The Super Bowl is almost as famed for its iconic commercials as it is for the Big Game itself. From the Budweiser Frogs to Apple 1984 to ads featuring Michael Jordan, Mean Joe Greene and more. But no spots are as memorable or effective as the the famous “I’m going to Disney World” and “I’m going to Disneyland” slogans that have been uttered by most Super Bowl MVPs since 1987.
The history of Disney’s “What’s Next” commercials started, like so many of the company’s great enduring ideas, with former CEO Michael Eisner. In the four decades since, the catchphrase has entered our collective vernacular, becoming a pop culture fixture that has grown far beyond the Super Bowl, with countless other iconic–and ironic–utterances in non-sports contexts.
For good reason, as the ad is the most iconic in sports. Featuring Disney-anthem “When You Wish Upon a Star” as confetti falls on-field after the clock hits zero, and the winning players announce their intention to celebrate by going to Disney. It’s a moment as all-American as, well, Walt Disney. Some might even call it Distinctly Patriotic.
The genesis of the “What’s Next” Disney Super Bowl commercial dates back to January 1987, when then CEO Michael Eisner and his wife, Jane Breckenridge, hosted a dinner at Disneyland with filmmaker George Lucas and other celebrities to promote the opening of the park’s new Star Tours attraction.
Among those in attendance were pilots Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager. Just weeks earlier, the duo had made the Rutan Voyager the first aircraft to fly around the world without stopping or refueling. They completed the nine-day journey on December 23, 1986, flying over 26,000 miles before landing at Edwards Air Force Base.
According to Eisner’s 1998 memoir, Work In Progress, Jane asked the pilots what they were going to do next after doing “the most adventurous thing imaginable” just a few weeks earlier. Rutan jokingly replied, without hesitation: “Well, we’re going to Disneyland.” Eisner laughed and said they made the right choice, but Jane later pulled him aside and said the line would make a great advertising campaign.
Within weeks, Disney set in motion its now-famous “What’s next?” campaign, arranging for the Super Bowl MVP to say the iconic phrase in the immediate aftermath of his team’s victory. A decade ago, Eisner and other former Disney executives who worked on the campaign and athletes who helped make it famous sat down for a round table with Sports Illustrated to explain what make the “I’m going to Disney World” ad something special.
Eisner explained to SI that, immediately after that dinner, he became obsessed with the idea. It was the perfect organic marketing moment. He questioned what venue would be perfect for such a ‘career pinnacle ad campaign’ and instantly thought of the Super Bowl. After climbing that mountain, so to speak, a trip to Disney would be the ultimate reward.
And so that’s what Disney did, getting to work on creating the perfect Super Bowl ad that would be able to be recorded and air shortly after the Big Game ended.
The logistics weren’t easy, according to Tom Elrod, Disney’s former head of marketing. They’d have a crew on the field to film the second the game ended, attempting to film a spot in the perfectly chaotic atmosphere, with confetti falling and players celebrating.
Elrod said that Disney wanted it to be authentic, which meant being the first camera on the field in that frenetic environment. He noted the challenge of competing with broadcast crews and journalists and teammates and everyone else. “That first year, I don’t think anyone thought that was achievable,” said Elrod.
Disney discussed the idea with then NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, who was on board with the idea and saw Disney’s vision for the ad campaign. Rozelle was supportive and facilitated the spot; it probably helped that Disney had a good relationship with the NFL thanks to Disney producing the halftime shows.
According to Eisner, the company proceeded with the idea ahead of the Big Game by identifying the likely MVPs, quarterbacks Phil Simms of the New York Giants and John Elway. Simms led his team to a 39-20 win over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXI to earn MVP honors.
As Simms recounts, his agent approached him with the idea and he initially wanted “no part” of the ad because it seemed like a “distraction” ahead of the game. His agent persisted, informing Simms that Disney would guarantee the money ($75,000) whether the Giants won or lost.
The same deal was made with the younger Elway, who reportedly walked away with between $15,000 and $75,000 despite being on the losing team. During the “When You Wish Upon a Star” episode of “Peyton’s Places” on the ESPN+ streaming service, Sims told Manning that his agent called him five times a day leading to the big game and he finally “gave in” and agreed to participate the Friday night before Super Bowl Sunday.
