Julie Tremaine

As soon as I ordered the viral Disneyland secret drink that has been blowing up #DisneyTok for the last month, I apologized to the bartender. “I heard about a secret menu cocktail,” I said to the cast member behind the bar at Lamplight Lounge. “Are you still doing that?” His face gave it all away. “I’m sorry!” I said. “Do you mind making one?” The problem isn’t that the Dole whip shot is hard to make. The problem is that everyone right now wants one. Think of it like a Dole whip, but made of m…

One of the things that makes the holiday season at Disneyland so exciting — and so busy — is that so many things are different in the parks this time of year. Rides like Haunted Mansion and It’s a Small World get holiday overlays that make them totally unique experiences. Every surface is covered in festive decorations and nearly a million lights, including the castle. If you’re not convinced, consider this fact: During the special holiday fireworks show, it snows (well, it snoaps) on Main Stree…

In a city as full of curiosities as Solvang, the tiny Danish village on California’s Central Coast, I shouldn’t have been surprised that there was a place like the Elverhoj Museum of History & Art. Housed in a historic home, it’s both a tribute to Danish history in Europe and California and a host for traveling exhibitions (including the current, stealthily Disney one — but more on that later). As many times as I’ve strolled up and down Copenhagen Drive and Alisal Road, sampling aebleskiver and…

It sounds like a fairy tale. Once upon a time, in the faraway land of Hamburg, a group of contemporary artists came together to build an artistic wonderland, an amusement park to entertain families and change perceptions about fine art. It was a place where people could experience art in totally new ways: by being whirled around and around on sculptures, being raised high into the sky on political and social commentary, tiptoeing through a pop art mirror maze and experiencing “live performances…

Editor’s note: This story was updated at Jan. 10, 10:45 a.m., to correct that new Magic Key phone purchases do not apply to Disneyland.Among theme park fans, Disneyland’s Magic Key annual passes are among the rarest and most coveted purchases. Since the park’s pandemic closure, Magic Keys have been extremely limited, only going on sale a handful of times, with some passes selling out almost immediately and sales of others ending after only a short window. That’s why so many Disneyphiles are eage…

In years past, Disneyland has kept the details of its plans for annual programming under wraps. Regular guests know certain things are more than likely coming back, like the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival and Disneyland After Dark special themed events — but usually, no one outside the company knows the real dates until closer to the events themselves. It makes planning vacations to Disneyland challenging, especially if you’re planning a trip right on the edge of a new season;…

It’s hard to imagine Disneyland without the Haunted Mansion — but for most of 2024, and possibly longer, that’s what guests to the park are going to find. After Jan. 21, the attraction is closing for renovations that will likely take months. Normally, the ride shuts down for a few weeks every January to take down its annual “Nightmare Before Christmas”-themed Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay. This year, the ride is going to close for a significantly longer period of time — exactly how long isn’t…

The Country Bears are about to sing their last song — at least for a while. The Country Bear Musical Jamboree, an animatronic show that was an opening day attraction at Walt Disney World, is closing on Jan. 27. A new show, featuring the classic singing bears, will open later this summer, though when isn’t currently known. “The Country Bears are getting ready to put on a new show that pays homage to the Opry-style shows of Nashville,” according to the Disney Parks Blog. Most of the upcoming show…

People love to debate the best way to park at Disneyland — and really, it’s no surprise. Parking at the theme park is expensive, and there are very few ways around paying Disney’s prices and using its lots that save you time or money. Trust me, I’ve tried them all. Or, at least, I thought I had. Then, I saw a viral Instagram reel from @multiplythemagic, a Disneyland fan account. “Is preferred parking a scam?” the woman asked. For those of you who don’t speak Disney, “preferred parking” is an up…

The music started before we could see anything, the ethereal dizi flute and erhu strings lilting over the percussive guzheng and tam drums — but then, the procession came into view. A man waved a long red and gold dragon kite, and dancers followed, wearing costumes of enormous flower petals. All of a sudden, we weren’t on Buena Vista Street anymore. We were in Mulan’s China, and we were celebrating Lunar New Year. In some ways, Disneyland’s Lunar New Year Celebration is similar to other festival…

