Top 10 Disney Parks Commercials
One of my favorite things about the holiday season is the commercials. That might seem like an odd thing to associate with Christmas, but historically, some of the best advertisements have been released this time of year. That includes spots for Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
Look no further than this year’s sensation, the Meeting Cinderella ad for proof. Between that and way too much time spent on YouTube watching old McDonald’s (my personal favorite), Coca-Cola, Budweiser, Hershey’s, 7-Up, etc. Christmas commercials (I’m not kidding–here’s a great compilation), I decided this would be a fun post idea. After all, why not turn my time going down this rabbit hole into something productive?!
In this post, I’ll do exactly that. Here are some of my favorite commercials for Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Tokyo Disney Resort, and Disneyland Paris. (Sorry Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland–couldn’t find anything from either worthy of making the cut!) Just be warned–you’ll need the tissues for more than a few of these…
While I want to highlight my favorite Walt Disney World, Disneyland, etc. commercials, I want to also show “ads through the ages.” Each decade has its own style of commercials, and it’s fascinating to watch the various generations of advertisements as they evolve and are eventually replaced by a different style.
Except the aughts. That was an awkward time with a lot of bad CGI and an emphasis on cringey additions, perfectly summed up by this Stitch’s Great Escape commercial. Maybe some day we’ll look back on these with the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia. For now, the style of those commercials are like trucker hats and Juicy Couture jumpsuits–things we left behind in the 2000s that hopefully will stay there.
Anyway, here are the best Disney Parks commercials through the decades and around the world…
This character-centric spot is fairly representative of early Walt Disney World and Disneyland commercials, which were heavy on the characters, castles, or both. (Also, news rooms/call centers appear a lot for some reason.) It’s also historically significant in showing the shift from the A-E ticket books in favor of an all-inclusive park ticket.
Honorable mention to this “We Need a Vacation” Walt Disney World spot. It highlights another part of the formula in terms of music and glamor glow lighting. (The Dreamfinder cameo also scores it big points with me!)
A clever and funny way to frame a montage of attraction clips, this one is a really relatable premise–who among us hasn’t had to share the details of what they did for vacation with the class?
Who knows, maybe this is also where we can trace the origins of Disney FOMO. No parent wants to be the one with a kid telling the class about their misadventures with thieving raccoons and getting poison ivy.
If you watch Walt Disney World commercials over the years, certain styles and motifs appear. One is the “older sibling introduction” that reflects the type of sage advice often imparted by kids to one another.
The twist here, and why I love this commercial so much, is because this is wisdom many adults should really hear. Especially that random tidbit about Goofy.
This is part of what I’ll dub the “Stereotype Subversion” series that ran in the mid-1990s, each following the same formula. Details of the trip were shared or recounted via dialogue (usually by someone at home), while the footage plays showing what actually happened.
Individually, none of these are worthy of making the list, but I think this style of commercial is good and cleverly framed. More importantly, these helped reshape the image of Walt Disney World in the 1990s, and helped reestablish the “Vacation Kingdom” image from the 1970s and 1980s.
This commercial from the 25th Anniversary perfectly encapsulates the lighthearted and powerfully emotional commercials that Walt Disney World ran in the 1990s.
It’s a bit cheesy, yet the ending will put a smile on your face and also have you thinking, “we probably shouldn’t wait to visit, either…” So, mission accomplished, I guess!
Now we jump forward a couple of decades for the “You Can Fly” commercial. This has the same heartwarming mushiness as some of the 1990s commercials, but without the campiness.
The production value on this commercial is through the roof, with a ton of polish, and careful production to achieve equal parts wholesome earnestness and seriousness. Comparing this side by side with the earlier clips reflects the differences between 1990s and current Walt Disney World in the microcosm of commercials.
Here’s yet another newer style of commercial, the “Viral Bait.” These are newer spots crafted less for their endearing and compelling qualities that will directly result in new bookings when families watch around the television.
Rather, these are internet-centric spots with a smart premise and the right mix of humor, pop culture, and other ingredients it takes to go viral on social media. Disney has quickly honed these ads, with this Darth Vader one being among the best.