Fast-forward to the conclusion of Super Bowl XXI, and Simms is on the field celebrating, soaking in the moment when a Disney cameraman taps him on the shoulder to record the spot. His reaction: “Are you kidding me? We have to do this now?!” He’d forgotten about the deal, but recorded the “I’m going to Disney World” commercial, and the rest is history.
He and his family were treated to an all-day experience at the Magic Kingdom, which has become part of the tradition for the Super Bowl MVP. Simms called the experience “weird.” He said that the next couple weeks, people congratulated him on winning the Super Bowl…but he also heard from just as many people who said, “I loved your commercial!”
Eisner was pleased with the footage, calling it the “ideal image” that was wholesome and offered an emotional connection with viewers.
Mark Allen, a camera man with NFL Films, explained that was part of the appeal. It wouldn’t have resonated was much if it were just a guy standing there in a static studio environment, that they wanted the ad to have movement. The appeal is in the dynacism, and putting fans in the middle of the frenzy on-field moment immediately after the Super Bowl concludes. It puts the viewer in the shoes of the winning athlete.
Allen added that the ad was difficult to execute from the beginning, but got even more difficult over time. Larry Lundy, former Director of Sports Marketing at Walt Disney World, echoed the same. That as the Super Bowl and marketing around the game got bigger, booking winning athletes’ time after the Big Game became more competitive.
He explained that in addition to the on-field frenzy, there were reps from all of the late night shows, morning shows, etc. “You’re in a battle to get this player extracted from the Super Bowl, to Disney,” Lundy explained.
It isn’t always the MVP who says “I’m going to Disney World” (or Disneyland).
In the early days, Eisner and Elrod would discuss who it should be sometime during the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. For one thing, the MVP could, in theory, be a player on the losing team. (Although that’s only happened once ever, and not in the last 50 years.)
Disney wanted the player saying “I’m going to Disney World” to be responsible for the most memorable and climactic moments in the game. Because of the difficulty in knowing in advance who this might be, they decided to have every player on both teams sign the contract for the “What’s Next” spot before the Super Bowl, just in case Disney wanted to choose them.
One of the most notable instances of Disney choosing someone other than the MVP came after the Ravens’ 34-7 win over the Giants in Super Bowl XXXV, when Disney chose Trent Dilfer instead of MVP Ray Lewis, who had been arrested one year earlier on murder charges. At the time, Lewis was viewed as being in “endorsement exile” because so many brands wouldn’t work with him.
“We look for a great story, and Trent Dilfer offered us that story,” Disney spokesman Craig Dezern said at the time back in 2001. Lewis shrugged off the snub. “I wasn’t going there anyway,” he said. “I have kids who were not going to let me go to Disney World. They wanted to see me.”
Lewis eventually struck a deal on obstruction of justice charges, but the reputational damage was done. (Lewis has since rehabilitated his image, enjoying a successful career post-NFL in broadcasting, and doing many ads–although I can find no evidence he’s ever worked with any Disney brands.)
With that said, Lewis is far from the only exception. When Tom Brady won his fourth of a record-setting five Super Bowl MVP trophies, James White instead represented the Patriots at Walt Disney World. Brady had been before and has been back since, though. White scored three touchdowns in Super Bowl LI, including the only overtime score in Super Bowl history to cap off an extraordinary 25-point comeback win. A typical Disney fairytale ending…unless you’re a Falcons fan!
While the “What’s Next” ad campaign started with the Super Bowl, it has been extended far beyond football. Eisner notes that once it became successful in the NFL, Disney extended it to the NBA Finals, Olympics, World Series, and the Stanley Cup Finals. From 2008 to 2011, the winner of “American Idol” exclaimed that they’d be going to Walt Disney World as part of the marketing campaign.
Other companies have also tried to piggyback off the success of the marketing campaign, with their own knock-offs of the commercial. Eisner recounted to SI that he learned of Warner Bros. trying a similar campaign: “I went completely nuts. I told Warner Bros., “That’s ours; you’d better stay away.” I don’t know if we had a copyright, per se, but we had so ingratiated ourselves with America. We convinced Warner Bros. to back off. This was a Disney thing.”
Over the years, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are among the NBA stars who have announced that going to Disney is what they’re doing next following a championship win. The most recent was 2006 NBA Finals MVP Dwyane Wade, who joined teammate Udonis Haslem as grand marshals for a Miami Heat victory parade at Walt Disney World.
