiday season, which is the busiest time of year at Disneyland. However, it gets fairly chilly in Southern California in November and December, so we wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see this close in August.
Finally, there’s the matter of entertainment in Disneyland. The company has already brought back Disneyland Forever, Main Street Electrical Parade, and Fantasmic in time for the summer season.
Then there’s Magic Happens Parade, which was brand-new pre-closure and garnering rave reviews. We hope this will return sometime later in Summer 2022. Tales of the Lion King has also moved over to Disneyland, as the replacement for Mickey and the Magical Map, which is unlikely to ever return.
Now, a few notes about the above refurbishments. For starters, there’s much more on the above lists than normal. Most of these attractions are currently closed for budgetary, staffing, or other non-maintenance related reasons. There are actually far fewer traditional refurbishments occurring right now than normally.
Beyond that, Disneyland is notorious for changing its refurbishment schedules, adding or canceling planned downtimes weeks or days in advance. While this practice is still relatively uncommon in the grand scheme of things, it’s worth pointing out because it does happen.
Now, here’s a bit of our philosophy concerning refurbishments, with the specific example of the recent multi-year Disneyland Railroad refurbishment used to illustrate…
Thoughts on Refurbishments
Nobody likes a favorite attraction to be refurbished during their vacation. It means missing out and potentially not being able to experience the ride for another year or longer, depending upon the frequency of your visits to Disneyland. A couple of years ago, the Disneyland Railroad closed for an extended refurbishment due to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge construction.
At first, we were really disappointed. This might seem like an odd attraction to lament the closure of, but as Southern Californians with Disneyland Annual Passes, this was an absolute favorite of ours. We rode regularly when we wanted to rest our feet, or simply a break from the crowds. With the exception of maybe ‘it’s a small world’, we did Disneyland Railroad more than any other attraction.
However, that initial disappointment pretty quickly gave way to excitement. We began thinking about ways Disneyland Railroad could be plussed, improving the experience for years to come. Disney had already announced that some changes would be made (as the track needed to be re-routed), and we were excited for the prospect of new show scenes or other visuals.
From my perspective, investing in the long-term quality of an attraction is far more important than the temporary satisfaction I’ll get out of riding it on my next visit. This is why it always perplexes me when regulars contend that their vacation will be ruined because their favorite attraction will be closed.
If it’s your favorite attraction and you’re active in the Disney fan community, that means you’ve been to Disneyland before and probably will visit again. It would thus stand to reason that you would want something you love to get the TLC it deserves, and continue to improve.
Disneyland Railroad works as a good example here…in large part because it did receive significant changes and enhancements. (Arguably, the Rivers of America suffered due to being condensed, but that’s another topic for another day–we cover all aspects of this in our New-Look Grand Circle Tour of Disneyland post.)
The point extends to other attractions that have seen similar plussings, but also have more of a problem with effects breaking. Take Indiana Jones Adventure, for example. This is a ride that seems to get a refurbishment about every other year (sometimes more frequently) and we’d argue that it could probably use more regular maintenance than that.
If you are a long-term fan, would you rather experience Indiana Jones Adventure every single visit with 75% of the effects working, or every single visit minus one or two with 95% of the effects working? For me, the answer to that is easy. I’ll take a superior long term experience every time.
Beyond that, there’s the much more compelling justification for regular refurbishments: they are essential for the safety of attractions. While we may think of these attractions as all fun and games that offer a safe sense of exhilaration, that’s when they are properly maintained.
It’s unpleasant to think about, but there have been several preventable deaths in the history of Disney’s parks. During a dark era of Disneyland history, improper maintenance was the cause of death on Big Thunder Mountain. Likewise, years of neglect at Disneyland Paris have led to incidents of injury that could be attributed to a lack of maintenance. In both cases, this has been addressed, and maintenance has improved considerably.
This is not meant to scare anyone or provoke an emotional reaction. Disney’s worldwide safety record is sterling as compared to other park operators. It’s still important to remember that these fun, ‘magical’ places also exist in the real world and use a lot of potentially dangerous elements if safety is not viewed as key. (Or, in Disney’s case, one of the Four Keys.)
When it comes to maintenance that is not essential to the safe operation of an attraction, we are left to contemplate what amount of show quality should be accepted. If following a strict Nunis-ian interpretation of the Four Keys, show is an important consideration, and it should always be 100%. This is a nice goal to strive for, but the practical reality is that 100% show quality is an unworkably high threshold sometimes.
In my estimation, this is a good example of balancing guest interests with show quality. Get the effects working that are easily fixable, and find other ways to address effects that are frequently breaking. We’re not talking about safety here, just random effects. Indiana Jones Adventure has had a number of effects disabled or replaced over the years because they were unreliable.
Guests are understandably concerned when it appears an inordinate number of attractions are closing during their vacation, especially out of state visitors. Trips to California are not cheap and are often once in a lifetime experiences; first-timers certainly do not want to miss out on experiences about which they’ve read extensive hype.
With that said, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure ought to be publishing their routine refurbishment schedules several months in advance, allowing guests to plan around closures. Disney plans maintenance well in advance, and this info should be passed along to guests. For the most part, it is.
Obviously, unplanned maintenance can occur, which takes rides out of commission for hours or even days at the last minute. This is an unavoidable part of sophisticated theme park attractions, and there’s no real way to “plan around” this. It just is what it is.
However, the problem with a “not during my vacation” attitude like this is that it’s always going to be someone’s (or tens of thousands of someones) vacation. If Disneyland and Disney California Adventure attractions with show quality issues aren’t close for refurbishments for fear of some guests during a time-limited window missing out, all guests in perpetuity are going to have a lesser experience.
The end result of that thinking is a duct-tapped approach to attraction maintenance, with whatever work that can be done overnight accomplished, and two parks full of attractions with half their effects broken. First-timers would be left wondering why there was so much hype about Disneyland in the first place, as so many components of rides simply don’t work. If you’re reading this as a lifelong fan, well…maybe you wouldn’t have become a lifelong fan if this were actually Disneyland’s modus operandi.
Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and tons of other places!
Your Thoughts…
Any questions about the current refurbishments at Disneyland Resort? What do you think about refurbishments at the Disney Parks? Are you more concerned about an improved long-term experience, or do you think “not during my vacation!”? Any other factors you think are worth considering? As mentioned, we think this is a conversation, so please share your ‘refurbishment philosophy’, or any other thoughts or questions you have, in the comments!