Debuting a new character meet-and-greet, one only available to hotel guests, is a pretty enticing way to introduce a new hotel to the Disneyland Resort. But it’s not the only unique element to Pixar Place Hotel, the only completely Pixar-themed hotel in America. The hotel was a collaboration between the Emeryville-based animation company and Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI). “What an amazing job this team has done to really bring to life this, what I’m going to call canvas, that allowed for amazin…

Regardless of my romantic situation on any given year, I’ve never cared much about Valentine’s Day. The whole thing — elaborate gifts, overpriced roses, fancy dinners — always felt so constructed to me. It just never seemed like the outsized expectations that come with a holiday largely manufactured by commercialism could possibly match up to the reality of the night. Which is a long way of saying, I didn’t have much interest in Disneyland’s Sweethearts’ Nite. But I gave it a shot this year, and…

On Feb. 15, a new restaurant officially opens at Universal Studios Hollywood — and when it does, it will solve one of the park’s biggest pain points: that once you get into the wildly popular Super Nintendo World, it’s very hard to get a seat at its excellent Toadstool Cafe. Now, with the opening of Power Up Cafe, park guests can sample power-ups like Super Mushrooms and Fire Flowers from the Super Mario universe, but in an easy, walk-up way. Since Super Nintendo World opened on Feb. 17, 2023, t…

For years and years, tens of thousands of people walked by Owen and Dolly Pope’s house every day. No one had any idea that there was a private house on Disney property, or that Disneyland had two full-time residents who got to stay when the park shut down for the night. The Popes moved out in 1971, but their house still stands inside the grounds of the Disneyland Resort today. The story goes like this: Walt Disney hired Owen and Dolly Pope in 1951 to advise Imagineers on the use of animals in a…

Imagine a hub where infinite paths stretch out ahead of you, and no matter which one you take, you’ll be transported to a corner of the multiverse that defies your wildest imaginings — and has really great roller coasters. That’s the inspiration for Epic Universe, the new theme park set to open next year at Universal Orlando. “Even though we’ve created some really incredible experiences, we’re always looking to how do we make the next one even better?” Mark Woodbury, chairman and CEO of Univers…

It’s officially eating season at Disneyland: The annual Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival runs through April 22 in Disney California Adventure Park, and offers an extensive array of new and returning foods to try. The kitchens at the festival are themed to California cuisine: There’s Garlic Kissed (but unlike in Gilroy, no garlic ice cream), the food truck-inspired LA Style, the spicy Peppers Cali-Ente, the meat-free Earth Eats, and California Craft Brews and Uncork California, t…

When Disneyland broke from its usual tradition and released a year’s worth of upcoming park programming all at once, there was a particular event that got the internet’s attention: Disney Channel Nite, which the company described as “an all-new evening event celebrating iconic Disney Channel TV shows and characters.” When I heard “iconic Disney Channel TV shows,” my head went immediately to Scrooge McDuck diving beak-first into the sea of gold in his money bin. Would there be a “DuckTales” singa…

After a six-hour meeting that included speeches from Disneyland’s president, Disney cast members and a significant number of detractors voicing their concerns, Disneyland Forward has hit a milestone in its progress. The company received approval from the Anaheim Planning Commission to move the proposed expansion to the next round of approvals from the Anaheim City Council. That vote is scheduled for April 16, and Deadline reports that Disneyland is hoping to have the whole project approved this…

It sounds like such a good idea: Leave a tiny piece of a person you loved in a place they felt happiest. But the reality is much different. In fact, there’s really no way spreading someone’s ashes at Disneyland ends well for anyone. But people do it, a lot more than you’d think, and the result is absolutely horrifying. To see this for yourself, all you need to do is view the post on X (formerly Twitter) that went viral on March 17. “Someone spread some ashes on Rise of the Resistance at Disneyl…

It’s been three years in the making, but after the Anaheim City Council’s unanimous preliminary approval on April 17, it appears the massive $1.9 billion DisneylandForward expansion plan is actually happening. The last hurdle, and one which the project is almost guaranteed to clear, is a final approval from the council on May 7. “We are thrilled that the City of Anaheim has agreed to work together on this legacy project and excited for the city council’s initial approval of DisneylandForward as…