ABC to Air Disneyland's Anniversary Special on Feb. 21

January 7, 2016, 5:02 PM · Disney has announced the date and time for its Disneyland 60th Anniversary special broadcast on ABC.

"The Wonderful World of Disney: Disneyland 60" special will run from 8-10pm (Eastern and Pacific) on Feb. 21 on the Disney-owned television network. The two-hour special will feature some of the new entertainment at the Disneyland Resort celebrating the original park's 60th birthday, including the new World of Color - Celebrate! show and the Paint the Night parade.

Features on Disneyland attractions will be cut in with taped musical performances from the park as well as a celebrity event at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, which is right across the street from the Disney-owned El Capitan. However, the Dolby has a better set-up for televised events, thanks to its annual role as the venue for the Academy Awards, which will take place at the theater on Feb. 28.

Disneyland's actual 60th birthday was last year, on July 17, 2015. The "Diamond Celebration" for the anniversary started last May and will continue through September 5 of this year. So why a TV broadcast in February, especially with the Rivers of America attractions closed by then, with construction walls blocking that huge section of Frontierland? And February might be the least nice time of the year for weather in Southern California, with an El Nino forecast to bring more rain that normal for the month.

But February is a "sweeps" month, when TV networks collect important viewership ratings that help set advertising rates. By scheduling this program then, Disney apparently believes that a Disneyland anniversary special will deliver a large audience to ABC, and Disney wants to ensure that the special delivers maximum benefit to the network, if not the park itself.

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Replies (4)

January 7, 2016 at 9:46 PM · I hope it's better than the horrid Christmas holiday show. They keep getting worse every year. Mediocre artists. Poor song choices. A long infomercial for every Disney property. Bad production quality. Barely watchable.
January 7, 2016 at 10:01 PM · Eh, why not? I am all the way in Chicago and everybody seems to know about the 60th!

By the way, my family loved the 60th anniversary!

January 8, 2016 at 7:22 AM · The worst I can imagine that's going to happen (which is very likely) is that it's going to include performances from the crappy Disney Channel tween pop stars that sadly enough will most likely become the next Lindsey Lohan or Miley Cyrus given a few years' time. Hopefully they'll balance it out with artists I can tolerate. Seriously, I'm a huge Disney fan, but the whole Disney Channel/Radio Disney thing really bugs me. Disney, you have proven time and again for years that children's entertainment doesn't have to have the intellectual capacity of a 3-year-old. Why ruin it?!
January 8, 2016 at 9:22 AM · I agree with Anon. I'm very afraid that it will be nothing more than a Christmas Parade style mess.
Fingers crossed that it will rise above.

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