Inside The World Of Marketing Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary With Asad Ayaz

When Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955, it was a modern marvel. A place where adults and children could fly over London with Peter Pan, take a relaxing ride on the Mark Twain Riverboat around the Rivers of America or come face-to-face with animatronic animals on the Jungle Cruise. Today, on Disneyland’s 70th anniversary, there’s more to enjoy at the Disneyland Resort than ever before, and a host of new attractions and experiences are coming in the future. To mark the milestone anniversary, Disney has launched a new campaign, dubbed “The Happiest Place on Earth” (which is also the resort’s slogan). To get a glimpse into the making of the campaign, I spoke with Asad Ayaz, Chief Brand Officer of The Walt Disney Company and President, Marketing of The Walt Disney Studios and Disney+.

The Happiest Place on Earth campaign features regular park guests showing what makes Disneyland special to them. “These spots are about capturing that feeling—the one that hits you when you visit Disneyland for the very first time, or when you go back with your family and your friends, the memories, the laughter and the magic that a Disneyland visit brings,” says Ayaz.

The campaign features multiple families doing everything from meeting Princess Jasmin, racing through Radiator Springs Racers and watching the nighttime fireworks in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. These are moments that nearly any guest to the Disneyland Resort can have, and capturing them in real-time with regular families makes the spot feel more realistic.

How the “Happiest Place on Earth” campaign came to be

“Creatively, it was important to feel authentic, with guests experiencing real-life moments of happiness instead of scripted scenarios. We filmed over several days with a small crew, which helped us to capture intimate, shared moments of happiness and fun,” he explains.

One moment that Ayaz loved was of a multigenerational family in front of the “it’s a small world” attraction. David and Shelly Tsai first visited Disneyland in 1976 and took a photo in front of the ride’s facade. “Nearly 50 years later, they recreated that photo with their granddaughters, Kiera and Juliette,” shares Ayaz. Another is with a group of first-time guests, June and Ann. “They literally jumped out of their wheelchairs and started dancing with their adult kids.”

What this campaign shows is the resilience and continued cultural relevance of Disneyland. “Disneyland isn’t just a theme park. It’s an original idea that became a global movement in entertainment and storytelling, and generations of guests have found their own unique happiness in this special place. It offers something increasingly rare: real, shared joy,” says Ayaz.

Looking forward during Disneylands 70th anniversary

The movement into more immersive storytelling is continuing. Starting today, guests at Disneyland Park can see an all-new show, Walt Disney – A Magical Life, inside the Main Street Opera House. The show features the first Audio-Animatronics figure of Walt Disney and is one of the most technologically advanced figures that Walt Disney Imagineering has ever created.

There’s also the approved DisneylandForward project, which was unanimously voted to pass by the Anaheim City Council on May 7, 2024. Part of these new approvals include expanding Disney California Adventure with two new attractions coming to Avengers Campus, a “Coco”-themed ride, and a new land based on Avatar, plus a new parking and transportation hub featuring a new pedestrian bridge over Harbor Boulevard and a new esplanade arrival area.

The growth at Disneyland will continue to bring more guests to the park, and in turn, more revenue. According to MickeyVisit.com, the Disneyland Resort welcomed nearly 27,250,000 guests in 2023. And with the latest earnings report, ending March 29, 2025, The Walt Disney Company shared that the Experiences segment had an operating income of $2.5 billion, and its Domestic Parks & Experiences operating income grew 13% to $1.8 billion.

But for Ayaz, Disneyland is about more than the numbers. “It all comes back to this one incredible place that, for 70 years, has been making our guests happy in every way we can dream up. That’s what we wanted to celebrate.”