What a fun celebration of friendship and beyond during the Pixar Fest at the Disneyland Resort! From now until September 3rd, you and your family & friends can all enjoy the festivities while at the Disney Parks! Thanks to Disneyland, my family was invited to enjoy the opening of Pixar Fest. There are so many great things going on, so here are some of the highlights from our weekend at Pixar Fest. You’ll want to make sure you experience all 12 of these amazing Pixar Fest related activities!

12 Ways to Celebrate Friendship and Beyond at Pixar Fest

1. Experience “Together Forever—A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular” from multiple Disneyland Park locations: This new multimedia fireworks show immerses guests into a story of friendship featuring your favorite Pixar characters with the use of projection mapping on iconic locations including Sleeping Beauty Castle, the water screens of the Rivers of America, the façade of “it’s a small world” and the buildings of Main Street, U.S.A.

2. Be dazzled by the “Paint the Night” parade: The nighttime parade with more than 1 million brilliant lights returns, this time making its way through Disney California Adventure. Becoming even more super in June, “Paint the Night” adds a new float inspired by “The Incredibles” and “Incredibles 2.”

3. Check out what’s new in the “Pixar Play Parade”: For the first time, “Pixar Play Parade” makes its way through Disneyland Park. This interactive, daytime parade gets even more playful with three new story elements featuring the iconic Pixar Lamp and Ball from the original Pixar short, “Luxo Jr.,” and characters from “Up,” and “Inside Out.”

4. Dine at Alien Pizza Planet: Everyone’s favorite green Space Aliens have invaded Disneyland Resort and transformed Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port at Disneyland Park into Alien Pizza Planet. Inspired by the family restaurant frequented by Andy (and his toys) in “Toy Story,” the restaurant serves a few new pizzas and other creatively themed menu items.

5. Take a ride on Pixar attractions at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure: For 20 years, Disney Parks and Pixar Animation Studios have collaborated on attractions and experiences inspired by the colorful worlds of Pixar films. Guests at the Disneyland Resort now enjoy more than a dozen experiences that immerse them in the worlds of some favorite Pixar stories, including Toy Story Mania! and Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.

6. Taste Pixar-inspired eats and treats: Guests will discover creatively themed food and beverage offerings around every corner, inspired by Pixar stories and characters. Among the many fun food items are a “Monsters, Inc.”-themed chilled noodle salad at Lucky Fortune Cookery (with noodles that change colors!), a “Ratatouille”-inspired three course dinner at Café Orleans, and new churro flavors, including the “Coco”-inspired Coco Churro (Frontierland churro cart) and the “Up”-inspired multi-colored fruity churro with lemon sugar (Main Street, U.S.A. churro cart). I especially love this Pixar Fest Celebration Cake, inspired by the familiar yellow Pixar Ball, at Plaza Inn at Disneyland park and Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta at Disney California Adventure park. It’s delicious to boot!

More Pixar Fest Fun:

7. See which Pixar friends you can find on the Disneyland Monorail: During Pixar Fest, the monorail fleet gets a new look with characters from “The Incredibles” and “Finding Nemo.” This highway in the sky offers transportation to Downtown Disney with aerial views of the theme parks while on the 2.5-mile route.

8. Enjoy Pixar delights in Downtown Disney: Pixar fun expands to Downtown Disney with colorful Pixar-inspired topiaries in six different locations, plus a variety of Pixar-themed treats at Marceline’s Confectionery.

9. Meet some of your favorite Pixar pals: Guests may meet some of their favorite Pixar pals at Paradise Gardens in Disney California Adventure, such as Buzz Lightyear and Woody, Russell and Dug, Flik and Atta, Mike and Sulley, and Mr. and Mrs. Incredible.

10. Dance and sing along to live Pixar musical performances: Disneyland Resort musicians also celebrate the theme of friendship with renditions of “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”from “Toy Story” in both parks. In Disney California Adventure, a zany, new seven-piece band, TripleDent Gum presents The Pixarmonic Orchestra, performs a fun-filled repertoire of songs from Pixar films.

11. Draw favorite Pixar characters at Animation Academy: In Disney California Adventure, guests will learn to draw their favorite Pixar characters such as Sulley, Dug, Edna Mode, Jack-Jack, Bing Bong and more with the artists at Animation Academy. Drawing classes typically occur every 30 minutes and guests may take home their art as a souvenir.

12. Exchange tokens of friendship: Guests may celebrate their own friendships with Pixar-themed friendship items, such as the “Finding Nemo” and “Finding Dory” souvenir light-up sippers and Pixar Fest friendship bracelets, available at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. Or one of these festive new Pixar Fest Mickey Ear hats! So fun!

What do you love most about celebrating friendship at Disneyland?

*Thanks to Disneyland Resort for sponsoring this post. Be sure to visit the Disney Parks for the celebration of friendship and beyond at Pixar Fest!