I'm Going to Disney World!

aka: Im Gonna Go To Disney World

Where else could you go to celebrate something like that?

A series of popular ads running since the late 1980s following a noteworthy accomplishment, almost always something in the sports industry (i.e., winning the Super Bowl), and involving one of the Disney Theme Parks, with the implication that the only thing that could possibly be better than such a crowning achievement is a trip to a Disney park. The ads went a little something like this:

[Award-Bait Song-style version of "When You Wish Upon a Star" swells over a montage of whatever game Player has just won]
Announcer: Player, you just won the Big Game! What are you going to do next?
Player: I'm going to Disney World/Land (depending on which part of the country the ad is broadcast in)!!!
[pretty shot of Cinderella/Sleeping Beauty Castle (again, depending on the park) during the fireworks with the Walt Disney World/Disneyland logo shown as the song fades out]

Ah, there simply is nowhere like the Happiest Place On Earth... (it helps that the player in question gets about $30,000 and a free trip out of it).

The slogan originated during a November 1986 dinner between Disney CEO Michael Eisner and his wife Jane and the pilots Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, who had just completed a non-stop around-the-world flight. Jane Eisner asked what they were going to do next, to which they replied, "We're going to Disneyland." The Eisners latched onto the sentence as an ideal slogan, and Disney rushed a commercial into production. Featuring New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms, it ran two months later, immediately after Super Bowl XXI, and became instantly iconic. The slogan is still a popular Stock Phrase/Stock Parody.

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Examples:

Advertising

• A 1997 spot for The Wonderful World of Disney featured an announcer asking a boy what he'll do now that he's finished his homework. His response is "I'm going to the living room," and he sits down with his parents to watch ABC, which the said show airs on.
• In 2006, a Disney Parks commercial aired weeks before the Super Bowl featured NFL players chanting the phrase as a mantra during their training.

Anime & Manga

• There was a parody of this in the anime Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo where the main character at one point turns into a caterpillar, ends up becoming a cocoon, and later becomes a butterfly. The Narrator then pretty much entirely references this string of events, then asks "What are you gonna do next!?" to which he replies, "I'm going to Holy Guacamole Land!!"

Comic Books

• Probably related, since there wasn't a Disneyland yet: In the first Asterix album, a Roman legionary is commended and gets a free trip to the Circus Maximus in Rome.
  Roman Legionary: Hooray! I'm going to the circus!
• The Incredible Hulk: Speedfreek, upon his introduction, used various football metaphors left and right, and threw in the line about Disneyland as he was congratulating himself for killing a mobster.
• After Squirrel Girl defeats Fin Fang Foom, she tells reporters she's going to Disneyland.

Comic Strips

• Parodied in FoxTrot: During a story arc, in which Jason and Marcus consistently display their ineptitude for the sport of American Football, they appear to be psyching each other up for a serious play, telling each other that they "had to get this just right". Cut to a scene with the two of them and Jason's mom:
  Jason and Marcus: We're going to Disney World!
  Andy: Oh you are, are you?
• Get Fuzzy:
  Rob: Bucky Katt! You just broke every lamp in the house! Where are you going now?
• Liberty Meadows:
  Announcer: Ralph, you just broke the world record and set a milestone in the history of flight! What are you going to do now?
  Ralph: I... I Need a Bedpan...
• An early '70's plotline in Li'l Abner involved Native Americans taking back the country from the white man. Although it actually predated the '80's ad campaign by some dozen or so years, the story included this exchange:
  Indian 1: I think I gung live in Disneyland!
  Indian 2: I think you big fool! I gung live in a nightclub!!

Fan Works

• Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series:
  • Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Movie
    [Earth Shattering Ka Boom!]
    Zorc: I've finally destroyed the world!
    Bakura: Well done, Zorc! What are you going to do now?
    Zorc: I'm going to Disney World!... And then I'm going to destroy it!
  • The "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue shows that Zorc couldn't destroy Disney World because it was too much fun. He destroyed EuroDisney instead.
• Parodied in the trailer for George Lucas Strikes Back - now that Star Wars has made millions of dollars, George Lucas says he's going to Disneyland... to build a ride.
• In Code MENT when discussing their next target, Lelouche says Disneyland.
• The Bolt Chronicles: Subverted by minor-league manager Jimmy Braun in "The Baseball Game" after winning the Single-A World Series when a reporter asks him if he's going to Disney World to commemorate the achievement. He says his salary only allows him to have a celebration meal at the local Mexican taqueria.