This combines all of the lessons learned about sentimentality, cheesiness, virality, and more to create what might be the greatest (and probably the most expensive) Disney Parks commercial ever.
As much as I’m a sucker for the earlier campy commercials, this Disneyland Paris spot and the next Tokyo Disneyland commercial are my two favorites. They hit all of the right notes and are bursting with creativity.
The next two are commercials from Tokyo Disney Resort, and illustrate cultural differences and similarities.
The first utilizes anime gorgeously and packs a powerful punch. It conveys a tremendous amount of emotion in a short span of time and evoke a similar sentimentality as the best Walt Disney World or Disneyland commercials. This underscores the notion that we are more alike than we are unalike.
This commercial is more or less the opposite of that. Long in runtime, featuring what can (charitably) be described as a “reluctant spouse” and with nothing overtly Disney about it, this is definitely not something you’d see for the U.S. parks.
Even though the premise hinges on Japanese cultural and relationship norms, the payoff is ultimately heartwarming and moving. There’s also stunning footage, a beautiful song, and the general “this is a theme park?!?” reaction that only Tokyo DisneySea prompts.
Hopefully this was a fun post that showcases some of Disney’s best theme park commercials, and demonstrates why the company is a titan of powerful advertising, right up there with Coke, Pepsi, Budweiser, and other iconic brands known for their memorable commercials. Disney is arguably the best of the bunch–as much as I love McDonald’s and Coca-Cola commercials, they’ve never made me want to race out and consume those things. By contrast, we’ve found ourselves pricing out airfare more than a few times shortly after seeing a Disney commercial!
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of these Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Tokyo, and Paris commercials? Which Disney Parks commercial is your favorite? Do you have a favorite era of advertising? Other thoughts to add? Any questions? We love hearing from readers, so please share any other thoughts or questions you have in the comments below!
i want them to make a disney parks commercial where at the end it has rafiki waving goodbye
My favourite, and one that makes my wife cry every single time, is the ad from One More Disney Day for Leap Year in 2012. The music really does it for me with that one.
I still tear up thinking about the commercials from the 80s and 90s featuring Miss Americas Superbowl champions (and others too, I’m sure) …. “You just won, what are you going to do now?” “I’m going to Disney World!”
https://youtu.be/xhmRM_qijVQ
Absolutely loved this post, thanks Tom !
Throwing another vote in for “We’re too excited to sleep” My wife still says this to me the night before we fly to visit one of the resorts.
I think my favorite was this one, though. I’ve been going to Disneyland since the seventies when I was little. I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for the Main Street Electrical Parade for a long time. This commercial with all of the old things “in the vault” and then the parade floats and music always makes me smile. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSA6dBX_AU4
Thank you for pointing this out!!!! Yes, this is the BEST commercial. My kids are now 28 and 30 years old and they call us and STILL say this before our family trips!
I loved the one where they had people send in their photos of visits from long ago and then showed film of them from now with kids and grandkids. I always cried at that one. It was one of those “Remember the Magic” series.
What a great post!! Like others, I remember many of the ‘90’s commercials.
The Disneyland Paris duck commercial?
The WDW commercial I always remember as a favorite is the one where dad asks his son his favorite part of the trip and he says just spending time with you or something similar. Then his dad says something about Mickey Mouse ad the little boy says “well I forgot about Mickey” in the sweetest voice. Love that one.
Didn’t realize emojis don’t show on comments. After my sentence on the duckilimg commercial was a steaming tears emoji. Lol.
My goodness, I’m a wreck after the Sea of Dreams commercial and the duckling one. Love all your picks.
I also love the other 5th anniversary short films for TDS, especially the one in which the male part of a couple almost ruins their stay at TDS because he has planned everything in advance – which ride to ride at what time, when and where to eat and so on. Finally, he realizes that he is about to ruin everything, throws away all of his written plans and just enjoys the moment.
I must close, there´s an online fastpass available for Flight of Passage on June 25th, 2021, and if I don´t hurry, it will be gone!
