Winning ‘Idol’ is going to Disney World

Florida amusement park to open ‘Idol’ attraction in January

Slide show

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‘American Idol’ video

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updated 7:12 p.m. ET May 21, 2008

LOS ANGELES - David Archuleta and David Cook are no professional athletes, but one of them will be celebrating like one on tonight’s “American Idol” finale.

The next “Idol” champ will shout “I’m going to Disney World!” during the celebration immediately following the announcement — a rare off-field exception for those famous promotional words, which have almost always been uttered by sports figures, Disney said Wednesday. Since 1987, Super Bowl, World Series and NBA Finals champs have made the pronouncement as the crowd cheers and confetti flies.

The “Idol” tie-in relates to the new “American Idol” attraction opening at Walt Disney World in Florida in January 2009.

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The live performance attraction, based on “American Idol” at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park, allow guests to audition and perform before a live studio audience inside the Hollywood Studios’ theater space. Disney licensed the rights to create the attraction from “Idol” co-producers 19 Entertainment and FremantleMedia, despite the fact “American Idol” airs on Fox and Disney owns broadcast competitor ABC.