Films — Animation

• Aladdin:
  • The Genie makes the Finger Framing gesture, like he was putting Aladdin in a TV frame, and asks, "You've just won the heart of the princess; what are you going to do next?" (as "When You Wish Upon a Star" swells in the background). Aladdin does not respond. While holding a script, Genie attempts to prompt him by saying, "Your line is, 'I'm going to free the Genie.'"
  • And of course, when Aladdin does set him free, Genie sports the "Walt Disney Theme Park Tourist" look. (Based on Robin Williams' appearance in the "Back to Neverland" film seen at what was then Disney-MGM Studios' "The Magic of Disney Animation" attraction)
  • In the stage show at California Adventure, after Genie is freed, he asks himself, "What are you gonna do next? I'm going to Disneyland!" (You know, since it's a short walk away...)
• Sally says this after winning the school talent show in The Peanuts Movie.
• In the Miramax cut of The Thief and the Cobbler, when the Thief steals the largest of the three golden balls from the top of the minaret, he says "This one's gonna take me to Disneyland!"

Films — Live-Action

• Balls of Fury has young Randy Daytona say "I'm going to Disneyland" just before he collapses after tripping over a barrier in the Olympic ping-pong semifinals, which he ends up losing. This phrase comes back to haunt him when ping-pong patron Feng acknowledges Daytona with the question "How was Disneyland?"
• Con Air:
  Larkin: Where are you taking my plane?
  Cyrus: We're going to Disneyland!
• In The Game Plan, there's a subplot where Kingman, would make a lot of money by saying something similar about an in-universe burger franchise should he win the championship game. Upon winning, he instead opts to say he's taking his daughter home.
• Hot Shots!:
  Reporter: Hey, Topper Harley, now that you've killed the bad guy and made the world safe for democracy, what are you going to do to cash in on your newfound fame?
  Harley: I'm going to Disneyland.
  [Harley is immediately given a large stack of wrapped cash, and a handshake, from a "suit", signifying payment for promoting the park]
• Inspector Gadget (1999):
  • A subversion occurs.
    Scolex: Good morning, RoboGadget. You have just been animated by the most complex computer technology in the world. What are you going to do now?
    RoboGadget: [Idea Bulb sound effect] I'm gonna kick some butt!
  • Played straight during the credits, when the Gadgetmobile says "I'm goin' to Disneyland!"
• In Repossessed, when the Satan-possessed Linda Blair escapes from the TV studio run by Expies of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker after trapping them in a horse costume and has had her plans for possessing people through the airwaves foiled by Leslie Nielsen, she says this line. It Makes Sense in Context. Sort of.
• Saving Mr. Banks: Amusingly subverted. When the aloof Mrs. Travers is invited to tour the Magic Kingdom with Walt Disney himself, her reaction amounts to "This Is Gonna Suck."
• Inverted in Welcome to the Dollhouse, where at the end of the movie Dawn does go to Disneyland with the school choir... but hates it.
• Zombieland:
  Wichita: You just traveled across zombie infested America. What are you going to do now?
  Little Rock Go to Pacific Playland!

Literature

• In the satirical self help book Kiss My Tiara, in a chapter about the pleasures of female masturbation (along with its taboos and the scanty if not non-existent terms to refer to it), the author suggests to say "I'm going to Disneyland!" as a fun euphemism along with giving a new ring to all those commercials with a similar catchphrase.
• The officially licensed novel X-Men: Salvation has Iceman sit down in the middle of the street and announce that he's going to Disneyland after three days of near-continuous fighting against Magneto, the Brotherhood of Mutants, and all the unaligned mutants who came to Manhattan after Magneto took over the island has him completely exhausted both physically and mentally.
• In Sparky Lyle's book The Year I Owned The Yankees, pitcher Tommy McKeever yelled, "Now I'm going to Disneyland!" after throwing a perfect game in his major-league debut.