For whatever odd reason (and it ties in to your repost of the Weird Disneyland article) the commercial that still sticks out in my memory growing up was “The State Fair at Disneyland” commercial from 1987. I was 7. It aired constantly in So-Cal, where I still lived at the time. I became utterly obsessed with pig races because of that commercial and spent a big part of our trip during that event watching them. To this day and now living in Sacramento, when I get to the actual State Fair I always take the time to watch a few pig races.
And I know many purists hated it, but I loved the Ferris Wheel at the end of Main Street. The views were incredible.
Good choices. I remember most of those 1990s commercials. The more fur characters in a commercial, the more I like them.
I will admit as a man in my mid-30s the DLP Little Duck commercial tugs at my heart strings. TDS commercial is a nice one. I cannot say the same at about the TDL anime commercial since anime does not appeal to me.
Although I dislike Star Wars and cringe when I see SW in any Disney marketing, the Darth Vader commercial was hilarious especially when DV is on the Mark Twain, Astro Orbitor and Enchanted Tiki Room.
Not on your list but the DCA commercials from 2000/2001 are hilarious seeing Disney hype up DCA when DCA was so bad back then.
There was a commercial from several years ago where a young (adult) son is pleading with his (older) parents to take him with them to WDW. It appealed to me at the time, the way it was presented was charming.
Awesome post Tom! I’m sure we are all impartial to the ones from whatever decade we grew up in. For me, that would be the 90s. Love the one where the toddler walks to Mickey!
Hadn’t seen the Darth Vader in Disneyland commercial. Hilarious!! Thanks for posting.
mommy calls him her little souvenir
This comment left me really confused the first couple of times I scrolled past it, so I decided to Google it.
HOLY COW! This one deserves to be on the list for sure! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHrSX0gHX_8
I’ve been a follower of this blog for a couple years now, but have never left a comment. This time I had to. That meeting Cinderella commercial really got me. We went to Disney World last September with our 3 older kids to celebrate my husband’s 40th and our younger daughter’s 2nd birthday. Her favorite princess at the time was Cinderella, so naturally had her birthday breakfast at the castle. As our names were called and we rounded the corner to meet Cinderella, our daughter broke free of my hand, ran and literally jumped in her lap and gave Cinderella the biggest hug. All caught by the photo-pass photographer. Cinderella was so wonderful and made my little girl’s day. I’m getting choked up just thinking of it.
Thank you for this post and this blog! I just love it.
We will be going back in 2 months and it will be our newest little one’s first trip (he will be 7 months). Can’t wait!
Those are the best experiences and the greatness that is photopass. Meeting Cinderella is definitely a defining moment of any trip, but to see her to start off your birthday, what a fun treat!
Our best photopass moment came with Woody and Jessie in Toy Story Land last year. Similar to your interaction with Cinderella, but with my daughter giving Jessie the biggest hug and her getting to play with the 2 characters for several minutes. Not sure how long we were there, but got over 20 photopass pictures from the interaction.
That’s a great story–always great when those magical moments portrayed in the commercials happen in real life!
My favorite is the “Too Excited to Sleep” commercial from the 90s! That was definitely me at age 7 before my first visit, and my sister and I still send it to each other when we’re feeling that anticipation before a trip or adventure.
Me too! That’s the commercial I came here to comment about. My children were little at the time, and everyone commented that little boy looked like my son. Even today, with out of state AP’s, we comment being “too excited to sleep” before flying down for our next trip to Disneyland.
This is my favorite too! Every time I get into bed the night before a trip I look over to my wife and repeat the phrase “I’m too excited to sleep”. I think it captures that agelessness of the parks so well.
That was my favorite one too
For those who haven’t seen the commercial being discussed, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b95oyhSd5ls&list=PL9MDaVTsi9snkLKcMsuB8gnB64n2bd-a_&index=2
That one was really close to making the cut (I watched over 100 commercials for this post), but I personally preferred the others. Maybe because I don’t have any nostalgia for this one? I don’t ever remember seeing it as a kid.
In the age of the DVR, I rarely see any commercials any more. Thanks for the links and for Youtube! As the father of a rapidly-growing-up daughter, that Cinderella ad was really effective.