Happiest Homecoming on Earth

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The Happiest Homecoming on Earth is the eighteen-month-long celebration (held through 2005 and 2006) of the fiftieth anniversary of the Disneyland theme park, which opened on July 17, 1955. The Happiest Celebration on Earth commemorates fifty years of Disney theme parks, and celebrates Disneyland's milestone throughout Disney parks all over the globe.

• Happiest Homecoming on Earth
  • Disneyland Resort — Anaheim, California, USA
• Happiest Celebration on Earth
  • Walt Disney World Resort — Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA
  • Tokyo Disney Resort — Urayasu, Japan
  • Disneyland Resort Paris — Marne-la-Vallee, France
  • Hong Kong Disneyland Resort — Lantau Island, Hong Kong

Happiest Homecoming on Earth

Disneyland Resort

Sleeping Beauty Castle with it's 50th Anniversary Overlay

Disneyland's 50th anniversary was July 17, 2005, but the celebration was launched on May 5 (05/05/05) in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

The Happiest Homecoming on Earth ceremony began with a dedication from Disney CEO Michael Eisner. The ceremony included fireworks, speeches from Julie Andrews - the official ambassador for the 50th anniversary celebrations, and Art Linkletter, a performance of "When You Wish Upon A Star" by Christina Aguilera, and LeAnn Rimes singing the 50th anniversary theme song "Remember When". A video conference featured celebrities at the Magic Kingdom (the only live video conference, with Wayne Brady, actor and former Walt Disney World Resort cast member), Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and the construction site of Hong Kong Disneyland.

Before the ceremony, at a media presentation in Disney's California Adventure, Disneyland Resort president Matt Ouimet announced the new attractions Monsters, Inc.: Mike and Sully to the Rescue and Turtle Talk with Crush.

In 2004, Disneyland Resort President Matt Ouimet and hundreds of cast members posed for an aerial photo above Disneyland, each person holding a large placard which, all together, formed a collage of Mickey Mouse. This initiated the Happiest Faces on Earth - at several locations around Disneyland are displayed larger-than-life photo collages of Disney characters and landmarks, made up of photos of the park and of guests from the past fifty years.

Many classic Disneyland attractions re-opened in 2005 after lengthy refurbishments, such as Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, the Jungle Cruise and Space Mountain. A new fireworks show, Remember... Dreams Come True, replaces the former Believe... There's Magic in the Stars. Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams replaces the Parade of Stars and features elaborate floats with lighting that allows daytime or nighttime performances. Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters opened in Tomorrowland (at a ceremony with Tim Allen, the voice of Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear), and a new parade featuring Pixar characters is featured at Disney's California Adventure, Block Party Bash. Comedian and ex-Disneyland cast member Steve Martin opened the Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years exhibition and film, in which he features with Donald Duck. The original attractions which opened with the park have also had one of their ride vehicles painted gold for the celebration.

Other refurbishments have taken place around Disneyland with many areas being re-painted and refurbished to their former glory. The second phase of the re-paint of Tomorrowland commenced after the base silver and blue scheme was laid. Main Street USA and Sleeping Beauty Castle have been repainted, and the castle was specially decorated for the celebration. The celebration has brought record numbers of guests to the parks, numbers unmatched since the fall of 1996, when mass crowds flooded the park to catch a glimpse of the Main Street Electrical Parade before it went into permanent retirement.

In the second half of the celebration, in 2006, the Rock It Mountain overlay of Space Mountain will debut on the park's annual Grad Nights, and offically premiere around July time, the month of Disneyland's fifty-first birthday. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest will have its world premiere on the Rivers of America, as did the first film in the trilogy in 2003, on July 7, the same day that the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction will re-open after lengthy refurbishments to include plotlines from the movie trilogy in the attraction storyline. Also premiering in July is the new randomized drop sequence on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney's California Adventure. Disney hopes that these marketing opportunities will keep the celebration lasting right through Disneyland's fifty-first year of operation before it ends in November/December.