Live-Action TV

• Bill Nye the Science Guy "Magnets": An accomplished young woman is asked what she's going to do next. She replies, "I'm going to see 'Compass Man'."
• In Season 2 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, after Buffy learns that there's another Slayer now:
  Buffy: Maybe after this thing with Spike and the assassins is over, I could say, "Kendra, you slay, I'm going to Disneyland."
• Burn Notice:
  Maddie: Why should we go to Disney World?
  Sam: Because it's a magical kingdom with lots of witnesses and great security?
• Double Dare (1986) offered trips to Disney World as the grand prize for the obstacle course. Whenever a team won, Harvey the announcer would exclaim "They're going to Disney World!"
• After Ellen came out of the closet, she quipped "I'm going to Disneyland" when asked by a psychologist (played by Oprah Winfrey) what she planned to do next.
• Played for Tear Jerker effect in Falling Skies, "Badlands". Pope is sitting by the bedside of the fatally-injured Crazy Lee, and asks where she would like him to take her when she gets out. She says Disneyland, he replies he can take her there but can't go in. He got into a fight with Goofy, and has been banned for life.
• Frasier: In "Moon Dance" Frasier tells Roz that he's taking his son, Freddie, to Colonial Williamsburg for a week. Roz uses this trope to make fun of the choice of vacation destination.
  Roz: Hey, Frederick Crane, you've just finished the first grade, what are you gonna do now? (as Freddie) I'm going to Butterworld!
• In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, after Will had won the first basketball game in Bel-Air Academy and ran over to the crowd, he shouted out, "I'M GOING TO DISNEYLAND!"
• Sophia does this one in a The Golden Girls episode.
  Sophia: That's it, game over, I'm going to Disneyland!
• Grace Under Fire: Grace sees her deadbeat ex-husband, Jimmy (who is currently behind on child support), appear in an ad for an Ambulance Chaser law firm. After receiving a $10,000 settlement for a slip and fall suit, he announces "I'm going to Disney World!" Grace notes how dumb this is, as she can have the payment frozen to pay the outstanding child support.
• In Living Color! parodied this twice.
  • The first spoof came after Clarence Thomas was confirmed as a Supreme Court justice despite a sexual harassment scandal almost derailing the effort. He shouts "I'm going to Girlie World!" — which turns out to be a strip club.
  • The second spoof turns up at the end of the Michael Jackson parody "Little Billy's Not My Lover", a send-up of the child molestation accusations leveled against him in 1993. An offscreen announcer asks what he's going to do now that his career faces ruin, and he replies, "I'm going to Thailand!" This was because in Real Life, he'd left for Thailand to launch the final leg of his Dangerous Tour just before the scandal went public.
• Subverted and Played for Horror in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the Victim of the Week jokingly conducts a mock interview with her classmate/friend Lisa in a video provided by her mother.
  Shannon: (while holding an imaginary microphone) Lisa Faber, you just sang a solo in the winter concert and you have a trig midterm tomorrow. What are you going to do now?
  Lisa: Cry.
• Mystery Science Theater 3000: Santa Claus (1959)
  Narrator: What are you going to do now Santa?
  Tom: I'm going to Disney World!
  Mike: All references to Disney World are the property of the Walt Disney Corporation.
• The Nanny subverted this. Mr. Sheffield is reprimanding Fran for screwing up with one of the kids. When asked what she was going to do now, she yelled "I'm going to Disney World!" before running in fear.
• Parodied in Parker Lewis Can't Lose: When Larry Kubiak finds out he has actually met his weight loss goals and can stay on the football team, Parker asks:
  Parker: So, Kube, what are you going to do now?
  Kubiak: I'm going to eat Disneyland.
• Pose: At the end of the episode "Something Old, Something New", after Big Papi and Angel's wedding, their son Esteban proudly declares, "We're going to Disneyland!"
• In the Supernatural episode "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here" (S09, Ep01), when Dean says the fallen angels aren't their problem, Sam asks in a sarcastic manner if that is because "now we're gonna go to Disneyland?"
• Many TGIF programs on ABC had an episode (Full House and Step by Step both had a two parter) where the main characters went to Disney World. Three such episodes were called "We're Going to Disney World!"
• In the Thunder in Paradise episode "Blast Off", a reporter asks Spencer what he's going to do now that he's saved a Senator from assassination, and he responds with "I'm going to Disney World." It seems like a throwaway line at first, but a few scenes later Spencer gets a call from Disney, and he actually DOES go there, complete with a montage of Spencer and his daughter on various Magic Kingdom rides. (An easy scene to film, considering most of the series filmed in Disney World anyway)
• In Wizards of Waverly Place, after Justin wins the 12 ball tournament, he announces "I'm going to Volcano Land". Except that Volcano Land is where wizards are drained of their powers. Oops!

