“I’m going to Disney World!” and “I’m going to Disneyland!” are advertising slogans used in a series of television commercials by The Walt Disney Company that began airing in 1987. Used to promote the company’s theme park resorts in Florida and California, the commercials most often are broadcast following the Super Bowl and typically feature an NFL player shouting the phrase while celebrating the team’s victory immediately after the championship game. These commercials have also promoted champions from other sports such as basketball star Dwayne Wade and olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.
In his 1998 memoir Work in Progress, Disney CEO Michael Eisner credited his wife, Jane, with the idea for the campaign. According to Eisner, during the January 1987 grand opening for the Star Tours attraction at Disneyland, the couple dined with Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, who in December 1986 had piloted the first aircraft to fly around the world without stopping or refueling. After Jane Eisner asked what the pilots planned to do next, they replied, “Well, we’re going to Disneyland.” She later told her husband the phrase would make a great advertising campaign.
Weeks later, Disney launched the series following Super Bowl XXI on January 25, 1987 with a commercial featuring New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms. Simms was paid a reported $75,000 for his participation.
The week before Super Bowl XXI in 1987, New York Giants quarterback, Phil Simms was approached by Disney reps and asked if his team won the Super Bowl if he’d say “I’m going to Disney World!” while they had a camera on him.
At first Phil Simms declined but the Disney reps persisted and on January 25, 1987 after his New York Giants defeated the Denver Broncos, 39–20, Phil Simms became the first person to utter the words “I’m Going to Disneyworld!” The company later aired three more ads that year with other athletes following major sports championships.
