Disneyland Season of the Force and Star Wars Nite 2025 Review

Although everyone has their favorite pockets of Disneyland Resort, Star Wars is a clear throughline throughout the theme park. It makes sense, then, that Disney would have a season dedicated to the IP and a special event for fans to celebrate their love of everything Star Wars. Game Rant visited Disneyland Resort in Anaheim to check out the 2025 offering for Season of the Force, as well as the after hours Star Wars Nite event, to see how things have changed, expanded, and improved.

Season of the Force is an Added Bonus for Disneyland Guests

For Star Wars fans, Disneyland has built an impressive slate of things to do and see (and also eat and buy), bringing more opportunities to experience the galaxy far, far away than ever. For any Disneyland guest, Season of the Force runs until May 11, 2025 and is meant to be an additive element for Star Wars fans. Last year, saw the addition of an Ahsoka scene to Star Tours, a photo op with Sabine Wren, as well as new food, and more. For Season of the Force 2025, there is no major addition on the level of Star Tours, but there are a handful of great ways the theme park is celebrating the IP.

Saying Hello to Luke Skywalker in Galaxy’s Edge

While the original plan for Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge seemed to be to keep the land focused on the timeline surrounding Episodes 7, 8, and 9, Disneyland has softened that stance quite a bit after the success of The Mandalorian. Now, you are just as likely to run into Rey, Kylo Ren, or Chewbacca, as you are The Mandalorian (with Grogu on his hip), Ahsoka, and Boba Fett. And during Season of the Force 2025, Luke Skywalker is now a meet and greet character option that you can find walking around Galaxy’s Edge, potentially even with R2-D2 in tow.

A Luke Skywalker meet and greet is a rarity for Disneyland, and getting to snap a photo with the Jedi Master is a real treat. The character actor did a great job of being friendly while staying in character, and his resemblance to Mark Hamill is pretty spot-on. Photo Ops in Batuu can be challenging because they are moving meet-and-greets (the characters don’t stop in any one place for long), but you can still snap a pretty good pic with Luke Skywalker.

Star Wars Rides are Still Among Disneyland’s Best

Last year, Star Tours got a new scene featuring the Purrgil space whales from Ahsoka, but the 2025 iteration of Season of the Force has flipped back to the randomized scene rotation. You still have a chance of seeing Cassian Andor or The Mandalorian, but classic planets lie Coruscant and Naboo are back on the menu as well.

Season of the Force also sees Space Mountain change into Hyperspace Mountain with Star Wars theming throughout the ride. The storyline is Star Wars-themed, the music is Star Wars, and the projections feature Tie Fighters and Star Destroyers. Purists will disagree, but I think that Hyperspace Mountain is the superior version of the ride.

Season of the Force Food

My favorite part of any Disneyland seasonal event is the food, and Season of the Force is no exception. With a combination of returning favorites and new items, the menu spread across Disneyland includes an exotic selection of tasty things to try. Some are unique in their flavor profile, like the Galactic Gyro Burger or the Fried Chicken Baos, while others look alien or otherworldly, like the Peka Pretzel. Disneyland always does a great job of making desserts inspired by Star Wars characters and iconography, with churros colored like lightsabers and cookies that look like Grogu.

Whether you’re just looking to snap a picture for Instagram or want something unique to try, Season of the Force has a lot of solid food items, both savory and sweet. My personal favorite from the things I tried is the Fried Falumpaset Cheese Skewer available at Ronto Roasters. It’s like a cheese corn dog with potato on the crust that comes with a mustard-cheese sauce. There’s a nice balance between the salty cheese and the fried exterior that has just a touch of sweetness from the potato. And the sauce balances everything out with a nice tang from the mustard.

Galaxy’s Edge tends to keep some of its popular Season of the Force items after the event ends, and I hope the Fried Falumpaset Cheese Skewer becomes a staple moving forward. Also, if you’ve never had a Ronto Wrap from Ronto Roasters, it’s one of the best food items in Disneyland Resort.

Star Wars-Themed Shows are a Season of the Force Highlight

Shadows of Memory: The Skywalker Saga is the marquee addition for Season of the Force. It’s a nighttime projection show that is visually stunning. Telling the tale of Anakin Skywalker’s ascent and descent, followed by the rise of Luke and Leia, the imagery creates a sense of depth that is impressive to see on the spires of Galaxy’s Edge. The space looks bigger and more detailed and it’s impossible not to get sucked into the storytelling. Shadows of Memory is a cant-miss for Star Wars fans.

On select nights, Galaxy’s Edge also plays host to the Fire of the Rising Moons fireworks show. Piggybacking off the park’s regular fireworks but with Star Wars-themed music and narration, Fire of the Rising Moons is a great way to experience a Disneyland staple from a new perspective. Even if you’re not the biggest Star Wars fan, being part of that atmosphere, especially with everyone raising their lightsabers at a pivotal moment, it’s hard not to get goosebumps.

Popcorn Buckets are a Star Wars Collector’s Dream

Season of the Force also includes new merchandise for Star Wars fans to pick up across the theme park. The mega collectors will want to pick up one of the collectible popcorn buckets, like this one themed after a Tauntaun, but there are plenty of options in different scales. Disneyland always does a great job of theming its Star Wars merch for Season of the Force around a particular style or look, so every fan should find at least one thing that entices them.