Music

• "Arrivederci, Cuomo" by the Capitol Steps:
  "Now that you have lost, where are you going?"
  "Hey, I'm going to Disney World!"
• 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.

Pro Wrestling

• After Daniel Bryan and Kane won the WWE Tag Team Championships, they were seen bickering backstage, with Kane eventually walking off. A few seconds later, he reappeared on camera and threw Gatorade over Bryan. He then yells out exactly this and walks off proclaiming that he is the Tag Team Champions.
• Spoken word for word by Bo Dallas upon winning the NXT championship. A week later, he is absent on the show, and cuts a promo live via satellite... from Disneyland.
• Played with by longtime heel Larry Zbyskzo, who would often say he was going to "Larryland".

Theater

• After Hades goes all out to retain his title in Villains Tonight!, the Fates decide to go on a Disney cruise... specifically, the one the show is playing on.

Video Games

• After you win the Backyard Football Championship in Backyard Football, a character always exclaims "I'm going to Walter Weasel World!"
• The infamous EarthBound (1994) Player's Guide has the following near the end: "The question now is what this amazing young man will do next. Will he go to school? Visit Disneyland? Or will he be called upon to defend the Earth once more?"
• In the beginning of Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail!:
  Interviewer: Leisure Suit Larry! You've just leapt from the 40th floor of a burning building! What are you going to do next?
  Larry: I think I'm going to... take a cruise!
• Persona 5: After taking President Okumura's heart, the Phantom Thieves decide to celebrate by going to Tokyo Destinyland, a very obvious Bland Name version of Tokyo Disneyland, complete with a castle in the background reminiscent of the Cinderella Castle. In addition, Ryuji is seen wearing bear ears akin to Mickey, Ann is wearing cat ears with a ribbon akin to Minnie, and Futaba is wearing rabbit ears akin to Goofy.
• Spoofed at the end of both Spyro the Dragon (1998) and Spyro: Year of the Dragon as well as their reimaginings with Spyro being interviewed and asked "What do you plan next?". The first case leads to a Here We Go Again!. The second?
  Narrator: Spyro, you just defeated the Sorceress, rescued the dragon eggs, and restored freedom to the lost dragon worlds. What do you plan to do next? Have a nice vacation at Dragon Shores? Hm?
  Spyro: You're a real comedian, Bentley. (both laugh)
• Karla Keller's ending in the unreleased game Tattoo Assassins is a literal example of this trope.

Webcomics

• The Adventures of Superhero Girl: "Superhero Girl! You've made 100 comics! What are you going to do now?"
• In The Perpetual Aquarium, the fish have proudly announced "I'm going to Fishy World".

Web Original

• Nearly every episode of Smosh's Food Battle series end this way. A reporter runs towards whoever wins the battle, exclaims that they've won the Food Battle, and asks what they're going to do afterward. The very first episode actually has Ian proclaim that he's going to go to Disneyland, and the next installments turn ridiculous, such as the winner saying he's going to watch paint dry or play with Pogs.

