I'm Going to Disney World!
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"I'm Going to Disney World!" and "I'm Going to Disneyland!" are advertising slogans which are the most prominent feature of an advertising campaign famously spoken by players from the winning team immediately after the Super Bowl. They are generally spoken in response to a question from a reporter such as, "You've just won the Super Bowl, what are you going to do now?"
[edit] Disney World - Super Bowl relationship
Disney began the campaign for the Walt Disney World and Disneyland resorts in 1987 for Super Bowl XXI. New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms was the first player to announce he was "going to Disney World" following the Super Bowl. Disney also produces a commercial to be aired during the game with players from both teams and a commercial for the days after the Super Bowl. The ad generally stars the Super Bowl MVP. Disney actually films two ads, featuring the two phrases "I'm Going to Disney World" and "I'm Going to Disneyland" to better fit East and West Coast markets. Super Bowl XXV MVP Ottis Anderson was the first to deviate from the usual script. When asked the question, Anderson replied "I'm dedicating this one to our troops," referring to Operation Desert Storm which had begun a week and a half before the game.
The campaign continued airing at each Super Bowl uninterrupted for 19 years until 2005 and Super Bowl XXXIX when it did not take place. Some believe it was stopped due to the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy the year before and Disney's fear that the event had made the Super Bowl too mature for Disney World. However, Disney spokespeople maintain that the Super Bowl was simply timed wrong to coincide with Disney's advertising campaigns that year. Tom Brady did appear at Disney World following that Super Bowl while being interviewed by ESPNEWS, a Disney entity. The first question asked was, "You just won the Super Bowl, where are you at?" to which Brady responded, "I'm at Disney World!" Super Bowl XXXV MVP Ray Lewis famously didn't get asked, possibly due to the fact he had been accused of murder the year before. Baltimore Ravens quarterback Trent Dilfer took his place in the ad.
The original phrase returned in 2006 with Super Bowl XL, with an ad showing players from the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks practicing how they want to deliver the line if they are asked 'the question' by a reporter after the game. Disney also projected the 20-year history of the campaign onto a Detroit skyscraper from February 1-5 leading up to the 2006 game. Super Bowl XL MVP Hines Ward said "I'm going to Disney World and I'm taking The Bus." After the game, Steelers safety Mike Logan riffed on the campaign by referring to a Pittsburgh-area amusement park, saying, "Forget Disney World, I want them to open up Kennywood!"
While the statement is most famously spoken by football players after the Super Bowl, other athletes have participated in the campaign from other sports and sporting events. Athletes have done ads from the America's Cup, the Stanley Cup, the Women's World Cup, and the NBA. Barry Bonds and his family appeared in an ad after Bonds hit 73 home runs in the 2001 season. Members of the Anaheim Angels also did a spot after winning the 2002 World Series, when Disney owned the team. A trio of Boston Red Sox players (Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz, and Curt Schilling) appeared in an ad after the Red Sox broke the Curse of the Bambino in the 2004 World Series.
[edit] References in popular culture
The use of the phrase is also parodied in the movie Hot Shots! as well as in Married... with Children and The Simpsons, in which daredevil Captain Lance Murdock says "I'm going to Duff Gardens!"
The phrase appears in the Timbuk 3 song "Disneyland (Was Made For You & Me)" from their 1991 album Big Shot in the Dark, and the song "Dizz Knee Land", a 1993 hit by Dada.
In Fairly Odd Parents the President of the United States launches a nuclear missile and almost causes a nuclear war. When an army general asks him what he is going to do, he says "I'm going to Escalator Land!"
In Issue #16 of the Wolverine vol. 1 series by Marvel, Logan uses the phrase after having killed the vampire Ba'al. Image Comics' reptilian Superhero/Cop Savage Dragon also uses the phrase in an interview after taking out Overlord.
In The Simpsons episode "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday", after winning the Super Bowl, a football player shouts, "I'm going to Disneyland!" To which travel agent Wally Kogen (portrayed by Fred Willard) replies, "You know, I've heard nothing but bad things." Another episode of The Simpsons is named after the advertising campaign, called "I'm Goin' to Praiseland."
In the film HOT SHOTS a Parody of "Top Gun", Charlie Sheen .... Lt. Topper Harley, after the mission at the end of the film, during his celebrations he gets asked the question and replies "I'm going to Disneyland!".