Checking Out Star Wars Nite at Disneyland

While any Disneyland Resort guest can partake of Season of the Force festivities, Star Wars Nite is a special, ticketed after hours event. On select nights, Disneyland will close early to regular guests and only those with a Star Wars Nite ticket will gain access to the park, denoted by a special wristband and lanyard.

Star Wars Nite begins in earnest at 9pm, but ticket holders can enter Disneyland as early as 6pm. Keep in mind, though, that the major activities like character meet and greets won’t start until 9, but you can start picking up the food at 8pm. I recommend mobile ordering some of your top choices even earlier and then scheduling them for that evening.

Star Wars Takes Over Disneyland at Night

For Star Wars Nite, Disneyland is essentially taken over by Star Wars. There are still all the rides you know and love, but special theming is scattered across the park and iconic tracks from the property’s 45+-year history is piped through the speakers. It is an opportunity for Star Wars and Disneyland fans to merge their two loves into one.

Experiencing Disneyland at night is fun all on its own, but with overlays and projections on Main Street, It’s a Small World, and Cinderella’s Castle, you can’t help but smile. For this iteration of Star Wars Nite there is also a series of light beams coming up from the area around the Walt Disney statue, a DJ playing a combination of Star Wars songs and more traditional music tracks, and a live band on Tom Sawyer’s Island. Everywhere you turn there is some new type of Star Wars theming, and you’re surrounding by guests in costume, or Star Wars merch, carrying lightsabers, or some combination of the three. The excitement is infectious, whether you’re a Star Wars fan or not.

Unique Photo Ops and Special Character Meet-and-Greets

If you dressed up or are hauling around a full size replica lightsaber for Star Wars Nite then you likely want to take a bunch of pictures, and Disneyland gives you plenty of opportunities to do so. Disneyland places plenty of photo op stations around the park as well as unique character meet and greets. You can stop by different postcards themed after classic Star Wars locations like Hoth or Scarif. Or hop on a speeder bike for a fun duo photo. Or the most premiere opportunity is getting to snap a picture with Queen Amidala, Anakin Skywalker, or an Ewok.

Character meet-and-greets are a key part of the Disneyland experience, so bringing out a diverse selection of icons from Star Wars will keep you plenty busy. Expect to wait in lines for the most popular characters and photo ops, but Disneyland makes it worth it. With Disneyland park photographers helping set up poses and free Photo Pass included with the event, you will have a lot of precious memories from the event.

There are also a few characters walking around the park for photo ops, like the usual Galaxy’s Edge folks (Mandalorian, Rey, etc.) as well as Captain Phasma wandering in Tomorrowland. Perhaps the coolest character interaction is looking up on the Tomorrowland terrace to see Emperor Palpatine with his Imperial Guard. And when Palpatine isn’t there, he rotates out for Darth Maul, who paces the terrace with his double-sided lightsaber in-hand.

Merch and Food are Plentiful at Star Wars Nite

As with Season of the Force, Star Wars Nite has a solid selection of event-specific merchandise available. The styling this year was simple lines with a lot of color, and it was very cool. I definitely could have bought a lot of it, but I kept to a few items. I’m a pin collector so I had to get both options, and according to Cast Members they went quickly. You can pick up the Star Wars Nite merch either in Galaxy’s Edge by the Millennium Falcon or next to Star Traders near the Space Mountain exit.

Star Wars Nite has a lot of food options around the park – it feels like each restaurant has at least one unique meal. Like with Season of the Force, some foods looked alien, were exotic in flavor, or were meant to mimic the design of a character. Everything I tried was delicious, from the Princess Sundae that included two cinnamon rolls to mimic Leia’s hair to the Bantha Stroganoff, but the Dagobah Beignets were my favorite bite of the night. Beignets are a classic Disneyland treat and the sweetness of the matcha powdered sugar combined with the matcha dipping sauce pushed these over the top. To be honest, with only 5 hours to work with, the real challenge was deciding which items to try.

Even Non-Star Wars Fans Can Have Fun During the Event

Of course, Star Wars is still a part of Disneyland’s theme park offering and you can enjoy all of those rides during Star Wars Nite. I’d recommend going to Rise of the Resistance as soon as possible, because it closes before the event ends and is likely to be the most popular ride of the night. If you haven’t been on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, I can’t sing its praises enough – it is one of the best theme park rides, period. Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, Hyperspace Mountain, and Star Tours are also worth riding during the event because you get a little extra excitement out of your fellow guests.

Even if you’re not the biggest Star Wars fan, these after hours events like Star Wars Nite could still be potentially worth it, if only to experience a less-busy version of Disneyland. Wait times for the majority of the rides are 5 minutes, which is typically a walk-on. More popular rides are closer to 15 minutes, but even then, those wait times pale in comparison to an average Disneyland day. If you just want to ride some of your favorite Disneyland rides over and over, and completely ignore the Star Wars food, characters, and theming, you can have a lot of fun for 6+ hours.

Star Wars Nite is a Memorable Experience at Disneyland

However, if you want to combine everything together – sample some food, meet some characters, take some photos, and ride some rides – then Star Wars Nite is a great time at Disneyland Resort. Being around so many Star Wars fans with the music echoing through the park is a special experience and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. There is so much to do during the event that you’ll likely have to prioritize certain activities versus others, but all of it is fun and well worth purchasing a ticket for this year or in the future.

Star Wars Nite’s remaining dates are April 29, May 1, May 4, and May 6th at Disneyland Resort. Game Rant was provided a Disneyland ticket to preview Season of the Force and a Star Wars Nite ticket to preview the after hours event.