Western Animation

• As Disney and Warner Bros. animation have had a... friendly rivalry over the years, Animaniacs naturally took this on:
  Announcer: Hey, Yakko, Wakko and Dot! You've just finished another episode. What are you going to do next?
  Yakko: We're going to... the bathroom.
  (alternately) We're going to... sleep.
  • And in the episode "King Yakko",
    Dot: King Yakko, now that you've won the war, what are you going to do?
    Yakko: I'm going to Dis... (he was then cut off by "Mr. Tator.")
  • And in the credits of "The Warners 65th Anniversary Special":
    Announcer: Hey Warners, you've just finished the 65th episode of Animaniacs. What are you gonna do now?
    Warners: We're going to Euro-Disney!
  • Another episode has daredevil Lance Murdock proclaim he is "going to Duff Gardens" (a beer themed amusement park) after barely surviving a botched stunt, followed by an advert for the park.
  • In Pinky and the Brain, after winning a baseball game and getting Amusing Injuries:
    Reporter: ...what are you going to do now?
    Brain: I'm going to... the emergency room. [faints]
  • In the Tiny Toon Adventures episode "Fields of Honey", Babs parodied the 1987 commercial in her ad campaign to get people to come to her movie theater and watch Honey and Bosko cartoons.
  • In the short, "Buster at the Bat" (part of "Son of the Wacko World of Sports"), when asked what he's going to do now that he's won the ACME Looniversity baseball game, Buster responds, "I'm going to build my own amusement park!"
• From 1998-2001, Cartoon Network would have a cartoon special called "The Big Game" which was a spoof of the Super Bowl that aired the night before that game and would pit two traditional cartoon rivals against each other with commentary by then-FOX duo Pat Summerall and John Madden. The final match (in 2001) pitted Looney Tunes rivals Bugs and Daffy. After the game (which Daffy wins 37-31), Summerall briefly poked at both the catchphrase and the Disney-Warner Bros. rivalry with his comment.
  Pat Summerall: I know where he's going. He's going to Dis... *Beat* Wait. I'm not sure where he's going.
• Doug has an Imagine Spot where he fantasizes he makes the winning field goal in a football game.
  Doug: I'm going to Funkytown!
• Duckman exclaimed, "Yes! I'm going to Disney World!" after the judge presiding over his latest trial refuses to incarcerate him due to California's "three strikes" law.
• Parodied on The Fairly OddParents!:
  Presidential Aide: Mr. President, you almost caused a nucular war! What are you going to do next?
  President: I'm going to Escalator Land!
  • And in another episode:
    "We're not going to Alaska!"
• My Life as a Teenage Robot "Historionics": After escaping an island run amok with Uncle Wizzly's robot duplicates of historical figures, Brad asks what they should do next. Tuck eagerly replies, "I'm going to Wizzly World!" to which Brad responds, "Um... No."
• The Simpsons:
  • "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday": After winning the Super Bowl, a football player shouts, "Woo! I'm going to Disneyland!", to which a travel agent replies, "Really? You know, I'm a travel agent and I've heard nothing but bad things."
  • Troy McClure in "A Fish called Selma" (a man who supposedly "sleeps with the fishes").
    Parker: Okay, then get this… I think they want you to play McBain's sidekick in... brace yourself, the new McBain movie!
    Troy: McBain's sidekick? Hot damn! I'm going to Sea World!

Real Life

• Bruce Springsteen ended his Super Bowl halftime performance with "I'm going to Disneyland" as a Shout-Out.
• Parodied by Phil Simms (former New York Giants quarterback and MVP of the Super Bowl this campaign was introduced in) during a locker room interview immediately afterward that included him remarked about him saying the phrase, then mocking it.
• Upon winning the first UFC tournament, this was Royce Gracie's stated intention.
• Michael Jackson jokingly said this after he won a trial once.
• After D'Angelo and Amanda won Live To Dance, D'Angelo said "I'm going to Disney World!"
• A much darker version: Richard Ramirez said this, after being sentenced to the death penalty ^note Although he never got that far, sitting on Death Row for years before dying from B-Cell Lymphoma (which destroyed his liver and turned him bright green-yellow, according to reports) in 2013.
  "Big deal! Death always went with the territory. See you in Disneyland!"
• Bob Iger joked about this with Barbara Walters, suggesting that they go to Disneyland after they retire.
• Before a Harlem Globetrotters game at the Anaheim Pond, one player — jokingly offended that he wasn't the center of attention — started to walk off the court. When the announcer asked where he was going, he said "I'm going to Disneyland!" (Which is also in Anaheim.)
• On more of a Tear Jerker note, according to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the most common wish they grant to seriously ill children is a trip to Disneyland.
• When the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2006, Steelers player Mike Logan said "Forget Disney World, I want them to open up Kennywood!" referencing an amusement park near Pittsburgh.
• When Michael Eisner stepped down as CEO of The Walt Disney Company, one reporter asked him what he would do next, to which he naturally replied, "I'm going to Disneyland."

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