In 2004, three stars for the Boston Red Sox — Curt Schilling, Pedro Martínez and David Ortiz — took a trip to Walt Disney World after breaking their team’s 86-year title drought. In a quintessential Michael Eisner synergy move, Santa Claus uttered the famous phrase in a commercial at the end of the ABC Disney Christmas Day Parade for a few years in the late 1990s (watch below).
Eisner noted that he’s not sure why it “hasn’t stuck” for other sports, saying that it might be a budgetary thing because the commercial is expensive to put on.
Spitballing here, but logistics are another possible explanation. None of the other major sports have a singular championship, so having the resources necessary “on call” for multiple games might not be worth it, especially given viewership disparities.
It’s also unclear just how much free advertising Disney has gotten out of the “What’s Next” campaign, as athletes and others who have achieved greatness have undoubtedly uttered “I’m going to Disney World” in celebration without having any contract with the company. It’s become that prominent in the pop culture zeitgeist.
The “What’s Next” campaign also has tremendous value in terms of brand awareness and as an marketing tool at a time of year when families are in the midst of making their summer vacation plans.
We frequently discuss this when it comes to the ABC Christmas Day Parade, which is basically an hour-long commercial for Walt Disney World and Disneyland at a time when families are gathered together and discussing the year to come.
The same sentiment applies to the “What’s Next” Super Bowl commercial. The biggest differences are its duration (much shorter) and that it features no footage to actually promote Walt Disney World or Disneyland. Nevertheless, it’s very valuable because brings Disney to mind, is sentimental and so aspirational.
Eisner has noted this in interviews, saying it’s one of the reasons why there was “never any doubt the campaign would keep going.” He explained that every year, a high school athlete will win something, and inevitably shout, “I’m going to Disney!” Eisner said many of them send that video to Disney, and he’s seen thousands of clips of kids repeating those lines as if they were national heroes.
Eisner added: “In sports today, we focus on who is traded or cut or getting another contract. This is the other side of that. [The ad] has nothing to do with money or transactions, it’s just a moment of pure bliss and high achievement. It’s real.”
Here’s just one example of that (note the date):
A large part of the catchphrase’s cultural presence is it being a fixture of almost every Super Bowl since 1987.
There was no “I’m going to Disney” commercial following Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005. It was a brief hiatus for the campaign, which has continued every year in the nearly two decades since.
And almost every year since, the chosen player usually takes part in a parade at either Disneyland or Disney World. Whether that occurs at Magic Kingdom in Florida or Disneyland in California is dictated by the host site of the Super Bowl–it’s whichever is closer. In recent years, there have been multiple players featured in the parades when the Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles, Tampa, or Miami–probably due to the ease of visiting the respective Disney parks from those in-state host cities.
Until 2025, the last time the Super Bowl champions appeared in a public-facing parade at Walt Disney World was in February 2020 when the Kansas City Chiefs also played and defeated the San Francisco 49ers. The Super Bowl that year was held in Miami and MVP Patrick Mahomes celebrated with a parade down Main Street in Magic Kingdom.
The following year, Mahomes and the Chiefs were back in Super Bowl LV, but the hometown Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated them at Raymond James Stadium. Following that victory, Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady and longtime teammate Rob Gronkowski turned to the TV cameras and said that iconic line: “I’m going to Disney World!” But they didn’t. At least, not immediately.
Gronk was there the following day, but backstage on a cavalcade float posing for photos. There was no parade due to COVID and the phased reopening. We know this because we were also there (there was nothing better to do at the time and I thought it’d be cool to catch a glimpse of Tom Brady in real life). Brady ended up doing a publicity visit to Walt Disney World a few months later, and I didn’t see him or Gronk.
Every year since, the Super Bowl parade has been at Disneyland. In 2022, it featured former Detroit Lion Matthew Stafford, plus Cooper Kupp and Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams. Both years since then, it’s been Patrick Mahomes again. He’s currently behind only Tom Brady for the most “I’m going to Disney” Super Bowl commercials, and tied with him for #1 in terms of actual parade appearances.
We shall see whether Mahomes makes it an “I’m going to Disney” three-peat, or if Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts make their first trip to Walt Disney World as Super Bowl Champions. Speaking of which, if you’re going to be in Magic Kingdom on Monday, here’s How to Watch the 2025 Super Bowl Parade at Walt Disney World & Our Past Experiences with the Celebration.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of the “I’m going to Disney” Super Bowl commercial? Is it effective marketing and a staple of the Super Bowl and pop culture at this point? Do you agree or disagree with our thoughts here? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
