Disney in a Minute: What is an Activation?

Now, you may be familiar with uses of the word activation in the context of all things Disney. For example, you activate your tickets the first day you enter a park. You need to activate your subscription to Disney+ before you can watch the offerings streaming there. But sometimes when it’s spoken by a Disney exec or someone in the “Disney-sphere”, it seems to mean something … different. So what are they talking about?

Activation is also a term from marketing-speak. Here, what’s being activated is your interest or excitement. When you hear execs or fans talking about an activation, they mean a synergistic activity around the launch of a new event or experience. There are a few different ways you’ll see activations in practice.

Synergy activations can be “intra-segment”: between different divisions in the parks. When Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opened at Disney World, limited-time items were added to menus in the Magic Kingdom to make it more of an event. And a limited-time souvenir Princess Tiana sipper went on sale, too.

Cross-marketing between parks and media is an “inter-segment” activation. As an example, new scenes from the Rise of Skywalker were added to Star Tours on the same day as the movie debuted in theaters. And Disney movie releases are often lined up with limited-time Meet & Greets in the parks.

Usually, marketing activations are around the launch of a new event or experience, or a milestone celebration. Sometimes, they’re just a way to create excitement about being in the parks. An example here is events like May the 4th. Disney gets an excuse to change up the menus a bit with limited-time items and release new merch. In 2025, they also changed up the Savi’s Workshop experience by adding a new limited-time storyline. The individual activations combine to make something out of almost nothing. It’s an ‘event’ that guests remember making their trip different or special – even if they’re not big Star Wars fans.

Although activations often take the form of limited-time offerings, it’s not always the case. Most of the Tiana’s Bayou Adventure menu items are gone, but the Golden Oak Outpost still has a Cajun-themed menu and Tiana’s Beignets. And when new scenes are added to Star Tours, they are usually shown exclusively for a short while, but are left in the mix when the activation is over.

You might wonder why Disney execs would use this term when it’s so easy to confuse with activating tickets, memberships, etc. The answer is that they usually don’t! Bob Chapek, who was CEO of Disney from 2020 to 2022, infamously used the term in earnings calls and press communications. Disney’s use of the term receded after Chapek’s departure. But you’ll still sometimes hear references to it in the fan community, as a result of this “activation era”.

Disney in a Minute is a series of short posts designed to help you better understand a Disney term or planning topic. Do you have a Disney term that you think needs a bit more explanation? Let us know in the comments.