This ad was conceived as one of those generous acknowledgements of a competitor, which also made you look good. Knott's Berry Farm is actually a far older amusement park and neighbor of Disneyland, but the idea here was to humorously tease and at the same time congratulate a neighbor who helped the whole Orange County community.
After we ran the comp of this ad by Disney for permission to use the strongly protected image of Mickey, they actually called us to not only give us permission, but to thank us for the clever gesture. It was true neighborliness. Also the ad won a Belding Award for newspaper advertising that year and was featured in an annual of Communication Arts Magazine.
