It was January of 2008 and Disney was in the midst of their Year of a Million Dreams marketing campaign.
It was originally slated to run throughout 2007, but its success prompted Disney to extend
it one more year.
As the name of the campaign implies, it involved giving away one million dreams (or prizes)
over the course of a year.
Some were large such as free vacations to other Disney parks and many were small and
simple such as extra fast passes.
One of them, done in partnership with CareerBuilder.com, was earning the role of CMO, or Chief
Magic Official.
VO: Millions come to Walt Disney World each year to make memories. Three travelers have come though for a
different dream: becoming Disney parks' first Chief Magic Official or CMO.
It was a position, described by Disney, as an ambassador of dreams.
The lucky winner of the role would spend the year traveling between Walt Disney World and
Disneyland to attend special events.
And while the position was obviously not an actual executive role it was actually a paid job.
Aside from free airfare, lodging, park tickets, and spending money, the CMO would be compensated
on an hourly basis whenever they were sent to one of the parks for an appearance, though
the pay rate wasn’t made public.
They were essentially going to be the paid face of the second half of the Year of a Million
Dreams campaign.
Applications for the CMO position opened that January.
All contestants had to be 21 or older and willing to commit to between four to eight
trips to the parks over the year for a total of 12 to 32 days.
The job requirements included such bullet points as “believes in all things magical”,
“relishes the spotlight”, and “can move mountains of pixie dust with a great personality
and a smile.”
Applicants first had to take a seven question MAT, or Magic Aptitude Test, and then had
to submit a 60 second video introducing themselves and explaining why they’d make the best CMO.
And as a part of their partnership, there was of course plenty of promotion on the website
for CareerBuilder for those looking for other positions at The Walt Disney Company.
By the end of January over 1,300 people applied for the position and both Disney and CareerBuilder
narrowed the contestants down to 20.
From there they reached out and interviewed every contestant before narrowing it down
once more to 10.
At that point the public would take over and vote for their favorite contestant on the
website.
That April the top 3 contestants were flown out to Walt Disney World for a three day event
comprised of a series of competitions to choose the winner.
Those competitions ranged from a stroller derby to towel origami to park trivia and more.
The events were commentated on by members of the ESPN club.
Mark: He's a pretty earnest competitor as well. If you look at that, the focus is very tight.
He is now rolling the towel up and this is not an easy towel to roll John. As you know these are high quality.
More fluffiness. More body to them if you will.
John: Absolutely Mark. I think all of us agree a fluffy towel is what you want if you're getting out of a pool
or out of the bath. For this towel-agami, for lack of a better term it's going to make it more difficult.
The actual outcome of the events themselves didn’t really matter.
Regardless of who “won” or “lost”, it would be up to the public to vote after each event.
On April 22nd, 28 year old Justin Muchoney was named Disney’s first and
only Chief Magic Official.
Over the following eight months he would take numerous trips to the east and west coast
parks, attending events and even helping with passing out some of those dreams that made
up the Year of a Million Dreams.
He chronicled his experience on the Disney CMO website through 12 trip reports.
The search for Disney’s CMO was a fun little contest meant to top off a year of unique celebrations.
One of those little moments of Disney history that comes and goes, and a story that likely
won’t get retold that much as time moves on.
Yet for one lucky person, it was an unforgettable experience.