#250th-anniversary

#250th-anniversary

The Disneyland Resort will in 2026 be getting a little more patriotic. Soarin' Around the World at Disney California Adventure will in 2026 be converted to Soarin' Across America, a move timed to the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. The makeover is planned for next summer at both California Adventure in Anaheim and in Florida at Walt Disney World's Epcot.

On Wednesday, President Trump showed off plans for a major new monument to be potentially added to Washington, D.C.: a grand, classically styled arch topped with eagles and a gilded, winged statue that suggests Victory. A watercolor rendition of the proposed arch posted online last month by architect Nicolas Leo Charbonneau of Harrison Design, and reposted by the president on his Truth Social account, shows a monument that bears strong aesthetic similarities to Paris' Arc de Triomphe and the Soldiers and Sailors' Memorial Arch in Brooklyn. (Wags have already dubbed the proposed monument from the former real estate developer the "Arc de Trump.")

Parades, pageants, flag-waving and fireworks will all play a role in the United States Semiquincentennial celebrations leading up to July 4, 2026.

I was talking to some old-timers about how they drove to California for the bicentennial, and they mentioned a boat parade and the flag on the Verrazano-Narrows which sparked my interest to look into this story.