Happiest Celebration on Earth

Walt Disney World Resort

The Walt Disney World Resort introduced at least one new attraction at each of its four theme parks:

• The Magic Kingdom received a major refurbishment of "it's a small world", a new golden overlay for Cinderella Castle featuring many Disney characters, and the opening of the Cinderellabration stage show.
• Epcot received Soarin' from Disney's California Adventure.
• The Disney-MGM Studios received a major refurbishment of the Streets of America area, and the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show.
• Disney's Animal Kingdom received Lucky the Dinosaur, the first free-roaming automatic Audio-Animatronic figure and Expedition Everest, a new highly themed roller coaster through the peaks of Mount Everest, featuring an encounter with the Yeti.

Tokyo Disney Resort

• Tokyo Disneyland: The Rock Around the Mouse stage show in front of Cinderella Castle, a tribute to rock 'n' roll and Californian culture from the period that Disneyland opened; and a Golden Fiftieth Mickey at the base of the Partners statue in the hub, acknowledging its sister park's milestone.
• Tokyo DisneySea: The Raging Spirits roller coaster opens in June, and the new Tower of Terror is under construction (it will have its own new back-story, and will not be themed to The Twilight Zone).

Disneyland Resort Paris

• Disneyland Paris: Space Mountain received a makeover, and is now known as Space Mountain: Mission Two for the duration of the celebration, with new effects and ride configurations throughout. The Magic Kingdom has also donated the Wishes (albeit in an edited format for an international audience) fireworks display to Disneyland Paris.
• Walt Disney Studios: The smallest Disney park will not be receiving new attractions as such, but plans for extensive developments and expansions have been announced as part of the celebration. A new land, Toon Studios, and a Tower of Terror have been announced for the park as well as other refurbishments.

Hong Kong Disneyland Resort

The fifth worldwide resort opened as part of the celebration, in September 2005, with one theme park and two hotels.

Disney Cruise Line

The Disney Magic has been moved to the West Coast in honor of the celebration. She will be offering 12 cruises from Los Angeles to the Mexican Riviera with port calls at Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlán and Cabo San Lucas before rejoining the Wonder in the Caribbean for the winter.

Attraction trading

The main (and most advertised) aspect of the Happiest Celebration on Earth is the attraction trading. At the Walt Disney World Resort, it is heavily advertised, as three of the four theme parks have received an attraction from another Disney resort from around the world.

• The Magic Kingdom has received Cinderellabration from Tokyo Disneyland
• Epcot has received Soarin' from Disney's California Adventure
• Disney-MGM Studios has received Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show from the Walt Disney Studios

The fourth park at the Walt Disney World Resort, Disney's Animal Kingdom, has received an entirely new attraction from Walt Disney Imagineering, which was announced during the celebration; Expedition: Everest.

Although, as the Walt Disney World Resort is the centre of the Happiest Celebration on Earth (a fact dismissed by many Disneyland Resort fans as unfair due to the celebration being in honour of Disneyland's fiftieth birthday) and so the attraction trading aspect is understandably centred on it, three Walt Disney World Resort theme parks have cloned three of their attractions to four of the other Disney parks, and one other Disney park has cloned an attraction to Disneyland itself.

• Tokyo DisneySea received the Tower of Terror from the Disney-MGM Studios.
• The Walt Disney Studios also received the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror from the Disney-MGM Studios.
• Disneyland Paris received a compressed version of the Wishes fireworks for two weeks in July from the Magic Kingdom.
• Disney's California Adventure received Turtle Talk with Crush from Epcot.
• Disneyland received Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters from Tokyo Disneyland.

Season timeline

• July 17, 1955 - Disneyland opened by Walt Disney, Art Linkletter and Ronald Reagan.
• May 5, 2004 - Happiest Homecoming on Earth details are announced by Michael Eisner, Robert A. Iger and Julie Andrews.
• May 5, 2005 - The Happiest Homecoming on Earth officially is opened at Disneyland by Michael Eisner, Matt Ouimet, Bob Iger, Julie Andrews and Art Linkletter with a live video conference between the five Magic Kingdom theme parks on three continents and performances from Christina Aguilera and LeAnn Rimes.
• July 15, 2005 - Space Mountain re-opens at Disneyland after a two year overhaul hiatus.
• July 17, 2005 - Disneyland's 50th birthday is officially commemorated with a re-reading by Diane Disney of her father's original dedication.
• September 12, 2005 - Hong Kong Disneyland opens.
• October 2, 2006 - The 18 month celebration ends, with the last performances of Remember and Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams at Disneyland. The Block Party Bash is expected to continue at Disney's California Adventure.