Take a moment. Go check out your Disney t-shirt and coffee mug collection. There's an awful lot of anniversary logos & celebration slogans there, aren't there? 35 Years of Magic. 40 Years of Adventure. 100 Years of Magic. Remember the Magic. Year of a Million Dreams. What Will You Celebrate? Give a Day, Get a Day. And - of course - Disney Parks & Resort's most recent effort, Let the Memories Begin.
But for every one of these Disney Parks promotional campaigns that receive major media buys, which were then supported by splashy newspaper ads & numerous TV commercials ... There were an equally large number of campaigns that never quite made it out of committee.
Take - for example - that promotion which Jack Lindquist dreamed up for Disneyland's Summer of 1991. Which was when Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D was supposed to have replaced the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln show at that theme park's Main Street Opera House.
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
Jack wanted to do something genuinely big to make the public aware that the Muppets were now in residence at the Happiest Place on Earth. Which is why he proposed sending Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto & Goofy off on vacation for the entire Summer of '91. So that -- while the Fab Five were away from Anaheim -- the Muppets would then be left in charge of Disneyland.
And from the moment that you came thru the turnstiles that summer, you would have known that this theme park had a new (albeit temporary) head honcho. Given that the Mickey-shaped floral planter that's adorned the lawn in front of the Main Street, U.S.A. train station for decades now would have been replaced by a Kermit-shaped planter.
Mind you, even if you were out driving by on the 5 during the Summer of '91, you would have known that something unusual was going on at Disneyland. Given that - as part of this promotion -- Jack wanted to paint the Matterhorn Kermit-the-Frog green.
The "Here Comes the Muppets" stage show as it was presented at Disney-MGMStudios theme park. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
These two over-the-top touches were just the beginning of the Muppet-type madness that was to have invaded the Happiest Place on Earth that summer. Over on the Videopolis stage, there were to have been several performances daily of the "Here Come the Muppets" stage show. Which was to have been this Disneyland-specific version of that Disney-MGM stage show which ran at the Studios from May 1990 through September 1991.
And when the Muppet walk-around characters weren't onstage performing at Videopolis, they were supposed to be down in Town Square doing meet-n-greets and/or waving to Guests from floats during Disneyland's twice-daily presentation of the Magnificent Muppet All-Star Motorcade. Which was to have featured Gonzo riding on a rolling camera platform as he directed this music video which starred Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. And did I mention that Fozzie, Scooter and Rowlf would be riding aboard the Muppet tour bus as it rolled through that theme park?
That was Jack's grand plan for introducing the Muppets at Disneyland in a big way. But all of Lindquist's hard work was for naught. Given that - in December of 1990 -- The Walt Disney Company's first attempt to acquire the Muppets fell apart in December of 1990 when Mouse House management and the Henson family failed to come to terms.
Anyway ... I told that story today because I wanted to give a sense of the hundreds of hours of hard work that The Walt Disney Company will sometimes put into the development of a brand-new promotional campaign for Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. Only to then suddenly abandon that effort. Which means that the public never gets to see any of that artwork / see that particular PR narrative unfold.
The other reason that I'm exploring this aspect of the Company's history today - on Valentine's Day of all days - is ... Well, did you see the big news coming out of Toy Fair this morning? Where - after seven years of being apart -- Barbie and Ken have officially announced that they are once again a couple?
This is - of course - a PR stunt that Mattel dreamed up not only to spur sales (i.e. look for a special limited edition of "Together Again" set of Barbie & Ken dolls to hit store shelves shortly) but to also help reinvigorate this brand. But where this gets interesting is that - back in the mid-1990s - The Walt Disney Company toyed with doing something very similar with Mickey & Minnie.
Copyright 2011 Mattel, Inc. All rights reserved
As I recall, the initial discussion reportedly began back in late 1992 / early 1993. There was supposedly a concern on the PR side of things at Walt Disney Parks & Resorts that the Company had maybe gone back to the anniversary well once too often. To explain: That - by continually hyping artificial events like the celebration of Disneyland's 35th & WDW's 20th anniversaries - there was a danger that the public would start losing their enthusiasm for these sorts of cooked-up campaigns. Which is why Disney officials were looking to do something different - something big, bold & dramatic - in order to recapture people's attention / imagination.
Given that there was something that was obviously special about Mickey & Minnie's relationship (i.e. that they had managed to stay sweethearts for 65 years) ... And given that -- at least from a little kid's point of view -- marriage is often seen as icky and/or loaded with all sorts of complicated adult-type emotions ... Well, it just didn't make sense to screw up something that had worked -- and worked well -- for six decades plus just to temporarily boost attendance at the Disney theme parks and/or sell some collectibles.
Which is why the Company never pursued the Mickey-and-Minnie-get-married idea. More importantly, why Walt Disney Parks & Resorts went back to promotional campaigns that keyed off of anniversaries. Like 1996's Remember the Magic, 2000's 100 Years of Magic and 2005's the Happiest Homecoming on Earth events.
And given the carefully parsed way that Mattel is approaching the promotion of Ken & Barbie's reunion (i.e. "She said Yes. Ken and Barbie Rekindle their Epic Romance" rather than saying that these two dolls are now gong to get married), I think that that the Mattel Corporation - just as Disney did back in late 1992 / early 1993 - recognizes the dangers involved in taking a couple that the public has loved for decades as dating singles now and then making them man & wife.
Copyright 2001 Mattel, Inc. All rights reserved
That said, I still think that it's kind of cool that -- according to the official Barbie & Ken timeline that Mattel sent along earlier -- it was this couple's reunion on the set of "Toy Story 3 " that supposedly let to the rekindling of their relationship.
But what do you folks think? Even if this had just been a promotional campaign that Walt Disney Parks & Resorts cooked up in order to get you & your family to return to the Resorts in 1993 & 1994, would you have still made a special trip to Anaheim or Orlando in order to attend the marriage of Mickey & Minnie Mouse? Or were Company officials wise to take a pass on this particular PR stunt?
Your thoughts?
The article was updated / corrected on February 19, 2011 to fold in additional information
Couldn't children also ask if Mickey and Minnie's relationship not work out will they break up? What is the difference? Disney princesses get married at the end of their movies and no one asks questions. I say they should of gone for it!! Minnie wouldn't have to take a back seat to anything if Disney didn't want her to. Also when has Disney started listening to stereotypes? Getting married doesn't change who you are. Mickey and Minnie are forever and not even getting married will change that. You can't compare a couple like Minnie and Mickey to a couple like Barbie and Ken. I can't wait for the day till wedding bells ring.
i would go they need to get married and have lots of kids and they need to turn it into a tennage show