Sounds like fun, but I have to ask... Is Disney actually planning to tell people where they can go see this big hunk of cheese, or will this be like the Cars tour, where the only people who got to see the Cars were special invitees and the media and the cars were in locations inaccessible to the public?

Hmmm..  I hope it comes to the Netherlands, what better country to introduce a film by using cheeeesseee :D

I remember seeing the Lightning and Sally last year at the E3 videogame convention in LA, and although it was a huge media event, like pschnebs said, it wasn't exactly an open-to-the-public deal either. How do they plan to build interest in the general public when they're only going to be hitting up food-fairs that cater to a narrow demographic? I feel like Disney's gonna have to put alot more effort selling this movie to kids, who otherwise might not be interested in cuddling up to a gourmet-dining RAT...

I found out about the Cars tour from my contacts within State Farm (the sponsor) as my company handles different reward programs for State Farm.  I would never have found anything about it otherwise as it was not advertised at all here in Minneapolis.  If Disney wants this new tour to work they need to get the word out and have stuff on the internet and radio about it.

Cars Tour - no info from the local State Farm office available last year, and the net was the only place I ever heard about it. The car and cheese tours are designed to hit the last 3 minutes of the evening newscast, so the marketing dept can say, "Look at all the free publicity we got!!!"

If you want to get the word out to the general public - buy ads on national television networks. Disney Co - here's a hint - you own one. If you want kids to know about it, advertise on Saturday mornings. It's not rocket science. Phone up the network, tell them who you want to see your ad, and they will tell you which shows to advertise during.  

Don't want to spend that much? OK, just make three different shows - one an hour, and two half hours - about the making of your movie. There will be plenty of time to explain the plot, show why people want to see rats, and how your movie is different from Flushed Away. Play the hour show twice on ABC - primetime Sunday and Wednesday before the movie debuts. Play the half hour shows daily on Disney Channel and any other cable channel you have a partial stake in except the ESPN group.

The promotional dept clearly hasn't done "everything that they can in order to get the word out " to promote this film, or everyone in America would know how to pronounce the title and what the movie's about. At the same time, it's not exactly rocket science, especially for a company with the resources available to it. We continually hear about the vaunted Disney marketing machine, but this cheese building ain't their finest hour.

I don't know about the other events, but Taste of Chicago is hardly a "food fair" catering to a narrow demographic.  Besides the food, there are concerts constantly going on on multiple stages in addition to other events.  It's the most attended event in the city.  Last year 3.6 million people passed through in ten days.

Seems like a good call to me.