Why do Super Bowl winners say, ‘We’re going to Disney World’?

“I’m going to Disney World” is a phrase you’ve probably heard many times after a team wins the Super Bowl. It is one of the great traditions that is related to the amusement park found in Orlando.

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Usually, the ‘MVP’ winner visits Disney World after the game with one of his teammates. Last year, Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp visited Disney after being named Most Valuable Player against the Cincinnati Bengals. He was accompanied on the trip by linebacker Aaron Donald and the families of both players.

The only time in recent years that the MVP winner did not attend the amusement park was in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak, a situation that caused the park to be closed.

Unfortunately, this prevented Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski from celebrating at the theme park as is tradition.

Where does the tradition of the MVP going to Disney World come from?

It all started when Michael Eisner, CEO of Disney, and his wife, Jane Breckenridge, dined with Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, a couple of aviators who traveled the world non-stop. Breckenridge asked the pilots what they would do next, and they replied, “We’re going to Disney World.”

That’s where the idea of promoting it for the Super Bowl came from. Walt Disney met with NFL organizers, and they reached an agreement for the most valuable player to say the phrase after the game. From there, players of the stature of Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Patrick Mahomes, and Eli Manning, among others, have come to the theme park.

The first player to say he would visit the famous park and star in the company’s commercials was Phil Simms, quarterback who won Super Bowl XXI in 1987 with the New York Giants. According to reports, the MVP earns between 30 and 50 thousand dollars just for saying the iconic phrase.